This leads us to the question of what we can do to improve our work and make sure it’s of the highest possible standard before we hit the publish button. Here are 7 quality control checks for independent publishers.

• Careful, in-depth editing is a must. I’m sure this sounds obvious to most people, but diligent editing plays a large part in the quality of all books, self-published or not. Taking the time to get the story just right and every sentence perfected will pay dividends later.
• Several stages of proofreading. You’ll never catch every single mistake first time around, so several stages of proofreading will help to catch all of those little errors that can be so distracting to readers if the make it into the published version of a novel.
• Get someone else to read it before publication. Even if you aren’t going down the route of hiring a professional editor to go over your work, it’s worth getting someone with a critical eye to read it before you publish.
• Be careful with the formatting. Formatting an e-book is different to formatting a book for print – don’t just rely on your existing computer file and a bit of guesswork; researching formatting and taking the time to get it right is certainly worth it.
• Test how the book looks before publishing. If you’re going for the print option, get a sample of the book before you make it available to buy. If you’re going down the e-book route, make sure you test how the work will look on different e-readers and screens.
• See several different cover designs. Don’t just go with the first one you’re offered by your professional designer or tech-minded friend you’ve bribed into helping – a poor cover can put readers off, no matter how good the content inside might be.
• Take your time. No matter how eager you are to get on with the business of independent publishing, don’t rush the writing process. Taking your time to get your book as good as you can get it and understand publishing procedures will have a hugely beneficial impact on the quality of your book when you do eventually come to publish it.

We need to get the balance right with our characters. They need to be believable without being boring, and shouldn’t be too perfect. They should have flaws, like all people do, but how flawed is too flawed? At what point do they become unable to function in your story, any story?

Their flaws shouldn’t just be there for the sake of having flaws, either. How big and obvious they are is something else we need to consider; do they exist on the scale of a small personality quirk, or something major that impacts on everything they do?

We also want our readers to root for our characters – particularly our protagonists. We want readers to like and care for them, and to want to follow them through the story as the narrative progresses. At the same time, the reader shouldn’t necessarily always agree with the character. They shouldn’t always be on the same page and the character perhaps shouldn’t always be completely sympathetic. We need to get the right balance between having a character a reader can care for and one that isn’t always on the ‘right’ side of the argument.

It’s a tricky issue to get right, but it should be tricky. At their best, characters should be complex and slightly contradictory – just as people are. They are the driving force of novels, pushing on the plot and providing the drama and intrigue. Instead of looking to create the ‘perfect’ character, we should instead focus on what makes them them.

What do you think?

Hence rules start to form, either by design or accident, but either way shaping how we write. The important thing is that they are rules that help rather than hinder us; getting distracted by other people’s writing rules or feeling as though we should follow the rules of already-successful writers isn’t always the best course of action. This is an area we by and large have to figure out for ourselves.

Except for very occasionally. I would argue that there are a few rules of writing that (nearly) always apply. Editing, for one. We need to edit. Writing is not just about putting some words on a page and that’s that. It’s about refining and honing those words on the page until they are the best they can be. So that’s universal rule one: don’t neglect the editing.

What else? Exclamation marks in novels (and most other things) should generally be kept to a minimum. Reading your work out loud is a good way of seeing how it flows and is especially good for dialogue.

Then, of course, there is what is perhaps the most important writing rule of all. It is absolutely essential. No matter what other rules you go by or how you go about your writing, this is one thing all writers must adhere to or else face potential ruin. Back up your work, or else run the risk of seeing it all mysteriously vanish the next time the computer has one of its special moments or you drop your vital notebook in the bath. A systematic and orderly approach to backing up your writing has to be one of the few essential rules that exist.

What do you think? Are any writing rules essential, or is it entirely down to the writer in question?

1)      Editing is a large part of writing. In fact, editing might be most of writing. The first draft of something is only the beginning.

2)      It doesn’t always come easily. No matter how long you have been writing, no matter how successful you are as a writer, there will be days when everything you write stinks. But that’s OK, because there are also good days. And there are biscuits.

3)      Writing is something to be enjoyed. When you’re stuck in the middle of your third draft and have lost sight of your initial utopian thinking with regards to your novel, it might not be the best time you have ever had. However, the good times will come again. There is nothing quite like a writing session that is going well.

4)      Not everyone will like what you write. You can’t write a novel that is completely to everyone’s tastes. The best you can do is write a novel that you love and hope that some other people will quite like it too.

5)      You shouldn’t limit or constrain yourself in what you write. It can be easy to accidentally shoehorn yourself into a particular genre or style of writing, but never forget that there is a whole world of different stuff out there. There’s nothing that says you can’t try different things.

6)      The first draft will never be perfect.

7)      You should do it because you love it. Writing can be a slog, and it’s something that requires commitment and passion. We do it because it’s a vocation.

8)      There are always new ways to use language. We might make a complete mess when we try something new, but equally, we might make something wonderful

9)      There is no right or wrong. There is only what feels right or wrong for you.

10)   It is a continual learning process, and there is always something new to explore.

• It encourages diversity. When we’re not constrained by what we think publishers want from books, we can be more creative, which allows us to find our own niches.
• More people are having a go at writing. Before independent publishing started to take off, it’s not too hard to see how some people might have been put off from having a go at getting their work published. Now, many of the barriers to getting work out there have been removed, which is great for encouraging people to have a go – making writing much richer as a result.
• There’s a lot of competition out there. With so many books being self-published as well as traditionally published, there is a need to ensure that anything we put out there is as good as it can possibly be. The competition should encourage us all to become better writers.
• We can draw on professional talent. Even though independent publishing requires us to do a lot of the work ourselves, that doesn’t stop writers from drawing on other resources to help improve our work. Professional editors and proof-readers can help us to think about our work differently, making our novels better in the process.
• We’re entirely responsible for our own success. With independent publishing, you have no one to answer to but yourself. Your writing is what you make of it, and there is often no better incentive to improve than the fact that your success as a writer is entirely down to you.

What do you think? Has independent publishing helped to make you a better writer?

For example, as self-published books become more professional, one of the costs that many authors would say is mandatory is that of cover design. Most writers aren’t brilliant cover designers, and so buying in the services of someone who is brilliant at it is often inevitable.

Editing is another cost that, for many, is mandatory. Of course, you could decide to do it yourself, but there is a lot to be said for getting someone else to go over your work before it’s published. Whether it’s the cost of buying drinks for your writing group or friends in exchange for making suggestions on your work or the cost of a professional editor, this is one area where it’s worth the investment.

Depending on how you publish your work, there will also be certain unavoidable costs related to publishing it, such as print on demand services if you decide to go down the print route. Not all aspects of independent publishing have to cost money, though: you could pay for marketing, but equally you could make use of free options and do it yourself, for instance.

However, whatever you decide to pay for, there is one cost that you can’t get away from: time. Self-publishing takes time, and while it might not be a cost in the normal sense, it’s something that will need to be built into your publishing plan. First of all, it takes time to write a book – usually months, and sometimes years.

It takes time to edit, and to do your research about the industry, and to get the finished book just right before you publish it. It takes time to market the book, to do the administration related to publishing it and then to do it all again so you can get your next book out there. It’s an investment, and one to be taken as seriously as hiring the right editor or cover designer.

This is something we shouldn’t forget: self-publishing is wonderful, can be great fun and the rewards can be excellent, but it is also an investment. It’s something we need to commit to and be serious about to make it all worth it. What do you think?

Some characters might appear in your novel only briefly, but if they are important enough to be included in it at all, they should be important enough to give some proper thought to. They are unlikely to need as much depth or time spent on them as your main characters, but a poorly-written supporting character can still have a significantly detrimental effect on your book.

It can be tempting to see some supporting characters purely in terms of how they help the plot. This is definitely something to think about, but if you are just using them as a plot device, it will probably be obvious that that’s what they are. Of course, they might well be there with the aim of making something happen to progress the plot, but they still need to feel natural and believable rather than forced.

How much depth your supporting characters require will depend on the role that they play in the story; the ones who have a larger role to play will obviously require more time spent on them making them believable, well-rounded characters. For the smaller parts, you might only need a couple of characteristics or aspects of them to make them work for your story.

It’s also worth remembering your supporting characters – they might not have much to do now, but they could become important in the future. Sometimes they can change the entire book you were planning to write as they become more interesting than what you were originally planning to do. Also, particularly if you are writing a series of novels, a character with a minor supporting role in one book could be good material for a major role in a future book.

What are your tips for creating quality supporting characters?

If you are currently looking to build on your self-publishing success, here are a few things you could try. As always, please do let me know what you think in the comments.

• Get another book out. It might sound obvious, and it might be a big ask when you’ve just finished publishing your first book, but one of the best ways to capitalise on your self-publishing success is to do it all again. Building a back catalogue – and a track record – is crucial if you’re hoping to make progress.
• Look for areas you could invest in. When they self-publish for the first time, many authors do most of it themselves. Doing it all again is a good time to start thinking about where outside support could help you – such as in editing or cover design to make your books more professional.
• Research what’s new. There’s always something new in self-publishing, whether it’s a new platform through which to publish your work or new types of deals and offers that you can use to help with your promotions. Make sure you keep on top of what’s happening so you can use new developments to build on what you’ve already done.
• Use your previous book. If you got lots of positive reviews for your first book, think how they could help you promote your next book. Is there a great quote that you could use for the cover, or something that people picked up on that they really liked?
• Know what your ultimate goal is. It’s much easier to know how to build on your existing success if you know what it is that you really want to achieve. Building an action plan is always easier with an end result in mind, so give the issue some thought before deciding on what you’re going to do next.

• Remember that your book is the most important thing. Of course, you matter too. Your author brand is important and you definitely need to think seriously about it. However, your book is the centrepiece. Take a step back and think how you would promote the book if it wasn’t you who had written it. The objectivity can often help you think of effective ways to promote your work.
• Remember how much you want to be an author. One of the reasons people get nervous about promoting themselves and their books is that they worry people will judge them. Remembering how much you want to do this and be successful through your writing is important, and even if you do get a bad review, you can be proud that you’re doing what you love.
• Start small. There’s no rule that says you have to go all out with your promotions straight away. You could start with a few Tweets or Facebook posts and go from there. There can also be something oddly comforting about not having too many social media followers when you’re starting out; it gives you the chance to find your feet with a smaller audience before moving on to bigger things.
• Practice on your friends. Buy them a beer to get them on side and then try out your promotion plans on them. You could also ask them how they, as someone who likes you, would go about promoting you and your work.
• Believe in your book. If you believe you’ve got a good book on your hands that’s worth publishing, it’s worth making the effort to promote yourself to make sure you give it and you the best possible chance of succeeding.
• Consider getting someone else to do the promotions for you. If you’re really unsure about promoting yourself, or if you have got to the stage where you’ve done all you can on your own, it’s worth thinking about getting a professional to help you. It’ll be one less job you have to worry about and if you get a good pro onside, the investment should be more than worth it.

What are your tips for promoting yourself and your writing?

It might be a slightly grisly topic to address at this time on a Wednesday, but it’s a topic that can have a huge impact on a crime fiction novel. How many characters die throughout the story will obviously affect the book that you write, and the story you are aiming to tell will also affect how many characters die in the process.

A serial killer novel is often a very different beast to a book with a single death, after all. When they are done right, one type of book is no less compelling than the other, but they do differ significantly.

The sources of tension are likely to be different, for example. If you are writing a novel about a serial killer, one of the key sources of tension is likely to come from who is going to die next and when. If you are writing about a single murder, the tension will come from other places, such as the actions of suspects.

Something else to consider is how many bodies your book actually needs. Deliberately writing a book with a high body count is one thing; bumping characters off just so something happens is something else entirely, and it isn’t always a good thing. If you’re killing characters to add excitement to the story, it might be time to look at the story you’re trying to tell in the first place.

I think this is the issue at the heart of it, the one that ultimately affects how many bodies your crime novel will include. Getting the story right is the most important thing. Everything you write should be essential to the story you are trying to tell. Whether you are going for the multiple murders or the one-death-per-book approach, the needs of the story must always come first.