On Writing

I recently listened to the audio book On Writing by Stephen King. Normally I wouldn’t touch anything by Stephen King with a ten foot pole, because I’m a major chicken and I know it would scare the crap out of me, but this was different. I learned a lot from listening to Stephen, including a little bit on marketing.

What, you ask, would a book on writing teach you about marketing?

Well, it was really very subliminal. As he talked about writing and techniques he would give examples. This is to be expected, I mean after all how can we learn if you don’t show us? And sure he used other author’s works as examples, but mostly he used his own books. He would read small parts, a paragraph or two, of his books to demonstrate his point. By the end of the book, disc 7, I didn’t want it to end. I wanted him to go on and on and tell me more, but I guess that was all he had to say. But when all was said and done, I realized the man was a genius! Not only did I pick up a few tips I thought I could use in my own writing, but more than that, I wanted to go out and buy a Stephen King book and read it to see all the things he talked about. I didn’t want just one, I wanted at least three: Carrie, Misery, and a collection of his short stories if there was one.

So why, you ask, is he a genius?

Because his book On Writing, which is on writing of course, made me, a major coward, want to run out and read all his scary, bone chilling, creepy books. Now that’s talent, and a good marketing strategy.

I might have convinced you to want to get his book, and if I did, then that means what I learned worked. The only problem is that I want you to buy my book, not Stephen’s, but that’s a topic for another blog.

Have a great week!


June

www.junesproat.com