Business Strategy and Writing?

The Freedom of Choice

Many writers may start to get a little frustrated when I start to talk about their writing in business terms. Why? Writing is such a personal practice, a calling even. Business is just business. People trying to make a money or support a cause (nonprofits). If it helps you to think of your writing in the nonprofit sense, please do so, but this post should still apply to you!

I talked last week about differentiation, or more broadly, strategy. Let me define strategy: "Strategy defines how an organization (or individual...i.e. writers) intends to create value for its shareholders, customers, and citizens" (as defined by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton in Strategy Maps, 2004). Another view from Michael Porter (popular business strategist) would be that: organizations should position themselves in a way that creates a competitive advantage.

Strategy for the writer is (as defined by me, J Sherer): "How a writer intends to add value to his/her publishers, readers, and society." The way in which the writer adds value (and the degree to which value is added) creates a competitive advantage for that writer.

For the writer, then, strategy is about making a set of decisions that add value for publishers, readers, and society. The writer has the freedom to make these choices, and in that freedom of choice and decision-making, the writer develops a strategy.

Writing Strategies

Let's take a look at some famous writers and their strategic approach to writing:

J.R.R. Tolkien: To create a fanciful world, write with vivid, unfettered creativity to mold a story that unfolds with epic purpose.
Michael Crichton: To utilize research and science to present action-oriented stories with a real base for believability.
Stephen King: To frighten the mass market by writing easy-to-read horror stories that play on common fears.

I could go on, but I think that should suffice for now. Notice all the decisions that were made by the writer just to get that one sentence completed. If we start to unpack those statements we see where the writer is adding value. Let's take Michael Crichton, for example. He writes for the mass market, so in that sense he has to choose a form of expression for his writing. To a certain extent it asks for a literate, intelligent reader that wants more than just pure action. The reader wants something tangible and well thought out to go along with the action. Otherwise, to that reader, it's not believable. What decisions is he making? Decisions that pertain to storytelling (bringing in research and science), plot (believable, but far-fetched), a character set (smart, scientific people), and even his voice (which sometimes sounds a little like a prose textbook).

That is how Michael Critchon adds value to his publishers, his readers, and society.

Hopefully, you're beginning to get excited about this strategy thing. If not, I'll just sit back and enjoy my own analysis, because I think it's fun. But, what are some writers that you've read that you would like to analyze? Toss them into the comments and let's talk about them.