By W. Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Several years ago, I met a writer who had written a romance manuscript. I asked this author, “Do you read romance?”

He instantly said, “No. I just write romance.” I understood his reason for writing since romance is the largest fiction genre but if you are going to write in the genre, you should also be reading romance novels to understand the competition and to also understand the genre.

I regularly meet writers who are looking for a literary agent. Agents are looking for material to sell to publishers. There are many agencies, and they work on commission (normally 15%). If they don’t sell your work, they do not get paid. Former editors make great agents because they recognize quality work—yet their focus is on selling—not spending their time fixing up writing. Your writing has to be very close to perfect for the agent to pick up their pencil and make a few improvements. Otherwise because of the volume, they simply reject it and move on to the next submission.

Bottom-line of this article: writing is a business. Your writing has to make money for the agent and the publisher for someone to be interested in publishing your book. While your motivation might not be tied to money and more to getting your message out into the world (a conversation I had with a writer recently), one of the keys for any publisher is that your book has to be financially viable for them to publish.

One of the ways we can grow as a writer in the knowledge of our craft is to read how-to books. Even though I have an undergraduate degree in journalism and have shelves of how-to write books, I continue to read books on the craft of writing. For years I’ve read at least one of these types of books every month. New how-to books continue to be created and published—and I learn something from each of them.

In fact, I’m on the lookout for notices about new how-to books and I enjoy reading them and writing reviews about the books. From my experience I know other readers are making buying decisions all the time based on these reviews. I know they are important to the author. Most authors are easy to find on their website with contact information.

To support other writers, I encourage you to take similar action. Reach out to these writers and offer to read their book if they will send you a review copy. Yes, you get a book, but this book comes with some responsibility: that you read the book and write your review. Through your review, you are building your relationship and reputation with other authors. Maybe you can do a book signing with other authors and everyone promotes the event. There are many creative possibilities for you to sell your book and your writing—but I encourage you to make sure your actions are rooted in the focus of this article: writing is a business.

W. Terry Whalin, a writer and acquisitions editor lives in Colorado. A former magazine editor and former literary agent, Terry is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. He has written more than 60 nonfiction books including Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams and Billy Graham. Get Terry’s newest book, 10 Publishing Myths for only $10, free shipping and bonuses worth over $200. To help writers catch the attention of editors and agents, Terry wrote his bestselling Book Proposals That $ell, 21 Secrets To Speed Your Success. Check out his free Ebook, Platform Building Ideas for Every Author. His website is located at: www.terrywhalin.com