Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #260104 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04-30
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 156 pages

Synopsis
Many of us have wanted to write a life-story but have been unsure how to set about it or how to bring such a project to completion. Whether you are planning to write about your own family or research the life of a famous historical figure, this book will assist, advise and encourage you. The author looks at all aspects of writing biography and autobiography, including: the reasons for biographical writing; choosing your subject; identifying your audience; research methods; organising the information; and writing up your material. There are also sections on legal issues, copyright and finding a publisher.

From the Author
We are all interested in people - and for a variety of reasons we often want to research and write up their lives. My guidebook covers more than just the traditional idea of biography as the lives of famous men and women published in book form but looks at web-publishing, at life-writing for family historians, at telling your own life story. The skills of biographical research and writing are also applicable to many other fields - such as historical fiction.
The book is full of what I hope is useful and practical guidance based on my own experiences of biographical writing with lots of information on traditional and computer-based sources of information. Writing biographies can be extremely rewarding - this book helps you get started and helps you see your project through to completion.

About the Author
Brian Osborne is the author of three full-length biographies and a large number of biographical articles for magazines in the UK and USA

Customer Reviews

Useful and helpful handbook
'How to' books are not always readable, you have to read them because you have to or you ought to. Brian Osborne's chatty easy style made this a highly readable book, the information is put over in such a way that you absorb it without it being hard work. I was able to skip quite a lot, as an experienced writer I fortunately didn't need the basic information on setting out the work or selling it, as I have an agent, but it is there for those who are starting out. It has helped me clarify my thoughts for the biography I am working on right now. An excellent book full of useful information and sensible advice on the pitfalls and problems of tackling such a project together with encouragement in the form of the good points of tackling such a project. I would recommend this to anyone considering starting work on a biography or an autobiography.

Lucid and thorough
The author has written three biographies. He seems a lot more interested in biographies than autobiographies. On the former he's very good indeed - the treatment is firm, thoughtful and thorough.