And thats just the superficial evidence of the quality of the books.
These are books that have carved a niche for themselves and dont appear to be going anywhere.
All of which are reasons I have made a habit of asking Robert Greene for writing advicein my career.
God & Man
Hopefully they will help you as much as they helped me.
The first piece has to do with ambition.
The truth is most authors aim shockingly low with their books.
They dont think this is what theyre doing of course.
This is the wrong way to think about it, Robert explained to me.
It has to start, he told me, with wanting to create aclassic.
God & Man
Creating a genre defining, timelessclassicis the only meaningful goal for a writer.
Look at Roberts books:The 48 Laws of Poweris not designed to be some ordinary business book.
It was designed and written to feel like it could have been published in 1680 or 2070.
It took Robert nearly a year just to produce the proposal and sample chapters.
It is the culmination of a lifetime of study (and painful lessons).
Robert began working on the book hes working on right now in 2013.
Its 2017 and hes not even two thirds finished.
Roberts books dont become classics because they are marketed that way.
Hewrites them as classics.He does all that work upfront.
He demands it of himself.
His books are masterpieces because it is the most essential task.
Ive tried to take this as my model.
I dont want to chase fads or trends.
I want to root my book in timeless, classic themes.
Robert, Im guessing, would agree with Jeff Bezoss dictum to focus on the things that dont change.
Thats how you make a classic and it is the only true ambition for a writer.
Everything else is just icing.
The second piece of advice I got from Robert is partly related to the first.
Your book needs to be either very entertaining, he told me, or extremely practical.
One or the other.
Either solve a problem or provide an escape.
These books dontdoanything, but goddamn are they entertaining.
You flip through every page laughing or riveted, either way, excited for what comes next.
No wonder they sell like crazy.
The seatmate on an airplane asks why youre laughing so hard.
These books sell by word of mouth because they are great.
And this works for more than just books.
Hes not necessarily trying to write deep, meaningful music about his own inner life.
Instead, he tries to write fun, entertaining songs.
How do they sound with the top down and the stereo up?
His music is there to be an escape, to help people have fun.
He does it better than anyone.
Now think about Roberts books: He refuses to dance around the truth in his books.
They are politically incorrect in a way that makes many people uncomfortable, even disturbed.
Something published by some academic for theHarvard Business Reviewor Robert Greenes amoralguide to the timeless realities of power?
(Again, his book is so practical and effective its actuallybannedby some prison authorities).
What they lose with these distractions is the sight of the most essential priority: utility.
And they dont want those things in small, ineffective doses.
They want as much of it as they can, they want to mainline it from your prose.
First: Is this book set up to be a classic?
Are my ambitions set high enough?
Is there timelessness in this writing?
Is it the best book I can possibly write?
Is this something people can read again and again and get more out of each time?
Is it extremely practical?
At each step of the process, Roberts advice helped me.
because there is hardly a better living model out there.
