Author’s Note

Many authors who have been published using the strategies featured in this book started out just like you – with an idea for a book and not much else. Hopefully, their success stories are an inspiration for you as to embark on a journey toward becoming a published author.

Of course, completing a book and having it traditionally published is like visiting Paris in the springtime: Many say they will—most never do. This is unfortunate since I’m certain anyone who works hard at becoming a professional writer can achieve this goal through proper planning and hard work.

Why listen to me? What do I know that hundreds of authors of books on writing and publishing don’t? Good question, but one with a ready answer: During the course of having multiple books published, I’ve learned many lessons and have been through the wars like few others since I possessed no background or education in the field when I began writing for publication in 1992. This means How To Become A Published Author: Idea to Publication is unique because it provides practical advice about becoming a published author from someone who achieved success in the trial and error trenches of traditional publishing.

Along with my writing adventures, I have consulted with hundreds of aspiring authors through my previous work as creative director for Books For Life Foundation, the not-for-profit organization that assisted writers of all ages and skill levels. I have also presented “How To Become A Published Author or Poet: A to Z” seminars at libraries, colleges, universities and at seminars in the United States as well as France and Taiwan. This has helped me to appreciate the frustration encountered while attempting to become published. Many talented writers give up, believing the odds are too prohibitive. This isn’t true if they follow a few simple rules and a proven strategy.

Authors and poets are a reflection of their experiences. Mine include, among others, being a criminal defense lawyer specializing in murder cases, a newspaper publisher (co-founded the Aspen Daily News), a network television correspondent and host (ABC’s Good Morning America, CBS’s People, CNN, ESPN, BBC, and Entertainment Tonight), a film producer (two feature motion pictures), a television producer (Fox Broadcasting), entertainment attorney, a radio talk show host, and earning a Masters Degree in Theological Studies at the ripe young age of sixty-two. Based on my checkered background, some conclude that I am an interesting fellow. Others categorize me as a roustabout who can’t hold a job! More about me is included in the Appendix or can be learned at my website, www.markshawbooks.net.

These adventures have provided memorable moments adding to the education of a small-town (Auburn, Indiana, population 5,000) youngster whose first brush with publishing was selling TV-Guide door-to-door. Along the way, I have resided in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Sausalito, and Aspen while traveling to France, Italy, England, Scotland, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Taiwan, and Germany. Doing so has permitted me to witness many different cultures, providing a background rich in history.

Memorable experiences broadening my horizons include a terrifying flight in an F-4 Air Force fighter jet, walking the streets of London with actor Ben Kingsley, riding with actor/driver Paul Newman in his race car, interviewing rock singer Cyndi Lauper in a dumpster outside the Hard Rock Café in San Francisco, and meeting my look-a-like, John Denver. I also have chatted with Larry King about the infamous Jonathan Pollard case, visited the famed Cannes Film Festival, lunched with astronaut Neil Armstrong, and interviewed Miss Nude California (keeping eye contact was difficult).

More than anything, I love books, including the Bible, the greatest book ever written, but I didn’t begin to write professionally until reaching the age of forty-eight. Prior to 1992, the only professional writing I had attempted was the first draft of a novel. When one literary agent read the manuscript and sent me a terse letter stating that my writing was “sophomoric,” I cursed the agent, tossed the manuscript out a window, and decided writing was for literary geniuses, not me. Less than a decade later, I am proud of my published books. Topics have ranged from famed attorney Melvin Belli to boxer Mike Tyson to championship golfer Jack Nicklaus, from famed aviator R. A. “Bob” Hoover to golf course designers Pete and Alice Dye, from basketball star Larry Bird to controversial spy Jonathan Pollard, and from perfect game pitcher Don Larsen to Holocaust survivor Cecelia Rexin and the magnificent Clydesdale horses. Collaboration on a music anthology called Let The Good Times Roll with musical historian Larry Goshen was most rewarding.

Publishers of my books have included large companies (Pocket Books/Simon and Schuster, Ballantine/Random House, HarperCollins, Contemporary/McGraw Hill), medium-sized houses (Addison Wesley, Sagamore/Sports Publishing, Taylor, Paragon House, Barricade Books), and small companies (Guild Press). I’ve learned much from observing their varied methods of operation.

To date, twenty-nine editions of my books, including one translated into Japanese, have occupied bookstore shelves around the world. Three fiction books, Dandelions in the Moonlight, The Patsy, A Jake Lessing Novel, and No Peace For The Wicked, are works in progress. Personal lack of publication in this arena, and the poetry field, does not cause the advice in this book to be invalid for poets and fiction writers. Publisher research and discussion with numerous fiction writers and poets has confirmed that the basic guidelines outlined in How To Become A Published Author or Poet: Idea to Publication pertaining to becoming published apply to all genres of writing.

During my author journey, most critics have been kind, but my first review was shocking. On the morning after my book, Down For The Count, The Shocking Truth Behind The Mike Tyson Trial, was released, a radio talk show host telephoned. “Mark,” he began, “nice to have you on the program, but do you want to know the crux of the review of your book in the morning newspaper?” Sure, I said, believing it couldn’t be that bad.

“All right,” the host said, “here’s the headline, ‘Shaw’s Book On Tyson Worthless.’”

As my Adam’s apple slid to the pit of my stomach, I attempted to muster a response. I mumbled something that made no sense, fumbled through the interview, and hung up. Resisting the temptation to hang myself, I glared at my sleepy-eyed dogs, rose to my feet, and let out a roaring expletive that could be heard in three neighboring states.

Excellent reviews from USA Today, the Boston Globe, and the Los Angeles Times soothed a bruised ego, but the path to becoming an author had begun on a sour note. Nonetheless, it had begun. Instead of moping about the first reviewer’s nasty critique, I used it as inspiration and followed book one with book two and book three, and so forth. When book number five, The Perfect Yankee, the story of New York Yankees pitcher Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series was published, a New York Times book reviewer proclaimed the book, “informative and entertaining.” Columnists have dubbed me a “prolific writer,” a phrase characterizing those who write at a quick pace and manage to publish books on a yearly basis.

The release of Down For The Count provided a thrill like no other. When I teach at seminars about the publishing process, I never fail to mention how wonderful it felt to hold a published book in my hands. What satisfaction.

My journey to becoming a published author could fill volumes. Having no professional training as a writer, no college courses on the subject (during five-and-a-half years at Purdue, I majored in golf and drinking!), no writing workshops, and no knowledge of the publishing industry, I did what came naturally—I winged it!

This applied to writing skills as well. Only after having written several books did I begin to better understand what good writing was all about. My savior was a tiny book called Elements of Style, by professors William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White.

Like me, you too can wing it when you begin your quest to be traditionally published, but based on my publishing experiences; I’ve learned there is a logical progression toward the publication process. The key is to create a terrific book idea, develop a sound strategy toward publication alternatives, and then work hard to implement your gameplan. No one can guarantee success, but the odds for it occurring can be substantially improved.

To assist your efforts, How To Become A Published Author: Idea to Publication features an Appendix with sample forms for, among others, Query Letters, Book Proposals, Agency and Publishing Contracts, and Promotion Ideas. There are also examples of terrific writing from the masters and grammar/punctuation exercises to test your writing skills. Throughout the book, charts outline writing tips, how to evaluate a book concept, proper manuscript form, and the main steps involved with the publishing process.

With careful planning and the guts to stay the course despite rejection, you can become a successful published author or poet. By being attentive to Mark’s Ten Steps To Publication, a roadmap of sorts based on my experiences, you can savor a moment you will never forget—holding a copy of your published book for all the world to see.

With this in mind, let’s unfold the map, consider several useful tips that have proven worthy, and begin the journey so you too can shout to the world: “I am published.”

Mark Shaw