Adam Croft

Ol' Charlie knew how to write first lines

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”

It’s one of the most famous opening lines in English fiction, and with good reason. The opening of Charles Dickens’ Hard Times is instantly interesting, offering contrast and intrigue that makes you want to read more.

That’s one of the most crucial tasks for a writer: to write a first line so good, it makes readers carry on reading. A soggy first line can easily send your book straight back to the shelf, no matter how good the rest of it is.

It’s long been acknowledged that the first line matters – but in the twenty first century, when e-readers are so popular, it’s not just the first line that needs to be outrageously good. The ability to see a preview of the first part of someone’s book for free with a Kindle means that the first section of your book takes on more importance than ever before (samples are usually around 10% of the total book, although this can vary).

Of course, in some ways, all of this goes without saying. If you want people to read your book, it needs to be good and that’s the way it’s always been. Nothing has changed in that respect. However, knowing that the first 10% or so of your book could make the difference between a sale and a reader walking away helps to focus the writer’s attention on the opening sequence of their book.

In short, just as your first sentence needs to make people want to keep reading, so does the end of the free Kindle preview. The book as a whole will always be the most important thing, but keeping this in mind when you write your books definitely can’t hurt.

Because writing is so much fun, it can be all too easy to forget that it is a business like any other – and so we need to be professional in our approach to it. This is arguably even truer if you are an independent publisher as the entire process from generating story ideas to marketing the finished product is all down to you. This means that you need a certain amount of discipline, and it’s a good idea to develop your business sense so you have the best possible chance of success through your writing.

Part of this is to do with building your brand as a writer, identifying your selling points and building them in to everything you do. This is something that can sound scary at first, especially for many writers who have always focused on the process of writing and have only just started to get into independent publishing and everything that goes with it. However, it is an important process – and it can also be a fun one, particularly when you think of branding as being to do with communication, rather than a scary PR concept.

For example, think about your blog. Most writers have one, and it’s a key part of your brand. Is it currently optimised as well as it could be? Are your posts targeted towards your writing goals? If you take a look at the previous posts on this blog, for instance, you’ll find that many of them are about issues such as independent publishing and e-reading, because those are the topics I’m interested in. Your own blog should ideally largely be about your own interests, whether that’s a particular aspect of the publishing industry or a topic that you like to write about in your books.

Social media is another important aspect of your brand, but before you take the plunge with things like this and your blog, it’s worth taking some time to plan and identify your goals. This is to help give you something to focus on and so you know what you’re working towards. As an example, one goal could be to independently publish your first book. Another could be to get 1,000 people to download it, and a subsequent goal could be to have an Amazon bestseller.

Breaking down your strategy can be enormously useful when developing your author brand, as it will help you work out what you should be doing – and what you actually want that brand to be. However, never forget that the most important part of your brand will always be what you write, so no matter how much energy you put into other aspects of your work, always make sure you still have time for your writing.

Writing is a business and it needs to be treated as such, especially when you are self-publishing, but it’s still creative, and it still needs you to sit and write a fantastic book. Once you’ve done that, with any luck the rest of it will all start to fall into place.

Following my recent post on things you need to know about independent publishing, here are a few more!

Family matters
The support of the people around you is invaluable as an independent publisher. The whole thing is really fun, but it’s also a lot of hard work, so having your friends and family on side is a great idea. They can be good for building morale or keeping you going – and it never hurts to give them a heads-up if you’re going to be busy with your book for a while.

Know the ins and outs
Whether you are just starting out in independent publishing or an expert at it, research is important. The industry is always evolving and so it pays to keep up. At the beginning, you’re likely to need to look into things such as how to format your book for publication and the different publishing platforms you can utilise. As time goes by, you might want to keep up with new developments or look for new ways to promote your book. Wherever you are in the process, there’s always more you can learn.

E-books versus physical books
New writers often dream of seeing their books on the shelves at bookshops – and while this can happen, don’t forget when you’re an independent publisher that e-books will be hugely important for you. They’re cheaper to produce than physical books, easier to distribute, and there’s a growing market for them.

Don’t hand in your notice too soon
If your book starts doing really well, you might be tempted to ditch the day job and become a full-time independent publisher. This is a great goal, but don’t be too hasty. Book sales can be fickle, and the stability of another source of income can be hugely reassuring. There might come a day when you’re able to quit work and focus solely on your writing, but don’t take the decision lightly.

Have a plan
Finally, make sure you have a plan. For example, after your first independently published book, what next? Is your book a one-off or are you going to write more? How are you going to build on your marketing after the initial launch of your book? Often it isn’t until a few books down the line that writers start to become successful, so some sort of game plan or strategy for next steps is definitely advisable.

A survey carried out by Wiggin, a media law firm, has given us an interesting new insight into the nation’s e-reading habits. In particular, their survey found that almost a third of people in the UK currently have an e-reader and many more are planning to buy one in the next 6 months (15%), adding to the growing store of evidence suggesting that e-reading is the way forward.

Another interesting point to arise from the survey is that e-book piracy is a significant issue, with 31% of e-book readers admitting to downloading pirated copies. A significant minority of those people also confessed that they intend to download more pirated material over the coming year, which suggests this is something we need to continue to be vigilant about.

It would be interesting to have statistics on cases of piracy in the world of independent publishing compared with traditional publishing, to see whether there is a discrepancy there and whether the typically lower prices of independently published books means that this part of the industry has a lower rate of piracy.

However, the good news for self-publishers – who often rely heavily on e-books for sales – is that e-reading is an increasingly popular activity and more and more people are making the jump to e-readers.

How do you tend to read books these days – do you normally reach for your e-reader or for physical copies? Let me know in the comments box below.

How much research do you do before you start to write a book? This is another of those topics that has the potential to divide writers, with some swearing by an extensive research process before even writing a single word, and others preferring to just plunge in and start writing.

It’s also another of those topics that mostly comes down to personal preference: just as some people are more prone to detailed planning than others, some people are more likely to do more research. However, it’s also a topic whose answer will depend significantly on the type of book you are writing.

If you are writing non-fiction, for instance, it’s highly likely you’ll need to do some research to back up whatever it is you’re writing about as your work is likely to depend more on facts than a work of fiction. Some types of fiction might also require more research than others – a historical novel, the success of which depends on the author’s knowledge and understand of the time period might require more research than a contemporary romance set in a place the author already knows well, for instance.

Also, if you’re writing about a plot where much of its credibility hangs on a certain topic – such as a murder mystery where the plot turns on a specific incident or process – that might also require research to make it believable. For instance, if your murder mystery is about a method of murder using drugs, you’ll probably need to research those drugs and their effect on the human body so you can make it plausible.

So as you can see, research can be hugely valuable. It helps to give your work credibility and lets readers know what you’re talking about – and, in a world where your readers can easily check your facts through a quick session on Google, it makes sense to ensure your work is accurate wherever possible.

However, I’d also argue that there’s such a thing as too much research. Just as you can end up getting bogged down in detail or making things more complicated for yourself than they need to be if you plan too extensively, there is a risk that if you do too much research, it will take over your work. Research can help you create a certain feel or give the impression of a certain time period in your book, but don’t forget that the main focus of your book should be the characters and the story itself. In a way, the research is there to back up what you’re doing, but particularly when you are writing fiction, it shouldn’t be the whole story.

This can be a tricky balancing act to get right, as it’s only natural for writers to want to write about what they’ve learnt and include research they find interesting in their story. Being able to step back and review your work critically to make sure you only include what’s absolutely necessary can be a hard process to learn, but being smart with your research can make all the difference to your book.

How do you go about researching your work? Do you like to do extensive research before you begin or do you prefer to just start writing and fill in the gaps later on?