I don’t consider myself the best writer in the world – though I should be number two, right behind J.R.R. Tolkien.

Jokes aside, I know a thing or two about writing well. And I’m always learning more about how to write better. Just yesterday, I stopped reading two books by authors I won’t name. I quit because both books bored me to death. They were written in a childish way, had characters I didn’t care about, and the plot went in an uninteresting direction.

Both books were bestsellers, written by big names in the industry. That means not only did millions of readers buy and enjoy them, but they were also edited by seasoned professionals.

Still, I didn’t like them – and I did something I rarely do: I didn’t finish the books.

Over the years, I’ve read thousands of books, more writing articles than I can count, and watched hours upon hours of YouTube videos from writers offering advice. Through all that, I developed a better writing style—and an eye for good writing. This eye made me stop reading the two bestsellers – they were simply not good enough for me anymore.

Looking at my early days of writing as a hobby, I’ve come a long way. Today, I sometimes laugh and sometimes cry at my first attempts at writing. The last pages I wrote yesterday, though, are good. Compared to the two bestsellers I quit on, they are awesome.

But what made me write better? And what made me realize bad writing?

I believe it’s simply reading as much as possible. Developing from writing badly to writing not so badly anymore is a process. Sure, writing every day helps. But consuming good writing is the main engine behind that progress.

If you want to write better too, I highly recommend reading better books – and also reading more. Over time, you’ll discover authors you love, genres you enjoy, and styles that resonate with you. Naturally, you’ll start imitating what you’ve read. You’ll “steal” what feels good to you and omit what is bad without even thinking about it – it just happens instinctively. Before you realize it, you’ll write something that makes you proud and let’s you boldly claim that it’s way better than this other author’s bestseller book that you couldn’t finish.

The best part of it? Doing it like that makes learning not feel like work—it actually feels like a lot of fun.

• Athletes watch other athletes
• Filmmakers watch films
• Painters study classic art
• Musicians listen to music
• And writers learn by reading

I try to read as much as I can. On average, it’s a book and two to three comics/mangas every single week. I’ve also made it a habit to watch a movie or an episode of a show daily, to learn from that form of storytelling.

Of course, you still have to apply what you read by hammering your daily word count into the keyboard. Just reading without writing anything won’t make anyone a good writer. But if you only write and never read, there’s not much you could apply. Consuming stories exposes you to good and bad storytelling. And the more exposure you get, the more you can identify what’s good and what’s not.

So, the first rule of writing better books is simple: Read and watch better stories.