The Songwriter's Handbook

Platinum award-winning singer, songwriter, and lyricist Mark Winkler provides a handbook on writing great lyrics, chock full of songwriting exercises and engaging personal vignettes. This book crosses a variety of genres andteaches the craft of modern commercial songwriting as practiced by the likes of Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, and Bruno Mars.
The book includes:
Highlights of great songwriters and their songsExercises that focus on storytelling and rhyming while adding specificity and color Practical tips for writing great lyrics with accompanying templates Annotated examples of songs to illustrate effective exercisesInformation about people you need on your creative and business team Next steps after you've written a great songTips on being a successful live performer to make songs pop
By using great songwriters and their songs as blueprints, Winkler reveals the tricks of the trade and shows how you can improve your songwriting skills.

Mark Winkler is a platinum award-winning singer/lyricist who has had over 250 of his songs recorded by such artists as Dianne Reeves, Steve Tyrell, Liza Minnelli, Jane Monheit, and Lea Salonga. He has written lyrics for tunes by such esteemed composers as Wayne Shorter, Dexter Gordon, Joshua Redman, and David Benoit. He has released 21 solo albums that regularly place high on the jazz charts, and he has gotten excellent reviews including two "Top Vocal CDs of the year" in 2021 and 2023 in Jazziz Magazine. He has written songs for the hit musical revue Naked Boys Singing! and is also the co-writer for the musical revues Bark!, Too Old for the Chorus, and Play It Cool. As an educator, he has taught his lyric writing class at UCLA extension for 19 years and at The Songwriting School for over 10 years.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: A Working Songwriter
Chapter 3: How to Judge if Your Lyric Is Good
Chapter 4: Come Up with a Great Title
Chapter 5: Song Forms
Chapter 6: Be Specific
Chapter 7: Top Ten Tips for Lyric Writers: Tips 1-5
Chapter 8: Rewriting the Beatles, and Other Things
Chapter 9: Rhyming
Chapter 10: Laundry List Songs
Chapter 11: Top Ten Tips for Lyric Writers: (6-10)
Chapter 12: Tropical Nights: Me 'n' Liza!
Chapter 13: Getting Outside Your Bubble
Chapter 14: Writing to an Existing Melody
Chapter 15: Performing Live
Chapter 16: Break Time!
Chapter 17: Writing for the Musical Theater
Chapter 18: Strategies for Creating New Songs
Chapter 19: Show Don't Tell
Chapter 20: Write a Song Like a Movie
Chapter 21: Writing with Collaborators
Chapter 22: Dirty Little Secrets of Songwriting
Chapter 23: Am I Doing This Thing Right?
Chapter 24: You Can Write a Song
Chapter 25: A Song Is Like a House-Toolbelt
Chapter 26: Publishing and Copyrighting
Chapter 27: Final Review
Chapter 28: What Do I Do Now?
Glossary
Index
About the Author