The Book Mechanic’s Manifesto

How blue-collar creators write books that sell and sell books they write

I wrote this little manifesto as more of a self-oath to describe what I stand for, how I write, and what I reject, along my pursuit to becoming a better writer. I created the Book Mechanic as a place for writers and creator of similar work ethics, to band together.

I believe writing is a blue-collar vocation, not some ethereal, ivory tower fanciness, but a daily practice. We punch the clock. We turn the crank. We get our butts in the seat or the work doesn’t get done.

Like any good blue-collar vocation, we improve by doing, not by thinking about doing. We write today to get better than we were yesterday. Not all writers approach the work the same way. Not all writers agree on the same definition of craft. This is my version. Maybe you’ll agree too.

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The Book Mechanic’s Manifesto

• We don’t believe in writer’s block — as there’s no carpenter’s block or surgeon’s block
• We believe in craftsmanship — the power of getting a little better every day, improving upon the work we did yesterday and last year
• We believe in the power of cumulative effort — that with daily writing comes prolific output
• We believe our writing shouldn’t be placed on a pedestal
• We write for our readers and we never take a reader’s attention for granted
• We’re here to sell books and earn a good living for ourselves and our families. We don’t apologize for asking to be paid our worth
• We’re commercial writers. We write books people want to read. Not art pieces or train-of-thought jibber-jabber
• We believe in the writing community and we’ll do what we can to help one-another
• We believe in tight writing — that our readers don’t have time, nor to they deserve, wordy descriptions or padded page counts
• We believe we’ll lose our readers if we don’t keep them engaged in the writing. Keeping our reader’s attention is our job (and our failure if we lose it)
• We believe it’s time to get to work. If we wait until the mood strikes, the wind blows from the north, or until we’re ready, we’ll wait until it’s too late
• We believe our success is up to us — that no one’s coming to save us. The muse sounds nice, but we’re not waiting for her inspiration. We make our own luck

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August Birch (AKA the Book Mechanic) is both a fiction and non-fiction author from Michigan, USA. A self-proclaimed guardian of writers and creators, August teaches indie authors how to write books that sell and how to sell more of those books once they’re written. When he’s not writing or thinking about writing August carries a pocket knife and shaves his head with a safety razor.

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