I don’t read zombie novels, so don’t know how it stacks up against them). Yes, authors do can do genre mashups (Amish Zombies in Space springs to mind), but even that adheres to the expectations of each of the constituent genres (I think. If he dies at the end, it’s not a romance novel. For example, a romance novel has to have a happy ending in which the hero and heroine are together. Your book has a better chance of succeeding if you understand what genre it is, and meet the expectations of readers of that genre. Publishers publish by genre, booksellers organise their stores by genre, and readers read by genre. So here are my top tips of what an aspiring fiction author needs to know and do: 1. I hope it helps him or her and anyone else who is thinking of writing a novel, who is in the middle of writing their first novel, or who has one or three or ten completed manuscripts buried in some virtual drawer. So I’m going to give my answer to the question my commenter initially asked. A world where authors can self-publish without the stigma of ‘vanity’ publishing. A world where aspiring authors don’t need an agent and a big-name publisher. Each has contributed to my understanding of how to write, edit, publish and market books in this new world. I’ve also read dozens of books on writing craft and dozens more books on book marketing. I’ve attended conferences, undertaken online training, and completed a hands-on immersion course with international speaker and writing coach Margie Lawson. I’ve seen trends come and trends go, which means I’ve got a good feel for the genre and have learned what publishers buy.Īnd I’ve been working as a freelance editor specialising in Christian fiction for the last five years, which means I’ve seen a lot of manuscripts, good and bad, and have learned something about the craft of writing from each one. I’ve been reading Christian fiction for over twenty years. So my writing must have some merit.īut there is more to writing than just writing. But that first novella manuscript won one small writing contest (Almost an Author), and is currently a finalist in the American Christian Fiction Writers Genesis contest, the flagship contest for unpublished Christian fiction writers. I’ve been writing fiction for a little over a year–not long, in the scheme of things. (Well, it was on a book review post, so seemed more than a little off-topic). Well, it might have been asking for advice for new writers, but it also had a link to a website advertising writing aids which seemed a little spammy so I didn’t approve the comment. Last week I had a comment on a book review post asking for advice for new writers.
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