Because of ethical conflicts, I rarely review books. Occasionally I make an exception when a book that can help the publishing industry in some way comes along. This is one of those times. As you will see, authors interested in publishing have needed new jump-start kind of input for some time, the kind of input that comes from experience! So, may I present The Nonfiction Book Publishing Plan that I believe will be useful no matter what kind of a book a writer is thinking about writing. Besides, it's perfect for New Year's giving!
CHJ
TITLE: The Nonfiction Book Publishing Plan
SUBTITLE: The Professional Guide to Profitable Self-Publishing
SUBTITLE: The Professional Guide to Profitable Self-Publishing
AUTHORS: Stephanie Chandler and Karl W. Palachuk
PUBLISHER: Authority Publishing
ASIN: B07H39LPSX
ISBN: 978-1-949642-00-1
PRINT LINK: https://amzn.to/2Jq5Sic
GENRE: Nonfiction
CATEGORY: Publishing
Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson,
author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers
My first serious introduction to self-publishing was at a SPAN conference in Atlanta (Small Publishers of North America); it was there I was introduced to a very fat volume on self-publishing by Marilyn Ross that included the idea that real publishing includes marketing. That was nearly 20 years ago, and I have been recommending that book ever since because nothing else has been as all-encompassing and based so thoroughly on personal experience (and personal experience is generally much better than research).
Now, so many years later, Stephanie Chandler and Karl W. Palachuk have written The Nonfiction Book Publishing Plan. Stephanie founded the Nonfiction Authors Association and is this decade’s expert. Today there are many go-to experts, but no one can exceed her experience. Paluchuk is an ideal partner for such an all-encompassing project!
This Book Publishing Plan (it will work just as well for creative works as nonfiction!) says it all. I always suggest that authors read more than one book on any publishing topic, but this is the perfect place to start for anyone considering publishing of any kind. In the first chapter it takes the reader through some of the trials experienced by anyone approaching the publishing industry with the old model in mind. I have a few horror stories of my own, but Chandler and Palachuk quickly move into how nonfiction authors in particular will benefit from self-publishing and takes them well beyond—starting with titles and subtitles, bylines and moves on to giving an author enough information to get a great start on a marketing plan.
I believe in reading books to get the expertise needed for publishing—even traditional publishing. Don’t be fooled that readers can get what they need piecemeal from the Web (it is hard to ascertain credibility with so much conflicting advice!) or even to choose what to read from extensive tables of contents (which would be better titled “Contents” to avoid redundancy). This is the place to start. These authors complement one another. It is full of memorable experiences and anecdotes you won’t forget as well as specific advice. At the beginning of this review, I said it is the place for new authors to start, but seasoned authors in any genre (seriously!) will find inaccuracies they have come to believe gently corrected and comfort knowing that many of their instincts have been right all along.
Hint: Notice how Palachuk and Chandler weave their biographies—read that experience—into the first chapter and how well that works in a book covering a difficult and far-ranging genre like a how-to for the publishing industry!
MORE ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Carolyn Howard-Johnson brings her experience as a publicist, journalist, marketer, and retailer to the advice she gives in her HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers and the many classes she
Howard-Johnson is the recipient of the California Legislature’s Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment Award, and her community’s Character and Ethics award for her work promoting tolerance with her writing. She was also named to Pasadena Weekly’s list of “Fourteen San Gabriel Valley women who make life happen” and was given her community’s Diamond Award for Achievement in the Arts.
The author loves to travel. She has visited nearly ninety countries and has studied writing at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom; Herzen University in St. Petersburg, Russia; and Charles University, Prague, as well as USC, her alma mater. She admits to carrying a pen and journal wherever she goes. Her website iswww.howtodoitfrugally.com.
