There are currently over 275 million books in print worldwide – and most of them went on to become New York Times Best Sellers. But all bestselling novels started out as a simple idea and with a little hard work.
Writing is not an easy task. Even for people with vivid imaginations and creative minds, the process of writing takes patience, dedication, and good book writing tips to ensure that your novel makes it into print. These book writing tips can help turn your novel into the next big thing.
Know Your Genre
Whether you are writing fiction or nonfiction, it is vital to know your genre. Writer’s Digest recently published an article that interviewed twenty bestselling authors and asked them what they considered the most important factor in writing a bestseller. The number one answer was “knowing your genre.”
If you are writing non-fiction, knowing your genre means researching what has sold well in the past. Are there certain “how to” books that have been bestsellers? What about memoirs with a specific theme? In this case, if you want to write a bestseller, it’s important that you know what is selling now and what people are looking for.
If you are writing fiction, knowing your genre means studying other books in the same genre. This way, you can start out by including all the elements that readers look for when they pick up a “thriller” or “romance.” Once you do this, you can then find ways to make your story more original and exciting, but you will already have a firm foundation on which to build.
Decide if you need professional assistance
To produce a bestseller, you need to be passionate enough about the topic so that writing is not laborious. However, engaging a professional ghostwriter or ghostwriting services can help. You may also decide to push back publishing if your work doesn’t meet standards. The benefit of professional help can be seen in some of today’s bestsellers.
The Harry Potter series is one of the most popular books on young adult fiction lists. However, it wouldn’t have done so well without professional assistance from ghostwriters, who helped give birth to each book. Professional assistance took the stories Rowling envisioned, written on napkins of paper during train commutes, and transformed them into final products ready for publishing.
Assess the market to discover what readers want
Writing a bestselling novel takes more than passion. You need to understand what your target audience wants and expects from you as an author. The best way to do this is by reading recent bestsellers that are in the same genre as your work. Study their style, content, language, formatting, and themes.
You might also want to read your book from a reader’s perspective and ask yourself if you would buy this book as a fan of the genre. If not, analyze what is missing and work on it before submitting your manuscript for publication. Rethink your plot, characterization, and dialogue. This is not to say that you should completely change your direction; it does mean that you should be open to adapting or reworking parts of your novel so they better resonate with the market.
To find out what genres are popular, look at bestseller lists for books written in your chosen category on Amazon.
Get a literary agent who specializes in your genre
Writing a bestselling novel is no easy task, but it becomes much easier if you have a good literary agent by your side. A literary agent will help you pitch your book to publishers and can also negotiate contracts for you. In return, they take a cut of the royalties from each book sold. However, just having an agent isn’t enough to ensure success. To position yourself for the best possible chance at getting your book picked up by a major publishing house and then becoming a bestselling novel, there are three important aspects that should be included in every manuscript:
The first tip is to write about something unique and memorable. This will help you create an unforgettable story that publishers can’t resist. However, what’s important is that you keep your subject matter universal. If the story is too specific, it may appeal to a certain subset of people but not enough to be worth publishing.
It’s also vital to have realistic expectations about what will happen upon sending your manuscript out into the world. This means being open-minded and having a good understanding of the process. Publishers don’t always have time to focus on new, untested authors. It’s more likely that you’ll be sent a contract if your manuscript has been requested by an editor first. This means getting your book noticed is even more important than writing something brilliant, as it will greatly increase the chance of being published.
Find a good publisher to release your book in the digital and/or print format
Digital publishing allows a quick turnaround time in publishing a book, which is useful for a writer who may want to create a series. There are many publishers out there that will take on self-published novels. There are even publishers that specifically focus on self-published books, such as Lulu or Smashwords.
A good publisher is more likely to get your book into brick-and-mortar stores and online retailers. You can also work with a publisher on marketing your novel. On the other hand, you’re giving up some control over the publication process and royalties if you go this route.
Self-publishing allows total control of your book’s quality as well as royalties. But it takes time, money, and effort to finish your novel and promote it through social media.
However, you publish your book, realize that writing the next bestselling novel is not easy. Most books earn less than $10,000 in royalty income per year; very few earn over $100,000 per year (and only around 10 of them sell over a million copies per year).
Separate the book writing process into three stages: Phase 1 is about idea generation and manuscript development. This stage can take several weeks to several months. Clearly map out your plot points before you begin writing, so you have an outline to follow while you write.
Phase 2 is all about writing your work. You’ll need to put in several months of hard work before you lay down the last word.
Phase 3 is the revision process, which can be done by yourself or with trusted friends and family members who are willing to help edit your book for free. With these tips, you’re on your way to creating the next bestselling novel.
