Review: Priceless Advice from Inside the Trenches, by a Longtime Writer
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 14, 2010
You might be wondering if all these five star reviews were written by friends of J.A. Konrath. I don't know, but it wouldn't matter even if they were, because this really is a priceless collection of advice for anyone who wants to have a successful career as a writer. I attended a writing seminar earlier this year for around $600 (not including travel, hotel, etc.), and without exaggeration, the information in this $3 ebook is worth at least as much as what I got out of that wonderful, and extremely helpful, three-day event.Like many, I found J.A. through his incredible blog. Since then, my sincere respect for him has grown steadily into the stratosphere. Not only is he very generous with what he shares, not only does he work as hard as anyone in publishing, not only is he smart as hell, and not only is he flat-out hilarious, but as I've also come to find after reading this very work, he has more than a little invaluable wisdom to offer, as well. He is a remarkable individual, and being able to download his collected experience as a writer for such a cheap price is just amazing.There are a few downsides to this work, and they're very insignificant on the whole. One, this ebook is a collection of his blog posts, so you can get this information for free on his blog. However, you would be *insane* to spend the time it would take to go back over the 370,000 words he's written on his enormous blog since 2005. This ebook has a table of contents that allows you to find what you want, click on it, and go right there (blogs are much harder to navigate). For $2.99, it's a steal to have all of this information so well formatted and collected. The other downside IMO is that occasionally (though not very often) you'll find some older material that J.A. has since changed his mind about. For example, he's now a big proponent of independent ebook publishing as a viable route (because the publishing landscape has changed). So my suggestion would be to keep up with his blog just a bit, so that you can see his most current takes on publishing. The last issue might be that this is a HUGE work, but then that's really a benefit, isn't it?Obviously, people relatively new to publishing can benefit from this work. But there's enough real wisdom here that I think a midlist writer would also get far more than his or her money's worth from it. In particular, J.A. has great information/inspiration about promoting oneself as a writer in a variety of ways, both online and off, areas where he more than walks his talk. He covers an impressively wide array of topics, though, so it's certainly not all about promotion. But some of the most valuable material involves how to succeed in today's marketplace, and he is certainly a leader and pioneer when it comes to things like ebooks and blogging.Last comment. I've benefited from reading dozens and dozens of good books on writing and publishing. One thing that makes J.A. special is that after reading his articles, I feel truly inspired by his soulfulness as an individual. There's something else behind his words which shows that despite his tireless, gritty efforts to make a living as a writer, the man is all heart. Thanks for your work, Joe.