From my experience there are two levels of books written about writing. The first is to establish the writer within himself, the second is to establish the writer within the community. Level one is neither better nor worse than level two, it simply reflects the comfort that the writer has with her craft.

Keeping this in mind, Booklife: Strategies and Survival Tips for the 21st Century Writer is a level two book. It does assume an expertise from the writer. It is meant more to gently guide the writer into something more, rather than show the writer the realm of personal possibility. This is why the subtitle is added: "Strategies and Survival Tips for the 21st Century Writer." VanderMeer expects that his reader is at the very least a writer. A writer, by career definition, not only writes but knows about herself because of her writing. Just as a poet is only able to define himself as such because he knows he writes poetry, a writer is able to define herself because she knows what she writes. A poet can define himself as a writer, to be sure, but a plumber will not call himself a writer because he can make a to-do list at the beginning of the day.