If you can't read...you can't write

It's been said that authors should read more than they write. One main reason, reading well edited books and stories helps you learn how to use language correctly and effectively. Often you can tell how well read a writer is just by reading his writing.

One reporter used Sarah Palin's book as an example. Even though he felt she was ditsy, he felt her writing showed that she had been well schooled and read a lot.

If you want to write Urban Fiction and haven't read Iceberg Slims stuff you are missing a great opportunity. This is the first writer of urban fiction and has sold over six million books. his first book, Pimp was eventually translated into German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish and Greek.


Some may feel his stuff isn't like what they are writing today and they are right. He wrote books that sold by the millions. He did things that no other writer was doing at the time. Most of us can't do that because we only read one type of book and basically copy it to be on the safe side.


But if we read other types of fiction, we might be able to stretch past our writing comfort zones and produce new classics. But it starts with reading.