Parisian Phoenix Publishing

• Biel, Joe. People’s Guide to Publishing: Building a Successful, Meaningful Book Business from the Ground UpWhy is this on the list? I discovered Joe Biel’s podcast of the same name and fell in love with his knowledge and his approach to bookcraft. Joe’s company, Microcosm Press has purchased at least one other small press and has established themselves as a major midlist book publisher and distributor who no longer sells their books via Amazon. He knows his stuff. And I want to be him when I grow up.I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in writing and publishing their work if they have the patience for a 400-page beautifully designed, information-dense volume. Whether you plan to self-publish or traditionally publish with a large or small press, the basic knowledge of the entire industry will behoove you. It explains everything from distribution to marketing and provide an explanation of the business of books. Biel’s ideas step beyond what you normally hear. The advice is comprehensive AND there are some delightful illustrations.

• Lafferty, Mur. I should be Writing: A Writer’s Workshop.Why did this fall short? This is a beautiful book— full color, bold design and very heavy quality paper. But when it comes to content, each chapter is only about 300-400 words long. The advice is geared for very new writers, and the “workshop” is about 75 pages that offer about 25 writing prompts and a lot of blank-lined paper. She has two super great chapters: one on the four steps she takes to edit her work and another on lessons on how to effectively critique and be critiqued. These are fantastic chapters for anyone.

To see the whole list on Substack:

• Click Writers Resources in the title bar
• Or Substack paid subscribers can read all my mini-reviews on this page