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Rating: 
Summary: The nuts and bolts of getting your writing published
Review: "The Practical Writer" is a collection of thirty-one articles by experts involved in the various stages of publishing poems, books and articles. Each piece concentrates on a different aspect of the writer's trade, from giving a lyric poem that final polish, to understanding rejection letters, to negotiating a book contract. That there are thirty-one contributions is in itself a measure of the complexity of the writer's world. In addition to editors, writers must deal with agents and publicists, booksellers and literary organizations. There are readings to give, flyers to print, contracts to negotiate, and book tours to arrange. For people used to solitary work, that can be overwhelming. Writers, as several of the contributors point out, are sometimes out of the loop as far as the 'business' of publishing is concerned. Even though the industry revolves around them, the writers themselves may be unaware of what drives companies to accept one piece of work and reject another, or promote one book to best seller status while letting another languish on a back shelf. Therese Eiben and Mary Gannon of Poets& Writers magazine have brought together a wonderfully knowledgeable and supportive group of people. "The Practical Writer" is full of solid, substantive advice. My copy promises to become one of those books whose spines will develop the "telltale creases" of repeated reading.
Rating:
Summary: Great Information By People Who Know Witing
Review: I recently took a writing workshop and the instructor told us that if we are not yet reading POET AND WRITERS magazine, we should be. He found the magazine articles helpful when he first started writing because the articles in the magazine are written by both established and emerging writers as well as by professionals in the publishing field. He still reads the magazine and finds as a published writer, the articles are accurate about the writing life. Since he is already a published author, I believed his advice to be reliable. As a result of this workshop, I also met other writers who have been published in this magazine and make the same claim. When I saw the book THE PRACTICAL WRITER advertised in the magazine and realized it was a "best of" collection from the magazine, I thought that the book could be rather helpful. Practical is the key word in the title. While the book does have some content about writing theory, most of the book deals with publishers and the writing world. Since I have yet to have anything published, I may not be qualified to say how helpful the articles in the book actually are, but it does give an aspiring writer a good introduction of all that is involved from beginning a manuscript to its completion. The book helps a person interesting in writing look at the possibility realistically. Each of the articles in the book was originally featured in POETS AND WRITERS magazine by contributors who have a working knowledge of writing and publishing. The book is divided into five sections: Conceptions of craft, Initial contract with a publisher, working with professional in the field, selling a book, and jobs in writing. An article on writing by Robert Philips completes the book. The book also contains helpful information about grants and awards, writing conferences and residences and resources for writers. For me, collections such as THE PRACTICAL WRITER help me set goals as far as writing is concerned. Fantasizing about writing is something many people do, and writing can be a cathartic experience, at least for me. Getting something to work on paper is a far different matter, and collections such as this work do help me to focus and try to produce something that is of quality and is also true to me. Hopefully it will help other aspiring writers too!
Rating: 
Summary: A Pratical Book, Indeed
Review: This book approaches writing from the perspective of professional writers. In it, you will encounter essays regarding various types of and approaches to writing. What is practical and most useful about this book is its large appendix. Contained within is a collection of contacts, addresses and websites centered on grants, publishers, agents and other useful info.
The essays and musings do contain helpful recommendations, but not all of it can be called pearls of wisdom.
This isn't the greatest of its kind; I'd recommend $30 Writing School over this, depending on what aspects of writing you'd like covered (and how much you want to spend). That said, this is certainly not the worst of its kind either. Actually, maybe owning both will cover the most angles for you.
I'd rate Practical Writer at about 3.5 stars, but flip through it so you have an idea of exactly what advice is given. Different texts will address different aspect of writing for publication.
This book might not teach much about creating the perfect novel of constructing character dialogue, but think of this one as a great item to have on your reference shelf, along with your 2005 Writer's Market.
(If the scale were made into a more logical ten-point scale, I'd rate this book at about 7/10 or 70%. It's difficult to know what the value of 3/5 stars is. I think Amazon should switch scales)
Rating:
Summary: Digs Beyond the Initial Target.....
Review: This book, a compilation of articles from "Poets and Writers" magazine hits the mark and much, much more. The book covers the process of writing from idea to conclusion to promotion of the finished product. Successful writers know that simply producing a book is just the beginning. The chapters on "How to Give a Rousing Reading" and "Publicity for Your Small Press Title" are incredibly valuable. In the words of one of the contributing authors, Robert McDowell, "Presenting your new book to the public is really no different than presenting yourself." There are tons of resources which will prove invaluable to the active writer - the writer seeking professional success.
Rating:
Summary: Digs Beyond the Initial Target.....
Review: This book, a compilation of articles from "Poets and Writers" magazine hits the mark and much, much more. The book covers the process of writing from idea to conclusion to promotion of the finished product. Successful writers know that simply producing a book is just the beginning. The chapters on "How to Give a Rousing Reading" and "Publicity for Your Small Press Title" are incredibly valuable. In the words of one of the contributing authors, Robert McDowell, "Presenting your new book to the public is really no different than presenting yourself." There are tons of resources which will prove invaluable to the active writer - the writer seeking professional success.
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