Since starting my writing career in 2013 and self-publishing my first book in 2014, I've pigeonholed myself into writing these lengthy romance novels. However, I have a personal desire to write for all types of publications. Sometimes the stories that I have are shorter, flash fiction, and I wasn't sure what to do with them, so they'd get abandoned. The romance genre and readers are so fickle, preferring to get longer stories for their money, so novellas and short stories are often not purchased to a larger degree--unless the story is a series and the reader feels they're getting more. And sometimes, I just don't want to create a series.
When I say this book was available for review, I hoped I'd get a galley. I was very happy with this writer's reference book. The information provides novice to experienced writers specific topics within short story and essay writing and publication. My favorite part of this book were the examples of short stories and essays with annotation by the book's author of what the writer/essayist is trying to convey.
This book gave information on which reference publications would help with the writing process. The last part of the book is about querying and submissions to publications and which publishers publish shorts and essays. One of the most important sections was rejections. As writers, we have a hard time receiving rejections or critiques of our work, but the stories given were immensely helpful.
I recommend this book to any writer who wants to expand her horizon with writing different types of writing genres, no matter how short or long.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

I have been a fan of Writer's Digest for years. When my son was younger, I even took some of their classes and had the opportunity to work with published authors. This book is a treasure trove of useful information, and I highly recommend it.

Wonderful advice for those wishing to break out into the short story market.

I have considered writing personal essays in the past, but have always thought it was impossible to get published or that no one would want to read about me. This book gave honest and to the point information on how to get your work read.

This book breaks down short stories and personal essays, defines how they are different, and then gets into the nitty-gritty about how to write each. From finding your voice to developing your characters to how to sell your writing, it goes into detail about all of it. It is such a great resource to have around. This one will be in my library for a long time.

*I received an advance reading copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.*

Great advice in this book about getting started in the publishing world by writing short stories and personal essays. Love the step by step instructions. Will put this knowledge to great use.

A very practical guide, not just theory or academic tips.

This book guides you on what an editor looks for when buying a short story. Short story examples are included and are useful to see how you can improve your own writing. A useful reference guide for any writer wanting to sell their work. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me review this book.

This book is focused on American audience, but I think it's worth to read anyone who want to write short or long stories, this book is perfect, because it involves to work and practice on one's writing style, shape it and answer the questions that bugs you - where to start and what's the protocol and how things are working from that point, questions that make one to write better.

I was recently given a book for an honest review by author, and it lacked basic punctuation, this is the book that gives the guidance even in this topic, because a writer can't just blame the "editor" for not correcting the mistakes, the author has to write including the punctuation, the editor can correct but you want to polish your work to it's best until you choose to show it to someone who will review it. It also gives the knowledge of literature genres and how to develop ideas on creating the topics for your story. The author has given examples of short stories, guiding the reader into knowledge.

Writing and Selling book is giving the guidance how to apply to magazines and submit your written work to online publications and publishers as well. It's worth a read for everyone who wants to succeed, being spotted from the crowd. I think it it great, maybe you didn't study literature and aren't aware of the basics....and you have always wanted to write, this is for you!