Write Good or Die

industry works (or doesn’t work).
    A moment ago I stated that no one knows what causes a novel to be a success, which isn’t entirely true. The one characteristic shared by all successful novels (other than those written by known authors) is that they are books that people tell their friends about. The rub, of course, is that no one knows what exactly causes someone to be filled with the urge to tell another person about a book.
    Quality helps, sure, but when’s the last time a co-worker brought in a copy of Charles Dickens’ Bleak House or Voltaire’s Candide and said “You have to read this”? What makes people do this with the Harry Potter books and The Da Vinci Code and Twilight ? Like most people, I have no idea. But I do know this: for someone to want to recommend a book to other people, they have to be excited about it. And how do you know what people are going to be excited about? The best way to answer that question, in my opinion, is to ask yourself what you are excited about – and then write about that.
    This is a critical point. Writers are often told to “keep your audience in mind,” which is good advice–unless, when you think of your audience, you imagine some amorphous crowd of people who fit some particular demographic. If you target your book at 30-something, college-educated, male science fiction fans or 20-something white single mothers, you’re going to fail. No one wants to read a book targeted at a demographic. You want your reader to think, as they are reading your novel, “Wow, this author knows me.”
    How do you accomplish this? Again, write what you are excited about. No matter how eclectic your interests, there are other people out there like you–and they have friends. Did J.K. Rowling know that there was an untapped market of tens of millions dying to read about British children attending a school of wizardry? Probably not. But she was excited by the idea, and that excitement is infectious.
    Don’t write for a demographic. Don’t write for publishers, reviewers, or agents. Write for yourself and maybe for that handful of people who really “get” you. Don’t worry about the appeal of your book being too narrow. My novel, Mercury Falls , certainly isn’t for everybody. To be honest, I’m surprised that its appeal has turned out to be as broad as it is, considering that it’s filled with obscure references to everything from Occam’s Razor to Creedence Clearwater Revival to Wargames .
    What I’ve learned is that, ironically, by intentionally refusing to pander to my audience, I actually made Mercury Falls more interesting for readers outside of what I originally thought was my target demographic. Readers respond to authenticity, originality and excitement, even if it’s not packaged in a way they expect.
    The other huge advantage to writing a book that you’re excited about is that it’s much easier to market. Those of who have witnessed my marketing onslaught for Mercury Falls may be surprised to learn that I absolutely abhor sales. I’m probably the worst salesperson in the history of humankind. And yet, I have no problem wholeheartedly recommending my book at every opportunity because it’s a book I believe in. I don’t mean that I believe that it will sell millions of copies; I have no idea how many people will ultimately want to read it. It’s not a book calculated to generate sales; it’s simply the best book I could write, and as such it’s something that I want to share with people.
    I’d stack that enthusiasm against the cold calculations of the clueless publishing houses any day. And that’s why I’ll say again: Write the book that you want to read. If you can do that, you’re a long way toward creating a successful book. Too many writers worry about getting “published” when they should be worried about writing a book that people will want to read.
    There’s a reason I put the word “published” in quotes in the previous paragraph, by the way: these days, the idea of being a “published” author is an antiquated and virtually meaningless one. Getting “published,” in some sense or other, isn’t difficult. Mercury Falls , for example, was published by St. Culain Press. Never heard of it? That’s probably because it’s a fictitious company that I created solely for the purposes of publishing Mercury Falls .
    So am I a published author? I guess that depends on the definition of “published” you use. Frankly, the question