Sunday, April 4, 2021

REVIEW of BEST-SELLER STATUS

 I generally don't review a book here unless I like it.


Being an author is hard enough without having someone spit on your baby, and there is "no disputing taste," no accounting for taste, an ancient adage warns. Still, testimonials are influential, and, as an author and coach and editor myself, I sure like favorable mentions when I get them.

The first 20 pages or so were merely "here it comes." I wondered whether there would be "beef," and it did come: insights about writing, publishing, promoting, and profiting, covered in the next 60 pages.

I have a love/hate relationship with the book industry, given that some classics were ghostwritten and some authors made up their "true stories" and some best-sellers were written poorly. My favorite movie is Chariots of Fire, and the contrast between the two central characters' methods of achieving success reflects my ambivalence about the best-seller status that has eluded me. Is the best measure of success where you ended or how you got there? Ideally, you would be making it without faking it.

Authors-to-be and authors-right-now would profit from Michael Butler's succinct guide, especially about how to get their work legitimately noticed, heeded, shared, and appreciated.

Intelligent and informed effort is key to best-seller status. This book can help.

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