How do we sell more books? And no, it is not one at a time.

You have to know how to do this by now. I mean it is on every tongue in every facet of our writerly lives.

Write more books.

Publish more often.

And MOST importantly–

WRITE BETTER BOOKS.

Write better books means do more research, proofread harder, edit more times, get better cover art. Do it better than anyone else is doing it.

It has become such a cry in the industry that you might be sick of hearing it. I hope you will stick with me while we go over a little more detail as to what you might do to make sure you ARE writing better books.

That “HOW TO DO IT” part of writing better books is the single most worried about item on everyone’s minds these days.

Let me eliminate some of your fears, concerns, and doubts.

WRITING BETTER BOOKS IS MIND CANDY

And no, I am not talking about that British company that makes cute little Moshi Monster games. Rather, I am coining a phrase to emphasize that if you are a writer, you are already writing, and to write better books should be something sweet and effortless for you. It should be something that you WANT to do. Something that you want to indulge in like eating your favorite chocolate.

But how do I know when I am achieving this goal?

Well, you just do. I will read over something that I wrote way back when and say, ugh, that is terrible. I can read over something that I wrote last week and say wow, not too bad. You know it when you see it.

So here are a few things that you should be able to see when you write better books.

A better book will:

Be visual

When you read a bestselling book, aren’t you struck by the setting and description? Don’t you hug your eReader a little closer and say, wow, I want to go there?

Make you feel something

I always judge a good book by how it makes me feel. Did I cry during the reading of it? Did I laugh? If there is an emotional element…well, that’s usually a good book.

Be invisible

I know this sounds a little lopsided when the first point was it is visual, but this is different. An invisible book means that the reader forgets they are reading. They actually become the paper person they are reading about and experience what is happening to the character.

Rock Details

I think this is more in tune with non-fiction maybe but it’s important. I didn’t specify the type of book. Details are important. If you are trying to help someone fix something, say, a how-to book, then you can’t forget important details. If you are teaching a method, the reader needs all the details. It is important to say, DO YOUR RESEARCH. Even if you are writing fiction, a reader wants to know that you are an authority on the subject or at least know how to make it plausible.

The problem with writing better books is that it is not easy. AHA! You didn’t expect that did you? It isn’t. Writing better books is hard. It takes more time, more devotion to craft, more effort. But you know what happens if you don’t do this? A book is produced that won’t sell. And isn’t that what you are reading this blog post for? To find out how to sell more books?

If you are into podcasts, don’t forget to listen to this one, as these guys REALLY know the scoop and give you tips and news you can use to sell more books. It is my favorite.

SELL MORE BOOKS PODCAST.

I hope this article has helped you. It made me think again on what to do and why to do it.

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Kim Smith is the author of TEN TIPS FOR GETTING THAT BOOK WRITTEN Available for Kindle and coming soon in print!