I have read a plethora of marketing or publishing books intending on guiding the author on their publishing journey and this is one of the few I have found truly enjoyable with real-world information. Granted, most of the text was written as a series of question and answer articles back in the mid 90's but it has been updated with side notes whenever the information is out of date.

The problem I find is most such books these days are 70% pep-talk with 25% upsell to their other products (online courses being most common now), and 5% real information. This book by contrast has no interest in upselling or hand-holding. Resnick says more in one line, than most of those books said in several chapters. I liked his direct. no-nonsense approach and I wish more did the same.

Some have mentioned that the book is repetitive. While some of it is, you have to keep in mind it was a question and answer column in a magazine. Hence, if his readers kept asking the same questions, he answered them. Although after a bit he starts saying to read the previous columns. And he when he does repeat, he takes the opportunity to offer new nuggets of information pertaining to publishing today.

The insight he gives is fascinating to writers. Being traditionally published for his long career, he tends to promote the traditional method of publishing. Although he admits how publishing has changed, especially the stigma of self-publishing. He doesn't say independent publishing is a path to avoid, but rather it is a very difficult one. He suggests traditional publishing is still the best method, especially if you are going after recognition in the industry. But then again he admits that is also changing. Either way he offers insights in what to watch out for, and when to abort discussions.

While geared towards the science fiction author, I would suggest this book to anyone that is thinking of being a professional writer. It is filled with a lot of little nuggets of information that many others do not cover (at least the ones I have read). And this book does not try to upsell you on other products or sugarcoat the writing profession as most of them do. ( )