Book excerpt: Would you like to become a better composer, advance your skills, and increase your creativity? This book can help you: Become a more skilled composer. Be a more prolific composer. Promote your work. Get your pieces performed. Publish your music. Even now, as a published, award-winning composer, if I saw this book, I'd buy it. That's because earning a high school diploma, a college degree, or even an advanced degree is a wonderful, promising achievement--I know. I did that. But the problem is: Diplomas and degrees don't guarantee that you know how to advance your skills and increase your output and success. Degrees don't ensure your continued success in today's complicated, competitive world. A degree doesn't guarantee success especially when you make major or even minor career changes. This book's huge amount of specifics makes it a valuable reference that you read, reread, and consult often. This book is a vital standalone guide for composers outside of formal learning circles and a practical supplement for composers who are studying or who have studied in classrooms. Because composing music is so varied with an enormous number of opportunities, a diverse, international group of 24 fellow composers contributed their ideas to this book. These composers work in different genres and styles. This book includes details of specific composer how-to skills, so composers and those who want to be composers get an intimate, unique view of the private professional procedures and practices of fellow composers--a perspective few composers ever see in one comprehensive source. Let this book's wealth of guidance, insights, and suggestions inspire you! Dive into this book and watch your skills, output, and success blossom!