Research Writing

Chairs. Neat people. Ugliness. War. Over six decades of intrepid reporting and elegant essays, Andy Rooney has proven a shrewd cultural analyst. Andy Rooney: 60 Years of Wisdom and Wit brings together the best of more than a half-century of work (including long-out-of-print pieces from his early years) in an unforgettable celebration of one of America’s funniest men. Like Mark Twain, Finley Peter Dunne (Mister Dooley) and Will Rogers, Andy Rooney is a classic chronicler of America, a writer for the ages.

Every person has a story to tell, but few beginners know how to uncover their story's narrative potential. And despite a growing interest among students and creative writers, few guides to the genre of memoirs and creative nonfiction highlight compelling storytelling strategies.

We are in the midst of one of the greatest status revolutions ever, and it's a brave new world indeed. Who better to guide us through it than Michael Lewis, whose subversive, trenchant humor is the perfect match to his subject matter. Here is an audiobook as fresh as tomorrow's headlines, and as entertaining as its best selling predecessors.

Every writer knows that as rewarding as the creative process is, it can often be a bumpy road. Have hope and keep at it! Designed to kick-start creativity, this audio handbook from the executive director of National Novel Writing Month gathers a wide range of insights and advice for writers at any stage of their career. From tips about how to finally start that story, to helpful ideas about what to do when the words just aren't quite coming out right, Pep Talks for Writers provides motivation, encouragement, and helpful exercises for writers of all stripes.

Publishing veteran and best-selling author J. Thorn reveals his proven system for writing delicious scenes based on his legendary "Supercharge Your Scene" challenge successfully completed by thousands of authors. This tight yet comprehensive book teaches you what you absolutely must know about writing snappy scenes, whether you're a plotter or pantser, short story dynamo or lifelong novelist, rock star indie or a trad pub professional. Developed from decades of classroom experience and used to revise millions of words, Thorn teaches you how to use simple tools to master your craft.

Calvin Trillin has reported serious pieces across America for The New Yorker, covered the civil rights movement in the South for Time, and written comic verse for The Nation. But one of his favorite subjects over the years—a superb fit for his unique combination of reportage and humor—has been his own professional environment: the American press.

Hugh Riminton was a small-town New Zealand teenager with a possible drinking problem and a job cleaning rat cages when a chance meeting with a radio news director changed his life. The news man took a chance on him, and at 17 Riminton became a cadet reporter. Over nearly 40 years he has been shot at, blown up, threatened with deportation and thrown in jail. He has reported from nearly 50 countries, witnessed massacres in Africa, wars and conflicts on four continents, and every kind of natural disaster.

Whether you are a novice writer or a veteran who has already had your work published, rejection is often a frustrating reality. Literary agents and editors receive and reject hundreds of manuscripts each month. While it's the job of these publishing professionals to be discriminating, it's the job of the writer to produce a manuscript that immediately stands out among the vast competition. And those outstanding qualities, says New York literary agent Noah Lukeman, have to be apparent from the first five pages.

This book contains proven steps and strategies on how to become a skilled copywriter. This audiobook will explain what copywriting is. It will discuss the basic elements of copywriting and teach you how to write effective copy.

"You had better shove this in the stove," Mark Twain said at the top of an 1865 letter to his brother, "for I don't want any absurd 'literary remains' and 'unpublished letters of Mark Twain' published after I am planted." He was joking, of course. But when Mark Twain died in 1910, he left behind the largest collection of personal papers created by any nineteenth-century American author.

Facts are and must be the coin of the realm in a democracy. Unfortunately, for citizens in the United States and throughout the world, distinguishing between fact and fiction - always a formidable challenge - is now more difficult than ever, as a constant stream of questionable information pours into media outlets. Lewis argues forcefully that while data points and factoids abound, it is much harder to get to the whole truth of complex issues in time for that truth to guide citizens, voters, and decision makers.

Guy Windsor’s historical martial arts training manuals are legendary. His first was published in 2004, and he’s been producing them ever since. They generate about half his income. So he is expert in writing, publishing, and marketing books for historical martial artists, and in this book he’ll teach you how to do it. The goal of training manuals is to teach skills.

Award-winning writer Dan Wakefield reveals how writers, artists, musicians, and creative people of all kinds can unleash the principle of creativity within so that it can infuse every aspect of our lives. Wakefield challenges the belief that to be creative, one must be alienated, neurotic, irresponsible, and a failure at relationships. Drawing on examples from religion, philosophy, and literature Creating from the Spirit teaches us that the key to creation is clarity of body, mind, and spirit.

Tad Friend's family is nothing if not illustrious: his father was president of Swarthmore College, and at Smith his mother came in second in a poetry contest judged by W. H. Auden -- to Sylvia Plath. For centuries, Wasps like his ancestors dominated American life. But then, in the '60s, their fortunes began to fall. As a young man, Friend noticed that his family tree, for all its glories, was full of alcoholics, depressives, and reckless eccentrics.

Success in life is more than having goals and skills. You need connections. And to get connections, you need to reach out - fearlessly, strategically, and every day of the work week. For many, this is a daunting and confusing task. Reach Out shows listeners how to use social media and simple digital tools to begin building and expanding the number of people they know. Author Molly Beck explains how to: establish and strengthen your digital presence; develop career goals that reaching out can help you obtain; and much more!

Having played the role of a student, postdoc, researcher, research faculty member, author, reviewer, and editor, Kasthurirangan "Rangan" Gopalakrishnan, PhD, fully understands and empathizes with the struggles and pleasures of academic work. In this book, his goal is to assist you to do what you are already doing more effectively and efficiently with minimal stress and possibly to identify and eliminate those activities and habits that interfere with your academic writing productivity.

Everything you need to run your business as an author. This is not a book on creativity or the craft of writing. This is not a book for hobbyists. This is a book that will take your writing into the realm of actually paying the bills. You will learn how to go from being an author to running a business as an author.

The Anatomy of a Best Seller is a comprehensive guide that will help you break down the best books in your genre, understand how and why they work, and then learn how to do it yourself. By the end of the book, you’ll be armed with the methods you need to deconstruct best sellers, understand the tools those authors are using, and how to implement them in your own work.

Would you like to learn about screenwriting? If so, Screenwriting 101 may be the all-in-one audiobook you have been searching for. Discover how to: write a compelling story, overcome writer’s block, protect your work, market & sell your script, and get an agent.

From his best-selling series The Art of World Building, author Randy Ellefson has collected some of his best advice from every chapter in small, bite-size tips. All three books are represented in the topics covered: Creating Life, Creating Places, and Cultures and Beyond.