Write a Better Book

I read an interview recently where a writer mentioned how much emphasis is placed on marketing these days, as though marketing will sell your books. She went on to say that better writing was more important. There are a lot of people who are linking and tweeting and tagging their brains out, but haven’t written anything worth publishing. That doesn’t mean they’re not published, of course. It just means that what is published is unreadable, even if you know very little about writing.

Here’s the insane part: most people don’t know anything about writing well. They just know whether or not they liked the story. Maybe that’s all it’s about. Maybe writing isn’t about art, it isn’t about writing well. It’s about getting the blood pumping inside a teenaged girl’s heart, or teenaged boy’s adrenaline flowing, or some old pervert’s sex drive humming along.

I hear so many people (and read them online) complaining about writing versus marketing, vampire stories versus literary stories, Kindle versus print, large press versus small press. I want to scream, “Who the fuck cares?” I know we all want to make a living. I know we all think our shit (or writing) doesn’t stink. We think we have the next Twilight or Harry Potter or that we’re the next King, or Grisham, or that somehow God is shining His flashlight on us and that we should be next, next!

Well, get in line. Here’s the truth: marketing helps, but if you’ve written a book that no one wants to read, it isn’t going to sell. In case you haven’t been paying attention, anything goes…or doesn’t go, all dependent upon the moon’s phases, the stars lining up, your marketing genius, the number of hours you spend on twitter tweeting your fucking brains out, etc. I’m just saying, if you want readers to spread the word about your book, then you might want to consider writing a better book.

Terry Persun writes in many genres, including historical fiction, mainstream, literary, and science fiction/fantasy. His latest novel, Cathedral of Dreams is a ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year finalist in the Science Fiction category. His novel Sweet Song just won a Silver IPPY Award, too. Terry’s website is: www.TerryPersun.com or you can find him on Amazon at: http://amzn.to/gpWf3L