How To Books

Self Help Books

How to books and self help books are in great demand as more and more writers take charge of their own publishing and promotion.

This page offers information not only to help writers smooth out their prose but also to anyone who wishes to write instructional prose to teach others about certain topics.

Many writers find that book writing format and publishing a book are two areas of interest that need perfection.

Sometimes the best teacher of writing and publishing is to study how others do it. Buy books that are similar to what you wish to publish, or that help you with little stumbling blocks on your road to becoming published. Study the formats and topics.

Your publication need not be your opus, but a simple book about something you care deeply. For the writer seeking to learn, a good reference book will cover many, many aspects of writing, publishing, as well as what happens before and after the book is made public.

If you are writing how to books and self help books, you must offer your reader something of lasting value, something that solves problems, no matter your choice of topic. My reference books, Write It Right – Tips for Authors, Volume I, 2nd Edition, and Volume II, do just that.

Write It Right
Tips for Authors

Volume II

by
Mary Deal

How to books usually express knowledge, facts and guidance to help readers accomplish one or more goals. In the case of Write It Right – Tips for Authors, writers can find an incredible assortment of articles dealing with all aspects of writing. The content of these books shown here applies to both fiction and nonfiction.

Write It Right
Tips for Authors

Volume I, 2nd Edition

by
Mary Deal

Self help books aid a reader in accomplishing something they wish for themselves. Perhaps you are already writing but recognize rough areas in your composition.

The definitions of both how to books and self help books cross over and can be used interchangeably. When writing your own how to book, be specific in your choice of topic and what you offer your reader. You can always write other books about other topics you wish to share.

Self help books and how to books can be psychological or philosophic in nature in addition to providing just the facts. People relate more to emotional expressions rather than cut and dried data.

In Write It Right – Tips for Authors, you will not only find all of this but humor too. Additionally, I’ve invited a few popular writers to share one each of their articles in the book. Too, short quips and torts from writer of old are included. These always carry the potential to inspire, if not give a chuckle when we see how their opinions affect our writing today. How to books and self help books should have a little humor and never be dry, in my opinion.

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To Contents I
To Last Notes

Here are the entire Table of Contents of Write It Right – Tips for Authors, Volumes I, 2nd Ed. and II.

TABLE OF CONTENTS for VOLUME II:

Begin at the Beginning
Basic Reference Library
3 Reasons to Write Sequels
Subconscious Creativity
Saturate Yourself
Slowing Yourself Down
Above article includes the poem...
Writer’s Block by Mary Deal
Writing the
Biorhythm Waves
Writing Prompts
Plagiarism On and Offline

Titles
Creating Your Story Title
The
Effect of Titles
Choosing a Subtitle
More About Choosing a Subtitle

Beginnings and Endings
Prologue, Denouement and Epilogue
Denouements and Epilogues

The First Drafts
What Motivates Your Characters?
Wasting Stories
Include It or Forget It
Personality as Voice
Vignette: A Writer’s Night by Mary Deal

The Parts
Magnetic Beginnings
Above article includes....
Chapter 1 of the novel....
Down to the Needle
by Mary Deal
End Sagging Middles
Elusive Endings
Outlining a Story

The Nuts and Bolts
Action Words
Better Words
Common Words to Forget
Fewer Or Less
Writing Humor by Lissa Brown

The Nuts and Bolts in Sync
Cut the Repetition
Unseen Background Details
Staying in Point of View

More Grammar Tips
Rules of Grammar
Tricky Sentence Structure
Contractions Anyone?
The Letter S
Inside the End Quotes

Your Characters
Character Titles
Be Astute About Character Names
Importance of Names
Kinship Names
Importance of Characters
Your Characters Change Clothes

Play-Act the Scripts
Become an Actor
Becoming Your Characters
Character Mannerisms
Character Takeover

Dialogue
Self-Absorbed Characters
Sex... with Finesse
Your Characters Speak your Language
Writing in First Person
Story: The Swimmer by Mary Deal

Editing, Re-editing and Re-writing
When Not to Edit
More Words to Lose
Be Compulsive
Paragraph Redundancy
Exaggeration with Redundancy
Fine Detail Behind the Scenes
Habitual Mistakes
Two Little Words
Let It Sit
Readability Matters by Audrey Owen

Short Stories
Composing the Short Story
Short Stories can Help Write Novels
Story Rejection
The Pushcart Prize
Short Story Sites

Nonfiction
Writing Nonfiction by Ron Holte
Article Writing Tips
Writing True Crime
Tips to Writing a Tribute
Composing Funeral Eulogies
Above article includes...
Be Strong of Heart by Dean Alan (Dino) Deal

Editors
Avoiding Rejection
Facing Rejection

Literary Agents
Submitting to an Agent
Query Letter Dos and Don’ts
Query and Cover Letter Format

Traditional Publishing Houses
The Big Six

Self-Publishing
Afraid to Publish
An Advantage of Self-Publishing
Your Book Cover
Back Cover, Spine and Jacket
How to Format a Book
Cleaning Your Manuscript
Print-on-Demand (POD) and Vanity Presses
Book Covers, Product Packaging, and First
Impressions by Gary Val Tenuta

Promotion
Writing a Biography in Long Form
Writing a Biography in Shorter Formats
Creating Your Own Publicity
The Media Kit
Writing a Story Synopsis
The Elevator Pitch or Logline
Help with Loglines
About Video Trailers
11 Must-Haves for making Video Trailers
When a Book Signing Fails
10 Tips for Book Signings and Manners
Book Giveaways

Your Public Image
It’s My Time
Confidence
Finding Confidence
You - The Book Promoter
10 Book Signing Essentials
From Audacity to Self-Confidence
The Psychology of Peer Envy
Your Head Shot
Get Involved

Your Online Presence
Maintaining a Blog
Maintaining a Website
Lurking
11 Rules for Online Social Media

Be Gracious!
How to Overcome Bad Reviews
The Future of Publishing
Professional Etiquette – Do You Have It?
by Monica M. Brinkman

The Media
4 Tips to Dress for Success
The Radio Interview
Media Exposure
New Writers Can Start Locally

Can you tell by the titles of the articles that these references could be great how to books or self help books? From the consensus of the emails I receive, most people learn as much from how to books and self help books as they do from reading and studying good writers. Many of the comments allude to learning proper book writing format and publishing a book.

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To Contents II
To Last Notes

TABLE OF CONTENTS for VOLUME I, 2nd Edition:

Preparation
The First Time Writer
9 Tips for Beginners
Sleep and Creativity
Writing in the Dark
Muse
Creative Writing Prompts
File of Notes
Writing Rules
Story: The Hawaii Muumuu,
a Writing Aid by Mary Deal

Things to Know to Help You Write
Plot or Character Driven
Plot Elements
Parts of a Story
Voice in Writing
Choosing the Point of View
Outlining a Story
Character Sketches
Breaking Stereotypes
Character Arc
Faces and Quirks
Clichés and Jargon
Know Your Genre
Naming Characters
Author Intrusion
Story: Grandpappy’s Cows by Mary Deal

Getting it Written
Starting your Story
Sentence Structure
Building a Story
Let the Dialogue Speak
Dig Deep for Plot Remedies
Drop the Words
Emotional Release through Character Conflicts
False Sense
Forensic Evidence in Plots
Foreshadowing
Reader Empathy
Repetition Offends your Reader
Taking Liberties
Talk Uppity
Talk the Talk
When I’m Stuck
Words and Sounds
Those S and ES Endings
Scene Changes
From Novella to Novel
Story: Any Way you Distort It
by Mary Deal

Edit and Edit Again… and Again
Get Away from Your Story
Never an End
When Editing Backfires
River Boners
Hidden Grammar Flaws
Let Nothing Slip By
Dead Words
Story: The Editor by Mary Deal

Soliciting Agents, Editors or Publishers
About Copyrights
Preparing the Manuscript for an Agent
Choosing a Publisher
Follow those Guidelines
Designing Book Covers

The Business of Promotion
Amazon Rankings
What’s Your Book About?
Writer’s Self-Esteem
our Public Persona

Additional incidental sections not listed here also appear in Volume I. This Volume has been on Amazon’s Top 100 list many times. It’s acceptance, and authors writing to ask for more articles, is what led to the creation of Volume II.

Some Last Notes:

Writing how to books, or self help books, should begin with a topic that means something to the author.

If you feel strongly about a topic or have ideas you wish to impart to the general public but don’t know where to begin, follow the example of the book shown here and begin to put your ideas into information that people will want to know. These reference books serve two purposes. Not only will these books provide guidance in how to write and format your book, but how to perfect your prose in the process and get it recognized.

If you’re serious about writing your own how to books, or your blockbuster novel, or your revealing nonfiction, study both Volumes I and II and then put your ideas to work. They can teach almost everything from book writing format to publishing a book and beyond.

Authors who contributed an article into Volume II can soon be found on a Biography page.

UPDATE:

On May 6, 2013, I published these two eBooks together as a paperback titled - what else - Write It Right- Tips for Authors - The Big Book. Again, I've included a list of all the articles in the book. When you go to that page, you will see how the articles of these two smaller eBooks mesh together into one magnificent, tangible, easy-to-use paperback.

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To Contents II
To Contents I

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