Bad Writers Can Be Bestsellers, Too

By Chris Maddock - Jan 01 , 2009

How well you write has very little to do with whether you make the non-fiction bestsellers lists – or really whether you can create any kind of an audience for your book. There are authors – probably not bestsellers – who would argue this point. But they’d be mistaken. Sorry Sheakspeare, selling lots of books has much more to do with creating an audience and having a marketing plan.

Go talk to a book buyer for a major retailer and you’ll realize I’m not blowin’ smoke. You’ll quickly figure out that they want to know how you’re going to move paper off their shelves – not whether you words make the page glow.

This blog is going to infuriate a few wordsmiths out there. Yet I would think that for most would-be non-fiction authors, especially those whose goal is to create a book to support a platform or business or sell more seats at speaking events, this is good news.

Last week’s post discussed the utility of blogging your book, because, pragmatically, it helps you get the words on the page. Among others, this prompted several comments about how surely this would only produce a very rough, pre-manuscript.

Not really.

At the point at which you have the amount of material you need comprise a book from your blogs, you’ll have two things in your favor that the ivory tower, throw the whole noodle against the market wordcrafter won’t: material that has received feedback from your audience, and…an audience.

If your goal is to sell books, or sell yourself or your business with your book, having an audience who likes what you have to say is way more important than your writing.