Don't live for your obituary Advice, commentary and personal observations on writing, 2008-2017

John Scalzi, 1969-

Book - 2017

Between 2008 and 2017, author John Scalzi wrote fifteen books, became a New York Times bestselling author, and won numerous awards, including the Hugo, the Locus and the Governor's Award for the Arts in Ohio. He also had book deals crater, lost more awards than he won, worried about his mortgage and health insurance, flubbed a few deadlines, tried to be a decent parent and husband, and got into some arguments on the Internet, because, after all, that's what the Internet is for. Scalzi wrote about it all--the highs and lows in the life of a working writer--and gave his readers, and other writers, a glimpse of the day-to-day business of navigating a writing life in today's world. Sometimes these essays offered advice. Sometimes... they commented on the practical business of publishing and selling books. Sometimes they focused on the writing issues, arguments and personalities of the day. And sometimes, Scalzi reflected on his own writing life and career, and what both meant in the larger scheme of things. Don't Live For Your Obituary is a curated selection of that decade of advice, commentary and observations on the writing life, from one of the best-known science fiction authors working today. But more than that, it's a portrait of an era--ten years of drama, controversy and change in writing, speculative fiction and the world in general--from someone who was there when it happened... and who had opinions about it all.

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Subjects
Genres
Essays
Published
Burton, MI : Subterranean Press 2017.
Language
English
Main Author
John Scalzi, 1969- (author)
Edition
Signed limited edition. First edition
Item Description
"This special signed edition is limited to 1000 numbered copies"--Preliminary page.
Physical Description
469 pages ; 24 cm
ISBN
9781596068582
  • Golden nuggets of writerly wisdom, or, This is where I offer up some writing advice, take it or don't
  • The fine art of putting your books and yourself out there without wanting to drink acid, or, Let's talk about publishing and online presence
  • This is the section where Scalzi snarks on people more famous than he is, so get out your popcorn, or, Thoughts on writers and other notables
  • Don't type angry, well, okay, fine, go right ahead, or, Writing controversies and other such nonsense
  • Jeez, Scalzi, does it always have to be about you? Why yes, yes it does, or, Notes from my career.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Bestselling SF novelist Scalzi (The Collapsing Empire) serves up nuggets of advice on the writing trade in this bountiful gleaning of posts from two decades of his blog, Whatever. The (mostly brief) entries are divided into five main sections: writerly advice drawn from his personal experience; tips for promoting one's work; observations on the work of friends and other writers; discussions of controversial topics (e.g., the right-wing "Sad Puppies" campaign to influence voters at the Hugo Awards); and reflections on his own career path and interests. Specific topics include the expectations of M.F.A. graduates, the futility of anticipating how posterity will treat a writer (in the title essay), and appreciations of Neil Gaiman, Jay Lake, Terry Pratchett, and other colleagues. Scalzi takes an encouraging and sometimes protective tone toward less-established authors, as with his repeated advice that authors value their work enough to avoid low-paying publication platforms because their work "deserves better than a market that values it... poorly." Above all he writes accessibly and so commonsensically that this book should appeal to writers in all disciplines, and even to SF readers who have no ambitions to write themselves. Agent: Ethan Ellenberg, Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency. (Dec.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

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