Post: #1

With publishing becoming splintered, I've noticed I've gotten more out of self published work than ones shunted from large publishing houses. The work always feels a bit more diluted than it has to be. I was wondering if you guys know of good sources or products (of any subject) that have helped you. An example for me would be Day Bang for dating or Lyle McDonald for diet.

Post: #2

Some of the best tips I've ever gotten on writing were from my high school English teacher. I haven't published anything but have probably written at least a few hundred pages of papers and the majority of them I got high marks. Here are a few of those tips.

- Writing as a communication style is between three people. You and the text, the reader and the text, and an implicit communication between the reader and the author. If you're ever reading something and have tons of questions stewing in your brain, the author never considered his audience.

- The best thing you can do to improve your writing is write a lot on a subject, take the first five or ten (or twenty) pages, rip them up and throw them out. A lot of authors have never gotten over themselves. You won't be able to get over yourself until you've exhausted your self-absorption through writing to the point where you're just conveying information seemingly without voice.

- Then reread your text and try to communicate more with fewer words.

So naturally those are the types of books I look for, whether self published or otherwise.