14 Comments

Great post. I'd love to read a follow-up article on your thoughts around the self-publishing industry on the 100th anniversary of Sylvia Beach's wise move to privately publish James Joyce.

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May 10, 2022Liked by Summer Brennan

Smart, and well cross-cited, Summer. Thank you. I missed the initial essays and then only was aware of the kerfuffle. Everything you say is quite grounded and true.

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May 10, 2022Liked by Summer Brennan

"All you can do is write the book you want to write." <-- daily reminder to self! Thanks, Summer!

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May 10, 2022Liked by Summer Brennan

Thank you for this! Very sane and helpful advice.

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Much helpful real talk. Great post.

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May 10, 2022Liked by Summer Brennan

A great piece. Thank you for this.

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This is great if it’s fiction, however, most publishers want to co-create a non-fiction book and won’t be happy with a complete manuscript. A book pitch is better - what you want to write about, why you’re the one to write it, similar books in the marketplace, the competition and what will be different about yours. That type of thing. Sometimes a publisher wants to change the direction of a non-fiction book for a particular market, or they had an idea for a book and they like you so they want to work with you but they don’t want the book you propose and they propose something else instead! Just adding my experience here.

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