Get Your Bad Self Published—A Review

By Jennifer Blanchard

At first, I was a little opposed to reviewing Larry Brooks’ new eBook: Get Your Bad Self Published, on Procrastinating Writers. Not because I didn’t think it would be worthy of you reading it (it absolutely is—Larry has done it again), but because I didn’t want to take the focus away from the most important part of the overall process of getting published: Writing a novel that’s sellable.

I finally decided to read and review the book anyway, and was pleased to find that very thing—writing a book that’s sellable—to be the core message of this eBook.

While Larry does get into how to find an agent and how to pitch a story and even gives some great (personal) examples of query letters, his main focus is on making sure you’ve written a “platinum” novel from the get-go, rather than spending years getting rejected because you’re trying to sell your “gold” novel.

Because “gold” isn’t good enough. Not these days. And even “platinum” isn’t good enough. No, what you need is something more unique than “platinum” to make it in today’s publishing industry.

My favorite part of this eBook (and of storyfix.com and Larry Brooks, in general) is that he tells it like it is. No sugar-coating; no bullshit; just pure truth.

Now I warn you, if you can’t handle the truth, you may want to find another book about publishing. One that feeds your fantasy of what getting published takes. Get Your Bad Self Published is not that book.

Larry hasn’t written you a magic “get published” formula. Truth is, there is no magic formula. Most first-time authors just got lucky that their book happened to align with a publisher’s needs and open spot on their book-publishing schedule, more than anything else.

Larry’s not saying getting published is all based on luck though—it’s not, and he doesn’t for one second try to make you believe that.

But he does tell you that getting published hinges on your ability to write a “home run”—a novel that will keep an agent/editor’s attention long enough for them to see the potential of it (and of you as its writer). All publishers want is to find the “next big thing.”

And you write a book like that by expertly executing the six core competencies of storytelling:

• Structure
• Theme
• Concept
• Character
• Scene execution
• Voice

If you can’t do that, you can kiss your publishing dreams goodbye. Or at least your traditional, big-time-New-York-City-publisher dreams.

Self-publishing is always an option, and one that comes with no rejection (from a publisher, anyhow. There’s still no guarantee you’ll find any readers for it).

This book (and probably even this review) may sound a little cynical, but it’s not. It’s hopeful in a realistic way. It’s setting you up for what you need to know and accept in order to get published.

And I promise you, learning and accepting the truths Larry shares in Get Your Bad Self Published are truly the only way your publishing dreams will ever become reality.

In closing, I’m going to do something a bit a-typical for a book review. I’m going to suggest you read another book first.

If your novel—the one you’re looking to publish—doesn’t fit the criteria mentioned in this review, I suggest you go back and first read Larry’s eBook: Story Structure—Demystified, before you read this book.

Not because this book isn’t worth your time or money (as I said before, it absolutely is), but because without a stand-out novel that shines in all six of the core competencies of storytelling, this book will do no good for you.

About the Author: Jennifer Blanchard is founder of Procrastinating Writers. For more great writing tips, articles and information, follow her on Twitter.

Note: The links above to “Get Your Bad Self Published” and “Story Structure—Demystified” are both affiliate links. If you purchase either of these eBooks, Procrastinating Writers will make a couple bucks. I appreciate your support.