You Can Be a Winning Writer: The 4 C's Approach of Successful Authors - Craft, Commitment, Community, and Confidence

by Joan Gelfand, Rosemary Daniell (Foreword by)

Overview

Learn the keys to successful authorship from a pro: Joan Gelfand, author of You Can Be a Winning Writer, has been teaching her 4 C’s approach to creative writing and successful authorship to aspiring authors at book festivals and writer’s conferences for the past decade. She has taught her 4 C’s method to college professors, CEOs, doctors, ghostwriters, poets, and playwrights throughout the United States; helping them realize their publishing dreams.

A publishing guide to writing success: From first draft to building a reputation, the 4 C’s provides solid tips on how to build a literary community and a fan base. But, successful authorship does not stop with mastering craft, commitment, and even building a community. Confidence is key, and Joan tackles this sensitive subject that keeps writers unpublished and manuscripts in the drawer. With the help of Renate Stendhal, PhD, Joan defines clear steps to overcoming the lack-of-confidence demon.

The perfect gift for writers: With a splash of humor, a dose of empathy, and plenty of support, Joan Gelfand includes real life anecdotes from famous and not so famous, but successful authors. You Can Be a Winning Writer is the go-to book for writers just starting out, for writers stalled after their first or second book, and for students. Joan’s 4 C’s wisdom and stories will inspire and encourage.

This literary reference and publishing guide includes:

• Key authorship and publishing tips
• Important post-publication strategies
• Guidance on how to avoid mistakes that even the most talented, prize-winning authors have made
• How, with the help of the 4 C’s, you can enjoy greater success
• What it means to “fire on all burners” and work to develop each of the 4 C’s simultaneously

Maybe you’ve read Stephen King’s On Writing, Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, Annie Lamott's Bird by Bird, or William Zinsser’s On Writing Well─now you need to read You Can Be a Winning Writer.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781633537422
Publisher:	Mango Media
Publication date:	07/15/2018
Pages:	270
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Joan Gelfand




The author of three acclaimed volumes of poetry, an award-winning chapbook of short fiction and a forthcoming novel set in a Silicon Valley startup, Joan is the recipient of numerous writing awards, commendations, nominations and honors. Her reviews, stories and poetry have appeared in national and international literary journals and magazines including Rattle, Prairie Schooner, Kalliope, The Meridian Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, the Toronto Review, Marsh Hawk Review, Levure Litteraire and Chicken Soup for the Soul.




For over ten years, Joan has lectured on the 4 C’s System and has coached writers to great success. An MFA from Mills College in Oakland, CA, Joan is a past President of the Women’s National Book Association and the founder of the WNBA National Writing Contest. Editor of the newly published anthology of winning contest writers, Joan is also a member of the National Book Critics Circle and a juror for the Northern California Book Awards. She blogs regularly for the Huffington Post on books, travel and movies.




“The Ferlinghetti School of Poetics,” a poetry film based on Joan’s poem was featured at the 4th Annual Video Poetry Festival in Athens, Greece and won Certificate of Merit in a juried art show at the International Association for the Study of Dreams.




She lives in San Francisco with her husband, Adam Hertz and two beatnik kitties – Jack Kerouac and Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

Rosemary Daniell is the founder and leader of Zona Rosa, a series of writing workshops attended by thousands of of women, and some men, with events in Atlanta, Savannah, and other cities, as well as in Europe, as described in People and Southern Living. She is also the award-winning author of nine books of poetry and prose, including Secrets of the Zona Rosa: How Writing (and Sisterhood) Can Change Women's Lives and The Woman Who Spilled Words All Over Herself: Writing and Living the Zona Rosa Way, and is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships in writing, one in poetry, another in fiction. Rosemary’s work has been featured in many magazines and papers, including Harper’s Bazaar, New York Woman, Travel & Leisure, The New York Times Book Review, Newsday, The Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Mother Jones; she has also been a guest on many national radio and television shows, such as "The Merve Griffin Show,” “Donahue,” "The Diane Rehm Show,” "Larry King Live" and CNN’s “Portrait of America.” Early in her career, she instigated and led writing workshops in women's prisons in Georgia and Wyoming, served as program director for Georgia's Poetry in the Schools program, and worked for a dozen years in Poetry in the Schools programs in Georgia, South Carolina, and Wyoming. In 2008, she received a Governor’s Award in the Humanities for her impact on the state of Georgia. She is profiled in the book Feminists Who Changed America, 1963-1975.

Table of Contents

Foreword 9

A Letter from the Author 14

Introduction 17

Mastering the Four C's 18

Understanding the Four C's 19

Backstory 22

Chapter 1 Craft 26

Crafting a Great Piece of Writing 27

Practice: Daily or Flow? 40

Writing Workshops, Writing Circles, & Write-a-thons 52

Change Your Location, Change Your Luck: Residencies & Retreats 70

You Wrote It. Now, Revise: Editing, Rewriting, & Working with Professional Editors 76

Managing Feedback & Working with Editors 88

Feedback Loops: Friends, Family, Early Readers, & Writers' Groups 91

Dos, Don'ts, & Challenges 96

Chapter 2 Commitment 98

Introduction 99

Building Your Writer's Resume 124

Prizes, Awards, & Money 139

Your Results May Vary: Beating the Odds with Submissions 142

Dos, Don'ts, & a Challenge 149

Chapter 3 Community 150

Introduction 151

The Art of Building Community 158

Social Media Dos and Don'ts 170

Building a Fan Base 180

The Power of YES 189

Loneliness & the Writing Life 192

Challenges 193

Chapter 4 Confidence 194

Introduction 195

Heeding the Call 201

Second Guessing: Avoiding the Sand Trap 212

Meet the Team: Your Publicist and Coach 214

Keeping Your Own Counsel Takes Confidence 224

Tooting Your Own Horn: What Does It Sound Like? 226

You Are a Startup 233

Book Proposals 239

Working with Hybrid Publishers, Indie Presses, and Academic Presses 246

Dos, Don'ts, & Challenges 247

Resources 249

Meet the Contributors 258

Acknowledgements 268

Joan Gelfand 270

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"I couldn’t recommend a better guide for writers taking their books out into the world.”

-Renate Stendahl, author of “Gertrude Stein in Words and Pictures” and "Kiss Me Again, Paris"

"Joan Gelfand is amazingly knowledgeable about writers and the literary world. She has far-ranging insight into the ways that writers can connect and find readers and recognition for their work." - Zack Rogow, poet and author of the blog Advice for Writers

"Joan Gelfand is very skilled at bringing books to a wider audience. She has great connections and generously shares them."

-Diane Frank, Author of Canon for Bears and Ponderosa Pines and Publisher of Blue Light Press

Editorial Reviews

"Gelfand’s book examines craft, commitment, community, and confidence. She establishes the first two of her C’s as those that need to be focused on first with community and confidence as a sort of back burner element. She examines ways to help you write and debunks some of the ways that people get stalled on projects. Then as the book evolves it works to show you how you need to stay committed to your work. These major elements allow writers to grow and see the best way to begin the process. You Can Be a Winning Writer is a great work for anyone who chooses to write and no matter what the topic you might be covering this work will benefit you. Even if you are not sure if you want to start working yet or just want to see if writing is for you this book will be a big help." - Nerdy Girl Express

From the Publisher