Starve Better: Surviving the Endless Horror of the Writing Life

Starve Better: Surviving the Endless Horror of the Writing Life makes no promises of turning you into a bestselling author. It won't indulge dreams of fame, fortune, or literary immortality. This book is about something far more useful: survival. Learn how to generate ideas on demand, craft dialogue and plots under pressure, navigate the slush pile, and endure the realities of a profession where rejection is inevitable, and payday is often late. For nonfiction writers, Starve Better offers equally practical advice on finding assignments that actually pay, landing work with magazines, handling commissioned pieces, and building a freelance career that keeps the lights on just a little longer. Because the final notices are piling up, and the mice have already eaten the last of the pasta.

Gathering humor, essays, and some of Nick Mamatas's most widely read blog posts, Starve Better is equal parts writing manual, career guide, and reality check. Mamatas, an acclaimed novelist, editor, and essayist whose work has been recognized by many of speculative fiction's highest honors, shares the hard-earned lessons of a working writer with wit, candor, and very little patience for conventional wisdom. This expanded second edition includes new material on writing novellas, building a Patreon, and other strategies for surviving, and occasionally even thriving.

Author: Nick Mamatas
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Lethe Press
Published: 07/23/2026
Pages: 216
Weight: 0.56lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.49d
ISBN: 9781590218136
2nd Edition