Adam Croft's Blog, page 12

There comes a point when writing your first book when a sense of something starts to take hold. It’s the sense of a slow realisation of just how much work is involved when writing a book.

I think it’s something that hits all of us at some point in the writing of that first book. No matter how well you have prepared beforehand, no matter how much you have read or how many smaller things you have written before, it always comes of something of a shock – even when you are half-expecting it.

Writing a book really is a lot of work. When you think about it in an abstract sense, it sounds like a lot but it’s also quite easy to make it sound fairly manageable. You write a draft. Then you read the draft. Then you edit it and perhaps re-write some of it. Then you edit it again. Then you try and publish it. Lots to do, but a clear order to things.

Then it actually happens. Then you actually have to deal with the reality of four different plot threads and loads of different characters and a story that, at some point during the first draft, veered somewhat off-piste from the original plan and that never quite makes it back to where it’s supposed to be. Everything suddenly becomes that bit more complicated. You start to think that you have no idea what you are doing, and that you are possibly slightly crazy, not least because despite the fact the book is a mess, you are continuing with it regardless.

In a way, all of this is a very good thing. If a book is simple to write, it may well be because it is a simple, not particularly good, book. If it is hard to write then it might be a big mess but at least there is a story there to actually be messy in the first place. In a strange way, it can give us hope.

Plus, the fact that you carry on even when faced with colossal plot holes and a sense of confusion pervading every new paragraph just goes to show how much you want to write a book. You carry on because it is something you have to do, because it is teaching you new things, because you have a story you want to tell and because it could be the start of something rather wonderful.

And also because you know just how great it will be once you make it to the end. Because it is. Getting to the end of that first book is a brilliant feeling. The sleepless nights, cancelled plans and newly-acquired caffeine habits are all worth it to have the satisfaction of having written a book of your very own.

It’s so worth it, in fact, that the only thing left to do is to get on with the business of writing book two.

It isn’t only independent publishers who sometimes make mistakes. I’m sure we have all come across traditionally published books that have left a little something to be desired, that are full of typos or have been ‘blessed’ with a nightmare of a cover design. Yet the difference is that, in self-publishing, if there is something wrong with your book, it’s all on you.

With this in mind, it’s worth being aware of some of the most common self-publishing pitfalls and some of the things you can do to avoid them. Please feel free to add your own in the comments below.

Poor editing. This is one of the big ones, particularly for those who are new to self-publishing. It’s also relatively easy to fix. One option is to take more time to edit your book yourself. Another is to hire someone to edit it for you. Sounds obvious, but there are lots of books out there that would have benefitted from further editing.
Cover design disasters. The general rule of thumb here for self-publishers is that if you want a good cover design then hire someone to do it for you, unless you are a complete whizz at doing it yourself. If, like most of us, you aren’t sure where to even start, it’s probably not worth attempting yourself in the first place. If you do decide to go for the DIY approach, keep it simple so the scope for cover fails is as low as possible.
Boring blurb. You don’t have long to sell your book to a potential reader, so your blurb needs to be sharp, snappy and to the point. In short, make it interesting. And don’t make typos.
Formatting crises. It would be lovely if we didn’t have to worry about e-book formatting. Alas, this is not the case. How your manuscript looks on your word processor is not always how it will look in e-book form, so don’t forget to check it before you publish it.
Over-ambitious pricing. If you take a look at the prices of self-published books, many if not most of them will be priced at the lower end of the spectrum. This is because to price too high is often to put readers off and in a competitive market, no self-published author can afford to do that.
The extremes of marketing. One extreme is to do no marketing at all. The other is to go over the top with plugging your book at every opportunity. The former isn’t great as, obviously, if you don’t do any promotions, no one will find your book. The latter isn’t always great either as no one on your Twitter feed wants to be told to buy your book every five minutes from now until eternity. There is a need to strike a balance here.

What do you think are the biggest self-publishing pitfalls?

In the world of crime fiction, we spend a lot of time writing about extraordinary things. Extraordinary crimes, incredible leaps of logic that lead to the solving of those crimes, amazing strength of character.

And yet it is often the ordinary aspects that make crime fiction so compelling and lend it so much of its mystery. It is the fact that crime fiction is so often about normal things – albeit with a touch of the extraordinary – that help us to relate to it and keep us coming back to it time and time again.

I think character is the prime example of this. Crime novels are very often about ordinary people – people who are just going about their everyday lives. Until, of course, some horrendous crime happens and all of that changes. Putting ordinary people into distinctly not-ordinary situations is one of the key ways crime fiction allows us to create tension and intrigue. It helps us to imagine ourselves in similar situations, and makes it back a bigger punch as a result.

Then there is the other side of this – writing about people who at first seem very ordinary; complete innocents who just so happen to be caught up in something beyond their control. But then when we get further into the story, we discover that everything is not as it seems: our ordinary person actually has a complex and perhaps not-so-innocent background.

I think it is this combination of the normal and the not normal that makes crime fiction so interesting. Of course, this could be applied to all genres of fiction, but I think crime does it particularly well as it is something most people are able to relate to in some way and there are so many potential situations and stories we could explore.

So the next time you come to write some crime fiction, as well as exploring the things that are out of the ordinary, don’t forget that it is often the normal, simple, familiar things that resonate with us the most.

What do you think?

Those of us who self-publish our own e-books are sure to be pleased with the recent news that our presence in the digital market continues to grow.

Self-published e-books are now thought to take up around 12% of the digital publishing market – and in some genres, the figure is even higher. For instance, in the crime category, the figure is thought to be as high as 20%.

This is good news for those of us who are passionate about independent publishing and work hard to make sure our books have just as much chance of success as those that are traditionally published.

The figures above come from research carried out by Bowker Market Research. The study also found that people who buy self-published books are much more likely to read every day than people who don’t. And, if you are wondering which demographic is most likely to buy a self-published e-book, it seems that the answer is women aged over 45, who account for more than a third of the total.

What do you think about these findings? You can read more about the story here.

One of the many things you need to consider when self-publishing a book is whether you are going to go for the DIY approach, or get someone in to help. There are merits to both options, but ultimately it all comes down to quality. What is the best way to ensure that your book is as professional as it needs to be?

For many people, this will mean sourcing at least some outside help. After all, self-publishing a book is a lot of work and involves a lot of different processes – and it is unlikely that you will have a good understanding of all of them. Editing, for instance, is one area where it is generally worth hiring a professional to go over your work.

However, what should you do if you are just starting out in independent publishing and can’t afford much in the way of outside assistance? It’s important to get the most out of your available resources, so I’d suggest targeting your resources where they’ll do the most good. For example, you might be able to get your writing group or helpfully critical friend to assist with stuff like editing and proofreading, but decide to invest in a professional designer to do your book cover.

It’s also worth seeing if there is any way you can get some professional support without a financial commitment – for instance, you might be great at formatting while another author is savvy when it comes to cover design; swapping skills can be a good way of bringing the DIY and professional support options together.

Overall, both options have their merits, and you need to weigh up what will work best for you. Think about your own knowledge, the book you’re looking to publish, and the resources available (including time, skills and financial resources). Whatever you decide, with self-publishing now so popular and competitive, it’s vital that the novel you end up with is as good as it can possibly be.

What do you think? When it comes to self-publishing, do you do it yourself or make use of professional services?

There is no doubting the fact that independent publishing is becoming more mainstream. There are, however, those who try to dismiss it as something of a fad. I don’t think it’s something that can be dismissed. Independent publishing is something I’m passionate about, and like many others, I think it’s here to stay. Here’s why.

Authors like the control

If you’re going to publish a book, you might as well do it how you want to. After all, as the writer, you’re the one who’s put in all the time and effort. Taking responsibility for the publishing process is something an increasing number of authors are embracing. All authors have to undertake marketing activities these days, but it is only independent publishing that gives them proper control over how they go about it.

This doesn’t mean that there’s no room for others in the process – by contrast, authors can benefit greatly from the help of professionals with experience in things like marketing and editing – but it does mean that the role of the author is more important than ever.

It’s a complementary way of working

On the one hand, independent publishing is an alternative model to traditional publishing. This has its own benefits for those authors who want something significantly different and aren’t interested in getting involved with the traditional side of things. I think this is important: for a long time, the books that have been published have been controlled by a relatively small group of people working in the publishing industry. Independent publishing is breaking down those barriers and allowing authors to bring a wider range of books to readers.

As well as this, independent publishing can be a complementary option to traditional publishing. The hybrid model, where authors are both independently and traditionally published, is increasingly popular. The fact that it offers so many different ways of working rather than forcing everyone down the same track suggests that self-publishing is adaptable enough to have considerable staying power.

Readers are becoming more enthusiastic about it

If it weren’t for readers, independent publishing would have no chance. However, increasingly readers are turning to self-published books. There are plenty of reasons for this – books that have been self-published are of a higher quality than ever before, they are easily available on e-readers, offer plenty of choice and are generally lower priced (and therefore more affordable) than other books. And with several recent high profile success stories, with any luck, the readers who have helped self-publishing so much already will be planning to stick around.

Authors are taking it seriously

Another reason independent publishing has staying power is that so many authors have so much invested in it. Lots of people have worked hard to publish their books and make a success of their writing, and naturally after investing so much are planning to stick with it. Surveys have shown that authors who self-publish generally enjoy the experience and would like to do it again.

Plus there is a growing network of support and professional help around independent publishing, which helps to strengthen its position and make an increasingly attractive option for authors and readers alike.

What do you think?

Having a writing blog is something that can benefit all authors, whether you are self-publishers, traditionally published or just starting out on your writing career. Promoting your blog is important – after all, there’s not much point in writing it if people can’t find it to read it. Here are some tips for promoting your writing blog.

Firstly, write a good blog that is filled with interesting content and is well-written. It’s much easier to promote something that people might actually want to read.
Be consistent, both in the quality of your blog posts and with the frequency of your updates. Think about what’s realistic for you and work around that.
Stick with it. Promoting your blog can help to attract more readers, but it does take time, so you might not necessarily see fantastic results straight away.
Think about SEO keywords. If you want people to be able to find your blog by searching online, make sure it’s listed under relevant keywords. Keyword tools such as Google Adwords can help you decide which words and phrases you want to focus on.
Include social media links to and from your blog. Make sure it’s easy for people to share content that has been posted to your blog, and promote your new posts on social media.
Promote your blog through your other marketing activities. For instance, if you’ve got a newsletter that you send out regularly to subscribers, include a link to your blog in there and perhaps include your most recent blog post too.
Get involved with guest blogging. There are plenty of bloggers out there who look for quality content from other writers, and taking part in guest blogging can be a good way of getting your work to a new audience.
Make sure your focus is always on quality. It’s better to do a few things well than many things badly, so it might be an idea to pick a few marketing activities that you want to focus on and take the time to get them just right.
Don’t neglect marketing other aspects of your work. Don’t forget it’s not just about your blog – you need to promote your books and your brand as well. Promoting these other aspects can in turn be good for your blog, as a pre-existing platform is always useful when you’re looking to make a mark with something new.

What are your tips for promoting your writing blog?

Dialogue can be one of the trickier aspects of novel-writing. It’s hard to get right and often neglected, but it is more than worth putting in the effort to perfect it. Here are some things to think about when writing dialogue, and feel free to add your own in the comments.

What does it sound like when you read it out loud? This is probably one of the most common – and most crucial – bits of advice for writing dialogue. If it sounds awkward when you read it out loud, that’s probably because it is.
How to deal with characters with regional accents/specific ways of speaking. While it’s fine to amend dialogue slightly to allow for differences in pronunciation or characters’ accents, there’s not usually a need to write everything phonetically. It just becomes hard and annoying to read, and there are plenty of ways of highlighting different patterns of speech without resorting to literally spelling it out.
Think how people actually speak. It might sound obvious, but it merits consideration. People don’t always speak in full, grammatically correct sentences.
Think about who the character is speaking to. Say you’re writing a crime novel. Would your detective speak to their boss in the same way they speak to their suspect or their partner? The changes might only be subtle, but they add a realism and authenticity to the dialogue.
Think how the dialogue moves the plot on – and don’t forget what’s going on around it. Is your characters’ conversation helping to move the story on, or are they just having a bit of a chat? And what is happening in the scene around them? Thinking about the context and purpose of dialogue will help to make sure it’s not just there as filler.

If you are a writer, it is likely that this is something you will be familiar with: the half-finished project. Despite starting out with the best of intentions and full of plans for our ideas, it is perhaps inevitable that sometimes, they don’t pan out the way we had hoped.

This is something that affects writers particularly at the start of their career. With time and experience, we start to learn how to carry on even when our fiction isn’t going entirely to plan, and we get better at finished projects. But the road to writing success is often littered with failed attempts at novel-writing.

Sometimes these failed attempts are literally unsalvageable and should never be spoken of again, but more often than not, they can still have their uses and we shouldn’t write them off entirely.

After all, even if you now loathe the thought of that first novel you tried and failed to write ten years ago, there must have been a reason you started to write it in the first place. You must have had an idea or a burst of enthusiasm that made you want to sit down and write a book. Remembering what that idea was might not help the original attempt, but it could provide great material for new material you might be working on.

Plus, even if the majority of your half-finished fiction is basically beyond saving, there will at least be something in there that’s worth salvaging. Even if it’s just the kernel of an idea or a nice sentence that doesn’t deserve to go to waste, you’ll always be able to find something that could have a new life elsewhere.

On a slightly larger scale, there might be a character or plot thread that you could use in a new draft or a different project. Just because they didn’t quite work out first time around doesn’t mean that you can’t give them another go or liberate them for something new.

Another thing to try with failed novel attempts is to re-read what’s there and then summarise it as briefly as possible. This helps to cut out the waffle and focus on the core of what’s there, which makes it much easier to decide if it’s an idea you want to explore some more in a different way.

And, if all else fails, at least you can cross it off your list of things to try. Not all attempts at fiction will be successful, but it’s always worth giving them a go, and your failed attempts are evidence that you are learning, growing, and becoming a better writer as a result.

While it is debatable that there is such a thing as the perfect murder in real life, in crime fiction, it’s the writers who make the rules.

I’m not necessarily talking about writing a literally perfect murder that is impossible to crack (although that could be an interesting challenge to write), but rather about writing a murder that is perfect for your book.

This will naturally be different for every single crime novel, but there are some tips that could benefit all of them.

Give your story layers. Even if you’re writing about what is, in plot terms, quite a straightforward murder, that doesn’t mean it can’t have layers. As well as subplots and unexpected twists, layers can come from the characters – they can add an unexpected dimension to things that makes the murder you’re writing about compelling and original.
Make it a challenge. While there is something to be said for simple stories, there is also much in favour of a murder that poses a challenge to the protagonist trying to solve it. No reader wants to figure out the answer in the first few pages, so think about how to make it hard to crack.
Make it logical. No matter how complicated your ‘perfect crime novel murder’ is, it still needs to make sense (mostly). Be careful with the plotting so everything stays logical.
Have a snag that allows the crime to be unravelled. If your intention is to have your protagonist solve the murder – however perfect it first appears – there will need to be some sort of snag or loose end that allows them to start to pull apart the threads and ultimately find the solution. The trick here is making sure it isn’t immediately obvious to everyone but the protagonist – the reader should be able to discover the solution along with them.
Make it about the characters as well as the crime. A crime novel about a carefully executed murder is good, but a crime novel about a carefully executed murder that is driven by the characters is even better. It can be easy to get bogged down in the practicalities of how things happen, but don’t forget that the characters are the driving force of everything that happens in your book.
Make the reader care. You could be writing about the most interesting murder ever, but if the reader doesn’t care about the characters, plot and outcome, it won’t work.

What do you think? What are your tips for writing the perfect crime novel murder?