Author(s): Chris Mackenzie Jones

Reference and Languages

Behind the Book explores how eleven contemporary authors, in genres ranging from postapocalyptic fiction to young adult fantasy to travel memoir, navigated the pathways to publishing with their debut works. Based on extensive interviews with the authors, it covers the process of writing and publishing a book from beginning to end. The authors profiled in each story open up about their processes, challenges, and successes. While some of their paths to publication are unusual, together they offer important lessons that authors of all types can apply to their own writing journeys. Books and authors profiled: No Baggage: A Minimalist Tale of Love and Wandering by Clara Bensen; Going Somewhere: A Bicycle Journey across America by Brian Benson; Ruby by Cynthia Bond; Wicked as They Come by Delilah Dawson; Bird by Zetta Elliott; Volt by Alan Heathcock; California by Edan Lepucki; The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai; I Am Having So Much Fun Here without You by Courtney Maum; Inked by Eric Smith; and My Blue Skin Lover by Monona Wali Book jacket.