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Last Updated on March 3, 2023 by Work In My Pajamas
Are you a great writer looking to make some money on the side? Do you want to write a bestselling book, but are you unsure where to start?
Well, try not to stress about it too much. It’s not nearly as hard as you might think to write an appealing bestselling book in no time. Let’s go through how to write a bestselling book, as easily and quickly as possible!
In This Post:
Make It Personal
Some studies have shown that some of the most appealing books are those that analyze and outline close interpersonal relations and emotions.
Incorporating your own experiences and emotions into your book makes it easier to write and will help you stay consistent throughout the book, You can’t forget your character’s experiences, for example, if they’re actually based on your own!
Incorporating your own background and feelings into your book and characters will help ensure that you create a bestselling book.
Start With a Plan
It’s really important to have a solid plan before you start throwing out random pages. Write out a detailed outline with the ideas you want to incorporate and how you want the plot to unfurl, chapter by chapter. Having a solid plan is a great way to avoid plot holes or accidentally writing yourself into a corner.
It’s also important that you know how you want to wrap up your story, so it doesn’t just peter off or end after the climax. You can go through different story structures online, but, in general, there are a few elements you will definitely need for a successful bestselling book. Those are:
- Exposition
- Inciting incident
- Rising action
- Falling action
- Climax
- Denouement
You should also write out a detailed character plan, so you can refer back to what you have planned for each character and know their reactions and mannerisms. Your character plan should include each character’s history and background, their family, what their goals and motivations are, and their major personality traits and experiences.
With a detailed character sheet, no one will think any of your characters have gone off the rails or are acting differently than they should (which is especially important if you have plans for sequels or prequels down the line!).
Look for Information
If you get stuck while writing your book, there’s a pretty easy way to get more inspiration — start reading! All of the best authors get inspiration from the work of the writers that came before them.
You never really know what’s going to strike a chord with you, so try reading from many different genres and a wide variety of different writers from many different time periods. As long as you keep reading, you’ll eventually find something that helps clean out your writer’s block and gets you back on the path to creating a bestselling book.
Stick To A Theme
Focusing your book on one or two major themes is a good way to make sure your book is a bestseller. If you start including too many things, the writing can get muddled and cluttered, which can make it harder to understand.
You should also make sure that the theme is something universal, something that is understandable to a wide range of different audiences. Here are a few different themes you may want to include in your book:
- Love and romance
- Life and death
- Capitalism, corruption, and power
- Coming of age stories and identity formation
- Overcoming adversity
- War and peace
- Adventure, escapes, and quests
- Parenthood and growing up
- Heroes and villains, or good versus evil
- Balance, nature, and spirituality
- Sacrifice and tragedy
Keeping it simple is a good way to make sure your audience properly understands what your book is about, and that will make it more appealing for an even wider audience.
Make the Art Appealing
The outside cover of your book needs to appeal to your audience, so they’ll be enticed into picking it up or putting it in their online shopping cart. You’ll want to make sure that the art is exciting and different from the usual, but you’ll also want to make sure that the illustration, coloring, and other elements suit the subject matter and themes of your books.
If you’re self-publishing your book, you can try custom booklet printing to get an idea of the exact specifications so your bestselling book looks great on the outside.
Get Thoughts on Your Work
When writing anything, you need to get constructive criticism from your friends and peers so that you know what works and what doesn’t from your story. That way, you’ll be able to make your work even stronger.
And, of course, you will need your writing to be as strong as possible if you want your book to hit the bestsellers’ list! If you have any accomplished writers in your life, they’ll be a particularly useful resource when looking to improve your book, so don’t be afraid to reach out to them.
It’s Not Hard to Figure out How to Write a Bestselling Book
If you follow the above steps on how to write a bestselling book, you’ll be cracking out bestsellers in no time flat. As long as writing is something you love and care about, you really should have no problem writing great books that appeal to the book-reading public.
Are you looking for more information on publishing on other, related topics? check out some of the other articles on our blog!