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+ Resources for Writers

A. 1. BOOKS ON SELF-EDITING

Roerden, Chris. Don't Murder Your Mystery: 24 Fiction-Writing Techniques To Save Your Manuscript From Turning Up D.O.A. Rock Hill SC: Bella Rosa Books, 2006. Winner: Agatha Award for Best Nonfiction Book. Finalist: Anthony Award, Macavity Award, and ForeWord Magazine Reference Book of the Year. Click here

Roerden, Chris. Don't Sabotage Your Submission: Insider Information from a Career Manuscript Editor to Save Your Manuscript From Turning Up D.O.A. (This is the expanded all-genre edition of the same Agatha Award-winning Don't Murder Your Mystery listed above). Rock Hill SC: Bella Rosa Books, 2008. Winner: 2009 Benjamin Franklin Award for Literary Criticism. Finalist: ForeWord Magazine's Writing Book of the Year. Click here

Bell, James Scott. Revision & Self-Editing. Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books, 2008.

Bickham, Jack M. The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes (And How To Avoid Them). Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest Books, 1992.

Browne, Renni, & Dave King. Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. New York: Harper Perennial, 1994; revised 2005.

Christmas, Bobbie. Write in Style: Using Your Word Processor and Other Techniques to Improve Your Writing. New York: Union Square Pub., 2004.

Lukeman, Noah. The First Five Pages: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000.

Obstfeld, Raymond. Fiction First Aid. Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest Books, 2001.

2. BOOKS (and CDs/DVDs) ABOUT WRITING

Bell, James Scott. Plot & Structure: Techniques & exercises for crafting a plot. Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest Books, 2004.

Bickham, Jack M. Setting: How To Create and Sustain a Sharp Sense of Time and Place in Your Fiction.
Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest Books, 1994.

Block, Lawrence. Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers.
New York: William Morrow & Co., 1981.

Emerson, Kathy Lynn. How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries.
Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books,2008.

Ephron, Hallie. Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel: How to Knock ’Em Dead with Style.
Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest Books, 2005.

Grafton, Sue, ed. Writing Mysteries: A Handbook by the Mystery Writers of America. Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest Books, 2001.

Hayden, G. Miki. Writing the Mystery.
Philadelphia: Intrigue Press, 2001.

Highsmith, Patricia. Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction.
Boston: The Writer, 1966; New York: Writer’s Library, 1990.

King, Stephen. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.
New York: Scribner, 2000; Pocket Books edition, 2002.

Lukeman, Noah. The Plot Thickens. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2002.

Maass, Donald. The Fire in Fiction.
Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books, 2009.

Neri, Kris. Writing Killer Mysteries: 8 Lessons to Get You Into Print.
Valencia CA: T2G Productions, 2006. (Format: DVD)

Orr, Alice. No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells.
Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest Books, 2004.

Pickard, Nancy. Seven Steps on the Writer's Path. New York: Random House, 2003.

Provost, Gary. Make Your Words Work.
Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest Books, 1990; Author’s Guild Backinprint.com edition, 2001.

Smith, Julie. The Great American Novel Track.
A 2008 class on writing from Edgar® Award-Winning author. (Format: Three 2-hour audio CDs, currently available only from the author, www.writerstrack.com.)

Stein, Sol. How to Grow a Novel.
New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999.

Tapply, William G. The Elements of Mystery Fiction:
Writing the Modern Whodunit. Scottsdale: Poisoned Pen Press, 2005.

Wheat, Carolyn. How to Write Killer Fiction.
Santa Barbara: Perseverance Press, 2003. Outstanding comparison of mystery and thriller, plus a useful guide to genres and subgenres.

3. BOOKS ON CHARACTER BUILDING & BEHAVIOR

Ballon, Rachel. Breathing Life into Your Characters: How to Give Your Characters Emotional and Psychological Depth. Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest Books, 2003.

Douglas, John E., and Mark Olshaker. Anatomy of Motive: The FBI’s Legendary Mindhunter Explores the Key to Understanding & Catching Violent Criminals.
New York: Scribner, 1999.

Groetsch, Michael; ed. Chris Roerden. He Promised He’d Stop.
Brookfield WI: CPI Publishing, 1997. Profiles the types of men who abuse women and how the courts respond.

Kress, Nancy. Dynamic Characters.
Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest Books, 1998.

Samenow, Stanton E. Inside the Criminal Mind. New York: Crown Publishing, 2004.

Tannen, Deborah. You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation.
New York: Ballantine Books, 1991.

4. BOOKS ON CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION

Brown, Steven Kerry. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Private Investigating. New York: Penguin Group, 2003.

Budewitz, Leslie Ann. Books, Crooks and Counselors: How to Write Accurately About Criminal Law and Courtroom Procedure. Fresno, CA: Quill Driver Books, 2011.

Campbell, Andrea. Making Crime Pay: The Writer’s Guide to Criminal Law, Evidence, and Procedure. New York: Allworth Press, 2002.

Lee Lofland. Police Procedure & Investigation. Cincinnati: Writers Digest Books. 2007.


5. BOOKS ON COPYRIGHT FOR WRITERS

Kozak, Ellen. Every Writer’s Guide to Copyright and Publishing Law, 3rd ed. New York: Henry Holt, 2004.

6. BOOKS ON MARKETING THE MANUSCRIPT

Brogan, Kathryn S. Guide to Literary Agents
. Cincinnati: Writers Digest Books, 2005.

Herman, Jeff. Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, and Literary Agents. Waukesha WI: The Writer Books, 2005.

Maass, Donald. The Career Novelist: A Literary Agent Offers Strategies for Success. Portsmouth NH: Heinemann, 1996.

Page, Susan. The Shortest Distance Between You and a Published Book
. Broadway Books, New York. 1997.

Sands, Katharine. Making the Perfect Pitch: How to Catch a Literary Agent’s Eye. Waukesha WI: The Writer Books, 2004.

7. BOOKS ON MARKETING THE PUBLISHED BOOK

Howard-Johnson, Carolyn. The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't. Star Publish, 2004.

Marks, Jeffrey. Intent To Sell: Marketing the Genre Novel. Frederick MD: Hilliard Harris, 2005.

Horowitz, Shel. Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers. Hadley MA: AWM Books, 2007.

Kremer, John. 1001 Ways to Market Your Books, 6th ed. Fairfield IA: Open Horizons, 2006.

Levinson, Jay Conrad; Rick Frishman; Michael Larsen. Guerrilla Marketing for Writers. Cincinnati OH: Writer's Digest Books, 2000.

8. RECOMMENDED EXPERTS

www.LawandFiction.com Attorney and novelist Leslie Ann Budewitz, author of Books, Crooks and Counselors, offers resources, research, and answers to your questions about the law and its effect on you as a writer or on your characters and their actions.

http://leelofland.com/ Former cop, author of Police Procedure & Investigation, Lee Lofland blogs daily and answers your questions on The Graveyard Shift, leelofland.com/wordpress

http://inspirationaleditor.com To edit your romance novel, contact Susan Lohrer.