First Commandment of Writing
In the ’70’s and ’80’s I was in real estate among other things. I always thought that the people who made the most risk free money were those who wrote books about how to make money in real estate. I still think that. I also think that the way to make money in writing is to sell books and workshops on how to write.
Where I’m going with this is that, against my better judgement, I subscribe to Writer’s Digest. It’s pretty good as these things go. The articles become redundant, but they offer other good services. I get their newsletter, writersdigest-newsletter@fwpubs.com, e-mailed to me. In the most recent one is an article about how to promote your writing over the Internet. It’s actually quite good, as far as it goes. However, it says nothing about the first commandment of writing.
Do you know the first commandment of writing? It has nothing to do with promotion or blogging or YouTube. It’s write something worth reading.
Good writers write things other people want to read. Great writers write things that engage people as human beings. Jane Austin isn’t great because she wrote about the technology of her day. Sorry, Mr. Clancy you’ll be forgotten in a generation. She is great because the people she wrote about are exist in our world today.
On the down side, good writing takes time. It generally is thoughtful, but sounds like something dashed off spontaneously.
Here is the problem and an opportunity. Good writers think about what they say. That takes time. In many ways Internet promotion is a shoot from the lip proposition. Thoughtful comment and shoot from the lip generally don’t mix well. If you are good at one and not the other, find someone who complements your abilities. If you can’t find the opportunity in that, well you’ve wasted your time reading this blog.
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POSTED IN: Business Plan, Marketing, Mindset
1 opinion for First Commandment of Writing
Kristen King
Oct 17, 2007 at 2:46 pm
And this is the major criticism with blogs and self-/vanity-publishing: People pump out crap rather than using the tools to market something that just hasn’t been picked up by mainstream outlets — or writing something of an appropriate quality to follow traditional publication routes. There’s a time and a place for insta-pubs, but there’s also something to be said for honing a craft and making a valuable statement that means something to someone OTHER than the person who wrote it.
kk
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