--- product_id: 164384191 title: "Before and After the Book Deal: A Writer's Guide to Finishing, Publishing, Promoting, and Surviving Your First Book" price: "KD 10.70" currency: KWD in_stock: true reviews_count: 10 url: https://www.desertcart.com.kw/products/164384191-before-and-after-the-book-deal-a-writers-guide-to store_origin: KW region: Kuwait --- # Before and After the Book Deal: A Writer's Guide to Finishing, Publishing, Promoting, and Surviving Your First Book **Price:** KD 10.70 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Before and After the Book Deal: A Writer's Guide to Finishing, Publishing, Promoting, and Surviving Your First Book - **How much does it cost?** KD 10.70 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.kw](https://www.desertcart.com.kw/products/164384191-before-and-after-the-book-deal-a-writers-guide-to) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about publishing but were too afraid to ask is right here in this funny, candid guide written by an acclaimed author There are countless books on the market about how to write better but very few books on how to break into the marketplace with your first book. Cutting through the noise (and very mixed advice) online, while both dispelling rumors and remaining positive, Courtney Maum's Before and After the Book Deal is a one–of–a–kind resource that can help you get your book published. Before and After the Book Deal: A Writer's Guide to Finishing, Publishing, Promoting, and Surviving Your First Book has over 150 contributors from all walks of the industry, including international bestselling authors Anthony Doerr, Roxane Gay, Garth Greenwell, Lisa Ko, R. O. Kwon, Rebecca Makkai, and Ottessa Moshfegh, alongside cult favorites Sarah Gerard, Melissa Febos, Mitchell S. Jackson, and Mira Jacob. Agents, film scouts, film producers, translators, disability and minority activists, and power agents and editors also weigh in, offering advice and sharing intimate anecdotes about even the most taboo topics in the industry. Their wisdom will help aspiring authors find a foothold in the publishing world and navigate the challenges of life before and after publication with sanity and grace. Are MFA programs worth the time and money? How do people actually sit down and finish a novel? Did you get a good advance? What do you do when you feel envious of other writers? And why the heck aren’t your friends saying anything about your book? Covering questions ranging from the logistical to the existential (and everything in between), Before and After the Book Deal is the definitive guide for anyone who has ever wanted to know what it’s really like to be an author. Review: Super helpful, fun, well-researched - Having just finished revisions on a novel, I was eager for the latest/best advice on how to query agents and move closer to publication. I heard about Courtney Maum’s book BEFORE AND AFTER THE BOOK DEAL on a recent podcast and found it super helpful and for way more than just landing an agent. In addition to her own wealth of experience as a published author, Ms. Maum did a tremendous amount of research and reporting. She spoke with dozens of agents, editors, publicists and other published authors about their experience and distilled their advice into a hugely informative and fun-to-read text. Among the surprises was a few pages addressing the question of “what happens if I die before publication?” and a list of “what to bring on book tour that you might not think of otherwise.” Ms. Maum often breaches the “fourth wall” and speaks right at us wanna-be authors with great insight and no-holds-barred, tighten-yer-boots realism. A page-turner in its own right and invaluable information for anyone contemplating getting a book published through any channel, or maybe having already done so and wondering how to make the experience of publishing their next book a bit less stressful. My copy is now heavily dog-eared and underlined, and I look forward to consulting it many times. Review: SO thankful for this book - If you are an aspiring author, know this: publishing is a seriously awful industry to navigate. Especially if, like me, your passion/interest/strength is the actual work of WRITING, and not necessarily the work of getting published. This book gave me the foundation to understand what the hell I was getting myself into. There is a lot of terrible, conflicting, discouraging, and amateur information on the internet... It seems like a lot of the advice about publishing floating around is from a) aspiring writers themselves who are better at writing blog posts than finishing their own big projects or b) vultures who see writers seeking some kind of magic key to publication as a lucrative market full of suckers. My recommendation is to start with this book, THEN dive into whatever other research you have in mind. This has given me MUCH stronger context as I try to navigate my own publishing journey. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #96,211 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #17 in Business Aspects of Writing #85 in Authorship Reference #203 in Creativity (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.7 out of 5 stars 406 Reviews | ## Images ![Before and After the Book Deal: A Writer's Guide to Finishing, Publishing, Promoting, and Surviving Your First Book - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71REV8rGCGL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Super helpful, fun, well-researched *by M***I on October 29, 2024* Having just finished revisions on a novel, I was eager for the latest/best advice on how to query agents and move closer to publication. I heard about Courtney Maum’s book BEFORE AND AFTER THE BOOK DEAL on a recent podcast and found it super helpful and for way more than just landing an agent. In addition to her own wealth of experience as a published author, Ms. Maum did a tremendous amount of research and reporting. She spoke with dozens of agents, editors, publicists and other published authors about their experience and distilled their advice into a hugely informative and fun-to-read text. Among the surprises was a few pages addressing the question of “what happens if I die before publication?” and a list of “what to bring on book tour that you might not think of otherwise.” Ms. Maum often breaches the “fourth wall” and speaks right at us wanna-be authors with great insight and no-holds-barred, tighten-yer-boots realism. A page-turner in its own right and invaluable information for anyone contemplating getting a book published through any channel, or maybe having already done so and wondering how to make the experience of publishing their next book a bit less stressful. My copy is now heavily dog-eared and underlined, and I look forward to consulting it many times. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ SO thankful for this book *by C***4 on December 27, 2023* If you are an aspiring author, know this: publishing is a seriously awful industry to navigate. Especially if, like me, your passion/interest/strength is the actual work of WRITING, and not necessarily the work of getting published. This book gave me the foundation to understand what the hell I was getting myself into. There is a lot of terrible, conflicting, discouraging, and amateur information on the internet... It seems like a lot of the advice about publishing floating around is from a) aspiring writers themselves who are better at writing blog posts than finishing their own big projects or b) vultures who see writers seeking some kind of magic key to publication as a lucrative market full of suckers. My recommendation is to start with this book, THEN dive into whatever other research you have in mind. This has given me MUCH stronger context as I try to navigate my own publishing journey. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Priceless guide to navigating the publishing world!! *by B***S on November 20, 2020* I started reading this book as I was finishing the first draft of my own first novel, and preparing to step out into the trembling, terrifying great unknown of What Comes Next. So many questions! So many industry buzz words that I didn't actually understand! So many people and steps to the process that I wasn't even aware I needed in my life! Fear not - Courtney came to my rescue, and she can come to yours, aspiring author. I learned SO MUCH - at a holistic, full-circle, macro AND micro level - about the publishing world and all its players, and what it *really* takes to get your book into the hands of readers. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Courtney, for this invaluable, wise, accessible and refreshingly humorous guide. It has absolutely changed and fortified my life going forward as a writer. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.com.kw/products/164384191-before-and-after-the-book-deal-a-writers-guide-to](https://www.desertcart.com.kw/products/164384191-before-and-after-the-book-deal-a-writers-guide-to) --- *Product available on Desertcart Kuwait* *Store origin: KW* *Last updated: 2026-05-17*