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    Write A Sustaining Book
    Write A Sustaining Book
    Write A Sustaining Book
    Ebook56 pages42 minutes

    Write A Sustaining Book

    By J. Fontana

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    About this ebook

    A non-fiction book that produces regular periodic income and that may be periodically (say annually) updated, is a book that can sustain an author who is busy working on the next breakout novel.  This commentary discusses the necessity for an author to overcome the feeling that producing such a non-fiction book compromises his/her creativity.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJ. Fontana
    Release dateNov 10, 2015
    ISBN9781519992710
    Write A Sustaining Book

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      Book preview

      Write A Sustaining Book - J. Fontana

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      First, A Short Introduction

      Chapter 1  Adapt To the Climate.

      Chapter 2 Icy Steps, Thick Skin and the Writing Game.

      Chapter 3 The way we were; the way we are.

      Chapter 4 Don’t Bother Mean-Mouthing the Market.

      Chapter 5 Everyone is an expert at something.

      Chapter 6 Examples of Sustaining books are all around.

      Chapter 7 Creativity is not limited to fiction.

      Chapter 8 Creative souls and non-fiction authors.

      Chapter 9 The ‘Old Farmer's Almanac’ isn't just for old farmers.

      Chapter 10 You must confront the pain of choice. Or do you?

      Chapter 11 There’s gold in them thar’ hills!

      Chapter 12 Think of a need that requires fulfilling. Examples abound.

      Chapter 13 At the risk of repeating myself .  .  . . sort of.

      Chapter 14 Of agents, query letters and freight trains.

      Chapter 15 Of toothpaste and shampoo.

      Chapter 16 An ante-penultimate word to the wise.

      Chapter 17 Why I call it a 'bread and butter' book.

      Chapter 18 Recapitulation in as nutshell.

      *     *     *

      A Brief Introduction

      Trepidation is expected when an author presumes to deliver thoughts and ideas to other authors. The road is fraught with pesky little pot-holes, not the least of which is that the reader may know more about the topic than the writer. Just the same, I hope that what I have to say is of some value, providing you with better odds for success that are somewhat better than the Powerball Lottery.

      In order to keep my commentary at least minimally authoritative, I have included examples and personal experience. Some of my commentary, perhaps, has been, touched upon by others. I find validation in that. My principal reason for writing this is that I believe, along with Dr. Samuel Johnson, that No man but a blockhead should write, except for money.

      I see nothing abhorrent in that.

      The trouble is that most of us, for some mysterious reason, tend to not look at the full spectrum of writing possibilities that are revenue producers. This is further complicated by the fact that most of us tend not to be multi-taskers.

      When discussing writing and publishing, I believe that individual aspects of it should not be looked at in isolation. It is, after all, a complex industry. The writer should be aware of the publishing and retailing climate even as he or she starts to put quill to parchment or finger-tips to keyboard. That is the reason I begin with the first short chapters on The Climate.

      Then let me address the main issue by telling you about, what I call, the Sustaining Book.

      -1-

      Adapt to The Climate

      AXIOM 1:  Know, understand and work within the current authorship climate. Adapting to The Climate is essential to your success.

      Today the authorship terrain is overrun with writers in an already super-saturated, super-heated market.

      The flood of work being submitted to the market place has reached a deluge of biblical proportions. Literary agents and publishers alike will attest to that. Many factors contribute to this flood. Broadly speaking, however, the principal factors creating it are the large and ever-expanding cohort of aspiring authors, including: a generation of retirees with something to say and are anxious to write about it, and a well-educated phalanx of under-employed college grads who decide to try their hand at writing for a living. Overlay this with the seductiveness of periodic revelations about newcomers winning the publishing lottery, landing six-figure contracts for a first 'breakout' novel, and you get the picture.

      The newbie reads the celebrated new book and secretly proclaims to himself, 'I could have written that!'

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