This book has been a great help for me in writing my first book
580618
This book has been a great help for me in writing my first book. I tried to write like it was a college research paper and that approach was not working at all.  Ralph Moore's book helped me get started on the right foot and get my book finished.  His information on getting it published without having to spend big dollars has helped a whole lot.  Thank you Ralph Moore.
3190089
I really liked the step by step processes that helped me organise and narrow down my ideas. I'm well on my way to starting my first business now.
3619932
Regarding my own writing, I learn best from examples, and this funny little book does provide them - though, truthfully, most of the examples are so very caricature-esque that I got more of a laugh instead of actionable advice. However, I'm writing my first novel after a long set of years of reading and writing extensively, so I'm not necessarily the intended audience, I realized. As a tool for growing as a writer, in the vein of "books that tell you what not to do", I got *a lot* more use out of "Thanks, But This Isn't For Us" by Jessica Page Morrell.

Still, I got into editing a few months ago, and it turns out the caricatures in this book are actually not so far off from devices a few beginning writers I knew were trying to employ. Thanks to this book, I had good, compact concepts of problematic plotting to explain to them while critiquing (though I padded this feedback with a lot of tact rather than just handing them this book), and it really increased my efficacy as an editor! Many beginners know there's something not quite right when they've got a story train wreck, but don't have the experience to pin it down and fix it, so pulling on a jokey example or two really helped those lightbulbs above their heads light up. Once they have a little more experience under their belts so they can laugh at writing that's not working without feeling too self-conscious, I'll probably forward this their way. So, thanks, How Not to Write a Novel!
2006411
I have been writing non-fiction books for several years now.  Some do better than others but one of the things that I have had difficulty with is niche selection and getting organized before I start writing.  Dr. Gary Webb has a fantastic book that goes into great detail on just these types of things.  The first in his series on self-publishing, this book talks about the basics of preparing to write a book.  Webb goes into detail on niche selection by describing methods to research subjects and giving some external tools to use for the process.  He also notes the importance of identifying and knowing who your readers are before you start a book.  Other useful things that I learned were about the importance of titles, keywords, structure and the book writing process itself.  Webb is clearly someone who has extensive experience and success in this field and I definitely came away with some new and useful information for my next project.
2380333
This book has been immensely helpful in my public speaking endeavors.
915038
If you're struggling to write your first book there is some good information. I'd read it if you need some info on how to start.
3911816
While I was in college, I was free to write however I wanted when I was in my creative writing classes. Throughout those years, I learned a lot about techniques on character building and writing well. However, once I left that environment I lost my gusto because I was no longer required to write a ton. I had ideas but I could not figure out a way to formulate a plan to get the story onto paper. I am huge on organization and I believe that is why I have done so well in the business world. I enjoy keeping my information together, easily accessible and thoroughly researched. I am unsure why I ever thought that writing a story on my own would be any different.
I recently began writing again despite years of neglect due to me working on my career and receiving my MBA. I finally have a positive work/life balance, allowing me the time to pick up on my hobbies again. After the past three to five months of staring at a blank page, trying to research my plot and failing, and pantsing to no avail  I decided to try outlining.
I purchased this book last night around 6 PM while I was sitting in the library getting nowhere. As soon as I read the first chapter, I was convinced that this was the book for me. I immediately packed up my laptop and drove to staples to get a notebook, some neon green post-it notes and some really cool sharpie highlighters. When I got home, I starting reading and taking notes on all the great ideas that were in the book. There are many, many different ways to write an outline as explained by the viewpoints of established authors with in the book.
It is now 4:15 PM the next day, I am finished reading the book and I have a ton of post-it notes on my own newly purchased notebook to reference while writing my own outline. For example: Imagine every scene is a domino; try outlining backwards; Never ignore blank spaces; Make it uncomfortable; Do interesting things for interesting reasons ect.. There are many ways to take these statements but they resonate with me because I know I have the freedom to do what I want because it is my outline.
I have a few blank notes with headers including: Write a single sentence that conveys the plot and theme and What are 10 ways to make things worse? I know I will be including this somewhere in my notebook once I really get started.
There is much more that I learned from this book that I won't go into here. It is a very good place to start. Also, I am very happy that there are other references, websites, programs and ideas that I can research further in the near future. My favorite part about this book is that it is very down to earth and worth the time to read it.
2782246
At age 54, starting to write for the first time, it seemed only natural to scour the shelves of my local purveyor of books for helpful references.  Both the cover and the title of this book fairly leapt into my visual  field, making it impossible to leave the vampire--or his debutante--on the  shelf.  Not only did it clearly answer my rather pedestrian questions about  the various parts of speech, etc., it did so with gusto, elan, humor, and  very clever self-defining plays on words.  More importantly, Ms. Gordon's  characters brought home to me WHY these various grammatical entities were  essential, showing me ways to convey intent, innuendo, shadings of meaning,  and so forth that have been immensely helpful.
I recommend this book to  writers, writers-manque, lovers of both the English language as well as  linguistics in general.  Not to be missed.
3829630
As a newbie writer, this book was a great help to me. Lots of advice and tips. I may not go all the way and do the NaNoWriMo thing, but the general message of this book still seems very valuable.

It's a funny, well-written book. A sample quote, about choosing what to write in your 30-day novel: "Your novel is not a self-improvement campaign. Your novel is a spastic, jubilant hoe-down set to your favorite music, a thirty-day visit to a candy store where everything is free and nothing is fattening."

Once upon a time I read a book called&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Story-Engineering/dp/1582979987/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Story Engineering</a>. It was the best book on writing that I had found, after reading many. I decided to make it my Bible as a beginning writer. But I ran into a problem. The book assumed I already had a plot and characters in mind. I didn't. I struggled to find some. I came up with some general ideas, but specifics were hard.

Then I found this book No Plot? No Problem! It was my answer. Just start writing and discover your plot and characters along way. So that's my plan now. After writing my first novel draft, I will then apply the Story Engineering principles to structure my novel into publishable shape.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

I like the idea of just writing and expecting the first drafts to be crap. It frees your creativity. It seems to me there are two modes to writing a novel, Creating Mode and Editing Mode. I expect this book will help me develop my creative side, to come up with my plots and characters. And to tell my inner editor-perfectionist that revision and narrative excellence can wait until my inner artist takes his turn first. (These two writing modes are intriguinginly similar to the Being and Doing modes in an unrelated book I read recently,&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Mindfulness-An-Eight-Week-Plan-for-Finding-Peace-in-a-Frantic-World/dp/1609611985/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World</a>.)
3480117
VERY helpful book! After reading this book and taking notes, I wrote and self-published two books! Writing has always came naturally to me, but there are tricks-of-the-trade which never occurred to me until I studied How To Tell a Story... I have recommended it to ppl at my book readings who wanted to know how to go about writing a book, and purchased copies for closer friends to study in their writing endeavors. I loved how quickly and concisly the authors touched on the bullet points of story telling, such as "Hooks", "Plotting", "Pace" and even to reward my readers with a happy ending. Thank you Mr. Rubie and Mr. Provost for a no-frills and informative book on storytelling. I was surprised how much I didn't consider and glad that I read this book bf I began writing my own. :)
3192839
While I was writing my thesis, which my intention was to publish in book form, I began researching how to promote a book and soon realized that as an author I would be expected to do all of the book promotion, and that starting a blog and building an audience would be a great way to do that. Lucky for me, I stumbled across the first edition of Problogger, and I used the advice contained in this wonderful guide to set up and structure my first blog. And I'm happy to say that I've spent a lot of time since traveling around the country speaking about my topic. People began finding me and hiring me because they were finding my blog.

I have just finished reading this newly updated edition, and found it a great reminder of things I need to implement at my sites. Plus, I really enjoyed the updated examples and case studies showing how others have become Probloggers as well. Chris and Darren have presented easy to implement tips on creating an authoritative popular, well-trafficked blog. Follow their advice and see your own success grow!
2609503
I used this book in my first college writing class. It has been very helpful and I would highly reccommend it.
611362
I am a beginner writer. With that said, I found the book a great refresher of a writing class I took many many years ago. The exercises and suggestions really help me focus on the specifics of my writing. I am not writing the great american novel, but more of personal experiences that I can pass onto the next generation of our family capturing the essences of my experiences within the family and the outside world. It was just the right amount of information to motivate me to write in my online journal again.
2918744
I've loved Nathan's blog and was one of the first to buy this book to show my support and fandom. I've been professionally published, so this book speaks to things I scrambled to learn pre-publication. As a pre-publication writing manual, it offers a great taste of a lot of things a newbie fiction writer needs to think about.
4185493
I have purchased 3 or 4 of Steve Scott's books (I've lost count) and am starting to apply the principles. I'm working on an eBook with some college faculty and his guides have proven to be immensely helpful. Once I'm done with that book, I'm looking forward to writing some on my own.

In this book, Scott breaks down the overwhelming task of trying to get the book written, get it developed (covers are important!), and get it published. I feel like I have a checklist that I can use to lead the group I'm working with as we publish our book. Thanks so much!
1739883
This book was extremely helpful! I started my blog (thymefries) as a complete novice, and while I'm still very much in the early stages of getting it to where I want it, this book really helped me get the initial pieces in place so that I felt comfortable and writing and sharing it with people. I did a lot of google searching for good Wordpress primers and while there's a ton out there, there isn't exactly that's both comprehensive and credible. In addition to being a strong source of information, the book was also written concisely so that it was easy to follow and a quick read. I pretty much read it as I started my blog and would add and amend features as I read through the book.
2727074
I have used this book a few times since I have gotten it and I actually like it. When I first got it I started reading it just to see what was what. It got me to thinking. It wasn't until I used it to start building a world that I relaized that I had been leaving a lot of things out of my writing. With descriptions of some things in the back helped me to see I had the wrong idea about some of it.  I plan on using this a lot more in the coming years.