“The “best advice” I think is in reading good
writers, not seeking advice from them, for we learn best by emulating the best.”
—Gay
Talese
“Don’t
ever write anything you don’t like yourself and if you do like it, don’t take
anyone else’s advice about changing it. They just don’t know.”
—Raymond
Chandler
“Success
and failure are equally disastrous.”
—Tennessee
Williams
“What
is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.”
—Samuel
Johnson
“Resist
much, obey little.”
—Walt
Whitman
“It’s
not wise to violate the rules until you know how to observe them.”
—T.
S. Eliot
“You
can’t write fiction unless you read fiction.”
—Bill
Adler
“It
is more difficult to get a qualified literary agent than it is to get a publishing
contract.”
—John
Boswell
“Choose
your agent as carefully as you would choose your accountant or lawyer. Or
dentist.”
—Russell
Banks
“The
only advice I have to give a young novelist is to fuck a really good agent.”
—John
Cheever
“I’ve
always had a feeling it’s dangerous to be friends with a writer…. you can end
up talking away your books.”
—Norman
Mailer
“The
best advice on writing I’ve ever received was, “Rewrite it!” A lot of
editors said that. They were all right. Writing is really rewriting—making the
story better, clearer, truer.”
—Robert
Lipsyte
“Reporting
the extreme things as if they were the average things will start you on the art
of fiction.”
—F.
Scott Fitzgerald
“Fiction
is a lie, and good fiction is the truth inside the lie.”
—Stephen
King
“The
problem with fiction, it has to be plausible. That’s not true with non-fiction.”
—Tom
Wolfe
Need PR Help?
Brian
Feinblum, the founder of this award-winning blog, with over 3.9 million page
views, can be reached at [email protected] He is available to help authors promote their story,
sell their book, and grow their brand. He has over 30 years of experience in
successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your
advocate, teacher, and motivator!
About Brian
Feinblum
Brian Feinblum should be
followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is
copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now
resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue
dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The
Writer and IBPA’s The Independent. This
award-winning blog has generated over 3.9 million pageviews. With 4,900+ posts
over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by
BookBaby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018
as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by
www.WinningWriters.com as a “best resource.” For the past three decades,
including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book
publicity firm, and director of publicity positions at two independent presses,
Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres,
right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark
Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay,
Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan
RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He
hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and
has spoken at ASJA, BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah
Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association,
Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and
Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have
been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY
Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington
Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, &
Co-Op Association Handbook. It was featured
in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.
