I love big historical novels, and was engrossed by Labyrinth, Kate Mosse’s bestseller. It also intrigued me that this bestseller was blogged, because I adore blogging, and recommend it to writers.

In this article on the release of her new novel Kate Mosse talks about her follow-up to her huge hit Labyrinth Kate Mosse talks about the secret of writing a bestseller: “So what is the secret to a bestseller? ‘This is the thing I feel strongly about, if you can do things that really matter to you, not thinking about where they’re going to lead, but just the thing that seemed right to give your time to, whether it works out or not, you feel satisfied, and that you enjoyed yourself on the way.

‘If instead you do it because you want to be here in two years, or five years, you spend all your time measuring yourself by things that are not achievable.’”

This is excellent advice for writing any kind of book: write the book YOU want to write. If instead you write a book for what you presume are market conditions, then you’re at the mercy of the market. Not only that, your book runs the risk of sounding manufactured.

It’s surprisingly easy to assess how a writer felt when writing a book. If you think your editor won’t notice that you’re struggling, or are bored witless, you’re wrong.

When you write the book that you want to write, not only will you have fun along the way, but your readers will have fun too. And a book that’s a page-turner is the sign of a publishable book.

Excellent interview with Ann Enright, whose book The Gathering has just won the Man Booker prize. She says of her “inspiration”:

I don’t know if I ever get ‘inspired’ to write. It’s more a case of sitting in a chair and mulling things over until slowly I realise what it is I want to write. I felt like this story of the Hegarty family had been made up for me - so much so that I felt the suicide of Liam was self-evident and it wasn’t until a good way through the book that I suddenly realised I’d better tell people what had happened. I felt like the story already existed before I wrote it.

If you’re waiting to be inspired, don’t wait. You don’t need inspiration. Perspiration and tapping fingers on your keyboard will do just fine.

(Many thanks to you if you sent me kind words about this new blog, I appreciate your thoughts and ideas.)

A reader asks: “I’ve heard that you can sell a book if you blog it. Is that a good idea? What about rights?”

Yes, you can sell a book by blogging it, many people have done just that. Some writers have received six-figure advances on the basis of a blog.

The advent of the blook (blog + book)

Publishers are always looking for new books. Since authors are looking for publishers it’s a match made in heaven.
Famous blooks include Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen, which started as the blog The Julie/ Julia Project, and Naked Conversations, which Shel Israel and Robert Scoble co-wrote on their blog.

More on blooks (blogging bestsellers).

My thoughts on blooks

I’m a confirmed blogger; I have many blogs, and I love blogging. I’d certainly blog a book, for two main reasons:

* You can gauge the amount of interest in a project before you write the complete book or novel. If you don’t get any readers you know the project is a non-starter;

* Blogging a book keeps you accountable. If you’re not used to writing, then a book can seem overwhelming. However, if you’re blogging, you feel an obligation to keep writing, when otherwise you might quit.

Rights and your book blog

I wouldn’t worry about the rights when a project is in the early stages. There’s time to hammer out rights when a publisher expresses interest.

The beauty of a publisher expressing interest is that an interested publisher helps you to get an agent. You can then let the agent worry about negotiating rights deals.

BTW, I’m writing about blogging in this week’s Fab Freelance Writing Ezine - “Five Reasons A Blog Is Your Most Powerful Writing Tool”. The issue is out tomorrow.