The Importance of Luck in Book Publishing
Once upon a time, I wrote a lot of books about the martial arts. It’s not a thing I set out to do, but I did it because people paid me to do it. I ended up writing a dozen martial arts books, more or less, including my very popular Dojo Wisdom series (Dojo Wisdom and Dojo Wisdom for Writers).
This was back when people still went to bookstores to buy books, and I used to while away a rainy afternoon finding my books on the shelves, a treasure hunt that thrills authors.
Although I certainly tried hard to do good work and appeal to readers, I suspect the key reason for my success in the field of martial arts has to do with the fact that my last name is Lawler.
Why is that a lucky last name? Because it meant my books got shelved just to the left of Bruce Lee’s, and if you’ve heard of martial arts, you’ve heard of Bruce Lee.
Discoverability is always a challenge in book publishing, and I just wish it were so simple now!