Haven't seen the book, but I purchased the Craftsy (now Bluprint) class of Marti's, called "Machine Quilting in Sections: Strategies for Any Quilt". It is wonderful and covers several different techniques. I learned a lot from her and refer back to it fairly often.
I have a sit down longarm now, so don't have to QAYG anymore, but I still do sometimes, to use up smaller pieces of batting. I can tell you the "dragging" is just something you have to work out. Even with a sit down longarm, you have to "puddle" your quilt and free up enough of it around the needle to work one area without dragging. When you feel any resistance again, stop and free up more of the quilt around the needle. Puddle it up so there won't be any drag on the one area you are working on, then move on to the next. It's easy once you get used to doing it.
If you QAYG, you shouldn't have much 'drag' to deal with at all. The smaller the piece you are quilting, the less 'drag' is a problem.
If you have access to Marti's book, definitely read it and try her methods. If you learn better by being "shown" a technique, get her class on Bluprint. It's great.