It’s happening again. What I like to call the marketing machine is rearing its head again. So many posts explaining the sure fire-way you can become a successful self-published author. So many books with fool-proof tips. You’d surely be a fool not to pay attention to any of this.

Whether I am a fool or not is possibly the subject for a future blog post – or maybe a full length work. At this stage, I’m not going to make a call, one way or another. For now, I’m going to focus this post on the idea of writing to market.

Ok, I’m going to go out on a bit of a limb here. I may just piss a few people off. Although given the number of people who actually read this blog, I figure the risks are pretty low. Still, here I go.

I love superheroes as much as the next person. I think the idea of having amazing powers that set you apart from the people around you is seriously cool. I love a good superhero flick. And when I was a little kid, the very first thing I actively saved money to buy was a set of superhero action figures – I was pretty pleased when I collected the set.

As a writer, I spend a lot of time reviewing other books out there. I regularly read book reviews and keep abreast of new releases.

Not only that, but I also try to remain aware of the latest TV shows and movies. Not that I watch a lot of them. But I like to be aware of what plotlines are being utilised, and which themes and ideas are explored. I figure it’s important to be on top of what the competition is up to.

I just read some disturbing news about a great Australian. An Australian whom I consider to be one of the great symbols, dare I say one of the icons, of this wonderful but very sunburnt land of ours. And I feel it’s my duty to sing the praises of this great Australian and raise my voice to register my concerns.

I’m not talking about just any native of this country. I’m talking about one of the finest represents of our extraordinary fauna – the fantastic platypus.

It seems like every second day is something day. I guess it’s a traditional that goes way back – to major religious/cultural events like Christmas or Passover or New Year’s Day. Then there are the ones specific to countries. Here in Australia, we have occasions like Australia Day, ANZAC Day and Cup Day (hooray for Australia- we have a public holiday for a horse race).

More recently, special days have been established to celebrate various groups within our community. I suppose it started with Mother’s Day and Father’s day. We now have a bunch of other days designed to raise awareness of underrepresented groups or issues – International Women’s Day, World Refugee Day, World Cancer Day, World Autism Awareness Day, and so many others. I think this is a good thing. It’s important to ensure that these people or issues don’t slide off the radar. On a lighter note, we also have May 4th as a special Star Wars day (May the 4th be with you…) and International Talk Like a Pirate Day on September 19.