In the latest installment of mediabistro.com’s “Book Keeping” interview series, available exclusively to AvantGuild subscribers, Susan Shapiro admits she’s been winging it: “I don’t write proposals, I only write whole books,” she says. “I don’t like writing about what I’m going to write about. So I don’t do proposals, pitches, queries, or treatments… I’ve seen too many writers get a yes on a proposal or pitch and then choke and not finish, or freak out because it comes out different than they’d originally pitched. I prefer grappling with the subject, learning how to write better, struggling to figure out what it’s really about.” A reminder: Shapiro will be sharing other “secrets of book publishing” as she moderates a mediabistro.com-sponsored panel discussion tonight at Cooper Union.
While we’re on the subject of mediabistro.com classes, Deborah Kanafini‘s 12-week workshop on nonfiction book writing starts later this month, with plenty of spaces still available. Kanafani’s memoir, Unveiled: A Woman’s Journey Through Politics, Love, and Obedience, details her marriage to a former senior advisor to Yassir Arafat. She’ll also be teaching a one-night seminar on “how to write a nonfiction book proposal that sells” in mid-December.