Jotham Burrello

The Writer's e-Handbook is a lot to digest, and too much for one or even a few sittings. "Handbook" is a good description because it serves that purpose very well: there is practical guidance on just about any subject a new or renewed writer would want or need to know, although sometimes put in cruder than necessary terms. It seems to be a sign of the times that informality and profanity are sprinkled or gobbed here and there for some "I'm a modern kinda author-guy who is with it" flavor. Even so, the value of the advice is not lost nor the comprehensive coverage diminished in what comprises a go-to toolbox from which as many ingredients as desired can be pulled at a time. The e-book format is fitting because so much of the information referred to is online and thus accessible on the spot, giving the reader the choice to end reading sessions after having clicked through to the links, or returning for more to the e-Handbook.… (altro)

Writer's e-Handbook by Jotham Burrello

The Writer’s E-handbook is a fairly comprehensive tool on what writers should do while they work toward becoming published and hopefully successful. The book does not sugarcoat much, nor does it pretend that everyone can receive the same measure of success as John Green or Steven King. It does push the idea that writers can see a certain measure of success if they constantly work toward improving their craft and themselves. The Writer’s E-handbook does not include grammar tips or writing strategies. It does not teach the reader how to write dialogue more believably or create a fantastical world. The point of this book is not to make you better at writing but to make you a better writer.
The Writer’s E-handbook is divided into three parts. “Part One: Learning The Craft” is all about what tools a writer has at his/her disposal to improve their craft. It is a guide of workshops, conferences, MFA programs, and much more. The section first explains what each of these tools is and helps the reader to decide which is the most useful for them; then it gives a list of examples of each. The list isn’t all-encompassing but it is fairly expansive. There is a lot of really good information in this chapter but it also seems to be targeted to an older audience than myself. If you are in college and don’t have much money you’ll probably struggle scrounging up enough cash for a workshop but eventually it would probably be a good investment.
“Part Two: Writing Life” is all about what a writer needs to do to garner attention. It uses a lot of information that I’d already heard before but adds in quite a bit on its own. The idea of course is that authors now need to create our own audiences and there are many ways to go about doing this. The book explains about going digital and blogging or using social media or both. It also talks about public readings where you can share what you’ve written with an eager audience. The only problem with these readings is that they are almost exclusively in larger cities, at least as far the as the book seems to explain. After doing a little research I couldn’t find one anywhere near where I lived which was pretty disappointing. Again this chapter is packed with good but sometimes irrelevant or inaccessible information.
“Part Three: Publish Your Work” is the final part in the book (there is an appendix) and the title makes it seem like it’s talking about publishing your book (which to a point it is) but it focuses more on publishing in magazines and entering contests. The chapters explain the markets for certain genres of writing and gives extensive lists of the magazines in these genres. The chapters eventually turn into getting your book published but it emphasizes that you should probably complete the preceding steps before trying to publish. It lists benefits and faults of each type of publishing (publishing with a big name, publishing with an indie name, self-publishing, licensed writing, and book packaging) and leaves it up to the reader to make the decision (although it does push toward going a more conventional route and avoiding self-publishing except for specific cases). Very briefly at the end of the chapter if gives a small note about agents. I think I found this chapter the most beneficial because it isn’t exclusive to a specific audience. The information in this chapter helps anyone that reads it. This isn’t to say that the information in previous sections was useless or unimportant, because it wasn’t. The first and second part are difficult to pay for if you’re a college student (which I am) and gain access to if you live in a remote small town away from inhabited populations (which I do).
The appendix is very short and has some good information but it’s pretty much targeted toward specific audiences. It’s easy to skip around in the appendix because it’s clear what can be useful to the reader and what won’t be. The sample contracts and cover letter were really interesting. The appendix is really just a bunch of information that I guess he couldn’t fit anywhere else in the book.
Overall I would recommend this book to an emerging author if they were looking for something to pick up. The book compiles some really great information all in one place and can be useful even if you don’t use all of the resources immediately. The author is aware of the different age and skill level of his readers and generally tries to be neutral. Obviously if you were looking for something that helped teach you how to write this is not the book for you. I believe that every author could eventually benefit from reading this book.
There are some small issues I had with this book. The first issue was that there was a typo or small grammatical mistake every other page (or at least it felt like it). I could easily get over this because I understand that not only is it likely that there will be typos in a work that long it would be very impressive if the book was without flaws. There were more than any other published book I’ve read and if it bothers you that much then it’s probably best to stay away. The second issue was with the video links. In a perfect world I would have liked the videos to be embedded so that they didn’t have to buffer before I watched them but that would have been a nightmare to download (and maybe also to make I’m not sure). I understood that that was unlikely but what I did not like was where the video links sent me. The pages didn’t have mobile versions (I was reading on a tablet) and it made them difficult to manage. Eventually I just gave up on watching the videos entirely even though they were pretty interesting. This was very irritating to me and I think it really detracted from the experience. The third issue I have covered early in this review: the fact that some of the information could not be used by everyone who read the book. This isn’t the authors fault so I don’t blame him but I did have a problem with it. The fourth issue is that it is only in e-book form. I understand with all the links and videos that the book was made e-book out of necessity but I prefer to have a hard-copy in my hands. The e-book makes it less portable, you can only have it on one device and the device I chose did not belong to me. True this is my own fault but I didn’t have much choice in the matter. It was either my laptop (which is unwieldy to lug around) or my phone (which is too small for reasonable use) or the tablet (which did not belong to me).
The Writer’s E-handbook is a very good tool that can be used countless times during an author’s attempt toward publication. It is a quick and easy read. Jotham Burrelo is very conversational in his writing and makes everything easy to understand. If you’re on the fence hopefully this review can push you over it because this is a great book to have.… (altro)

I am of two minds with this book.

In one mind, this is an excellent guide for the plethora of contemporary "writers" who seek some venue for publishing their "work." But as the scare quotes would indicate, this is something that one needs to be careful about. I've read hundreds of books. I review many of them here. Not everything that has been published - particularly in ebook form - is something that ought to have been published, either because they are unfortunate expressions of thoughts that would be better off unexpressed, or because the author can't - let's be honest - write.

In this first mind, Burrello, while he does an admirable job of providing assistance for those budding authors who have yet to find a venue for their writing, also does the disservice of perpetuating aliterary (it ought to be a word, if it isn't officially recognized as one) endeavors that ought to have been aborted out of hand.

Not everyone who puts pen to paper can actually "write." Yes, I know. How elitist of me. It doesn't offend me. I am comfortable with my elitism.

In my second mind, this book is perhaps more informally expressed than I am comfortable with. Not that informality in and of itself is objectionable - actually, it makes what would otherwise be a formal, inaccessible boring textbook into an accessible, brain-friendly, presentation of valuable information. However, I can do without some of the more "descriptive" euphemisms Burrello uses that are better left to fiction. Words like "ass," "asshole," "shit," and "fucking" (not in the "copulative" sense), are demeaning in the context of the book, and have no place here. A little editorial discretion would have been appropriate.

Otherwise, this e-handbook is very "handy," as one would expect a handbook to be. There are links to various websites, videos to entertain the easily bored, and the sorts of connections that a physical book could never provide. This is perhaps the strongest virtue of the book - it actually delivers what a physical book can only suggest at: contact with the actual people and places it talks about.

More generally, the Writer's e-Handbook is one more sign that e-publication is the logical evolution of the written word. Traditional publishers are clinging to an era where they controlled the ontology of the literary universe - their time is past. Efforts to stave off the inevitability of e-books by trying to control their pricing amount to little more than their last gasps of breath.… (altro)

The Writers’ E-Handbook is a reference work for both experienced and emerging writers of fiction and non-fiction that consists of three parts: “Learning the Craft,” “The Writing Life,” and
“Publish Your Work.” Each section of this unique e-book has individual chapters containing text, hyperlinks, brief author videos, and sometimes interviews with well-known professionals. There are abundant resources listed at the end of each chapter, which also contain links. This writers’ manual is “wired” in a way no print book could ever be. (Needless to say, an e-reader with internet capability is required to use the special features.)
“Learning the Craft” begins with the question, “Why Do You Write?” and insists that the reader should have a definite answer in mind before beginning a writing career. Chapters in this section deal with choosing the right kind of instruction—workshops, seminars, generative, or specialty classes—and weighs the option of online verses traditional courses. Costs and value are compared realistically, and writing conferences and MFA programs are evaluated.
“The Writing Life” opens with a discussion of how the internet has affected today’s writers
and offers advice on how to use social media and blogging as effective promotional tools. The section concludes with the chapter “On Making a Living As a Writer,” which objectively assesses this prospect in light of the current literary marketplace.
The last section, “Publish Your Work,” deals with prose markets in general; various genres from young adult to fantasy, SF, and horror; short fiction publishers and book publishers; “Going It Alone,” the pros and cons of self-publishing; “Licensed Properties”; and “Agents, Briefly.” Once again, there are detailed lists of resources, publishers, and links, links, links. There is even a large appendix that includes virtually everything not featured in the main body of the text.
There is a lot here in 239 pages. It would be a time-consuming task to read the book straight through and follow even half the links or watch all the videos, but as a valuable and user-friendly reference guide for serious writers to consult as needed, this one is top-notch.… (altro)