Richard Newton's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing"
Want to write? Five habits to develop.
I have roughly a million words in print. I have several hundred thousand more in eBooks, online articles and blogs, not to mention quite a few unpublished works. As a result, I am often asked for advice on writing, but I rarely write about writing. The reason is that I am slightly suspicious of that recursive behaviour whereby writers write about writing, film makers makes films about filming or playwrights stage plays about plays. But in this article I’ve overcome that suspicion and broken my habit to give five very simple tips which anyone can follow. This is not advanced advice as you might receive on a writing course, but some basic habits anyone can adopt to improve your writing.
Write
It sounds obvious. Very obvious. Maybe too obvious. It is an apparently obvious truth that if you want to be a writer, you must write. Yet the world seems to be awash with would-be writers who never write. They can’t find the time, don’t have the inspiration, are too tired after work. Sounds familiar? You must make a choice. Those issues aren’t going away unless you make a choice to write, and ideally write regularly. You don’t need to write much. A few sentences a day is a start. It builds the habit and helps you practice. Don’t worry too much if you are not impressed with your first efforts. Most people are not automatically gifted writers. It takes a little time and practice.
Take feedback
There is no reason you should not write purely for your own pleasure without ever sharing it with anyone else. Like any other form of creativity, you don’t have to be doing it for other people. This is often forgotten – writing can be a solitary joy. Yet, most writers are writing to be read by others. If this is the case, then sooner or later, and ideally sooner, you need to get other people to read your writing and give you feedback. If the feedback is to be worthwhile, this may be a painful process. When I started writing, I hated getting even the most gently critical feedback. One gets quite attached to one’s own words – feedback can be seen as a personal attack. But taking feedback, even the most critical of feedback, is an essential part of honing your skills. Nowadays I am, mostly, quite relaxed about it. Occasionally, it touches a raw point, but I try to grit my teeth and accept that as part of the game of being a writer.
See the everyday opportunities
There are millions of everyday opportunities to be a writer. Take email. You can dash off emails as a painful daily chore. Alternatively, you can see email as an ideal opportunity to practice and develop your writing style. Now and again don’t just scribble out a rapid response. Compose yourself. Think about what message you want to communicate. Work on the response. Refine your email. Your recipients will not always recognise or appreciate your efforts – but that’s not the point.
Read
If you don’t enjoy reading, why do you think anyone will enjoy reading your writing? Reading can be one of life’s great pleasures. It can also be the source of wisdom, inspiration, and insights. But for a writer reading is more than this – it is an opportunity to see different ways of expressing ideas, conveying emotions and creating images. When you read, don’t just learn about the message, think about how the writer is expressing it. The aim is not to copy other writers, but to explore, discover and develop your own style.
Critique
I always ask those who read my books to post reviews. This is partially the selfish need to get feedback and the desire to promote my books. Reviews are critically important to authors and their book sales. In return, I have always written reviews with a sense of duty to my fellow authors. But a year or two ago I realised my reviews were quite bland.
Since then, I have tried to craft my reviews. My thinking is simple. If I cannot express clearly, in written text, what I like or dislike about a book then what kind of writer am I? I doubt many people read my reviews, but again that is not the point. Of course, I am gratified when people do, and more so when they enjoy them. Yet fundamentally I see it as yet another way of exercising and improving my writing. I do this on goodreads, but anywhere, even in the back of an old notebook, will do.
this blog, along with many others, was originally published on my linkedin profile at https://uk.linkedin.com/in/richardjen...
Write
It sounds obvious. Very obvious. Maybe too obvious. It is an apparently obvious truth that if you want to be a writer, you must write. Yet the world seems to be awash with would-be writers who never write. They can’t find the time, don’t have the inspiration, are too tired after work. Sounds familiar? You must make a choice. Those issues aren’t going away unless you make a choice to write, and ideally write regularly. You don’t need to write much. A few sentences a day is a start. It builds the habit and helps you practice. Don’t worry too much if you are not impressed with your first efforts. Most people are not automatically gifted writers. It takes a little time and practice.
Take feedback
There is no reason you should not write purely for your own pleasure without ever sharing it with anyone else. Like any other form of creativity, you don’t have to be doing it for other people. This is often forgotten – writing can be a solitary joy. Yet, most writers are writing to be read by others. If this is the case, then sooner or later, and ideally sooner, you need to get other people to read your writing and give you feedback. If the feedback is to be worthwhile, this may be a painful process. When I started writing, I hated getting even the most gently critical feedback. One gets quite attached to one’s own words – feedback can be seen as a personal attack. But taking feedback, even the most critical of feedback, is an essential part of honing your skills. Nowadays I am, mostly, quite relaxed about it. Occasionally, it touches a raw point, but I try to grit my teeth and accept that as part of the game of being a writer.
See the everyday opportunities
There are millions of everyday opportunities to be a writer. Take email. You can dash off emails as a painful daily chore. Alternatively, you can see email as an ideal opportunity to practice and develop your writing style. Now and again don’t just scribble out a rapid response. Compose yourself. Think about what message you want to communicate. Work on the response. Refine your email. Your recipients will not always recognise or appreciate your efforts – but that’s not the point.
Read
If you don’t enjoy reading, why do you think anyone will enjoy reading your writing? Reading can be one of life’s great pleasures. It can also be the source of wisdom, inspiration, and insights. But for a writer reading is more than this – it is an opportunity to see different ways of expressing ideas, conveying emotions and creating images. When you read, don’t just learn about the message, think about how the writer is expressing it. The aim is not to copy other writers, but to explore, discover and develop your own style.
Critique
I always ask those who read my books to post reviews. This is partially the selfish need to get feedback and the desire to promote my books. Reviews are critically important to authors and their book sales. In return, I have always written reviews with a sense of duty to my fellow authors. But a year or two ago I realised my reviews were quite bland.
Since then, I have tried to craft my reviews. My thinking is simple. If I cannot express clearly, in written text, what I like or dislike about a book then what kind of writer am I? I doubt many people read my reviews, but again that is not the point. Of course, I am gratified when people do, and more so when they enjoy them. Yet fundamentally I see it as yet another way of exercising and improving my writing. I do this on goodreads, but anywhere, even in the back of an old notebook, will do.
this blog, along with many others, was originally published on my linkedin profile at https://uk.linkedin.com/in/richardjen...
What do publishers do now?
I seem to have come full circle with my writing. For those of you unfamiliar with my works, which is the vast majority of the world, I am a fairly minor author. So far, my published books are mostly business and management books. I am well known in my niche, but not much beyond. To give an idea of scale - good sales for me are over 20,000 copies of a book. Bad sales are a few thousand copies.
I wrote my first book in the early years of this century without the faintest clue how to go about being published. I completed the book and then found a publisher. I was lucky and seemed to fall on my feet, finding it relatively easy to get a book contract. Ah the halcyon days. I was joining publishing as it was about to go through either a seismic change or an unstoppable decline, (depending on your viewpoint). I had almost a decade of pleasant work with publishers.
As an author, one of the first things I learnt was that professional authors, at least authors of non-fiction, usually did not get a contract having written a book. They might write a bit, but mostly they touted the concept around and when they had a contract then they wrote it. I learnt, did it this way, got contracts and now have 16 published works - several in second editions.
I have always had my own private writing going on in parallel to my published books. Stuff I am not convinced there is an audience for, which I write partially because I simply like writing and partially because I am ever optimistic I will one day produce something I am happy with.
Back to my published professional texts. The full circle part is that I am now writing my 17th book and have not sought a publisher or a contract. The reason? I am not sure what publishers do anymore.
In my early days, a publisher took care of the book, gave you valuable editorial feedback, helped you through the development process, had covers designed, got the book produced, marketed the book and made sure it was in stock in book shops. I valued all these things, and enjoyed my relationship with publishers. I know ego is a bad thing, but in truth having a publisher made you feel special.
I’m not sure what publishers do now apart from producing the book. Now this is an important task, which I do not deny. But somehow you think of a publisher as more than a book production factory – and if this is all they want to be then that’s great, but it justifies a far smaller share of royalties than the current large slice they take.
Take marketing. A publisher’s first question if they show any interest in a book is normally “what are you going to do to market this book”. This is a reasonable question, and I normally respond with “I’ll work that out, but by the way – what are you going to do?” The answer is usually, “at best not much and quite probably nothing”. I suspect there is a great business helping authors market their books, as some of the best authors are not really great at marketing. But that’s not what publishers do. They seem to have hunkered down into a tenuous niche as book factories.
I am not bemoaning this. I’ve seen change in so many industries, that it would be selfish to think there was something special about publishing. But that does not mean I don’t miss the days a publisher was actually helpful in a valuable way. I rarely resented their (large) share of the royalties.
Hence, I am writing my latest book without a contract, and I’ll figure out what to do with the book when I’ve written it. Whatever “it” is, it may have little to do with a publisher in the traditional sense. I know self-publishing is a well-trodden path now. I am coming late to the game. But then it was once so nice not to have to!
If I’ve missed something about modern publishers I’d love to know.
I wrote my first book in the early years of this century without the faintest clue how to go about being published. I completed the book and then found a publisher. I was lucky and seemed to fall on my feet, finding it relatively easy to get a book contract. Ah the halcyon days. I was joining publishing as it was about to go through either a seismic change or an unstoppable decline, (depending on your viewpoint). I had almost a decade of pleasant work with publishers.
As an author, one of the first things I learnt was that professional authors, at least authors of non-fiction, usually did not get a contract having written a book. They might write a bit, but mostly they touted the concept around and when they had a contract then they wrote it. I learnt, did it this way, got contracts and now have 16 published works - several in second editions.
I have always had my own private writing going on in parallel to my published books. Stuff I am not convinced there is an audience for, which I write partially because I simply like writing and partially because I am ever optimistic I will one day produce something I am happy with.
Back to my published professional texts. The full circle part is that I am now writing my 17th book and have not sought a publisher or a contract. The reason? I am not sure what publishers do anymore.
In my early days, a publisher took care of the book, gave you valuable editorial feedback, helped you through the development process, had covers designed, got the book produced, marketed the book and made sure it was in stock in book shops. I valued all these things, and enjoyed my relationship with publishers. I know ego is a bad thing, but in truth having a publisher made you feel special.
I’m not sure what publishers do now apart from producing the book. Now this is an important task, which I do not deny. But somehow you think of a publisher as more than a book production factory – and if this is all they want to be then that’s great, but it justifies a far smaller share of royalties than the current large slice they take.
Take marketing. A publisher’s first question if they show any interest in a book is normally “what are you going to do to market this book”. This is a reasonable question, and I normally respond with “I’ll work that out, but by the way – what are you going to do?” The answer is usually, “at best not much and quite probably nothing”. I suspect there is a great business helping authors market their books, as some of the best authors are not really great at marketing. But that’s not what publishers do. They seem to have hunkered down into a tenuous niche as book factories.
I am not bemoaning this. I’ve seen change in so many industries, that it would be selfish to think there was something special about publishing. But that does not mean I don’t miss the days a publisher was actually helpful in a valuable way. I rarely resented their (large) share of the royalties.
Hence, I am writing my latest book without a contract, and I’ll figure out what to do with the book when I’ve written it. Whatever “it” is, it may have little to do with a publisher in the traditional sense. I know self-publishing is a well-trodden path now. I am coming late to the game. But then it was once so nice not to have to!
If I’ve missed something about modern publishers I’d love to know.
