When I sat at my computer back in 1997, and began ghostwriting my first book, I wanted my writing to reflect what I enjoyed most in books. While I was writing for a religious television personality, I didn’t want it to come across as preachy. I determined that a conversational approach would be best.
I thought about all the books I had read and considered the chapter length, paragraph length, and so on.
Not to toot my own horn, but reading and looking through books served me well.
And
it will serve you well, too.
Stay In Your Lane
I didn’t want to invent a new genre or writing style. I just wanted to stay in my lane.
Every year, I read dozens, perhaps hundreds, of manuscripts. Regardless of the writing quality, I sincerely hold every person with the highest respect because finishing a manuscript is hard.
All too often, though, I read manuscripts that venture outside the conventions of books in their
genre.
This is the time to forget your favorite creative writing class from high school or college. Self-expression has its place, but it WILL NOT work to your advantage if you want to reach your audience.
Bottom line: your audience doesn't care one bit about your self-expression. They're only asking one question: What's in it for me???
Poetry is a different animal altogether, but for everyone else, a regular pilgrimage to the bookstore will make you a better writer. In other words…
Go! Go away...read some books!
It will do you wonders.
Look for books in your genre. Then ask yourself:
What is the retail price?
What is the trim size? (That means the physical dimensions.)
What kind of
artwork appears on the front and back covers?
How many words are in the title?
How big is the title font size?
To what extent does the artwork complement or compete with title for the attention of the reader?
How long is the back cover copy?
How long is the author bio?
Now open the book…
How many chapters does it contain?
What is the page count?
Does the book have color images? If so, is the retail price higher than books without color images?
What kind of design do you see on the pages?
Does
the book include endorsements? Ads? Preface or foreword? Appendices?
Pay attention to the font size and line spacing.
How is this book similar to your book idea and how is it different?
Don’t do this with just one book. Look at a half dozen.
You need to be aware of your competition. You don’t want to price your book too high or too low. You want the dimensions to be similar. In terms of writing, you want to follow the conventional forms according to your
genre.
Before taking a risk in the formatting or writing style of your book, find at least one other successful book in your genre that does the same thing.
If you can't find it, don't do it. Let's someone else pioneer a new style.
But the substance of your manuscript—your story or your message—must be unique. If you say what other writers are saying, you're probably wasting your time.
The bottom line is this: When you write and publish a book, you are essentially
starting a new business.
Read. That. Again.
If you try to do what everyone else is doing, you’ll go out of business. But if you try something completely different, you may go out of business as well.
Our goal at Illumify is to position you to sell books. We’re acquainted with the competition and will work with you to set yourself apart—but not too far apart—from other books in your genre.
Click here to schedule a meeting with me and let's explore how to position your book for success.
