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Writing and Publishing: The Librarian's Handbook is a surprising book to recommend to all writers. Why? Because its target audience happens to be our nation's librarians and its aim is precise because it's written by librarians. However, it's equally useful to non-fiction writers and even has sound advice for fiction writers and poets. The contributors went beyond themselves when they composed the contents because they showed just how much could be done with simple ideas, a little organization, and a lot of desire no matter what a writer writes about.
In reading the many sections with material most appropriate to librarians, it was clear that the authors were knowledgeable about their topics. In fact, they were enthusiastic. It showed. They knew what their audience wanted to know about and they got down to brass tacks in simple to understand sections arranged by sections. There was no need to read everything just to find nuggets of wisdom. As one would expect from a book written by librarians for librarians, it was organized and presented in the same manner.Were I a librarian, this book would be instrumental to me in advancing my career or just in performing my job. I anticipate quite a few librarians will benefit because of it. It has solid advice and strong ideas for librarians eager to acquire tenure or improve their libraries or review for libraries or provide needed reference works or just to find more opportunities. And even though I'm not a librarian, it was still useful because it didn't forget to cover the basics of publishing. Consequently, I find it easy to recommend this book to all librarians and even to writers who may want to know more about what publishing is all about.
Disclosure: This review was not written for pay. Only a copy of the book for review purposes changed hands. P&E and its editor were not obligated to provide anything other than an honest review and the entire book was read. The opinion expressed in this review is solely that of P&E and its editor.