Hey there storytellers!
This is the last blogpost and video in the Tips to Write a Fiction Series.
So far we’ve covered, 3 unique types of fiction series; 7 tips to brainstorm a fiction series and how to create a series bible.
Today we’ll dive into 5 ideas to help you strategize your best fiction series.
I hope these tips today, will be helpful to you as you write your next fiction series. 🙂
1.Make Learning to Write Better Books a Top Priority.
We all start out not really known how to write.
Continue to practice to grow in your writing talent and skills. Seek out books on writing craft to help you to write better.
Continually learn more to be a better writer:
*Continue to write
*Read books by great authors
*Read books on writing craft.
Analyze what other authors do. This will really help you learn how tell a great story.
There is always a Next Level as a writer.
There will always be something new to try and to learn. Keep an open mind and be a continual learner — open to advancing in your fiction writing skills.
Be a life-long learning when it comes to your writing career.
2.Be Consistent.
This applies to your entire writing career.
Consistency in your writing will affect how often you publish and will help level up your quality of writing.
The more consistent you are — the more you will keep your readers engaged.
While there are a lot of readers who will read across multi-genres — the more consistent you are with the way you publish and write will help you grow a larger list of engaged readers.
Changing things too quickly, have been some of the biggest things that have held me back.
Do Your Best to be Consistent…
- Publish new releases closer together
- Stick with one series as you write
- Have one POV throughout each book
- Book Covers
- The way you write
- How often you publish
- The genre you are writing
- Be consistent with emails to readers
- Be consistent with Facebook group with readers
There are going to be times when you have lots going on in your personal life where you can’t be consistent (funerals; moving; crisis).
This why you should plan ahead if you can.
The more consistent you can be, the more you’ll continue to grow and engage your list of readers.
3.Know Your Readers.
The more you know about the type of person who really loves your books — the better off you’ll be.
Our future readers — writing what you love and combining that with what your target readers love to read — this is where you’ll get a higher read through on your series. This is what I’ve discovered from my own books.
Think about Who is your Ideal Reader. Try to imagine your perfect reader. What do you imagine about who they are? What TV shows do they watch? What type of family do they have?
When it come to putting your book into the world — readers want to know where it fits in the long list of fiction books.
When readers see the book cover — you should be able to tell where it fits in the store … in what category.
Example: Is it a mystery; a thriller or romance?
Readers like to be able to say “this book is like that other book I read.”
It’s important — that you understand clearly where you book fits into a bookstore.
If you can’t point to any other series — that is similar to your book — you’ll have a hard time marketing that book or the series.
The harder it is to identify the type. Of reader will read your book — the harder it will be to market your book.
You need to decide where this book fits.
What do readers who read this type of book — come to expect from this fiction series?
If you want to sell your book — Know what type of book you’re writing — and Know what readers like and what they come to Expect when they read this book?
It’s super helpful to think about the answers to these questions as you write your fiction series.
4.Focus on a Single Series and Genre.
Do this from the beginning.
Have a single series — clearly branded — publish in that one series for a few books before you start another series.
Start with a single author name and single strategy — or it will be difficult to manage it all.
Once you start publishing it will be a whole new ballgame.
If you have stretched yourself thin — you’ll make your readers head spin.
That’s why I feel it will cause less overwhelm for you as an author if you can focus on a writing a single series.
5.Have Consistent Branding.
Messaging and Imagery around your series is important.
Readers love it when your books in a series all look like a set.
Try to use the same Fonts for author name and same for Book Titles.
Make it easy for your readers to see that these books belong together.
Readers will recognize that these books go together.
It doesn’t matter what fiction genre it is… a mystery, or YA — or its a Romance fiction series.
Take your branding up a notch — brand your social media and author website to your genre.
This consistency can play a role to help you sell more books and make your books consistent with your readers.
It’s great when your book titles and book covers are branded nicely together.
Double check that you author brand is clear to your readers.
Your Branding is Extremely Important.
Do your best to create your author website and author logo that is branded to your genre.
Create an eye-catching logo. Use the same font and have your website use similar colors. For example: In my clean billionaire romance or cowboy clean romance series, readers can tell that this is a clean romance book series. The book covers have a small town feel to them and the characters on the book covers create that sweet and wholesome look to the series.❤
When everything that’s in your author brand is similar — the more consistent you can be across each book and series — the better off you’ll be to attracting the type of readers who long to read your books.
I hope that these ideas are helpful for you as you plan your author brand and continue to write your fiction series.
Question: What have you found helpful as you write your series or in your author branding?
I’d love to hear from you below!
