Tuesday Tech

I found this article yesterday: Step 1 to Selling Your Book? Don't Pretend It's 'Free.'

I had mixed feelings about it. At first it read like "How to Cheat the System," with some good advice on how to promote your book.

Then, well, it still felt wrong to me. I had to read the article several times to find what was missing: the writing itself.

One thing this article didn't express, which I feel is essential in any business, it the quality of the work you are producing. Yes, you can produce garbage, and people may by garbage, but like so many of my business professors have said "garbage in, garbage out." Basically, you don't put forth your best effort going into the process, you can expect less than stellar results.

This article focuses on promoting your book, something absolutely essential in this day and age, but it fails to highlight that one key detail of actually having something to sell. It almost read like "you want to make some money, write a book, promote it, and then you can go on to your next idea."

I agree, building your audience is crucial, but passion is a MUST if you are going to do anything the "hard way." Writing a book, and having it published, is like starting your own business. I wrote my first MS as a way to challenge myself while I was looking for work. I found that I love writing and I'm willing to work at it to improve my craft.

This article does focus on entrepreneurial people who are writing books (by the sound of it), but again, write something good. Just like in business and query letters, you need to have what makes your book special compared to all the others out there.

Anyway, take my thoughts, and the article, for what they're worth. I do recommend reading the article - or at least skimming through it - for ideas on how to promote your work (writing or not) that are outside the usual Twitter and Facebook.