Authors: Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry
Publisher: Workman Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-7611-6085-4

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Authors: Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry
Publisher: Workman Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-7611-6085-4

“Whether it’s on the page or flowing through your publicity and marketing efforts, passion excites and moves people,” Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry write in the introduction to their book, The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published: How to Write It, Sell, It, and Market It … Successfully!

This five-hundred-and-forty-four-page paperback targets those who want to write and publish a book and do it right. After an introduction, the updated version is divided into three parts that cover fifteen chapters, ending with appendices, acknowledgments, index, and the authors’ biographies.

The three sections cover setting up shop, taking care of business, and getting the word out. Using headliner analogies, each chapter has discussions with tips and sidebars that guide the reader in writing, publishing, and promoting their book. Grayed highlight sections and quotes from many sources are included as well as the authors’ experiences and suggestions.

While the book focuses on the publishing aspect via one of the top five publishing houses or self-publishing, it covers a minutiae of information regarding the process of a manuscript to finished work. Topics range from social media, blogging, websites, launching, book touring, bookstores, royalties, and the future to name a few. 

Being an avid reader who does freelance editing, I was glad to see that getting a professional editor and proofreader are musts before publishing. If the work is not written well, it will not be successful. I found the detailed appendices that cover resources and selected publishers might save some time searching online.

The book’s contents mainly concentrate on what to do with already-written and completed material regarding getting it in the public’s eye. It vaguely touches on how or what to write or improving writing skills. The cutesy titles and themes are sometimes distracting, making the format hard to research a topic unless using the index.

With thirty-five years’ experience in writing between the two married authors, they both have backgrounds in publishing and have co-founded The Book Doctors, a company that helps writers get published. While Eckstut has written nine books, Sterry has authored sixteen. They live in New Jersey with their daughter.

I wish the book had more bullet-format instructions instead of the analogies, quotes, stories, and personal reflections. It also would be nice to remove some of the clutter of sidebars and references to what others have done to get their books published, giving more guidance, worksheets, or instructions.

If you are looking for a book of resources regarding how to publish your book, this may be a good selection if you ignore the fluff and find the pertinent information that applies to you as a writer.

Thanks to Bookpleasures for offering this book to read and review for my honest opinion.