Product Description

Make Your Mark
 
Looking for a way to express yourself? Need some extra spending money? Do you want to beef up that college application package? Look no further than this book.
      With advice on how to write newspaper and magazine features, Web blogs, music and movie reviews, novels, graphic novels, short stories, and more, the father-daughter team of Timothy and Elizabeth Harper shows that it's possible for anyone who writes well to get published.
      Topics include:
 
·        How to find subjects to write about
·        Learning productive research and writing habits
·        Identifying the best market for your work
·        Managing your career
·        And so much more
 
      With practical information on every step of the writing process, writing samples, personal anecdotes, tips from the pros, profiles on young authors such as Christopher Paolini and Zoe Trope, and a resource section, Your Name in Print has all the tools and advice young writers need to break into the writing world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #384633 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06-01
• Released on: 2005-05-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 8 Up–The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say a brain surgeon, wrote Robert Cormier. Such advice is typical of the practical down-to-earth material offered up in this user-friendly resource. Geared toward highly motivated students, it offers tips from getting published to accumulating published pieces that increase potential for college admission. For young writers considering journalism as a vocation, this encouraging source just may win them over. The authors' alternating voices strike a chord of friendly suggestions and professional plausibility. Dad and daughter are motivated, successful, and confident in their chosen fields. Their recommendations will entertain, re-focus, and rejuvenate worn and weary high school wordsmiths. The book concludes with a compilation of online sites that accept teen work. Some eager young writers will zip to the end to choose their publishing adventure, making this a book most likely to be read from back to front.–Alison Follos, North Country School, Lake Placid, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Gr. 9--12. With young authors such as Christopher Paolini (Eragon) making a big name and big money for themselves, it's easy for teens to think that they, too, can make it as a published author. The Harpers (father and daughter) offer an encouraging and mostly down-to-earth look at how to embark on a writing career. They explain the different kinds of writing that can lead to publication--including writing for Web sites, blogs, movie and music reviews, and graphic novels--and show how decent writers can step up in the writing hierarchy, as Elizabeth did, moving from her high-school paper to publishing in the New York Times. There's also plenty of practical information about finding ideas, doing research, and managing a professional career. The book does note that the odds of having a book published are poor, and the you-can-do-it spirit seems, at times, unrealistic. Still, promoting a positive mental attitude isn't all bad, especially when wrapped around writing samples, professional tips, and resource lists. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Elizabeth Harper was an honors student and an editor of the award-winning school newspaper at Ridgewood High School in New Jersey. A former weekly columnist for the Ridgewood News, she has also had her work appear in The New York Times and The Record in Bergen County, New Jersey. She attends Oberlin College in Ohio.
 
Timothy Harper is a journalist, an editorial/publishing consultant, and the author of eleven previous books and hundreds of articles. An adjunct faculty member at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, he lives in Ridgewood, New Jersey.

Customer Reviews

Enlightening and informative for aspiring writers
Do you write stories? Or maybe you love to curl up in a corner and read books? Do you think you have the talent to write those stories and get them into print? How in the world do you go about doing it? YOUR NAME IN PRINT answers these questions and more. In today's world of blogs, homemade websites, school newspapers and more, it's never been easier for teens to find a place to get into print. As the authors say in the opening pages, "Kids today recognize the power of story, and many of them are experimenting with storytelling on their own."

Timothy Harper is a journalist who has written hundreds of magazine articles and eleven other books, and he's an adjunct faculty member at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He teams with his daughter Elizabeth, who is a freshman at Oberlin College in Ohio.

While you may not want to appear in print, the authors have a message for everyone with this book: "Getting published is less important than the process, discipline and goals involved in writing. Even for teenagers who don't want to be professional writers --- even teens who really don't care whether they ever get published anywhere beyond their school paper --- writing is something that can stretch their creativity and help them find their niche, and it's fun."

They cover the benefits of getting into print, such as opening doors for academic scholarships and other benefits, then what to write, where to get ideas and how to find the markets for those ideas. Also, they examine how to establish yourself in cyberspace and the method for moving to bigger and better markets. Practical matters, such as how to be productive doing research and organizing your writing space, are also addressed with separate chapters. The authors weave into the fiber of this book much more than their rich personal experiences. They turn to other frequently published journalists and authors for their insight and add it in the appropriate chapter. The last section of the book includes a broad list of websites where you can learn more about writing and in some cases start your journey to being published. The writing is a breezy, easy-to-read style with plenty of ready-to-do examples.

The Harpers are realistic in what you can and can't accomplish. As they say, "In truth, almost anyone can become a writer. But it takes more than time. And it takes more than good writing. You need to learn to come up with ideas for what to write about, do the research, to organize the material, and finally to write it in a way that is informative, or entertaining or both. Can anybody do it? Sort of. Anybody can try to become a writer. Anybody can write something and show it to friends and relatives. Getting published is more complicated." YOUR NAME IN PRINT shows you the steps with sound and wise advice. I highly recommend this book because it might open a new world to you.

--- Reviewed by W. Terry Whalin, writer and editor in Scottsdale, Arizona. His latest book is BOOK PROPOSALS THAT $ELL: 21 Secrets to Speed Your Success (Write Now Publications). http://www.bookproposals.ws

Taught you a lot about how to start out in writing
"Your Name in Print" is about how you can improve your writing. Throughout the book you are taught how to find subjects to write about, tactics you can use to help yourself write better, and examples on how hard work and determination can help your writing. You also learn in this book about how you can get your work known to the public. This book will help teach you how to write anything from school reports to books.

Opinion: "Your Name in Print" was an interesting book. The most interesting parts of the book for me was when you would learn about how some writer started out. The book did have useful tips on how to help improve your writing, and good ways on how to come up with ideas to write about. It also taught you a lot about how to start out in writing, and move up to doing bigger things. The book did having some parts in it where I was daydreaming while I read it, but other than those few parts I was really into what I was reading.

Reviewed by a student reviewer for Flamingnet Book Reviews
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Preteen and young adult book reviews