"Shop the Competition," is a business term used to
describe a method of learning what your rival does better. Reading enables a
writer to recognize good and bad writing regardless of the genre he or she
chooses to write.
Good writers broaden their horizons reading. They read everyday
and anything they can get their hands on, newspapers, magazines, comic books,
classic novels, anything in print or online. Writers plunge themselves in
words.
Submerse yourself in Pulitzer Prize, New York Times, National Book Award
books. Be bold, if a Nobel Peace Prize Winner
for Literature appears in an English translation, read it. Follow the authors
your audience reads. Expand your reading genres to spark your creativity and
enhance your writing ability.
Reading what you write helps you learn more about your audience.
It builds an inventory of good and bad writing. Exploring other writers in
your writing genre sometimes reveals concepts and ideas you thought unique.
Choose books from the New York Times bestsellers (100,000+ copies
sold). Extract what the public perceives as a good book. Wander through
every book like an editor and a consumer. Discover how the author triggered
your emotions and maintained your attention. Make note of the writing’s quality.
Writing is a skill, but a writer's output is artistic. Every
piece of art compares itself with previous masterpieces. Writers need to shop
the competition and read.
“If you don’t have time to read,
you don’t have the time (or the tools)
to write. Simple as that.” -Stephen King
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