Product Description

The proven and definitive resource for aspiring novelists, How to Write & Sell Your First Novel gives writers the critical information they need to write and publish a first novel in today's market. Readers will find:. Time-tested writing instruction, covering the basic elements of novel writing and revision. Expert marketing advice, with information on using an agent, negotiating a contract and more. Actual case histories of first-time novelists, providing valuable insight into how to become a successful writer Written by a successful agent and published author team, this Writer's Digest Classic shows writers the path to novel success.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #119585 in Books
• Published on: 1997-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

About the Author
Oscar Collier was a successful literary agent, writer, and former editor. Frances Spatz Leighton is the author of over thirty books.

Customer Reviews

Some irrelevant information
The book started out extremely well, the first chapter was inspirational and very informative. The second chapter explained the different genres of fiction, i.e. mainstream, romance, mystery, etc. Further along the book, I found the book was most practical in its advice on preparing your final draft and submitting it to publishers.

The second part of the book is basically a biography covering the lives of several authors. Some were quite interesting as they were compressed into two or three pages, such as the careers of John Grisham, Stephen King, and Mary Higgins Clark. I do admit those were very inspirational as well.

The disappointment was in the long, extensive, and detailed biographies of George O'Toole, Steven Linakis and a few others. I believe this was hardly relevant to the subject; one may think they were included in the book for inspiration to the reader, but the amount of detail that is put in there about the authors' lives may tend to leave you wondering, "He (Oscar) could've said that in a page, why'd he use up 8 pages?"

Devoid of theory (thank God) yet full of pragmatic tips.
I have read Gardner's monsterpiece as well as Forster's and have come to the conclusion that this book is preferable to both. Why? It's written by an editor, not a writer, so it is vastly more objective than anything an author of fiction could produce. Unromantic to a fault, it is packed with good, old, common sense advice on how to write a publishable book.

Most helpful, practical book I've read on writing a novel.
I've read more than a few good books on writing; several are quite inspirational. The difference here is that this book is practical. I wrote my first novel following the guidelines set forth in Collier and Leighton's book, and I sold it to a major publishing company. Inspiration is great; inspiration plus methodology is better.