Adopt A Reader

Happy New Year to everyone.

One of my resolutions is to get even more books by more writers more attention in 2006.

To that end I’d also like to propose an “Adopt a Reader” program.

There are any number of ways everyone can adopt a reader and I’d love to post some of the ways you can think of to this.

For starters, here’s what I’m going to do:

One of the more horrifying things that I find at conferences, book signings and the like is the enormous number of people who want to be writers and are in various stages of the process, who are asking for help and advice but who, when asked, freely admit they don’t read very much and hardly ever buy books. Or even take books out of the library.

So I’m going to have a card printed out and hand it out to every aspiring author I meet from now on (and I encourage every other author, agent, editor and publisher to do the same.)

“Readers get published more often than Writers.”

And I’ll explain that be it karmic dept or just the smarts that come for reading a lot but when you talk to the most successful writers you discover what rabid readers they were prior to getting published and still are.

One thing that’s clear is that if things keep going the way they are headed, at some point in the next ten to fifteen years we will have more writers than readers and more books published than ever will be cracked open.

Comments

[lisa]

I was just at a blog that started a National Just Read More Novels Month. I think it is suposed to sort of counter the National Novel Writing Month. Sure sounds good to me.

[ami]

Excellent idea, M.J.!
Your post reminded me of something that happened a few years ago when I was living in Chicago.

I used to take a notebook with me and scribble a few lines during my train ride to work. One morning a woman sat next to me...sporting a bright scarf, a hat with some silk flowers pinned to it, and a large button pinned to her coat that said: "Senior Power". She kept looking over at my notebook (which didn't have much to offer at that point). Eventually she asked, "what's that?" I shrugged my shoulders and admitted that I wasn't quite sure yet, but I hoped it might turn out to be a short-story.

She looked at me and shook her head, "Don't you know anything, girl? You gotta READ to WRITE."
The next day I traded my notebook for a copy of "The Bluest Eye".

I read novel after novel on those train rides. I never saw the woman again, but if I saw her today, I'd thank her for telling me the truest thing I've ever heard about writing. My first novel comes out February 14!

[yellojkt]

Great idea. I think we are on the same track. I wouldn't trust a writer that doesn't read. It would be like going to a restaurant with skinny cooks. Oh, and National Just Read More Novels Month was my idea as a tongue in cheek but serious answer to NaWriNoMo.

[Frederick Smith]

Great idea. I'm surprised, too, at the number of aspiring writers who don't read. When I read a really good book, it challenges me to become a better writer... gives me something to aspire to.

I couldn't imagine not reading.
fs

[Mad Max Perkins]

Proving once again that the best notions are often the simplest, I want to say: this is a fantastic idea! To state it first in the negative, there's nothing more obnoxious/presumptuous/ridiculous/insulting than that crop of knuckleheads who assume that anyone who can type can write, if only they knew the tricks. To state it in a more generous way, these same knuckleheads mostly don't know better, and what they're really looking for is good advice--and the most BASIC question they need to answer for themselves [before, even, talent, for this exercise anyway] is whether or not they really love the form of their choosing. And the more often all of us--writers, agents, editors, conference speakers--refuse to answer questions like "how do I find an agent" until we've table-thumped a bit about the importance of reading, the better off we'll all be, for a whole variety of reasons.

This is a campaign worth campaigning for!

[Linda]

I've been reading since I was 3. I was shocked at how many of the "writers" I've met who ask how to write a mystery or a romance or whatever and have never read one. I'm always telling people that Stephen King's book "On Writing" has a two sentence bit of advice that's exactly what a writer needs to do. He said, "Read a lot. Write a lot." I thought it was telling that he put reading first. :)