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4 Unexpected Writing Genres for You to Explore

Published by Veronica Lane Books on October 11, 2022 Permalink

4 Unexpected Writing Genres for You to Explore

by Noely Ann Jonovan

There are plenty of literary genres out there, but people tend to flock to the popular ones. Manaferra Senior Digital PR specialist Luarda Gjata explains that the popularity of a particular genre varies depending on a country’s culture. As such, readers from the US tend to prefer classic books like Little Women, while those from Portugal lean towards more romantic stories like Baltasar and Blimunda. However, while classics and romance novels are well-loved for good reasons, you don’t have to limit your writing experience to popular genres. You may even find yourself enjoying the writing process more if you venture into unexpected literary genres like these:

Fairy Tales for Adults

Fairy tales are often intended for children. However, early versions of these fairy tales were more fitting for adults due to their darker themes. Consequently, contemporary writers have been more actively producing experimental fairy tales specifically for older audiences through novels like The Ocean at the End of the Lane. So if you want to mix fantasy and mystery, Writing a Fairytale Book recommends that you focus on creating a character that will be thrust into an extraordinary realm. This setting needs a lot of world-building to evoke wonder in the readers. Additionally, you must create rules and restrictions for your world to ensure that the actions of your characters will remain reasonable to real-life audiences.

Magical Realism

Magical realism is quite similar to fairy tales. This literary genre also includes magical elements woven into the stories, but they’re featured in a realistic setting as a normal part of society. Experts from the University College London explain that magical realism combines fantasy and reality in a matter-of-fact style to represent the contrasting belief systems of people. To illustrate, the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude shows that elements that seem magical for people in First World countries may seem unremarkable for those in the Third World. Often, the challenge here is to learn how to use fantasy as symbolism for real issues.

Travel Literature

If you love exploration and adventure, you might enjoy traveling to a foreign place through your written masterpiece. Travel novels, like The Alchemist, use the setting as one of the major factors that drive the story. You’ll need to write what you know in this genre. A guide to careers in writing by Maryville University recommends noting down crucial details as you go on small excursions or even long trips. By doing so, you can pick up attributes that help add realism to your work. But if it’s not possible to visit the particular place you’re writing about, you have to be meticulous with your research and notes to ensure that you provide accurate information about the area.

Solarpunk Genre

Solarpunk novels like Dune are rising in popularity because of their optimistic spins on sci-fi. The genre started as an art movement, highlighting how promising the future may be if society solved crucial social issues, such as climate change and pollution. An expert from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia notes that these speculative fiction novels should show what a sustainable civilization looks like, and how the society can get there. You can illustrate this by writing about the aesthetics and the societal impact of green and well-designed neighborhoods. You’re free to take a utopian approach for this imagined world, but it’s important to include achievable, eco-friendly strategies that your readers can practice in real life.

The sky’s the limit when it comes to literary genres. By writing a novel under these unexpected genres, you may find yourself getting more creative than ever with your story.

Filed under: Blogs

The Secret to Writing Best Action Books

Published by Veronica Lane Books on April 24, 2021 Permalink

The Secret to Writing Best Action Books

What Makes a Good Action Book?

While narratives that focus on action can come from many genres – from spy fiction to high fantasy – they are all also part of a single stylistic school. That is to say that no matter what type of action-orientated story you’re telling, you can benefit from approaching ‘action’ stories as a single genre. Continue reading the blog for some tips on writing your book, especially as a beginner.

Some of the points that make a good action book include:

The barer, the better: It’s a nigh-immutable law that good action thrives on brevity. Action scenes should be short, both in the length of the scene and in the way it’s written – single clauses and even a basic vocabulary help to communicate the immediacy and pace of a situation. A curt style throughout an action narrative is to imbue your setting, rather than individual scenes, with the impetus of action. This clipped style creates a consistent world, and one in which action could happen at any time.
Sentence length: If your action sequences are built with long-winded sentences full of verbs and descriptions, it will likely confuse and overwhelm your audience. Shorter sentences get to the point more simply, delivering the visual quickly and efficiently, cutting down on bulky filler words.
Active voice: Keeping the narrative voice active keeps up the momentum of your story. Readers see how the main characters are actively working and reacting in their environment in what feels like real-time, packing more punch into the syntax and keeping the narrative lively.
Character goals: Action should occur for a reason—characters’ actions should be based on their motivations, their points of view, and their previous choices. A character’s goals affect their character development, forcing them to change and evolve depending on the way events unfold in your story.
Implement a philosophy: This idea of a central philosophy ties a great deal of whom a character is to the events of the story, and cuts down on the tangents necessary to explore them as individuals. Writers control how readers encounter their world, and so the key to a core philosophy is in redefining what readers should admire and dislike in characters, and in binding all characters to one or two shared standards.
Taking action: The key to writing a great action story is all about effective communication. First, you have to understand the central goal of your story, then you have to focus on how the events, dialogue, and actions in your story affect that goal, then you have to communicate this relationship clearly and often to your readers.

How to Start an Action Story?

Here, you introduce the characters and setting of the story world. You set the plot in motion and create questions in the minds of the audience. You’ll begin by introducing the ordinary world where the protagonist is shown doing something they consider normal. Demonstrate their flaws and/or fear to establish empathy in readers. Demonstrate the protagonist’s want. Introduce supporting characters as rich and interesting. Use the description to evoke a sense of their broader culture or background. Don’t allow them to be a meaningless victim, flawless hero, or solely evil antagonist. Every character must have a clear and supporting role for your protagonist. Grab your audience’s attention with a life-threatening inciting incident (causal or coincidental) that launches the global story as soon as possible. Make the stakes clear. Stakes in action stories do not belong in subtext. What can the protagonist gain? What can they lose?

How to Create a Good Story Character?

Characters, like people, are imperfect. They don’t need to be likable, but they must be interesting. Here are some tips for effective character development:

Develop characters who reflect your interests: The fiction rule “write what you want to know” applies to them as well. Don’t be afraid to invest your protagonist with familiar qualities, but prioritize your passions and make sure that your main characters emerge from the setting and topics you’ve developed so far.
Reveal their physical world through detail: Different writers focus on different details to evoke character, whether deliberately or not. Whatever details you choose, it’s important for you to know your characters’ physical world intimately, and how they relate to it.
Give them the right skills: Your characters should have skills that will allow them to function in your setting. If you’ve chosen to set your novel on the moon, then make sure your character has a spacesuit or learns how to use one.
Create memorable characters: When creating important characters that the reader is going to meet more than once, be sure that they’re memorable in some way. Try to give each one a quirk or quality that can be used later to help readers recall who they are.
Give the reader access to their inner conflict: One way to create intimacy with your reader—and to get them to care about your main character—is to use internal monologue. This means letting the reader see a character’s thoughts as they happen, which exposes that person’s inner conflict, motivations, opinions, and personality. Internal monologue not only reveals character: It’s a neat way to convey information about your setting, events, and other characters.
Subvert your reader’s expectations: The most interesting characters will surprise your readers. Think about it: We don’t have to pay attention to stable things.

How to End an Action Book?

Here, you will include your climax (the resurrection, Hero’s Journey terminology) and the resolution of the global story. The protagonist confronts their fear or flaw, rises to the challenge, and either survives and succeeds against the villain, or fails and dies. The climax plunges the protagonist into a life and death battle. The protagonist outsmarts the antagonist, rather than using their inferior brawn, and lives (prescriptive tale). Or the protagonist fails to outsmart the antagonist and dies (a cautionary tale). Editor Tip for the Prescriptive Tale: Just as the protagonist is about to be killed by the antagonist, enable them to win. Give them sudden courage, ingenuity, a tool, or a revelation that you have subtly foreshadowed–i.e., set up–very early in the story. The ending payoff is where you ramp down the tension and action with scenes that answer the primary story questions. How have the characters changed? What have they learned? If you’re writing a series, the resolution can foreshadow new adventures.

How to Publish an Action Book?

The Process of Getting Traditionally Published

Edit Your Works: The most important step as you begin is to become a ferocious self-editor. Even if you choose to self-publish, the quality of your writing is determined by this. Put your best foot forward by learning to aggressively self-edit until you’re happy with every word. If an agent decides to take you on and/or your manuscript is accepted by a publishing house, it will still go through editing there. But your goal is to make it the best your know-how, so it will get past those first readers—potential agents or acquisition editors.
Find an agent: Landing an agent can be just as difficult as landing a publishing deal because they are every bit as discerning regarding a manuscript’s (or an author’s) potential. Agents know the business, the industry, the players—who’s publishing what and who might like what you’ve written.
Write a query letter: A query (question) letter is designed to determine whether an agent or publisher might be interested in your manuscript. It’s your first impression—your initial sales call. Make it stimulating and intriguing.
Write your proposal: This is the document agents want. For some, it’s the only document they require before asking to see your manuscript. Every word should pique an agent’s interest—your goal is an invitation to send your entire manuscript.

The Process of Getting Self-Published

The best way to set yourself apart, besides ferociously self-editing your book, is paying for a professional editor. The biggest mistake many self-published authors make is spending more on design and marketing than on professional editing and proofreading.

Writing quality sets, you apart in a saturated marketplace. Many companies offer all the services you need to self-publish, but some are more trustworthy than others. It takes a lot of success—and sales—to recoup the costs of such services. The more popular platforms to “publish” online include Amazon Createspace, Kindle Direct Publishing, and others.

Tips on Writing an Action Book

If you’re looking to write your own action story, the following writing tips may help:

Show cause and effect: From the first time your character receives their call to action, follow-up activity with the consequences of their decision. Sometimes the character is causing the action to occur, and other times they’re reeling from the action that just occurred. Moments can also be built up so that the cause of certain effects or the effects themselves aren’t realized in their entirety until much later.
Create visuals: Use an action in a concise, impactful manner to deliver strong images for the audience. The clearer your scenes are, the more easily the audience can understand and absorb them.
Drive the story forward: In a great story, the moments in between where the action is happening should still feel alive and like the story is always progressing. Even if your hero isn’t facing off against the villain just yet, the scenes without action should still be driven by the character’s goals—readers or viewers may become disinterested by a sudden slump in energy and stagnancy to the writing. Use montage, flashbacks, or other story writing techniques to keep up the pace while delivering necessary narrative information.
Keep action moments short: Action-adventure stories have many moments of high-intensity activity, and they should happen in short spurts so that the reader does not get exhausted with high-octane events.
Use effective language: When you write a fight scene or a chase scene, the action is moving quickly, so your language should too. Short sentences packed with powerful images that move at a logical pace are useful in conveying strong action sequences that are easy to visualize. Specific diction can make all the difference in how the action of your story is perceived and how your story is experienced overall.

How Can We Help You Publish Your Book?

Hopefully, this blog gave you some insight into writing and publishing of action books.

Filed under: Action Books, Blogs, Book Publishing, Book Writing

Book Genres: All You Need to Know

Published by Veronica Lane Books on April 24, 2021 Permalink

Book Genres: All You Need to Know

What Is a Book Genre?

We all know the benefits of reading, but when it comes to choosing your next book to read, it can be hard to sort through the millions of titles. Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language defines genre as “a category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style, form, or content. Genre is derived from the French phrase genre meaning “kind” or “type.” In literature, the genre is determined by the subject, setting, or plot of the story. When you are wandering around a bookstore, books are usually arranged by genre. A way that we tell the difference between the many books is by looking at a book’s genre. The different genres of books are the categories or sub-categories that a book is a part of. As people, we naturally tend to put things in categories to make them easier to understand. That is where a book’s genre comes in. It makes writings more comfortable to categorize. Books can certainly have multiple genres.

Genre is for readers. Hundreds of thousands of books are published each year, and they join the ranks of the millions of books that were published before them. The genre may be a clumsy tool, but it’s a good place to start when you’re trying to find something you might like. You may not consider your book fantasy or sci-fi, but if that’s the closest genre descriptor, it’s probably fantasy or sci-fi enough to help your ideal reader zero in on it. A genre can feel like an oversimplification of your ideas, but it’s just a way to help readers find a particular work. What’s interesting to note – and key to the understanding of genre – is that genre categorizations tend to depend on aesthetics (the look and feel of the world you describe) rather than ideas or even structure. Genre primarily identifies the flavor of the world you’re going to be visiting, not the nature of the story you’ll be told when you get there.

How to Identify a Genre?

Genre sets the stage, sets up an expectation, and gets you in the right frame of mind to understand the story. It is usually the first thing someone wants to know about a book. Some genres are broad while others are more specific, like paranormal romance or western. Readers use genre to find the aesthetic worlds which they want to explore. Genre expectations affect both how individuals choose texts to read, and then how those texts are understood. Therefore, labeling literature as a certain genre affects the relationship between writer and reader. There can be no universally agreed upon characterization of the genre. The idea of genre is open to discussion and there is good reason to discuss the genre. The understanding of genre will help you know what to expect from a text.

An equation for remembering the genre is: Story (Action) + Plot + Character + Setting = Genre. This becomes an easy way to remember the elements of a genre. Reading the descriptions of the texts and looking for details that reveal and talk about the above-mentioned elements might help in identifying the genre. The descriptions of texts are written for a variety of purposes and that can help you determine the genre and subgenre based on the provided details. Try to club together books that you feel belong to a similar realm, that will help you identify the genre. To identify the genre of a book, when you’re reading the book, start to look for the following:

Main character
Where the book is set
Certain plot points

What are Popular Book Genres?

The list of genres of books are endless, however, some genres are very popular among readers across the world. Books can be very broadly divided into two categories. Pretty much every book you read will come under the title of fiction or nonfiction. A fiction book is one where elements are made up or created by the author. These stories can be set in real places or real times, but if the plot or characters are made up, then the story is fiction. A nonfiction book is based on real events and facts. There’s plenty of different sub-genres of nonfiction. These range from biographies of celebrities, to the dictionary.

Most popular fiction genres are the following:

Young Adult (YA): It is typically meant for readers between the ages of 13-17. The themes and messages within the literature will often revolve around teen-aged problems, like coming of age and exploration of identity.
Fantasy (including YA and Children’s): Fantasy encompasses a huge part of the book world. It’s one of the most popular book genres out there. Overall, fantasy is the genre of possibility. Fantasy is a genre that’s identified by the use of magic within it. The fantastical elements, a new world with its own set of rules, and other magical elements are the key highlights of a fantasy novel.
Children’s: A children’s book describes any book written for an audience between the ages of 0-8 years old. Literature serves children in four major ways: it helps them to better understand themselves, others, their world, and the aesthetic values of written language.
Science Fiction: Sci-fi is among the most popular book genres there is. Science fiction novels are those that take place in a futuristic society with advanced technology and occasionally otherworldly beings.
Thrillers/Suspense: The book will focus on high suspense and an action-packed plot. This book genre most often deals with danger and dread, with a high emotional impact involving fear.
Paranormal: Paranormal books are characterized by including paranormal activity, like ghosts, clairvoyance, mediums, demons, vampires, and more. Paranormal doesn’t typically have magic like witches or fantasy-specific beings like unicorns, mermaids, and more. But the paranormal book genre includes a current or real-life setting and is not often set in another world, like fantasy sometimes
Romance/Erotica: In this book genre, romance is the center point of the plot. The entire novel moves around the relationship, though other plot points may be present.
Historical: This book genre is exactly as it sounds: a fictional story that takes place in the past. Usually, historical fiction centers around known events or problems that take place in a time significantly before the present.

How Many Different Book Genres Are There?

Once you break down a book from the two types (fiction and nonfiction), there are almost endless genres of books. Apart from the popular genres mentioned above, there are many other well-known genres that one might come across and are equally interesting.

Adventure: It has a trip, journey, or quest of some kind as the overall plot. It often focuses on both the character’s physical journey and the journey they go through as a person throughout the novel.
Contemporary: The contemporary book genre is simply books written in the current time with most of the parts of the novel revolving around common issues in a character’s life. This genre is actually more of the absence of a genre. The term is used to tell readers that this book takes place in current times, though it might cover other genres as well.
Dystopian: A book genre in which the current government or society has been destroyed and the book centers around the aftermath.
Mystery: This book genre is defined by the plot focusing on solving a mystery, most often with the mystery impacting the main character to the point where they’re the ones involved in solving it. Many other genres can have mysteries within them (in fact, most do), but what makes a book specific to this genre is the fact that the mystery is the main plot and point of the book.
Cookbooks: Cookbooks are those featuring recipes and directions for making the dishes correctly. Not only that, but many cookbooks feature stories about why the dish was created and the inspiration behind it.
Art: This book genre encompasses several different types of books. However, all of them require the same thing: a focus on something art-related. There are many ways a book can qualify to be in the art genre like if it covers art facts, teaches specific art methods, discusses are in detail (art history), and others.
Motivational: Essentially, motivational books focus on problems that can prevent people from accomplishing their goals and dreams, and how to solve them. Most often, motivational books can be lumped in with other book genres like health, fitness, business, and self-help.
Travel: Travel guides or an in-depth review of different travel destinations, this book genre will cover all of them.
Humor: A joke book or a book revolving around a humorous endeavor of some sort, it falls under this book category. Books in this genre are also often gag gifts or are meant to be facetious.
The Classics: When a book has stood the test of time and is still relevant and thought-provoking.
Literary Fiction: It is often indirect in its theme and includes some kind of analysis on what it means to be human.
Mythology: Books or stories about ancient religions that are not actively practiced anymore.
Philosophy: An academic view of knowledge and existence.
Alternative Belief: These are books that look at the non-mainstream belief systems that many people have. These include psychic powers, astrology, and fortune-telling.
Educational Texts: Books that look at and are involved in the education system. This includes Textbooks, Education books, Pedagogy, Lesson plans, and others.
Reference: Necessary and objective information, like dictionaries, encyclopedias, book abstracts and study guides, and books of quotations.

As you can see, there are hundreds of different genres of books.

How to Choose a Book Genre to Read?

Books speak a lot about the writer and the reader. One may pick up a book simply because they want to live in a world that exists on the hardcover or want to learn something new. However, a genre-based choice makes the experience even more enriching. One way of narrowing your reading options is by considering which genres encapsulate your favorite appeals. Most people have a fairly robust understanding of well-known genres. Though there are exceptions (many of which would fit into sub-genres), a genre serves as a sort-of-calling card when it comes to appeals. Genre conventions offer an easy way for readers to find their tribe. So you understand your appeals and genre preferences, now you can get down to business: The hundreds, even thousands, of options readily available in each genre and start narrowing down. You might go by their covers, look for recommendations online, going by other’s opinions, and also looking at awards books have received, or might as well ask a librarian!

There’s no question that reading is important — it educates, inspires, entertains, and so much more. But with thousands of books published every week, how does a reader decide which one to pick up? Genre; definitely is the answer to it. Hopefully, this article gave you some insight into book genres.

Filed under: Blogs, Book Genres

Thriller Novels: How to Write and Publish

Published by Veronica Lane Books on April 21, 2021 Permalink

Thriller Novels: How to Write and Publish

What Are Thriller Books?

Thriller is a genre of fiction, having numerous, often overlapping subgenres. Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving viewers heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation, and anxiety. Thrillers generally keep the audience on the “edge of their seats” as the plot builds towards a climax. The cover-up of important information is a common element. Literary devices such as red herrings, plot twists, unreliable narrators, and cliffhangers are used extensively. A thriller is often a villain-driven plot, whereby they present obstacles that the protagonist must overcome. Writing a thriller story is an exciting process and involves various steps. Hope this article act as a guide to help you navigate through this exciting and thrilling process.

A thriller novel devotes most of its focus to suspense, dread, and the fear of a future crime—instead of one that’s already happened. Most mysteries reveal a crime and then require their main characters to work backward to figure out who committed that crime. In a thriller, the bad guy is often established early on, and the main characters must work to stop them from doing evil. The Jack Reacher series, written by Lee Child, and R.L. Stine’s Fear Street series for young adults serve as examples of high-stakes thriller novels. Thriller sub-genres include:

Horror thrillers: Horror thrillers angle a classic suspense story toward the terrifying and grotesque. Many horror novels include a supernatural element, although monsters, aliens, and evil spirits extend to many corners of the broader thriller genre.
Legal thrillers: These thrillers take place within the confines of the court system.
Psychological thrillers: A psychological thriller novel finds the terror in madness and paranoia.
Epic thrillers: An epic thriller often involves the highest of stakes. In an epic thriller like Stephen King’s The Stand, humanity itself is imperiled.

Thriller Book Title Ideas

Thriller fiction titles are often short and punchy. They can be stark and contradictory. Think of The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold are some good examples. The titles of crime and thriller novels are mostly fewer than five words, and they are easy to remember. The tone of these books is often clinical, menacing, and macabre. The mood created is suspenseful, unsettling, and stark. The title you give it will have a life of its own. It is the first thing a reader will notice. You need to think about agents and editors, plot and characters, the reader, and market trends. The title is what people see first. It’s what they remember when they go home to look the book up. It’s what they say when they recommend the book to others. It’s the most important marketing decision that a writer can make because, while a good title can’t make a book popular, it can certainly keep a book from getting sold.

Some points to consider while naming your book:

It should suit your genre.
It must have something to do with the plot.
It should be easy to remember.
It should appeal to the reader on an emotional and intellectual level.
It should be easy to pronounce.
Short names are better. As a rule, most book titles are three words. Most books do not have a title longer than five words.
Visual titles work well.
The title should also reveal a bit about the soul/theme of your book.

Thriller Book Plot Ideas

In terms of literature, a thriller is any story that “thrills” the reader—i.e., gets the adrenaline pumping, the heart racing, and the emotions peaked. As you can guess, that makes it fairly broad. The ability to see a story idea hiding in the mundane is one of the most valuable creative writing skills you can develop. Sometimes all it takes when confronting the blank page is a handful of story prompts and a willingness to see where they take you. Any story can generate excitement, suspense, interest, and exhilaration, but because these are the primary goals of the thriller genre, its authors have laser-focused expertise in keeping a reader interested. Use these fiction writing prompts as writing exercises or to work through writer’s block. They will surely help the beginners to get started:

Go out into the world and observe an ordinary scene: Write it down in your notebook, filling at least one page with a description of the setting and the people in it. Now change the story, and imagine that everything you’ve just described is not what it seems, but that a whole secret underworld exists within the scene. Let yourself be paranoid.
Select two stories at random from any news source, and plausibly link them: Write down a description of how the two stories are secretly related. Tease out unexpected connections between the people and elements of both stories. Don’t be afraid to make unusual leaps.
Put a dark twist on a well-worn cliché from the fairy tales you grew up with: Adopt the perspective of the villain, or a minor character, and tell the story from anywhere but the beginning.
Write a story loosely based on real life, but take it in a different direction: Write a story that begins based on any ordinary aspect of life, but then diverges from reality.
Leverage dramatic irony to ramp up the suspense: Create suspense throughout the story and use dramatic irony effectively.
Build a suspense story around science fiction tropes: Write a dystopian, sci-fi world defined by continual blackouts, where fire, light, and a few traces of outdated technology define survival and are scarce enough to kill for.
Have fun with a weird idea: Go for the unthinkable and try exploring it further.

How to Write a Good Thriller Story?

A few key tips can unlock the secrets of thriller writing—and the suspense, tension, and plot twists that keep readers on the edge of their seats. This is the common structure or framework followed for all the thriller books.

Make your main character compelling: Good thrillers often feature protagonists that are flawed and complex. On the one hand, your protagonist should be strong or skilled enough to overcome the obstacles they’ll inevitably face. On the other hand, readers relate to imperfect heroes, and having the main character with flaws will increase the tension and stakes of your story. Before writing, brainstorm elements of your protagonist’s backstory. Having a deep, three-dimensional main character is an essential ingredient of a successful thriller.
Make sure your opening scene has plenty of action: When writing thrillers, the opening scene is particularly important. Readers should be on the edge of their seats from the very first page. The opening scene of a thriller novel should introduce the crime, conflict, or stakes as quickly as possible. Don’t worry about character backstory or exposition just yet. The best thrillers hook their readers with instant action, then fill in the necessary character and storyline information later.
Create an interesting villain: In the same way that your protagonist should be flawed and complex, your central villain should not simply be pure evil. Even if their actions are unforgivable, their motivations should be rooted in a relatable desire or emotion. Readers are more likely to be engaged in your villain’s story and character development if they can recognize seeds of themselves in your antagonist.
Build obstacles for your protagonist: If there’s one thing that all bestselling authors of thrillers are good at, it’s putting their characters in harm’s way. Your main character should experience heartbreak, trauma, and anxiety throughout the book. Sometimes, the most effective obstacle is a ticking clock or strict time limit to complete their task. This will ensure that readers are constantly rooting for your protagonist and will continue to flip the pages to see how the hero wriggles out of danger. Obstacles will also increase the narrative satisfaction of the end of the book when your protagonist finally overcomes the hurdles and triumphs over adversity.
Add plenty of plot twists and turning points: More so than any other genre, thriller novel writing requires the story to contain an abundance of plot twists, turning points, and cliffhangers. If you’re experiencing writer’s block when writing a scene, ask yourself what a reader might expect to happen next. How can you subvert those expectations? If a scene feels uneventful, think about what plot element or character you can introduce to raise the stakes or create a dilemma for your protagonist. Plot twists will ensure that your thriller is a page-turner and make it impossible for your reader to put it down.

How to Start a Thriller Story?

Write the opening, but don’t get hung up here. This scene is crucial, and the weight of it can cripple you right out the gate. Don’t let that happen. Just write the scene, and move on. Later, when you have a better handle on the tone and direction of the story, you can return with laser focus and perfect this scene. The three things to remember are to start with a character, in a setting, with a problem. And make the reader care about what happens next. The opening scene is a pivotal moment in any book. In thrillers, it’s especially important because you need to start with action from the get-go. Oftentimes starting in media res is a good way to accomplish this. Avoid an “info dump” where you accidentally include too many irrelevant background details. You don’t necessarily need to start with murder — in fact, in some thrillers, there isn’t one at all, or it doesn’t happen until halfway through the novel — but you need to start with something exciting that sets the protagonist in motion.

How to End a Thriller Story?

The climax is a pivotal scene in your book, so make sure you dedicate time to polishing it and make it really shine. In particular, it may be helpful to write the climax first so that you already know where your characters need to end up. Once you’ve established that, you can pave their way through your plot twists. A satisfying ending isn’t necessarily a “happily ever after.” Keep in mind the kind of story you’ve been telling so far and make sure the ending fits well. In some cases, you may want to completely tie all the threads and answer all the questions. Or you might want to leave it as an open ending, where the final conclusions are left to the reader’s interpretation. If you plan to write a series of books, then a cliffhanger might be the way to keep readers on the hook. Whatever kind of conclusion you go for, remember that it’s always necessary to wrap up the current action so that there’s a sense of satisfaction at the end of the book.

How to Publish a Thriller Book?

The first step in becoming a published thriller author, naturally, is to write a great book! If you’ve added layers of suspense, amped up the chills and thrills to 11, and gotten solid feedback from your initial test readers, it might be time to think about unleashing your creation on the world. To make the most of your author career, you need a great partner—someone who knows the ins and outs of the publishing world as well as you know every twist and turn of your plot. To get your book published, you might need help with every aspect of publishing your thriller from plotting to branding, publishing, distribution, marketing, and more. Approaching a publishing company can be helpful in such cases. One might also opt for self-publishing or online publishing of their works.

Filed under: Blogs, Book Writing, Thriller Novels

How to Write a Bestselling Romance Book?

Published by Veronica Lane Books on April 17, 2021 Permalink

How to Write a Bestselling Romance Book?

What Makes a Good Romance Book?

A romance novel is a work of extended prose fiction with a theme of love. According to the Romance Writers of America, a romance novel must have a central focus on the development of a romantic relationship between two people. The other criteria for a romance novel are that it must have an emotional through line and build to an optimistic conclusion.

Readers come to the genre knowing they will (almost) always get a happy ending in which the protagonists find and profess their love. To entice readers, writers must therefore deliver a fresh premise with strong, evocative prose and pacing that gets to the heart of the story — usually beginning with the protagonists meeting in the first chapter. These will be the elements that usually prompt someone to pick up the book and start reading. Most importantly, the writer’s crafting of the two main characters and their emotional journeys is what will keep the reader hooked.

The must-have elements that will make readers go back to re-read it again and again? Here’s a list of essential elements to support good romance story ideas:

Interesting characters: The two main characters in a romance novel need to be three-dimensional and lovable. Lovable, by the way, doesn’t mean perfect. Characters with flaws and imperfections have much more depth.
Believable conflict: What keeps the lovers apart has to be a real obstacle.
Emotions: Romance readers read for the emotions. They want to experience the growing emotional connection between the two main characters and to fall in love with them too.
Magic: In a good romance, there’s something almost magical about a couple. What they have needs to be very special. Readers will re-read those magical moments again and again.
A happily ever after (HEA): Romances need a happy ending. That doesn’t mean that everything about the characters’ lives has to be perfect in the end, but readers have to believe that the characters will master all problems life throws at them together.

How to Write a Good Romance Book?

Romance bestsellers have many things in common: strong characters, a compelling love story, and steamy love scenes. This list will surely act as a guide for beginners. Here are some writing steps and tips to consider when writing your romance novel:

Choose your subgenre: The romance genre contains numerous subgenres. The most successful romance writers write within a specific niche, which allows them to set their love story within a context they’re passionate about.
Make your main characters compelling: Writing romance requires strong main characters. A reader’s engagement with the story will likely be determined by the chemistry of your protagonists. Make sure your characters have compelling backstories that inform their points of view about romantic relationships. The best romance authors know how to create rich, complex characters to fuel the love story.
Set the stage effectively: Setting is paramount in romance. No matter where your story’s set, the most important thing is that it is immersive and feels real. A memorable setting will capture readers’ imaginations and create a vivid backdrop for your romance novel.
Write a strong main couple: Romance is an extremely character-driven genre, so your main couple needs to have your readers head over heels.
Use tried-and-true tropes: Romance tropes exist for a reason. Consider the most common romance tropes and brainstorm how you can subvert them in your work. Here are just a few tried-and-true devices that many romance authors have used successfully:

Friends/enemies to lovers
One helps the other one heal
Choosing each other all over again

Carefully construct intimate scenes: You can’t talk about writing romance without touching on physically intimate scenes — though this doesn’t necessarily mean sex scenes or even almost-sex scenes. No matter how explicit: be careful about how you write them. Craft all descriptions of physical intimacy with a light touch, and only after sufficient buildup — make your readers eagerly anticipate each encounter. Also try to steer away from overwrought, euphemism-filled romantic language that can border on parody. Your intimate scenes shouldn’t exist for their own sake: They should advance the plot or show character development in some way.
Don’t neglect secondary characters: While the main couple is obviously where most of your characterization focus should be, secondary characters are critical to a well-rounded romance. Secondary characters fill out the world of your romance novel. Friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, and even arch-enemies — say, someone who’s competing with one of your main characters for the other character’s interest — all contribute to making the story come to life.
Give your main couple a happy ending: One of the implicit promises of the romance genre is that of the happy ending. No matter how much turbulence your main couple experiences throughout your novel, they should end up in each other’s arms. It doesn’t need to be a “happily ever after,” but it should at least be a “happy for now”: something to reassure the reader that these two characters are stable for the foreseeable future. However, there are special cases that don’t adhere to this rule. The ending of your novel should also tie up any loose threads that you weave throughout the narrative.

How to Start a Romance Book?

Figuring out where to start telling your story is one of the bigger challenges you face. When you’re deciding where and when to begin, keep the following options in mind:

Start with one of your two main characters. Readers expect the first character they meet in the story to be either the hero or the heroine (and most often it is the heroine), and they’re immediately prepared to care about this person.
Start with action. A good option is to show the main character at the point when that character’s life is disrupted by some kind of danger or threat. Starting with action is particularly effective when the situation is easily understood or the peril is something the readers can relate to.
Start with an attention-getting statement. When the readers are presented with something they don’t expect, they will read on to find out what the heck’s happening.

How to Introduce Characters in a Romance Book?

Good writing is filled with memorable character introductions. Here is some writing advice to help you introduce your characters as effectively as possible:

Don’t get bogged down in physical appearance: It’s tempting to focus on physical character descriptions. However, one should focus on describing a character’s personality and actions. Use your reader’s imagination to your advantage, that way the character is more likely to stick in the reader’s mind.
Give your character a memorable character trait: Giving your character memorable character traits or mannerisms early in the writing process can help you create distinct, instantly memorable characters.
Start with backstory when appropriate: When you’re introducing a new character, it can be helpful to begin by describing the character’s backstory. However, it should be relevant to the character’s eventual story arc, focusing on formative events in the character’s life that support that arc.
Introduce a character through action. Whether it’s the main character, one of your minor characters, or one of the bad guys, watching a character undergo a daily task or routine is a great way to give the reader a sense of who they are and how they interact with the world around them.
Introduce the main character as soon as possible: Try to introduce your main character in the first chapter, which will allow the reader to become invested in the story and your hero’s journey as quickly as possible.

How to End a Romance Book?

In a romance novel, we’re striving for a “happy ending,” one that will leave the reader with the confidence that many years down the road, this couple will still be together. They will be able to overcome all of life’s unhappiness and find the strength to make it through in each other, which means we must spend the majority of our story showing the reader that these two people can make their own happy ending. However, various novels diverge from such a framework and go for something unexpected. Here are some tips to ensure that you end your book the perfect way:

Don’t introduce any new characters or subplots: Any appearances within the last 50 pages should have been foreshadowed earlier, even if mysteriously.
Don’t describe, muse, explain, or philosophize: Keep description to a minimum, but maximize action and conflict. You have placed all your charges. Now, light the fuse and run.
Do create that sense of Oh, wow! : Your best novelties and biggest surprises should go here. Readers love it when some early, trivial detail plays a part in the finale.
Do enmesh your reader deeply in the outcome. Get her so involved that she cannot put down your novel to go to bed, to work, or even to the bathroom until she sees how it turns out.
Do resolve the central conflict: You don’t have to provide a happily-ever-after ending, but do try to uplift.
Do tie up loose ends of significance: Every question you planted in a reader’s mind should be addressed, even if the answer is to say that a character will address that issue later after the book ends.

How to Publish a Romance Book?

If you want to sell a romance, you should probably write a romance. One wrote it is time to sell it. Honestly, writing a romance novel might be the hardest step. Instead of perfect you should focus on making your story more compelling. A critique group is very helpful. Along the same lines as critique groups, some people wonder whether they should join professional writing organizations. Before you submit to anyone, revise again. But before you submit to anyone, do your agent/publisher research. You should know which stories are popular and who is representing and publishing what kind of story. Make a list of those publishers or agents you want to submit to. Make sure they are legit (review Pr editors & Editors online for starters); there are a lot of scammers out there, ready to take advantage of eager new writers. Submission is a fairly accurate word for the process. Craft your query/cover letter to exquisite perfection. Yes, this time perfection does matter. These days, most editors and agents post submission guidelines on their websites. Follow these guidelines. An agent may not be necessary. An agent has access to the people a writer may not have.

There are many publication options for writers these days. Only you can decide what you want from your writing career—a small press, e-publishing with Amazon and Smashwords, a big New York house, eternal self-aggrandizing wankery, etc. Talk to other writers about their experiences and take their advice the same way you took the advice of your critique partners: with gratitude and a grain of salt. Get the story done first because the business doesn’t matter if you don’t have a story. As an author, one needs to have a working knowledge of (among other things): Contracts, promotion and marketing, and business planning. Carina Press, Harper Impulse, Loveswept & Flirt, Forever and Forever Yours, and others are some well known romance novel publishers.

Self-Publishing VS Independent Publishing

Self-publishing: You are your own publisher in this instance. You handle all your own publishing, editing, marketing, and sales. However, there are self-publishing platforms that you can use. KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing), Smashwords, and LuLu all offer services and tools to help you self-publish. You have the complete freedom of absolutely every single choice with your book. From the cover art, glossy or matte finish, the price, distribution channels, formats. Everything. However, this can be incredibly daunting, especially for first-time authors. Yes, you can buy services, but that’s not the same as having the support and expertise from a publishing company, always. Marketing and sales are probably the main disadvantages. If you haven’t published a book before or don’t have that big of a following, all your hard work might go unnoticed. With self-publishing, you pay a lot of upfront costs, and you need to ensure that you see those investments play out.

Independent publishing: Independent publishing is when a publishing company publishes the work of an author. An independent (indie) publisher is defined as one that operates on its own, rather than as part of any large corporation or conglomerate.In comparison to commercial publishers, independent publishers are interested in something else. They make their own decision, not based on profit or quantity…but quality. They have complete autonomy of all decisions, with no restrictions. They don’t publish what people consider to be popular, they publish, quite simply, what they believe in. An excellent independent publisher will also guide you through every step (and hurdle) in the publishing process. From the beginning, say, editing and proofreading, to the end with marketing and sales. Help with marketing and sales is crucial for first-time authors. With independent publishing, you still get freedom and autonomy, but with somebody there (with extensive experience) guiding you through the entire process. Another benefit of independent publishing lies in its popularity.

How Can We Help You Publish Your Book?

Hopefully, this blog gave you some insight into writing and publishing Romance Novels. You can connect with our team, and we will be happy to guide you through the entire process of publishing your book. We the Veronica Lane Books take pride in promoting new talent and bringing out fresh literature to the world.

Filed under: Blogs, Book Publishing, Book Writing, Novles, Romance Book

HOW TO WRITE STORY BOOKS WITH PICTURES

Published by Veronica Lane Books on March 18, 2021 Permalink

HOW TO WRITE STORY BOOKS WITH PICTURES

What Makes a Good Story Book With Pictures?

A storybook with pictures is a very unique type of book. The best ones are a perfect symbiosis of words and pictures, each element supporting, furthering, or deepening the story in some way. Storybooks with pictures are mostly for children. Pictures help children understand what they are reading and allow young readers to analyze the story. Picture books help develop story sense. They are multi-sensory, which aids a child’s growing mind and stimulates their imagination

The best picture books have several key elements:

A unique story. A unique story or a unique take on a familiar theme is what often gets an editor’s or agent’s attention.
The text and illustrations work together to tell the story: For a writer, this means looking at every sentence, every phrase, and asking if it can be better served in an illustration.
Illustrations that are colorful, varied, and full of movement: Successful picture books surprise the reader by the art on the next page — whether it’s by using an unexpected image for humor, or using a different perspective, or using mixed media in ways artists haven’t done before, etc.
Lovable, identifiable characters: Kids read picture books to see other kids (or kid-friendly characters) accomplish big things.
Universal appeal: The book carrying a universal appeal will connect more with the readers.
Humor. Funny picture books that take a new/unique look at something old do wonderfully well.
Pattern and/or repetition: Some books are successful because of a refrain that kids like to hear repeated.
Re-readability: Because picture books have to be read to the child by the parent and children tend to want the same book read to them over and over again. Part of re-readability is the visual interest in the illustrations, which is why an illustrator will put a small visual subplot for readers to notice perhaps on their second or third reading. The other part of re-readability comes from some of the elements above — either a refrain, or humor, or wordplay.

How to Write Story Books with Pictures?

It might be tempting to think that writing a children’s picture book is easier than writing a full-length novel. However, a picture book requires all the same major storytelling elements that a novel does just in a much smaller space.

Come up with your idea: Successful picture books are the ones that strike the right balance between appealing to two different audiences: while a picture book is intended for children, it’s ultimately the parents who decide whether or not to buy it — or to read it aloud. Luckily, coming up with an idea for your picture book is essentially the same as coming up with an idea for any book, for any age category. It’s how you present that idea that will differ.
Identify your reading category: Picture book reading categories, including reading ages, word count, and examples as mentioned before, the way you tell your story should depend on the intended reading age of your children’s picture book. This includes everything from illustrations and marketing, to almost every other aspect of your book.
Work out your narrative voice: Even though many kids can read to themselves by the time they’ve graduated to the picture book and early reader categories, all books that rely heavily on illustrations are often still read aloud. That’s why rhyming in children’s books is pretty common — it creates a fun and engaging vocal storytelling experience. Besides prose that sounds good out loud, there are several other factors to keep in mind regarding the narrative style of your picture book:
Vocabulary: It is important to tailor the vocabulary of your picture book to the age range of your readers.
Repetition: The use of repetition allows children to anticipate what the next word or sentence of a story might be, encouraging them to participate in the act of reading and following along.
Rhyming: As with repetition, rhyming can help children anticipate upcoming elements in a story. It can also contribute to a more fun, memorable reading experience.

Point of view: Deciding what POV you want to use is a big decision when it comes to how to write a children’s picture book, and all of them have their strong suits, depending on the story you’re telling.
Develop engaging characters: Writing a picture book is an opportunity to scale back the work that goes into creating realistic, well-rounded characters with their motivations, struggles, strengths, and weaknesses. Yes, you’re telling a story with far fewer words than a novel, and you have the benefit of using illustrations to help convey meaning, but your characters should still feel like real people.
The show, don’t tell: A piece of advice extended to all authors, “show, don’t tell” actually puts picture book writers at an advantage because of the illustrations that accompany their books! And you should rely on your illustrations to convey things to readers, allowing you to save your limited word count for other things. Of course, the concept of “showing” by employing sensory details in your writing still applies to children’s picture books, too.
Edit and seek feedback: Every word needs to count in a book with so few words. So the first step of your editing process should be to go through your book line by line, and for each one consider: is this line crucial for my story? If the answer is yes, carry on. If it’s no, remove it. Once you’ve gotten your manuscript as polished as you can, it’s time to seek out feedback from the most honest beta readers out there: children! Finally, if you want to be sure that your picture book is ready to capture the imaginations of young readers, consider working with a professional editor.
Illustrate your picture book: If you’re hoping to have your book traditionally published, you can skip this step and go straight to the next. Now, if you’re planning to self-publish your children’s picture book, you will want to hire a professional artist to do the illustrations.

How Do You Begin a Story Book?

A picture book needs to start somewhere significant, build up the tension, resolve the conflict and come to an unexpected climax, and end with a reassuring touch. It needs to tell the story in as few words as possible. The illustrations do tell the rest of the story. The first sentence becomes very important. Looking through some of the older picture books, first lines are not always on a page-turn. But they still carry a bigger responsibility than the subsequent lines.

Introducing the character: Some opening sentences introduce the character and the setting of the character, giving no hint about what the story is about. But the images that accompany the words, the choice of words can give you hints – on what is about to transpire.
Introducing suspense: Some famous writers’ first sentences do tell you who the character is. But the lines do not tell you what is about to come. They lull you into a reassuring comfort that everything is alright at this moment. But you turn the page and you are jerked into something fun, imaginative, or even sinister.

Begin an adventure: Every adventure has got to begin somewhere. Adventures need triggers, something that hints at the events to come. When you read these lines, you know that you are going to find the protagonist set off on a journey of fun, chaos, and more. The adventure can be simply in the high street or it can be in castles, dungeons, and even in outer space. The important thing is to start the story off, with that clue.

How Do You End A Story Book?

Turn things around: Picture book endings often include a little wink to the reader. It’s a line that leaves you wanting more.

Analytically read picture books:Think about the endings of the books you read. Did you like it? Did you not like it? What worked? Why did it work? Why didn’t it work so well? Endings can be ‘Happily ever after’ endings that leave a warm fuzzy feeling. These often work well for cozy bedtime stories but be careful that they’re not overly sentimental. Likewise, with moral or ‘lesson’ endings – make sure the message is subtle.
Consider using the endpapers: Increasingly, picture book illustrators are using endpapers to set up and resolve stories. Ben Mantle used endpapers in our book Little Red Riding Hood to make the reader consider what Wolf’s next story could be.
Center stage and spotlights:For our end, we will want to make sure that our main character takes center stage. It’s the main character the little readers have come to know and love, so it should be this character that brings the story to a close. That’s what will ultimately help you make your story feel complete to the reader.
Your message & purpose:Weaving our book’s message or purpose into the ending will make our story feel complete like it has come full circle. Not only will it satisfy our little readers, but also the grownups that are reading this book with or to their children.

How to Publish Story Books?

Have an approved manuscript: You can’t have a book without a story! It took me 30 drafts to get the story right, but once I had an approved version, I was able to move forward. (Picture books have very few words so it’s important to make every word count! Don’t be afraid of editing your own story multiple times to get it right.)
Find the illustrator: An author usually needs someone else to draw the images for the book for me. If you’re working with a publishing house, they will find the illustrator for you. However, if you’re creating your book, then you’ll need to find an illustrator that fits the story.
Approve the cover design & dummy layout:After the illustrator has had time to play with the story, it’s time to approve the layout so they can begin to finalize the art. One of the first things we want to be finalized is the cover so the marketing team has time to promote the book while the rest of the final artwork is being completed.
Book marketing begins:Even before the book is finalized, the marketing team has started to promote it. This normally starts with cover reveals and sneak peeks, and eventually, branches into interviews and press releases. No matter if you’re publishing your book yourself or working with a publisher, you’re most likely going to need to help market your book.
The book is finalized: Once the illustrator has finished all the artwork, then the text is arranged on the pages. This is also when pages like the copyright, dedication, and about the author/illustrator are decided. It’s time to lay everything out perfectly so you can officially publish your picture book.
It’s sent to the printers:One may go through many digital files and multiple hardcover samples to make sure everything is exactly the way we want them. But once the files are approved, it’s time to publish.
Launch the book: The book launch requires a lot of planning. You need to decide when, where, and how you want to do things. Just remember to have fun and celebrate!! Your book just came out.

How Can We Help You With Publishing Your Book?

At VERONICA LANE BOOKS we are always happy to help aspiring writers with their book-writing adventures.

Our team will guide you with the various aspects involved with writing, editing, and publishing a book.

Hopefully, this article gave you some insight into storybooks with pictures.

Filed under: Blogs, Books, Story Books

HOW TO GET BOOK REVIEWS!

Published by Veronica Lane Books on March 15, 2021 Permalink

HOW TO GET BOOK REVIEWS!

What Are Book Reviews?

A review is a critical evaluation of a text. The most important element of a review is that it is a commentary, not merely a summary. It allows you to enter into dialogue and discussion with the work’s creator and with other audiences. You can offer agreement or disagreement and identify where you find the work exemplary or deficient in its knowledge, judgments, or organization. You should clearly state your opinion of the work in question, and that statement will probably resemble the format like other types of academic writing, with a thesis statement, supporting body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Typically, reviews are brief. In newspapers, magazines, and academic journals, they rarely exceed 1000 words, although you may encounter lengthier assignments and extended commentaries. Book reviews help the reader pick up books be it for kids, non-fiction, fiction, or any other genre. In either case, reviews need to be succinct.

While they vary in tone, subject, and style, they share some common features:

First, a review gives the reader a concise summary of the content.
Second, and more importantly, a review offers a critical assessment of the content.
Finally, in addition to analyzing the work, a review often suggests whether or not the audience would appreciate it.

There are two general approaches to reviewing a book:

Descriptive review: presents the content and structure of a book as objectively as possible, describing essential information about a book’s purpose and authority. Additionally, there may be some indication of the reading level and anticipated audience.
Critical review: describes and evaluates the book concerning accepted literary and historical standards and supports this evaluation with evidence from the text and, in most cases, in contrast to and in comparison with the research of others.

Why Book Reviews Are Important?

Book reviews are important because:

Saves time, decreases risk to readers: Book reviews help potential readers become familiar with what a book is about, give them an idea of how they might react to it, and determine whether this particular book will be the right book for them right now. Book reviews save readers time, prepare them for what they will find, and offer them a greater chance of connecting with a particular book, even before they read the first page!
Greater visibility, the greater chance of getting found: Book reviews give books greater visibility and a greater chance of getting found by more readers. For an author, book reviews can open doors to new and bigger audiences.
More sales: The presence of book reviews can help validate the worthiness of a book and establish who the book’s audience is. Then once validated, other similar people are much more likely to want to join their peers and buy that same book.
Book reviews help you to understand what your readers want: Reading through the reviews written about your books can help you better understand what it is your readers are looking for. Reviews enable the author to have direct communication with their readers and help ensure that they are writing the best books for themselves and their audience.
Book reviews help you to craft and improve your writing: Getting feedback on your writing is incredibly beneficial and an integral part of the writing process.
Book reviews are essential to building your brand as an author: Building your brand as an author helps target the specific audience reading your genre. Your brand as an author is what helps sell your book. As you build your brand your credibility grows.

Who Writes Book Reviews?

Professional reviewers: These people review books for a living. Most of these people have a good amount of integrity because their livelihood depends on their reputation. Their reviews appear in the ‘Editorial Review’ section for a book, and may or may not include a rating. Such ratings are not included in the book’s overall product rating.
Quasi-pro reviewers:This refers to people who do not get paid to write reviews but publicize them in some fashion beyond just posting it on a sales platform like Amazon. In most cases, the quasi-pro writes book reviews relatively often and posts them on a blog and/or to one or more social media accounts.
Avid readers: These are people who read a lot and write reviews without otherwise publicizing them. Most aren’t much different from the quasi-pro, aside from a lack of publicizing.
Fans, friends, and family: Every author, no matter how many books they’ve had published for how long, has at least a handful of folks who will gladly give a positive review.
Paid reviewers: Such a person takes money directly from an author/publisher and produces a positive 4 or 5-star review. If they read the book at all, they probably picked some key chapters and ignored the rest, to have enough detail to make the review believable. This practice is against the policies of all major book retailers (internet or otherwise), for what should be obvious reasons. It still happens.

How To Write Book Reviews?

A good book review follows a proper structure making it seamless thus helping the audience. The basic format for writing a book review is as follows:

Begin with a summary of the book: This is probably the best way to introduce any review because it gives context. But make sure to not go into too much detail. Share a high-level synopsis of the plot so your audience gets the gist of what the story is about. Also, share any general information about the book that is important for readers to know at the beginning.
Pick out the important aspects of the book: It can be broken down with character, world-building, themes, and plot. But this might vary between books, genres, and your tastes. Dedicate a paragraph to each of these important aspects, discussing how well the author dealt with it, along with what you enjoyed and what you didn’t enjoy. Let your audience know why you think it’s a great read, or why you found it disappointing. Sharing these details will help your audience form their own opinion of whether they would enjoy reading the book.
Include brief quotes as examples: Including quotes is always a great idea, because it gives examples for everything that you’re saying. But be careful, lengthy quotes can take up big chunks of space and overpower your review. Short quotes will usually get your points across while letting your work shine through.
Write a conclusion that summarizes everything: Like your introduction, keep your conclusion short and sweet. It should bring up the main points of your review, along with your overall opinion of the book. After sharing your praise and critique, let your audience know your conclusions.
Find similar books: A great way to wrap up a review is to find similar books to the one you’re reviewing.
Give it a star rating: Most review sites provide a star rating system. Let your audience know your rationale for choosing a particular rating.

Where To Get Book Reviews?

Reviews are important for the success of a book. It is the reviews that make a reader think about a book and finally go ahead. Here are some ways to get reviews for your book:

Amazon’s Top Reviewers: Amazon ranks its reviewers according to a variety of criteria and publishes the list. You can go through the list to look for those reviewers who review books in your genre. It will take some time.
LibraryThing & Goodreads: On LibraryThing, people catalog, review, and discuss books. Goodreads is similar to LibraryThing but bigger. Only publishers can give away books for free there, but you can still find potential reviewers through their groups, some of which are dedicated to connecting authors with reviewers.
Social networking sites: Search for people who review your genre of the book on Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites, and start making connections.
Google: Turn to Google to find bloggers who review books similar to yours.
Services that connect authors and reviewers: There are quite a lot of specialized websites which will make your book available to reviewers.
Ask other authors: Ask other authors you’re acquainted with – either on or offline – who reviewed their book, and who they think you should get in touch with. Most authors are very willing to share their experiences and recommendations. When writing to a reviewer, be sure to mention that your fellow author recommended that you contact them:

Look close to home & offline: There are plenty of local, offline sources for reviews, too:
local daily or weekly newspapers
school newspapers
organization and company newsletters
contact local indie bookstores to see if they know of any local reviewers

The Indie View: The Indie View has a great list of reviewers in many genres. They also spotlight reviews and authors.

How To Get Book Reviews on Amazon?

Do you know what the third biggest search engine is? Amazon. Google is first, YouTube is second, and Amazon in third. When people use Amazon, what they see first is determined by Amazon’s search algorithm and reviews are a very important part of that algorithm. The steps to get reviews on Amazon include:

Step 1: Set-up for success: Ask for reviews in your book

Usually, it’s best to include a short, direct review request towards the back of the book, since good reviewers tend to read to the end.

Step 2: Ask your network for reviews

One of the most effective ways to get reviews is to set up a launch team.

To do this, put together a list of people who would immediately do a favor for you. One month before the book release, send this team a copy of your book so they can read it in advance. Just before the book launches, use KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) to discount the e-reader version to 99 cents for the week of the book launch. Then, follow up with your team, asking them to leave a review. As you can see, this email alludes to Amazon’s “family and friends” rule. Most book reviews and sales come from word of mouth, and you will of course be asking your network for support.

Step 3: Set up your assets to remind your network

Social media is a great way to remind your network that your book is ready to be reviewed. Use Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or whatever social media assets you have to keep your book present in people’s minds.

Step 4: Reach out to authority reviewers & top reviewers

Amazon has a list of top reviewers who are enthusiastic and authoritative about certain areas. If you notice that someone consistently reviews books in your field, they might be a good person to reach out to.

Step 5: Don’t ignore negative reviews

It’s highly likely that, at some point, you will get a negative review. One thing to keep in mind before you get upset is that bad reviews aren’t always a bad thing. Books that only have 5-star reviews often don’t seem credible. Bad reviews can convince people that your other reviews are real.

What Are The Advantages of Book Reviews?

There are various benefits of securing book reviews, but for the sake of brevity, find below the top five:

Visibility Measure: The more reviews you secure, the more you attract attention to your book.
Media Buzz: Reviews also create a certain kind of buzz about your book that attracts BIG media.
Reader Interaction and Engagement: Readers need to see other readers enjoying the book. Once the reviews take hold – it is natural for them to inspire more reviews!
Purchase Decisions: Book buyers read reviews as part of making an informed purchase decision.
Amazon Marketing Support: Amazon needs to see a high-level of interaction and reader engagement before deciding to add its support. When people start responding to other reviews, Amazon gets onboard – knowing the activity will influence purchases.

Book reviews are one of the important aspects of making your book successful. Hopefully, this blog gave you some insight into book reviews.

Filed under: Blogs, Book Reviews

HOW TO MARKET YOUR BOOK!

Published by Veronica Lane Books on March 8, 2021 Permalink

HOW TO MARKET YOUR BOOK!

What is Book Marketing?

Book marketing creates awareness for a specific book among booksellers and consumers. The goal of marketing, of course, is to generate book sales. In general, the function of a book marketing department in a traditional publishing house is to help the various sales departments get your book in front of bookstore buyers, book distributors, and other channels, to make sure your book is available and (ideally) displayed and promoted through them to the consumer public. Book marketers also generally oversee online consumer promotion (in some houses this falls to the publicity department).

How To Do Book Marketing?

After writing a book, the author faces the single most difficult part of the whole process: marketing and selling your book. Here are five steps on marketing your book:

Decide who will read your book – find your community: Focus on who really will read your book. Segment that audience as specifically as you can. If your book is about careers after college, you might target college seniors. The point is to figure out who actually will read your book.
Figure out what your community does – connect with those activities: Next, you want to see what those people do, where they do it, what they read, how they read it, what their biggest celebrations are, and so on. How can you connect with them? It’s time to get creative and figure out how you can hitch your book wagon to their particular star. The idea is to meet your community where it lives and reads.
Talk it up, and talk it up some more – don’t be shy: Once you’ve figured out how you’re going to connect to your community, then start getting the word out.
Create a sense of urgency – start a drive: Scarcity and competition add urgency to book buying, and that can help you create some momentum around your book.
Keep the buzz going – find new reasons and angles to promote your book: There’s a natural tendency for books to generate the most interest just before and at publication. Interest then wanes in a curve as the weeks and months tick by. How can you keep your book relevant and fresh in the eyes of your particular community?
Establish your web presence- There’s no getting around it: the world is digital. To have any kind of visibility, you’re going to need a solid internet presence by building your author website, setting up a mailing list, creating a reader magnet, and other ways.
Learn the secrets of Amazon: Amazon is a kingpin in the publishing world. Even if you decide to ‘sell wide’ and build up your presence across multiple retailers, you’ll still be making most of your sales through Amazon. Learn how to use it well and climb the ranks to the right level of visibility, and Amazon will even take over part of your marketing efforts for you (for free!) by automatically suggesting your books to readers in your genre.

How to Market a Book Online?

In today’s digital era, it is important to market your book online for a wider reach. Let’s take a look at proven marketing tips that have helped authors increase sales online.

Build a website: If you want to connect with potential readers and sell books online, it’s important to have a dedicated website to spread the word, while also building an email list for email campaigns. Understand that you will start with zero traffic, but it will increase with consistent promotional efforts. Considering that consumers do the majority of their research online, a website is the first thing you should focus on. Give potential readers a place to quickly and easily find all the information they need. On your website, you always have complete control of what potential customers see.

Be strategic and selective with social media: Social media will play a major role in terms of visibility and sentiment. Depending on the content of your book, try to figure out which networks are the ones in which your audience chooses to hang out, and start there. For instance, if your book is catered to business professionals, LinkedIn may be best, followed by Facebook and possibly Twitter depending on the industry. If you created a graphic novel or any other type of book that is very visual, you may want to start with one of the more visual platforms, such as Instagram and Pinterest. Besides, find groups that are relevant to your topic, join them and engage in authentic conversations, without promoting your book. Allow natural connections to be made – it’s important to share your knowledge and build your reputation as an expert on your topic. It is advised all novice authors get their digital bases covered to properly market their book(s) online.
Capitalize on all Amazon offers And pursue reviews: If you’re selling on Amazon, be sure to take advantage of every space and feature they offer to increase your chances of being discovered. Be smart with keywords and key phrases in your description. If you want Amazon to recommend your book(s) to others, it’s crucial to get good reviews from your early customers. A decent number of genuine reviews under any book add credibility. Don’t be afraid to ask readers who purchased your book to help out by leaving a review. In most cases, they will happily oblige. Readers love helping authors they appreciate.
Experiment with email promotions and online advertising: Many approaches can be taken for email promotions. These include the likes of MailChimp campaigns, to partnerships with book promotion sites that send emails to their subscriber lists. Online advertising campaigns consist of everything from paid social media promotions to Google ads, and Amazon ads. If you’re not already familiar with this territory, you may want to consult with a professional, as the simplest mistakes can get costly, and there’s a lot of research and experimentation that would need to take place on an ongoing basis.
Generously give, to receive: As an author looking to sell your book online, offering value to your prospective audience well before your book launch, to naturally get their support upon launch.
Capitalize on the flywheel effect: The flywheel effect refers to factors setting wheels in motion and building momentum. This is an ideal scenario when it comes to marketing your book. “Truth be told, nobody cares about you or your book. They care about the value they can get out of your book.

How to Create a Book Marketing Plan?

A successful book starts with an effective book marketing and promotion plan. Here are five basic tips for developing an effective book marketing strategy:

Define Your Goals: Since every author and book is different, defining goals will shape a book marketing plan. Establish what your goals are:

To sell books?
Develop your author brand?
Use the book as a marketing tool?
All or some of the above?

Know Your Audience: Marketing is really about knowing your audience – Like the book marketing plan itself, identifying the audience has several steps and requires serious research.
Add Some Marketing Plan Elements: Whether you self-promote or seek professional help, consider the time, money, and energy necessary to promote a book fully. Determine the publishing route (self-publishing, traditional, hybrid) and format (eBook, print, print on demand, or a combination). Creating a website is imperative in every book marketing plan. Writing a blog is central to branding and outreach. Not only should you create and keep your blog current, but you should also seek out blogs with similar target audiences and solicit opportunities to guest blog. Creating platforms on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube can help you communicate with your target audience. You can form relationships that can potentially be turned into book readers and buyers. Also, podcasts have become very easy to create and distribute.
Determine the Best Media Targets: Publicity and book marketing is defined as using the media as a conduit to spread the word about a book to the general public and/or specific target market. Just like reader audiences, no book is right for every type of media. Carefully determine the right media targets.Marketing a business book, for example, has clear target outlets – business publications and, more importantly, vertical market outlets that cater to the topic of the book.
Work Your Plan: Once your book is released, all of these elements should ideally be running on all cylinders. Creating an effective book marketing plan and then executing it are major commitments. Ultimately, the author must have a high level of commitment as the book’s success will depend on their level of involvement in each stage of the process.

What are the Advantages of Marketing Your Book?

Marketing helps your book become visible in the literary world. Marketing or publicizing your book helps you increase your sphere of influence. Therefore, there is a handsome chance that you’ll attain popularity on a global scale. To acquire a good readership, you have to market your book right. Marketing will help your book’s readership to drastically increase, thereby helping it to reach great heights. Marketing guarantees a plausible success rate in luring prospective readers to your book. A book however good it is can be successful only when it has enough readers who appreciate it. Marketing is that important tool that helps your work reach the audience and thereby help your work gain prominence and reach out to people.

How Much Does Book Marketing Cost?

Once you’ve self-published a book, you usually have to market it to get the word out — but that doesn’t mean it needs to be expensive! Most authors spend between $50 and $200 on their marketing campaigns which is a pretty reasonable range for first-timers. You can also hire a marketing professional to do all this for you if you’d prefer to focus on writing, which will cost around $1,000. However, keep in mind that such marketing experts often pay for themselves, as they maximize your ROI and book sales.

Some low-cost marketing tactics include:

Market through your blog and mailing list: The costs are more variable here, depending on your platforms, but we’ll give you some ballpark lower-end numbers. Cost: $50/year for a website on Squarespace or Wix, $9.99/month for a Mailchimp subscription.
Facebook advertising: You can run targeted ads on Facebook to people who have indicated an interest in your subject matter. Be warned, however, that the expenses can rack up. Cost: at least $5/day.
Other third-party promotions: Contact book review blogs and promotional services to get other people to spread the word! Book review blogs take free submissions, but most book promotion websites involve some sort of fee. Cost: $0 for a review, $5-$50 for a promotional listing.

How to Market Your Book for Free?

Here are 6 ways to promote your book, even if you have no funds:

Guest blog posts: They can be a great way to bring a bit of attention to yourself and your work. The secret, however, is to write posts for blogs aimed at readers of your kind of book. And don’t forget to put a short bio (one or two sentences) at the bottom of the post, to point people to your work.
Blog & Podcast Interviews: Some bloggers, and nearly all podcasters, are actively looking for authors to interview. Again, search to find content producers in your genre, and reach out via their websites or other contact methods. It helps to make a good pitch, and the secret to this is to tell the content producer what makes you a good interview.
Create a YouTube Channel: Like podcasting, video is increasingly popular and covers every topic you can think of. Create a YouTube channel where you can talk about your work, read samples, interview other authors, answer reader/viewer questions, and anything else you come up with.
Join reader groups on Facebook (and elsewhere): It’s much better, and more effective, if you join a group as a participant, and take the time to establish yourself. Join in the discussion, and become engaged with the group as a fellow fan. Once people know and trust you, that’s when you can organically interject that you’re a writer. The point is, be an active member of the group, not just a lurking advertiser. Promotion can come across as scummy if it’s overdone. Be a good group member, join the discussions, contribute to the community, and the community will be much happier about supporting you.
Use Your Mailing List: If you don’t have a mailing list, start one, and start offering something to get people to sign up. I recommend offering a short story in the universe of your book. Make that story exclusive, though. People can only get it if they sign up on your list. Treat your mailing list like distant friends that you’re keeping informed about your life and work. You can use Mailchimp to build a free list and upgrade to paid services later.
Group Promotions: Get involved in group promotions. Again, you’ll usually come across these in Facebook author groups. The idea is to join forces with other authors of your genre, and agree to share each other’s work with your mutual mailing lists and social networks.

Marketing and selling a book is a long-distance run, not a sprint. Don’t focus on the finish line of the publication date – that’s only the beginning of your journey to make your book count. Hopefully, this article gave you some insight into book marketing.

Filed under: Blogs, Book Marketing

SECRETS OF BOOK WRITING

Published by Veronica Lane Books on March 5, 2021 Permalink

SECRETS OF BOOK WRITING

What is Book Writing?

Most of us have a great idea of a book in our heads but face difficulty in writing our book or figuring out how to get it published. Anyone with a story to tell can write a book, either for their enjoyment and publish for all to see. Getting started is often the hardest part, however, with proper planning one can successfully write the story which they have in store. Book writing is a special skill where one presents the story, following proper frameworks and the process. Book writing is an art and very few can master it. However, with proper guidance and a clear thought process, one can be able to write a book successfully. The blog focuses on various tips and ideas on the basics of writing a book. Book writing for beginners can be challenging, however with determination, and following the book writing process, one can succeed.

What is a Good Title for a Book?

The title is the first thing the reader sees or hears about your book—even before the cover in most cases—and getting it right is the single most important book marketing decision you’ll make. The title forms the basis of the reader’s judgment about your book. Spend time figuring out the best possible title for your book, because it will largely determine what people think about your book, and thus, your book’s success. A good title should have all of these attributes:

Attention-grabbing: The right title helps you stand out and make that important first impression. You can be provocative, controversial, exciting, make a promise, etc. The point is your title should make people stop and pay attention to it.
Memorable & searchable: Remember, a book’s title is not only the first thing a reader hears about your book, it’s the one piece of information that a reader has that leads them back to the book itself. This also means you want the book title to be easily searchable. In the world we live in, a search is how people find things now. If your title does not lend itself to easy memorization and searchability on Google and Amazon, that is very bad.
Informative: This is the least crucial aspect for fiction books, but very important for non-fiction. The title, including the subtitle, should give the reader some sort of idea of what the book is about. Though your book title should be informative and easily understood, it doesn’t need to spell out the whole book idea.
Easy & not embarrassing to say: Having an easy-to-say title is a concept called cognitive fluency. It means people are more likely to remember and respond to words and phrases they can immediately understand and pronounce. Don’t try to be sophisticated at the risk of being obscure. One of the most important things to think about when picking your book title is word of mouth.
Short: Generally speaking, shorter titles are best. A short title is not only more memorable and easier to say for your target audience, but it also gives space and flexibility for a better book cover. One-word titles are the best. In the title, stick to the core idea. If you want to get wordy, then leave that to the subtitle. If you can, aim to keep the main title around 5 words or less. The subtitle can offer context or tell a bit more about what the reader will learn.

How to Begin Book Writing?

Deciding to start writing a book is intimidating, especially if you’re a beginner. Here are some steps on how to start writing your book:

Start by setting Up Your Book Writing Environment

One of the most important things to remember if you want to start writing a book is designing a writing space that allows your creativity to flourish unhindered. Create an environment that is designed to help you stay focused. Here are a few guidelines:

Have collections of inspiration.
Unclutter your space.
Be Flexible.
Create a music playlist for inspiration:
Try Multiple Locations.

Start Writing by Developing a Writing Habit

The number one reason authors fail to publish a book is that they never finish the book they intend to publish. Why? Because they didn’t form a good writing habit. Feeling overwhelmed when writing a book is natural, but you must remember that this journey always begins with the first page. And to write your first page, you must take action.

Create an Outline Before You Start Writing

A clear book outline provides clarity and direction to your story. It is also the roadmap for your book that keeps you on track and ensures you have all your ideas organized in a natural flow. Before you write, spend some time creating your outline with these steps:

Brainstorm: List every thought and story idea you want in your book by creating a mind map.
Organize: Combine all related ideas.
Order: Arrange ideas into subsections from general to specific.
Label: Create main and subheadings that will eventually be your chapters.

Work on ONLY Writing

One challenge many authors experience is taking on multiple new projects when they should be focused on one because their minds are full of amazing book ideas. Although enticing, the division of attention can spread your energy thin producing bad writing or worse, failure to complete your book.

Maintain Your Focus

Once you get into the flow of starting your book, you want to remain focused through the duration of your writing session. Leave the distractions behind by creating a writing schedule and keeping aside all the possible distractions.

Schedule Your Writing Time

Scheduling your writing time using a calendar is an important step to be efficient and keep a track of how much you are writing.

Start by Dealing With Writing Distractions First

Distractions can hinder you and your desire to start writing a book. Resistance is a common obstacle that can distract us for too long. It’s a form of fear that intimidates you from writing and can throw you off your writer’s flow. Reading morning affirmations, exercising, and free-flow writing for 10 minutes can be useful.

How to End a Book?

If you want to become a better author, learning how to end a book well is crucial. The goal of a great ending is to tie everything together, neatly summarize your book, and then provide a specific call or calls to action for your reader. Don’t overcomplicate the conclusion—just let it do its job, and it’ll work great. Here are some tips to end your book:

Build to an intriguing climax

A great ending is all in the build-up. A taut climax isn’t equally important for every genre. How do you build to a climactic novel ending?

Make it harder for characters to reach their objectives – what stands in their way?
If applicable to your story, increase characters’ peril.
Vary pace – write shorter scenes and chapters to increase momentum.
Keep the largest confrontations between characters for your final chapters. Hint at their approach.

Make sure your ending is earned, not improbable

Usually, the ending that makes sense follows the simple logic of cause and effect. This doesn’t mean that you cannot have an outlandish, fantastical or unexpected ending. There are very few absolute rules when it comes to writing fiction. Yet laying the groundwork for your ending and building the anticipation of a specific outcome creates a sense of direction and objective.

Leave room for readers’ imaginations

An ending doesn’t have to be the last nail in your character’s coffin. Story endings that leave room for readers’ imaginations are enjoyable because readers get to picture what comes next, without being told. A little mystery, a few incompletions remains.

Bring home how your characters have changed

A story lies in change. Showing how your characters have changed at the end of your novel as they’ve reached (or fallen short of) their objectives creates a satisfying sense of development.

Use the ‘5 W’s’ to create finality

In addition to showing how characters have changed, use the ‘5 w’s’ – who, what, why, where, and when – as a whole.

Restate the book’s mission/thesis

This is pretty simple, but make sure you restate the book’s thesis. From the first chapter to the final chapter, your book’s primary message should be consistent.

How to Organize Book Writing?

Here are some writing tips to help you organize your latest book project:

Begin with written brainstorming: Before you can organize your ideas, you’ll need to come up with the ideas in the first place. Set aside plenty of writing time each day, and write down whatever ideas come to mind.
Put your ideas down on note cards: By now, you should have a notebook or computer document filled with ideas. It’s time to transition away from brainstorming and note-taking and begin organizing. Take all of your ideas—whether they’re scenes, character needs, or plotlines—and write them down on individual index cards or sticky notes. Continue this method until all of your novel’s main points, important scenes, and random ideas are copied onto note cards.
Arrange the cards in roughly chronological order: Once all of your ideas are on notecards, it’s time to put them in order. If certain notecards don’t seem to fit in with the broader scope of the story, place them off to the side for now. With all your cards laid out, you should start to get a big-picture sense of how your story looks.
Fill in the holes: Based on your notecard outline, ask yourself: Which characters need to be further developed? Which subplots need to be fleshed out? Which storylines need to be reworked? Focus on making sure your characters have strong motivations and that your plot moves are earned. Seeing your novel laid out in notecard form should help you visually identify what still needs to be done for your story to track.
Transfer your outline back to paper. By now, you should have a bunch of notecards that form the rough outline of your story. Copy the scene ideas back onto paper or a Word document, so that your outline is all in one place.

Writing an EBook

An eBook, or “electronic book,” is a book that is digitally distributed. EBooks have various benefits

EBooks can be used to move your potential customers down the sales funnel.
EBooks can have smooth navigation and plenty of visuals to keep the reader engaged to the very end.
EBooks can help you establish yourself as an industry expert thanks to the in-depth analysis of a topic.
EBooks can be stored and shared in an easy-to-access format, printed out partly or as a whole, and distributed with minimal effort on your side.
Build trust with your readers
Increase traffic to your site

Here are 8 steps to write your eBook:

Choose a topic: Having a clear vision when choosing your eBook topic will make your writing process much easier. Choose your topic based on the goals you want to accomplish with it, not necessarily your interests. Also, consider your expertise and what your audience has to say.
Build your chapter outline: Once you’ve figured out the specific topic for your eBook, write a chapter outline that provides valuable information about your main topic.
Write your eBook one chapter at a time: You can break through the overwhelming fear of writing an eBook by treating each chapter as a single unit.
Write the introduction and conclusion: Don’t take your eBook’s introduction and conclusion lightly—they may be the only sections some people read.
Proofread and edit: Don’t edit as you write. Instead, finish your manuscript first, and then edit the whole document.
Format and design: Once you have the body of your eBook ready to go, it’s time to format and design it to create an optimal reading experience for your audience.
Publish: Making it to this step means your eBook is ready for the world.
Promote your new eBook: Writing an eBook takes time and energy, but an even bigger challenge may be finding people to read it. Sending it to your email list and asking readers to share it, scheduling social media posts to announce it, targeting your audience with social media ads are some ways.

Is Book Writing Profitable?

We imagine a successful author’s life to be idyllic. The reality couldn’t be more different. A typical book author barely makes more than minimum wage. You receive an advance and 10% royalties on net profit from each book. You’ll make money as an author, not from the sales of your book, but from the relationships, you create with your books. Producers pay them a lot of money for the opportunity to capitalize on the relationships they’ve forged with their readers, and to give their fans a deeper experience with the stories they’ve come to know and love. 70% of books don’t make a profit. If it’s not profitable, why do so many people write books? Because being an author opens the door for other opportunities like speaking, training programs, and consulting. Plus, it makes your parents proud.

Thus writing a book is a long and exciting journey and will bear fruit only with hard work, determination and interest. Hopefully, this article will be of some help to you in writing a book.

Filed under: Blogs, Book Writing

MYSTERY BOOKS: KNOW IT ALL

Published by Veronica Lane Books on February 18, 2021 Permalink

MYSTERY BOOKS: KNOW IT ALL

Mystery has always been a favorite among readers. It is a genre of fiction that follows a crime (like a murder or a disappearance) from the moment it is committed to the moment it is solved. The term comes from the Latin word mysterium, meaning “a secret thing.” They are often called “whodunits” because they turn the reader into a detective trying to figure out the who, what, when, and how of a particular crime. Most mysteries feature a detective or private eye solving a case as the central character.

Most critics and scholars credit Edgar Allan Poe with inventing the modern mystery. He published a short story called The Murders in the Rue Morgue in 1841 that featured Auguste C. Dupin, literature’s first fictional detective. It was a groundbreaking moment that saw the creation of an entirely new literary genre.

Sub-Genres of Mystery and Crime Fiction

Mystery and crime fiction often fall into four separate sub-genres, each with its own characteristics.

1. Detective novels: These are crime novels that center around a detective (professional, amateur, or retired) investigating a crime or solving a murder case. Detective novels generally start with a mysterious incident or death and unfold as the detective follows leads, investigates suspects, and ultimately solves the case. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle introduced the world to the famous Sherlock Holmes in 1887, when he first began writing the series of stories featuring the popular detective. Other well-known detective novelists include Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Sue Grafton.

2. Cozy mysteries: To solve a case, the detective in a cozy mystery often uses their intellect as opposed to police procedures. The genre has some overlap with detective novels; for example, Agatha Christie is considered both a detective novelist and a cozy mystery novelist.

3. Police procedural: These are mystery novels featuring a protagonist who is a member of the police force. Well-known police procedural novelists include Ed McBain, P. D. James, and Bartholomew Gill.

4. Caper stories: These are mystery stories told from the point of view of the criminals rather than the detective trying to catch them. They take readers inside the crimes and heists, giving them full access to their motives, tricks, and swindles. Unlike most mysteries, caper stories often include elements of humor. Well-known caper story novelists include W. R. Burnett, John Boland, Peter O’Donnell, and Michael Crichton.

Some mystery novels break from the traditional format to heighten suspense or play with readers’ expectations. Most mysteries follow roughly the same structure of the crime, followed by the investigation, the twist, the essential breakthrough, and the conclusion.

Why Should You Read Mystery Books?

We read mysteries for the same reasons we read romance or women’s fiction or sci-fi. We love to escape into brilliant prose and fascinating stories. We find ourselves instantly involved in the characters’ lives, and being there with them, feeling what they feel, seeing what they see, and experiencing their emotional journey. What happens is that our view of the world grows.

Mysteries do give us comfort and they can be uplifting because they make order out of chaos. We are taken to the brink of disaster, and then brought back to safety by the use of logic, human ingenuity, and the “little grey cells.” They also offer a puzzle to be solved, which exercises the brain. Humans generally feel better about themselves when we’re actively engaging our brains in something rather than passively observing.

Mystery readers are intelligent people. The mystery story appeals to their sense of curiosity. They enjoy the action. They love to analyze the psychological makeup and motivational drives of characters. Most mystery readers are interested in how and why a crime is committed as they are in who committed it. Sifting through clues and red herrings as the story progresses adds challenge. Mystery readers have a strong sense of justice and expect evildoers to be punished. Most mysteries provide this kind of ending. A mystery story allows the reader to experience danger, suspense, and fear while seated in a nice safe armchair. Mystery fans also want to marvel at the genius of the detective as he finally solves the crime. Indeed, the reader loves to match wits with the sleuth and the criminal—and the author. Perhaps the most satisfying experience a mystery novel reader can have is to figure out “whodunit” before the end of the book.

The modern mystery has broadened its appeal even more, by including elements of other genres such as history, romance, travel, and other cultures. There’s something for everyone in a good mystery novel. Is it any wonder it is fast approaching the level of readership of romance novels?

How to Select a Mystery Book to Read?

There are a plethora of mystery books available, but some of the best mysteries include these elements:

A strong hook: A great mystery should invite the reader to try to solve the crime, and a great opening is critical to piquing their interest. A mystery should start with just enough information about the crime to build intrigue from the first line. This is the defining moment when a reader chooses whether or not they want to continue. If the dramatic element is missing from the beginning, the reader expects the rest of the book to be the same. The first chapter should initiate the mystery, aligning the reader with the central character on the crime-solving adventure.

An atmospheric setting: Stories in this genre should create an ominous, uneasy mood through setting to support the anxiety of an unknown antagonist lurking in the shadows. Think of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes slinking through the London fog in search of a killer. Settings in mysteries also offer opportunities to plant clues and red herrings.

A crime: A crime is an event that fuels the plot in a mystery novel. Revealed in the first chapter, a crime creates the central conflict that launches the investigation, sending the main character on their quest and spurring the narrative arc.

A sleuth: At the heart of every mystery is the main character determined to solve the crime. Mystery writer Raymond Chandler created private detective Philip Marlowe to be a crime solver in his novels. A writer can raise the stakes by making the detective personally invested in solving the crime. Mysteries can center on an amateur investigator—an average citizen who solves the case. The character development of the sleuth is important; they need a back-story that connects them to the crime or the killer, and a motive that explains why solving this crime is important to them.

A villain: A mystery is often called a whodunit because the culprit is unknown until they’re caught at the end. The story follows their movements, which propel the story forward. The main character and the reader discover the criminal’s identity as the plot reaches its climax.

Narrative momentum: A mystery plot is in constant motion thanks to a cat-and-mouse narrative thread. The pacing will quicken the closer the plot moves towards the climax and the closer the main character gets to solving the crime.

A trail of clues: Clues are the literary element that allows mystery stories to engage readers on a deeper level than other types of fiction. The reader becomes an amateur sleuth, following the trail of clues to try to discover the identity of the culprit. When writing mysteries, an author needs to have an organized writing process to keep track of what clues they’re creating, when they appear, and who knows what to make sure the plot lines make sense.

Foreshadowing: Mysteries often drop hints of things that will happen in the future. This is known as foreshadowing. A writer can hint at a future event with a small clue or through character dialogue. Writers can be more or less direct with foreshadowing, either subtly hinting at future events or explicitly stating what will happen.

Red herrings: A good mystery throws the reader off track. Red herrings are an essential element in mysteries. These false clues build tension by creating other suspects and distracting the detective—and the reader—and leading them away from the real culprit. A writer creates red herrings by placing extra emphasis on an object, event, or character that catches a reader’s attention, making that element seem more significant than it is to the storyline. In Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, there are 10 characters who are all potential suspects. Christie creates red herrings by killing off each character one by one, creating plot twists that send the reader into new directions in search of the killer.

A satisfying ending: At the end of great mystery novels there is the big reveal—the sleuth discovers the identity of the culprit. An ending should also provide an alibi for any other suspects to strengthen the identity of the real killer and eliminate doubt, tying up loose ends.

Benefits of Reading Mystery Books

There is a reason why mystery novels are one of the best-selling genres of all time. Well, it is more than just the enjoyment of reading them. Mystery books with great narrative and structure give the readers a whole lot more. If you haven’t tried to read a book from this genre, you should. It is worth the try and will surely keep you coming back for more. It keeps your heart thumping and makes you break a sweat like you are part of an actual scene. However, there are many surprising and unexpected benefits that you can surely get from reading the genre. Below are some of the benefits you can get by reading mystery fiction:

Exercises Your Brain

It is important to enhance your mental capacity to have standout success in life. One way you can do to make this happen is by giving your brain a good exercise or workout. Once you stimulate your brain. You are giving yourself a chance to learn new things. Just like reading any other genre, the mystery genre also helps you with your comprehension skills. Mystery novels feature a story that will require a lot of problem-solving, which can surely give your brain a good squeeze. Your brain will naturally try and help the main character provide solutions to each problem that may arise in the story.

Helps You Make Friends

Books, in general, help readers with a human connection. Books will allow you to express your thoughts to other people. You will be able to have a bond with readers who also like what you read. It is always great to have someone who understands you. As mentioned, mystery or thriller novels are one of the most-read genres in the world. You will never know when you meet someone that shares the same interest as yours.

Reduces Your Stress

Sometimes, people need to forget the real-world momentarily to have peace of mind. This will help them avoid further complications, such as depression and anxiety. If you are looking for ways to help you with this aspect, reading should be your first option. A mystery or thriller novel is a good choice. This will give you a different feeling than those other genres and surely make you forget the real world. Plus, it will give you a sense of relief like no other. This happens when a character has surpassed something; you will also feel like you have surpassed something.

Gives You Hope, Wisdom, and Knowledge

Knowledge, wisdom, and hope empower one’s mind and broadens its range. Like what other genres offer when it comes to giving these aspects in life, mystery books also do the same. When you read the mystery genre, that detective self of yours will also start to act as one. You try to understand the situation, which will require you to know some new words and apprehensions. Reading will allow you to interact with a world full of knowledge. It gives you hope by letting you feel like your life is not as messy as you may think it is. It gives you the idea that everything will be okay in the future.

The mystery genre can be one of the best choices. Hopefully, this blog will lead you to go to your nearest bookstore and purchase a book from this genre.

Filed under: Blogs, Books, Mystery Books, Novles

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