The Songwriter’s Handbook: Power Strategies for Crafting Great Lyrics

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 songs
• Exercises 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 exercises
• Information about people you need on your creative and business team
• Next steps after you’ve written a great song
• Tips 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. His last four CDs have all charted in the top 20 on the Jazz Week charts and he has gotten excellent reviews including two ＂Top Vocal CDs of the year＂ in 2015 and 2018 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! and Hangin’ Out. As an educator, he has taught seminars in lyric writing at The Songwriters Guild, The Songwriting School of Los Angeles, and UCLA Extension.