I was thinking more along these lines-- not necessarily a how-to book. The advice on GC is great, plus I feel I'm outgoing enough not to need a book (hopefully!)
Yeah I wouldn't recommend Pledged unless you can take it with a grain of salt. I buy some of it. Some of it is, in my humble opinion, very much fantasy. But this is your best bet...it's REAL, not sugarcoated here.