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How Not to Write a Novel: Confessions of a Mid-list Author
 
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How Not to Write a Novel: Confessions of a Mid-list Author (Paperback)

by David Armstrong (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
RRP: £9.99
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How Not to Write a Novel: Confessions of a Mid-list Author + How NOT to Write a Novel: 200 Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs If You Ever Want to Get Published + Wannabe a Writer?
Price For All Three: £20.46

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Product details

  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Allison & Busby (1 Jun 2003)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0749006803
  • ISBN-13: 978-0749006808
  • Product Dimensions: 21.2 x 14 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 261,149 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Product Description

Reading a self-help book for would be authors can give you the impression that becoming an author is a simple and lucrative process. But for the vast majority of published authors the bestseller lists are something to dream about and writing is not their main source of income. David Armstrong is a typical mid-list author: his books are well received but have failed to make a commercial breakthrough, his work sells solidly but unspectacularly, he's well known within the writing community but the majority of book buyers, will never have heard his name. And it is from this position that he has produced an antidote to the vast number of overly optimistic writers' guides. How Not to Write a Novel is a comprehensive guide to becoming a published author. Subjects covered range from agents to vanity publishing, the slush pile to prizes and contracts to marketing. Brutally honest and thoroughly refreshing - finally a writers' guide that tells it like it really is!


About the Author

David Armstrong was born in Birmingham and now lives in Shropshire. He left secondary school without qualifications but later went on to read English at university in Cardiff. His first novel was short-listed for the Crime Writers' Association Best First Crime Novel and since then his work has continued to receive critical acclaim.

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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews
5 star:
 (6)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Telling it like it is!, 22 Aug 2003
By N. HEATON-HARRIS (Hayling Island, Hampshire) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Well done, David! Finally a book that empathised with everything I have been going through! The title should not have been How Not To Write a Novel, but something like, I'm a Writer, Get Me Out Of Here! As a writer myself, desperately trying to get that novel accepted, despite having had previous works published, it explained and explored all the emotions and thoughts you go through as a writer. The chapter entitled The Joy Of It All, absolutely was perfect! Readers of the book will understand. Why aren't there more honest books like this one?
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Not quite what it seems, 7 Jan 2004
I was intrigued by the title of this book whilst browsing in a local book shop. I flicked through a few pages and enjoyed picking out literary insights, statistics and gossip regarding the world of a mid-list novelist and his attempts to break through into the big time. I thought the book would serve as an antedote to the many How To...books that occupied the same shelf in the book shop, so I decided to give it a whirl. All in all, I enjoyed the read. I found it entertaining and informative. If one looks closely, there are nuggets of advice that every would be novelist would find useful. I know I did. The book doesn't quite live up to it's title, which suggests an instructive slant, though the 'confessions of a midlist author' appendage slyly gives the game away. As a How To or How Not To,it doesn't offer enough. As a meandering muse that reflects a compilation of the author's thoughts, experiences and insights into the world of subsistence writing, it deserves four stars. As it stands, and for what it promises yet doesn't quite deliver, it is a worthy three stars. Note that five stars should be reserved for a true masterpiece, so take such accreditations with a pinch of salt.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Honest and funny, 18 Jun 2003
By Cath Staincliffe (manchester, Lancs United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
David Armstrong tells it like it is in this excellent guide to the current world of writing. All the let-downs and frustrations that follow hot on the heels of getting into print: the toe-curling forays into bookshops hoping you'll be on the shelf, the pathetic advances, the Catch 22 of getting no publicity or marketing until you sell enough copies (and not selling enough because no-one's heard of the thing - and it's not in the shops), the slush pile, the reviews, the dream of a breakthrough book. This should be compulsory reading for anyone wanting to get published. I read it in one sitting and, as a fellow mid-list writer, when I wasn't laughing I was groaning in recognition. The book debunks plenty of myths and will challenge your lovely pipe dreams but it will also help explain how the whole world of publishing works(or doesn't).
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars How to outsell your own not very successful novels with a 'how to' book
A book that claims to be the antidote to How to... books. In fact it is really a memoir of the author who has published four novels and achieved, by his own measure, mediocre... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Build another bookcase

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential for the aspiring novelist
David Armstrong's book is a neat send up of all the hundreds of How To Write A Bestseller books around now. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Melanie Shakespeare

4.0 out of 5 stars A realistic and funny look at the dichotomy between wannabe writers and the publishing industry
A midlist author is one whose published books have sold thousands, but not hundreds of thousands, and in that position David Armstrong is probably better qualified to write a... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Mr. Stuart Bruce

4.0 out of 5 stars very realistic !
Amid all the hype its good to read a book about writers who are not best sellers and who just about scrape a living .
Published on 28 Aug 2003

3.0 out of 5 stars Not all that it seems...
Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed this book. I found David Armstrong to be amusing, frank and honest. Read more
Published on 27 Aug 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Do It!
Excellent! This is a very important piece of work, mandatory reading for anyone who has either written a novel, or ever considered doing so. Read more
Published on 20 Aug 2003 by cyberpsycho

5.0 out of 5 stars Honest and Funny
David Armstrong tells it like it really is in this detailed guide to the excruciatingly insecure world of publishing. Read more
Published on 21 Jul 2003 by Cath Staincliffe

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fantastic Read!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and read the whole of it in one evening. It is funny, informative, well written and is full of the sort of information that anyone who has ever... Read more
Published on 12 Jun 2003 by jody dunn

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