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A review by mkjacobswrites
Before and After the Book Deal: A Writer's Guide to Finishing, Publishing, Promoting, and Surviving Your First Book by Courtney Maum
5.0
This is such a useful, relatable, and accessible guide! My review focuses specifically on me, but I would recommend this to any writer, in any stage.
While I read and enjoyed all of Courtney Maum's writing guide, the opening chapter on “Getting It Right” was the most helpful to me in my current stage as a writer. I appreciated where she pointed out the obvious reality that sometimes gets lost in the swirl of information about writing: “most writers will not be getting paid for their first book before it actually becomes one, so you are going to have to trick yourself into believing in its value while you’re writing it” (5). She then gave concrete suggestions on how to monetize your writing, such as “Maybe you divert part of your salary to pay yourself a writing wage” (5). On first reading, I mentally rejected this advice, thinking adopting such a measure would be too intense for me - but then I realized that was her point: When we don’t treat our writing seriously, we don’t prioritize it effectively. That made me wonder how my productivity levels might change if I adopted Maum’s proposed strategies here, or even simply her attitude towards writing, like with her dedication - “For the dreamers who sat down to tell a story that no one asked them to write.” We have to ask ourselves to write the story and then continue to believe in it.
As a frequent NaNoWriMo participant, I appreciated her takeaway from the challenge: “it proves that you can make ambitious writing projects manageable by breaking them down into small parts” and “remember that hitting your word-count goal doesn’t perfect the project; revision does. So leave time to revise!” (8, 9). I think I struggle with non-word-count goals because it’s hard to appreciate the value of revision in the same concrete way. With that, she recommended, “Be wary of the people who say that you have to write every day to be a writer….Think every day about the things that you want to write, and when you have time to get to your desk, honor your intentions” (9). This struck a chord because even during November, I have to take Sundays off writing, which I've always seen as being an embarrassing reality, suggesting I'm not serious about my work. So her perspective here felt personally vindicating.
Also, authenticity is something I'm always concerned with (especially being an identical twin), so I appreciated her comments like how we "need to write...[our] way to the true story" and "the truth is usually the best path to the story" (36).
Her "Getting it out there" section starts with “There is a huge difference between writing, and writing to be read," because “...if you are submitting...you are thinking about the way your work is going to be received” and then getting feedback on it (39, 42). This felt empowering to me, showing how taking your work seriously is the only way it’s going to be taken seriously. Similarly, I found Maum's perspective "If you are starting to receive soft or personalized rejections, this is cause for celebration: your work is attracting attention, and you are getting close” very encouraging; of course, you can’t get rejections with helpful feedback, much less acceptances, if you don’t submit (48).
I also loved how relatably real her tone was for giving advice - even while she gave super specific help - as in right after she gives a great overview of pitching : “Share your story idea and angle on this particular topic, then add why this story is timely and important” [51] - she then talks about “If you Google ‘how to pitch’” to beware of a suspect 2014 article [51]. She’s clearly been in the shoes of someone trying to break into the industry, recently, so she knows what we’ll Google and what will come up.
Maum doesn’t just give us her own experience, though, helpful as that perspective is; she also synthesizes advice from others. One standout for me was this thought from Jess Zimmerman “...it’s not enough to have a subject; you also need to have a point” (52). In this section, she also dispelled my continued naïve notion that personal connection is the only way to navigate the publishing landscape; of course, knowing people is great, but good writing that is pitched appropriately, with sufficient research beforehand, works too. Maum's advice included, "Write as if you know the publication you are pitching to, not the editor” (53). Then, I felt like her discussion of self-publishing was particularly nuanced, especially the thought that “For writers who are open-eyed to the complexities of traditional publishing and the ever-tightening market, the decision to self-publish can be an empowering and deeply satisfactory move." (60).
Really, Maum's guide, being so accessible and grounded in the current literary marketplace, is an excellent resource that I will continue to use. I expect the later sections will become more applicable and resonate more with me as I move along my journey as a writer.
While I read and enjoyed all of Courtney Maum's writing guide, the opening chapter on “Getting It Right” was the most helpful to me in my current stage as a writer. I appreciated where she pointed out the obvious reality that sometimes gets lost in the swirl of information about writing: “most writers will not be getting paid for their first book before it actually becomes one, so you are going to have to trick yourself into believing in its value while you’re writing it” (5). She then gave concrete suggestions on how to monetize your writing, such as “Maybe you divert part of your salary to pay yourself a writing wage” (5). On first reading, I mentally rejected this advice, thinking adopting such a measure would be too intense for me - but then I realized that was her point: When we don’t treat our writing seriously, we don’t prioritize it effectively. That made me wonder how my productivity levels might change if I adopted Maum’s proposed strategies here, or even simply her attitude towards writing, like with her dedication - “For the dreamers who sat down to tell a story that no one asked them to write.” We have to ask ourselves to write the story and then continue to believe in it.
As a frequent NaNoWriMo participant, I appreciated her takeaway from the challenge: “it proves that you can make ambitious writing projects manageable by breaking them down into small parts” and “remember that hitting your word-count goal doesn’t perfect the project; revision does. So leave time to revise!” (8, 9). I think I struggle with non-word-count goals because it’s hard to appreciate the value of revision in the same concrete way. With that, she recommended, “Be wary of the people who say that you have to write every day to be a writer….Think every day about the things that you want to write, and when you have time to get to your desk, honor your intentions” (9). This struck a chord because even during November, I have to take Sundays off writing, which I've always seen as being an embarrassing reality, suggesting I'm not serious about my work. So her perspective here felt personally vindicating.
Also, authenticity is something I'm always concerned with (especially being an identical twin), so I appreciated her comments like how we "need to write...[our] way to the true story" and "the truth is usually the best path to the story" (36).
Her "Getting it out there" section starts with “There is a huge difference between writing, and writing to be read," because “...if you are submitting...you are thinking about the way your work is going to be received” and then getting feedback on it (39, 42). This felt empowering to me, showing how taking your work seriously is the only way it’s going to be taken seriously. Similarly, I found Maum's perspective "If you are starting to receive soft or personalized rejections, this is cause for celebration: your work is attracting attention, and you are getting close” very encouraging; of course, you can’t get rejections with helpful feedback, much less acceptances, if you don’t submit (48).
I also loved how relatably real her tone was for giving advice - even while she gave super specific help - as in right after she gives a great overview of pitching : “Share your story idea and angle on this particular topic, then add why this story is timely and important” [51] - she then talks about “If you Google ‘how to pitch’” to beware of a suspect 2014 article [51]. She’s clearly been in the shoes of someone trying to break into the industry, recently, so she knows what we’ll Google and what will come up.
Maum doesn’t just give us her own experience, though, helpful as that perspective is; she also synthesizes advice from others. One standout for me was this thought from Jess Zimmerman “...it’s not enough to have a subject; you also need to have a point” (52). In this section, she also dispelled my continued naïve notion that personal connection is the only way to navigate the publishing landscape; of course, knowing people is great, but good writing that is pitched appropriately, with sufficient research beforehand, works too. Maum's advice included, "Write as if you know the publication you are pitching to, not the editor” (53). Then, I felt like her discussion of self-publishing was particularly nuanced, especially the thought that “For writers who are open-eyed to the complexities of traditional publishing and the ever-tightening market, the decision to self-publish can be an empowering and deeply satisfactory move." (60).
Really, Maum's guide, being so accessible and grounded in the current literary marketplace, is an excellent resource that I will continue to use. I expect the later sections will become more applicable and resonate more with me as I move along my journey as a writer.