Click Here To Purchase From Amazon The Writer Within You: A Step-By-Step Guide To Writing And Publishing In Your Retirement Years

Author: Charles Jacobs

ISBN: 10, 13:  0-9793636-0-8: 978-0-9793636-0-3  

How often do retirees hear “your stories are great; you should write them down and publish them?” The most likely reply is I wouldn’t know where to begin or it just seems too difficult to wade through the endless steps to take before my masterpiece is published. Fret no longer, award-winning journalist Charles Jacobs’ has come to your rescue with The Writer Within You: A Step-By-Step Guide To Writing And Publishing In Your Retirement Years.

No doubt there are hundred of books spewing out the same advice as this one however few cover as much territory. And after reading this first-rate book, you will probably come to the same conclusion that I have- its title doesn’t do enough justice to its comprehensive and informative contents. Moreover, this is one of those primers that could easily become prerequisite reading material for anyone, not only retirees, wishing to pursue a general course on the fundamentals of writing and publishing.

Jacobs has over fifty years of writing experience. His more than seven hundred and fifty articles have appeared in magazines and newspapers all over the USA and Canada. In addition, he has ghost written several books and published a novel, Blood Bond. He holds a Master’s Degree from Columbia’s famed Pulitzer Graduate School of Journalism and during his career Jacobs has held positions of Publisher/President of the Alameda Newspaper Group, Publisher of the North Jersey Herald and News and Editor-in-Chief of Focus.

With this vast experience, Jacobs really knows what he is writing about and succeeds admirably in sharing his expertise, research and insights in analyzing such topics as the essential elements of writing the novel, non-fiction writing including memoirs and biographies, the confusing world of publishing, self-publishing, traditional publishing, query letters, book proposals, publishing contracts, marketing and promoting your book, magazine and newspaper writing, placing your articles, business considerations, travel writing, ezines and ebooks, writing and promoting on the Internet, Internet resources, commercial writing, research, and writing tools.

Every one of the guide-book’s twenty-five chapters have been painstakingly researched and referenced reducing to bare bones the intricate world of publishing in an easy-to-digest format introducing the reader to the basics of writing and publishing. Above all, the book’s strength prevails in its depth and wealth of information that it explores with its readers.

To illustrate, referring to the chapters covering publishing and marketing your book, readers discover new printing innovations as offset printing which is still the most economical publishing choice, publishing-on-demand and what to watch out for when choosing a POD publisher, Ebook publishing where seniors and even others have an excellent opportunity to easily publish short books, self-publishing where we go it alone from writing, designing the book cover, securing ISBN numbers, choosing the printer, determining quantity of books to publish, sending out advanced review copies to reviewers, distribution of the book, fulfillment houses to the actual marketing of the book.

Did you know, as Jacobs points out, that 85% or more of the text found in consumer magazines is nonfiction and the figure rises to 100% in trade journals.  With this in mind, Jacobs devotes an entire chapter exploring the nonfiction article from the planning, researching, organizing, article leads, body of the article and its wrap up, query letters to magazine, consumer and trade editors, to the mechanics of the article presentation.

As for the quality of Jacobs writing, it is consistently comprehensible with well focused chapters containing extensive references to web sites, books on writing and marketing. The book’s wide-ranging appendix complements these references with valuable URL addresses as well as lists of books dealing with such topics as pre-publication reviewers, short run printers, article writing books, blogs, book coaches, book distributors, book wholesalers, book marketing and promotion, book reviewers including bookpleasures, books for writers, chat groups, cover designs, copyrights, creative nonfiction, ebooks, equipment, ezines, email list services, fiction writing, book formatting, freelance websites, fulfillment, indexing, ISBN numbers, links, literary agents, and many more. There are even sidebars sprinkled throughout containing words of wisdom such as the remarks of famous writer, Dorothy Parker, “I hate writing, but I love having written.”

It may be difficult to conceive that another book pertaining to writing and publishing merits attention. However, this guide-book should be on the shortlist for anyone aspiring to be a writer. It’s too bad it was not available when I began my own writing in retirement. It would have save me a great deal of time and frustration.

To read Norm's Interview with Charles Jacobs CLICK HERE

The above review was contributed by: The  Norm Goldman, B.A. LL.L, Retired Title Attorney, Publisher & Editor of Bookpleasures.com.

Norm is also a travel writer and together with his artist wife, Lily, the couple meld Norm's words with Lily's art. To check out their travel site click on Sketchandtravel.com   Click here to view more of Norm’s Reviews & Interviews.

Click Here To Purchase From Amazon The Writer Within You: A Step-By-Step Guide To Writing And Publishing In Your Retirement Years