Publications > Dateline Houston > December 2003 > Feature Article

Volume 43, Issue 3

December 2003

Recommended Reading List

by John Hedtke, Principal, JVH Communications, and STC Associate Fellow You should add several books on writing to your library:

How to Be Your Own Literary Agent by Richard Curtis

The book explains the basics of contracts and what agents do. Required reading before you sign your name to a book contract. If you become interested, you should also buy the author's Books into Bestsellers, a clear look at the publishing industry and how it works.

The Writer's Market (annual)

This book is the most commonly available source of information about publishers. It contains profiles of hundreds of publishers, their focuses, and contact information.

1001 Ways to Market Your Booksb y John Kremer

John Kremer's book will excite you with the opportunities for marketing your books. Most of the ideas are ways to market your book over and above anything your publisher might be doing for you (though you can frequently get your publisher to do more by pitching ideas).

The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron

This book is a 12-week self-taught course on creativity. You can do it by yourself, but it really works best with a small study group for the commitment, the interaction, and the insights. These are vital components of examining and understanding your motivation before making a career change—and choosing to write books as a large part of your professional life is definitely a career change.

The Secrets of Consulting by Gerry Weinberg

Although this topic is slightly tangential to being an author, this is an amazing book for the independent worker. Gerry makes his points by telling stories and creating aphorisms, maxims, and rules that stick with you; for example, "Rudy's Rutabaga Rule: Once you solve your number-one problem, your number-two problem gets a promotion." You'll want to read this book every year.

Clutter's Last Stand by Don Aslett

This is an amazingly helpful book on how to keep clutter out of your life. Don Aslett runs a multimillion dollar cleaning organization and writes dozens of fun, approachable books on cleaning and organizing. No author should be without this book.

The Richest Man in Babylon by George F. Clason

None of us are in this business for our health. This book gives you the basics on how to become rich, and it won't put you to sleep while you read it (unlike most other books of this kind).

Computer Book Publishers

The following list contains information about some of the computer book publishers that I have worked with or that I would be willing to work with. You can take a look at their books and get an idea of their focus by checking their web sites. (Note: Some of these companies might be out of business or purchased by another company by the time you read this.) For up-to-date (and much longer) lists of publishers, check out the web links listed in the "Web Resources" section coming in the January 2004 issue of Dateline Houston. In addition, the annual Writer's Market lists hundreds of publishers of all kinds.

Go back to "Hey, Kids! Become an Author at Home in Your Spare Time and Earn Big Bucks!"—Part 1