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Hit the target with crime fiction and you’ll be rewarded with success in a very lucrative market.

Crime and thriller fiction fans tend to stick to their favourite genre, and in some cases will have read so many stories of cunning, woe, and carnage that it can seem as though they’re nearly impossible to impress, or perhaps even more importantly, surprise. For the most part, crime fans make for great self-publishing crime writers, but even if you’re not an expert in infractions and evils, these tips can help your story take shape easily and effectively.

Get emotive

For humanity’s sake, it’s fair to hope that your readers are never in some of the situations your book will describe. However, in order to keep your audience engaged and involved in the story, it is important to make circumstances somehow relatable. Scenic descriptions and conjuring up emotions are the easiest ways to do this and should aim to transport the reader to a time, place, or feeling that speaks to them. And remember the golden rule of writing: Show, don’t tell.

Twist the tale

A good crime story will have a good twist and should never turn out quite the way you expected. Predictability can leave the reader feeling a bit disappointed. One method for changing things up is to pause at the end of each chapter and write out two or three ways that you would predict the story panning out. Abandon all of those ideas and write something completely different. If you can’t immediately foresee your fiction, neither can the person reading it.

Do your research AFTER writing

There are numerous quirks and loopholes in legalities and these can make for a great unexpected outcome along the way. There are also some fairly frightening things that can happen with bodies, disease, and physical contact that you’ve likely not thought of or experienced before. However, getting caught up in too much research into the weirdest and wackiest ways to die, to rob, or to bypass the law may hinder your creativity more than it nurtures it, so by all means learn the basics before your first draft, but save the complexities until afterward. Your first draft will always be amended, chopped, and changed anyway!

Make your characters complex – and balanced

Your villain should be as complex as your protagonist, and both should be detailed and interesting individuals. Draw up a back story for everyone and be sure to add in some quirks around each character, too. Who knows whose secrets? Who thinks they know someone’s secrets? Whose secrets stay secret? It all adds up and gels together to create layers. Characters don’t need to be 100% good or 100% bad. Keep them human, flawed, and with a few idiosyncrasies to make them genuine.

Crime fiction needs to keep readers turning pages and guessing. There’s no doubt that you’ll have a lot of discarded drafts, changed complexities, and amended appearances along the way. Embrace the challenge and run with it – it’ll all be worth it in the end!

Learn to become a recognised authority in your industry with a well-written business book on Amazon. Done well, you can quickly build cult-like fame amongst your peers or even be credited with changing the way business is done. Titles can be responsible for shaping or breaking entrepreneurs’ strategies and are often referred to in history to illustrate the development and journeys of business practice.

Do you have what it takes to self-publish a successful business book? If you keep in mind the following, you may well …

Remember: You don’t need to be an author to write in business

By its nature, most business writers aren’t full-time authors, and many aren’t even hobby writers. Instead, this genre is primarily penned by those in high ranking or leadership positions in the related industry, as well as entrepreneurs who have tried, failed, or both, to broaden a business proposition or sector. If you’re not a ‘writer’ per se, fear not: there’s help out there and editors available to keep you on the right track toward producing a piece of writing that will be well-received and effective.

Be prepared to self-promote… a LOT

You’ll need to do a lot of self-promotion, although don’t be shy about contacting specialists in book marketing for extra help. Get your social media profile ship shape, start attending relevant industry events, and gift copies of your book to influencers in the sector. The holy grail of business books is word-of-mouth promotion and once your title starts to be recognised by those ‘in the know’ on your chosen topic, the possibilities are endless.

Make sure you really care about the topic at hand

Business is something most spend a set amount of hours a day working on, and then turn away back to their personal lives when that time is up. Finding the motivation to write about business outside of work can be difficult, particularly when you have numerous other priorities and responsibilities. In order to not get swept up in a fog of procrastination and disinterest, be sure before you embark on your project that you’re really passionate about the topic you’ll be writing on. If you need to narrow down your focus and can do so without compromising your book’s purpose, do so.

Ensure your book has a clear USP

Some sectors and topics attract more books than others, so it’s vital that your writing has a USP (unique selling point). It should make a point, hold a view, or suggest an approach that is different to others expressed in existing relevant business books available. Whilst you shouldn’t opt for controversy for controversy’s sake, you do need to be bold enough to be different, and to articulate this difference well.

Business writing is an exceedingly ‘open’ genre and one that, if you care enough, you can make real progress within, developing both your writing career and any other profession you hold. Getting started can be tricky, but remain open-minded and focused and you’ll soon be on the path to success.

Bring your science fiction book to life in the minds of readers and keep them coming back for more! Sci-Fi is a fun and creative genre to both read and write, and one where you can really get stuck in expressing your own ideas, thoughts, and clever quirks. It may seem like a crowded industry and one that often sees ideas duplicated, but it need not be this way. If you’d like to start writing sci-fi, read on for our top tips.

Ask yourself questions

When you’ve got a decent plotline, concept, or character, investigate it more thoroughly by asking yourself questions about it. Consider how readers would feel about it in line with society’s current expectations, technological limitations, and norms. A character may not be liked, a concept may seem entirely radical, and a plotline may be unlikely in 2018 on planet Earth… but does that matter? Challenge yourself with interrogation and your story shall soon develop. “What if…” can stimulate endless bounds of imagination and opportunity for your book.

Explain

Remember: your ideas are yours, and they’ll never appear in someone else’s head the way they do in yours. Subtleties and character behaviour needs to be explained and should be done so in a way that gives some back-story and sufficient reasoning, but doesn’t patronise – science fiction readers are far from naïve or unimaginative, but they will need to understand why things happen in a certain way.

Plan an ending… for now

Even if you’re intending to write numerous novels, an end must be in sight in order for you to tie all of your storylines in to a solid conclusion. An idea for an ending doesn’t need to limit you (who knows what you write once your initial series has been completed?), but will help keep you on track and focused without deviating too much, or introducing unnecessary or overly-complicated tangents.

Separate out your stories

Sci-Fi often makes up a series rather than a single book, and that can be bit overwhelming. If so, while keeping the bigger picture in mind, just focus on one book at a time. It’s your story, and you can do, or not do, whatever you want with it. If you’d like your audience to be able to read just one book in the series without needing the others, top and tail and explain it well enough so that they can. And don’t leave a cliffhanger. Readers often dislike cliffhangers – they find them annoying and manipulative, as though the author is just trying to make money. And, it can be especially aggravating if the next book is still a year away from being finished and published. So, look after your readers and don’t leave them hanging.

Continue to read and watch Sci-Fi

If you’re writing within this genre, you’re most likely a fan of it already. Don’t stop indulging your interest in it by limiting your intake of books, films, games, podcasts, and TV while you’re writing. Instead, keep it up and gather inspiration from its continued presence in your life. You still need to set aside ample time for your own writing, and you don’t want to draw too heavily on someone else’s work, but don’t withdraw entirely. There’s always more to learn, more to see, and more to experience in science fiction, so let it continue to spark new thoughts and feelings and use those in your books.

Even when you’re writing about a topic, place, person, or time you feel you know fairly well, you need to ensure that there is a degree of accuracy throughout your book. Of course, fiction allows for poetic licence, but establishing some solid facts can help ground your writing, and even in some cases, nurture it along new paths and sub-plots.

Primary research is investigation that you undertake yourself, whereas secondary research refers to your studying of research materials that are already available, such as reading books or ‘googling’ online. Primary research is the most effective method for you to stay on top of the latest developments, attitudes, and current happenings in your chosen topic, place or person, so if you’re serious about covering it in your novel, you should take the time to complete at least some.

Researching a place

It won’t surprise you to hear that the best possible way for you to conduct research about a place is to visit it, and it’s key that you really immerse yourself into the culture and way of living whilst there, too. If you can, stay with locals, interview those in the area and steer off the beaten path for a true picture of what the place has to offer.

If you can’t visit the place you’d like to write about, try interviewing those who have been there and spent time there. Try to arrange a Skype date with locals, and travel bloggers, or call the local embassy or authority there for more information. Bear in mind, though, most people will want their place to be looked upon favourably, so take what you hear with a pinch of salt.

Researching a person

Writing about people can be difficult, as, unless their words, actions and personality have been extremely well-documented previously, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to achieve the accuracy you’d like to. However, if the person is contactable, speaking to and interacting with them is the best way for you to understand them without relying on hearsay. If not, try contacting their family or friends (using sensitivity depending on the person, of course) or those ‘in the know’ about them – historians, experts, or professors.

If the person is no longer contactable, secondary research can be completed and authors of such research can be spoken with to fill in any knowledge gaps.

Researching a time or event

Historical accuracy varies from period to period and place to place, but the benefit of writing books about times gone by and events past is that there are still professionals researching and working on learning more about them. Conducting primary research for your story can be tricky here, and you’ll have more room for embellishment and imagination than usual, but if you can find out contact information for experts in your field, get in touch with them. Most will be happy to speak you: if they’re passionate about what they work in, they’ll want you to write as precisely and accurately as possible and so will value the opportunity to help you do just that.

Surveying, interviewing, and investigating may seem daunting before you start to write, but the shape your book will take as a result will soon demonstrate the worth of effective research. Even better, you can hang on to your findings and share them onwards as you like with others, or reference them in your book!

There are many reasons that you may suffer from ‘writer’s block’ or ‘writer’s anxiety’, but when it grasps you with its cold, halting hand, you’ll want to be free of it as quickly as possible. After all, when progress is hindered, you may never finish that book – and it does nothing for productivity or your piece of mind.

The good news, there is plenty you can try to alleviate your mental block and get your creative juices flowing freely again. Try the following and see what works best for you. You shall be back to your industrious old self in no time!

Seek a distraction… for a while

If you’re stuck, don’t stress: remove yourself from the situation for a while. Avoid writing and avoid doing anything related to the subject you’re writing (or meant to be writing) about. Set aside your writing and go for a walk, do some shopping, read, or watch a film. If you type, avoid a screen, and if you write manually, avoid stationery. Leaving your book writing behind for a while will allow you to go back to it with a clearer head and feeling refreshed. Don’t leave it too long, though, or you may never go back!

Ask yourself: what if?

When fiction writing, try broadening your story with the ‘What if?’ technique. What if this character did this? What if this was the background of this character? What if the primary location of the story changed completely? You don’t have to change your saga at all, but playing around can give you some room for blue sky thinking and bring out some new inspiration.

Reward yourself

When lacking motivation, take the basic carrot and stick approach to your work. Each time you finish a paragraph, a page, or a chapter, give yourself a small reward and use this to motivate yourself to write more.

Change your environment

A change of scene can work wonders for clearing your mind and sparking new inspiration. Thankfully for your bank balance, if not your social media feeds, this doesn’t need to mean travelling off to an exotic island, but just anywhere different from your usual surroundings. Nip away for the weekend if you can, by all means, but if not, try moving your desk somewhere different, sitting elsewhere in the building, or sitting in a coffee shop or library.

Add in some background noise

Lots of people say they can’t write without some noise in the background, but even if this normally isn’t you, give it a go. Having a television on may suffice, but music can really work a treat as it so often invokes memories and emotions which can lead to other inspiration. Play around with sound levels and genres and you may soon find something that has you scribbling away!

Everyone feels apprehensive at writing once in a while, and there’s not a writer on the planet that’s never felt ‘stuck’. Such a block is always temporary and a key consideration to keep in mind is that it’s totally normal – stay calm, shift activities, and get through it.

Procrastination is a human habit and one that all of us fall prey to at one point in time. However, when procrastination kicks in and puts you off your writing, you can quickly find yourself never finishing that book. This is not a situation you should let yourself be in, particularly when a bestseller could be at the end of your fingertips, so it’s best to avoid it completely and discipline yourself into more productive habits. How? We have some suggestions…

Plan ahead

Reverting back to a school-style type study plan can work wonders for your writing, as long as you’re determined to stick to it. Start with a deadline and commit to it. From there, allocate time on a regular basis to sit down, research (if required), and write. Make sure the time you set aside is protected and you’re free from distractions during it. This will give you the best possible chance at really getting into your book.

Writing a novel in workable chunks

Whether or not you choose to create a work plan, breaking up your writing into small, manageable pieces (perhaps per chapter) and applying yourself to each bit-by-bit makes the overall task seem more workable. This will make it easier to set goals throughout the project and to motivate yourself to get through each piece. Splitting your work into smaller sections will make finishing your book more achievable, in parts and overall.

Discard your fear

A great of deal of writer’s procrastination can be attributed to the fear of failure. It’s natural to feel apprehensive before writing a book, but you shouldn’t allow your trepidation to stop you starting or progressing. Give yourself time to be anxious and to mentally process it, then push it out of your mind. You simply can’t permit fear to take up any more of your time.

Make yourself accountable

If you’re a serial procrastinator and find that you largely get away with it scot-free, it’s time to arrange some accountability. Choose a confidante and have them hold you to account with pre-determined progress goals. This may be rewarding you, checking in on progress and giving you a good nag, or sometimes forcing you to sit down and focus. Make sure the person in question won’t go too easy on you, though – or you may never get anything done!

Once you’ve found a way that helps you measurably decrease your procrastination time and increase your productivity, stick to it! The ultimate goal is to find enough time to fit in even more writing, and once you’ve managed that, the writing world is your oyster.

Everyone loves a good romance, and that means there are a lot of readers desiring tales of passion. Romantic fiction is one of the biggest selling book genres today. Does your self-published book have what it takes to satisfy this massive demand? Here, you’ll discover that this category is often underestimated and not as easy to create as many writers think. It can be difficult to break into as the readers are often savvy and loyal and will quickly catch on to anyone trying to shift copies without the necessary effort. The following tips can help you write a captivating and emotive romance novel guaranteed to make even the toughest of readers turn the pages in anticipation and excitement!

Balance conflict and romance to maintain interest

It’s easy to fill pages with fluffy romantic gestures and very little substance, but this won’t keep your readers engaged for long and will quickly be dismissed as poor quality. Romance stories often contain a HFN (Happy For Now) and a HEA (Happy Ever After), but to keep reader interest, you need your book to balance out the happiness with trepidation, if not full conflict. Keep ‘em guessing and end on a high note… even if it isn’t the high note the reader is expecting!

Every romance needs a respectable hero or heroine

Romance is one of few genres that needs likeable protagonists, but also for them to gain the reader’s respect: desperation is never a good look! Long gone are the days when a weak damsel in distress would fall over herself to gain the attention of a dashing prince. Instead, strong characters and head-or-heart dilemmas will be more relatable to the reader and make for a much more interesting read.

If you can find a niche, work it

If this is your first foray into romance writing, and you have background knowledge on another topic or area of interest, build this in to flesh out your story and ensure your book comes across as genuine. Carving out a niche market on Amazon within the romance audience can be tricky (it’s a crowded genre, after all) but if you can find one, write it and use it. Giving readers variety within a genre is valued by all.

Respect the competition

Romance can be a crowded genre, and competition amongst authors is fierce. There are plenty of long-established writers in this field and whilst their style may now seem outdated or repetitive, they are still to be respected: most are extremely successfully in their own right. There’s a real willingness within the romance community to mentor and coach in a way you won’t find in other areas of fiction, so take advantage of this community-feel if you can; and give back where you can. Don’t compare your work to others but instead work with them to develop your own style and stories.