The Writer September 2009

COVER STORY
Nonfiction Books: From idea to contract
The author of 13 nonfiction books offers a 10-step method to get you to the finish line, as well as a sidebar on how to bolster your book proposal with "newsworthy morsels." HARVEY RACHLIN

COVER STORY
Nonfiction Books: Great promotions for your new book
Purchasing some relatively inexpensive novelty items can play a big role in keeping the buzz going for your title. HARVEY RACHLIN

COVER STORY
Nonfiction Books: Try a joint venture
Partnering with an expert could be your path to nonfiction publication. Learn from someone who's done it many times. WARREN JAMISON

COVER STORY
Nonfiction Books: The motion of a notion
The proposal for the book that became "The Motion of the Ocean: 1 Small Boat, 2 Average Lovers, and a Woman's Search for the Meaning of Wife" wowed publishing professionals. Learn from the author herself how she wrote a great proposal. JANNA CAWRSE ESAREY

Get Started: 4 ways to get your first clips
Here are tips on getting past the rookie freelancer's Catch-22: Editors want to see clips, but you don't have any yet. DEBBIE SWANSON

Breakthrough: Right course, topic and timing gave her a start
The writer, a native New Yorker looking at the grieving city from afar on 9/11, got her start when she wrote from the heart. SUZANNE G. BEYER

Off the Cuff: When words really matter
How a veteran writer struggled to craft a letter for her dream assignment: motherhood. KELLY JAMES-ENGER

Archive: Writing children's books
An author of children's classics reflected on what it takes to succeed in this genre: giving your readers what they want. ROALD DAHL

INTERVIEW
In the footsteps of the 9/11 hijackers
In his latest novel, Andre Dubus III researched and imagined his way into the minds of terrorists--and an American stripper who danced for them. SARAH ANNE JOHNSON

Find the essence through historical research
The process, says an award-winning writer of fiction and poetry, is akin to extracting the valuable oil from flower petals. ENID SHOMER

Step by Step: What's your perspective?
Sometimes it pays to turn your creative writing upside down and inside out, and let your work rediscover itself. PAGE LAMBERT

11 rules for writing short science fiction
What you need to know to start writing and selling your stories. TERRY BISSON

Free up more time to write
How? By using interns or apprentices to do the routine, nonwriting chores. JOHN E. PHILLIPS

Business Freelancing: 9 keys to writing copy that sells
Make your clients happy with promotions that get results. ROBERT W. BLY

Market Focus: How to weather the literary climate
Our author lays out the challenges--and rewards--of writing books today. RANDALL SILVIS

Literary Spotlight: Ninth Letter
This month's spotlight is on the literary journal Ninth Letter, describing its tone, preferences and contributors. MELISSA HART

The Writer, 2009, September