Book buyers want a good story to take with them on the airplane. . . . When the reader hears strong echoes of his or her own life and beliefs, he or she is more apt to become invested in the story. I’d argue that it’s impossible to make this connection in a pre-meditated way, gauging the market like a racetrack tout with a hot tip. …

You can’t aim a book like a cruise missile, in other words. People who decide to make a fortune writing like John Grisham or Tom Clancy produce nothing but pale imitations by and large because vocabulary is not the same thing as feeling and plot is light-years from the truth as understood by the mind and by the heart.

When you see a novel with “in the tradition of…” on the cover, you know you are looking at one of these over-calculated and likely boring imitations.

Write what you like, then imbue it with life, and make it unique by binding in your own personal knowledge of life, friendship, relationship, sex and work. Especially work. People love to read about work. God knows why, but they do. – On Writing by Stephen King.

Too bad book marketers don’t understand this. They encourage writers to imitate other writers because they believe the book is easier to sell that way. Naturally, writers take the bait and begin analyzing the market instead of writing what they love.

I’ve met these writers who are trying to cash in on the marker by writing about fairies or chick lit or whatever the hottest trend is. I can’t do that–I have to write what interests me, or it comes out lifeless. So it’s nice to see that one of the richest writers in the world agrees with me.