Heinlein’s Advice for Publishing Success

In 1947, Science Fiction Grandmaster Robert A. Heinlein famously penned a set of rules for publishing success:

  1. You must write
  2. You must finish what you write
  3. You must not rewrite except to editorial order
  4. You must put your work on the market
  5. You must keep it on the market until it is sold

Now, J. Daniel Sawyer (writing as Dan Sawyer) brings his expertise as a prolific author, Heinlein scholar, and host of a long-running podcast focusing on the intersection of creativity and business (The Every Day Novelist) to bear on this infamous list.

This volume dissects these rules to find out if they’re still applicable in today’s publishing world–or if they ever were in the first place. With a special focus on the effect such rules have on creative process and a long look at the complexities of the self-publishing era that the pulp-era writers (to whom Heinlein was writing) didn’t have to face, Sawyer brings new insight to this most perennial and controversial piece of writing advice.


Buy it now, or scroll down to read a sample.