Research Only

Mario did.

Mario was born in New York City … and grew up wanting to be a writer

Except early on he was godawful at it … but Mario refused to give up … and got better … his first two novels won critical praise but earned him only a whopping $6,500 … so he wrote freelance articles about crime for pulp magazines to make ends meet .. it was not pretty but at age 43, married, with 5 kids and a gambling problem it paid the bills. Then one day his editor gave him a suggestion … maybe for his third novel, Mario should leverage his crime writing experience and write about gangsters so he might sell more books … well, the problem was, while Mario wrote about crime .. he actually didn’t know or have any experience with any gangsters … at all … but Mario knew how to research stories … so that’s what he did … and wrote his third novel based on research alone. When he finished he hoped the new novel would fare better than his previous books. Well it did ok selling an unprecedented 21 million copies before getting turned into three highly popular movies … two of which won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Today, 50 years after it was published … the novel and movies Mario Puzo wrote solely based on research because he didn’t know any gangsters are known by just two words … The Godfather

The Godfather is a great idea because with the right research you’ll be able to make your readers, viewers or clients an offer they can’t refuse.