Review: How to Publish Your Book (from The Great Courses)

I just finished How to Publish Your Book by Jane Friedman, part of The Great Courses, and I felt it deserved its own blog post.

It also deserves a spot on the must-read list for anyone who would like to get their writing published, even (perhaps especially) if they intend to self-publish. The course is written by Jane Friedman, possibly one of the most qualified people in the country to do such a thing, and it outlines in great detail how to find a literary agent, how to write a great query letter, and a lengthy list of what NOT to do at each step of the way towards, during, and beyond publication. Friedman is kind but doesn’t sugar-coat, and she doesn’t waste the reader’s time. Her realistic, professional approach to the market was refreshing, and I will be recommending this book to many of my editing clients.

While the book mainly focuses on the traditional publishing market, this is invaluable information for someone self-publishing too. To compete effectively, or at all, with traditional publishing, self-publishers need to understand the market–and it is a complex, rapidly changing one. The publishing landscape has changed so radically in the last twenty or even ten years that many of the strategies that worked before simply aren’t viable. Don’t expect to make it big doing what someone else did to make it big in 2009; times have changed, and writers have to change along with them.

You can get the book on The Great Courses website, naturally, but I was able to listen to the audiobook for free using the Overdrive library app, which I highly recommend. Don’t miss out on these insights!

 

The most relaxing song in the world and other aural delights

Music! Let me share some with you. Skews pretty heavily towards Icelandic music and indie music, but even that is all over the place, so you’ll probably find something you enjoy! (I realized way too far into this post that I could’ve just made a Youtube playlist…but then I’m not sure how I would’ve included the songs that aren’t on Youtube.) Note: this sat in drafts for MONTHS because there was so much I wanted to post, and I didn’t have time to just sit down and pick more than a few songs at a time.

• “Girl from the North Country” by Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan. This is my favorite Dylan song, and I adore Cash even more than I do Dylan, so…basically a dream come true here.
• “Tracking Airplanes” by The Echelon Effect.
• “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” cover by…a washing machine.
• “Watching the Waiting” by Wye Oak.
• “Fed All My Days” by Máni Orrason.
• “Hailslide” by Júníus Meyvant.
• “Ryðgaður Dans” by Valdimar.
• “Listen to the Man” by George Ezra (and featuring scene-stealing Ian McKellen in the music video). Bonus: check out “Budapest” by the same artist.
• “Africa” cover by Angel City Choir. Turn your volume up!
• “Up All Night” by Alex Clare.
• Myrkur, a nyckelharpa artist. If you don’t know what that is, click the link.
• “Weightless” by Marconi Union, supposedly the most relaxing song in the world.
• “Crystal Blue Persuasion” cover by my brother, Ed Ricker.
• “Lost Boy” by Ruth B.
• “Bohemian Rhapsody” done brilliantly by a crowd of people waiting to hear Green Day.
• “Blue Monday” played on 1930s instruments by Orkestra Obsolete.
• Estonian choir sings songs created from Emily Bronte’s poems.
• “Obsession” by OK Go.  Poor guys, always having to outdo themselves in their music videos. Must be almost impossible by this point.
• “Pais Dinogad,” Britain’s oldest lullaby. Utterly entrancing.
• “I Know a Place” by Conan Gray.
• “Truly Do” by The Fleetwoods.
• Family casually sings Les Miserables together better than the actual movie cast did.
• “Sztoj pa moru” by Laboratorium Pieśni.
• Ancient FM, a playlist of commercial-free medieval and renaissance music.
• “Hunger” by Florence + the Machine.
• “Africa” cover by Peter Bence using whatever weird sounds you can make with a piano (be sure to watch).
• “Nothing to Lose But Your Head” by The Augustines.
• “Run to You” by Ocie Elliott.
• “Girl in Calico” by Tow’rs.
• “Rain Hat” by Noble Kids.
• “Island” by  Unknown Neighbor.
• “What Is Now” by Demons of Ruby Mae.
• “Tired and Awake” by Oliver Riot.
• “Rivalry” by Matthew Gordon Price.

Enjoy!