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Booklife: Strategies And Survival Tips For The 21st-Century Writer (2009)

by Jeff VanderMeer(Favorite Author)

3.89 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1892391902 (ISBN13: 9781892391902)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Tachyon Publications

review 1: After finishing Vandermeer's excellent Southern Reach trilogy I was excited to check out his guide to "strategies and survival tips for the 21st-century writer". It's great, pragmatic, and straightforward, honest, and not afraid to get a little deep to. there is a lot here that I will revisit, and a page or two that I will probably copy word for word in my notes. It's that good: insightful and practical advice for writers. It is an up to date how to be a writer manual, that encompasses everything from blogging to doing readings, podcasts, you name it. The best parts of the book are where Vandemeer simply let's you peak at the very strategies and documents he has used in his writing career, stuff like the PR plan he used for a book, and what a 5 year plan looks like for a w... moreriter. These kinds of examples are rare, and honest, and helpful.This book is for a very narrow niche, it seems to me; writer's who have some traction, more so than the total beginner. And if you already have a few published books under your belt you have probably (hopefully) already figured this stuff out. But, if you are a writer somewhere in between naive greenhorn and jaded veteran this is perfect for you. It's just real nuts and bolts practical advice, on a career that is often treated as being too mystical to get practical about.Bottom line, if you are serious about making writing a career, buy this book. That said, I thought the second half of the book which deals with less practical, more subjective stuff like revision, giving yerself permission to fail, the dangers of success etc. seemed uneven and unnecessary compared to the first half.
review 2: Anyone with a genuine interest in writing, with a view to not only getting published but also making a career of it, if you might call it that, invariably reads one or more books on writing. There are many books on writing out there, many of them good, several of which I’ve read. But I haven’t come across a book quite like Jeff VanderMeer’s Booklife.Most books on writing focus purely on the craft of writing, how to make your story the best it can be so it presumably has the best chance of getting published. I say ‘presumably’ because most books on writing correctly make the assumption that the writer wants to be published (a given if you have bought the book) and therefore spend very little time discussing the publishing side of the equation.Booklife looks at the equation the other way round; VanderMeer assumes the writer is doing his/her best in terms of the quality of the writing (although he does spend some time discussing how to get the best out of characters and ideas). The primary focus of this book is how to build a sustainable career in writing, accepting the likelihood that you’ll never make a living at it. What lends the book real value is the knowledge VanderMeer brings to bear on the modern realities of marketing yourself and networking to best advantage, knowledge gained the hard way over twenty-five years in writing, editing and publishing.Booklife is divided into two main sections, one devoted to the public side of a writing career (i.e. marketing and networking), the other to the private side (i.e. the actual writing), with a short section in the middle that talks about how best to handle the plethora of normal daily demands on time and remain physically and mentally healthy. The public section discusses the development of strategies for building a career in writing, reviews most of the major platforms that can be used in making people aware of your existence (Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, YouTube, etc.), and outlines potential levels of involvement (i.e. just how much time you want to spend of this side of your writing life). The private section discusses how best to ring fence and protect the time you spend writing, strategies for dealing with rejection, and approaches to keeping your work fresh and vital. There is also a substantial appendices section, mostly written by friends and colleagues of VanderMeer’s that detail aspects of the publishing industry such as what agents expect/hope for in a writer, how to outline a PR plan, write a press release, how to manage your reputation, etc.There is a point about midway through the first section where things start to sound, briefly, very much like any number of corporate strategy development books I read in a previous life, but I can’t stress how important it is to keep reading. Because the fact is that VanderMeer is right. If you seriously want to create the best chances to make a career for yourself you can’t ignore the need to tackle the modern realities of the publishing industry almost like a military campaign (although he does stress that managing the public side of your writing life can and should also be fun). I should say here that despite my corporate strategy quip, Booklife is immensely readable, with VanderMeer’s enthusiasm and dedication shining through.For anyone confused by the sheer vastness of avenues for marketing yourself and networking, this book is a must. For anyone struggling to make time for writing, this book is a must. less

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