Hello. I am a reader. I may be your reader, I may as well be someone else’s. But what does make the difference for me when I am looking for a book? I decided it’s time to give my opinion on what makes a writing style attractive to me and what may make me bring that book from the bookstore shelf and to the cash register.
My history with books is long — I come from a family where books are adored. I adore books, and stories themselves even when they are not published through conventional ways, and am always looking for another title to add to my shelves. I read fiction, documentaries, autobiographies and biographies; I read encyclopaediae, guides, research work, textbooks, poems. I may be your reader.
Here are the ideals of one of your prospective readers when it comes to books:
Don’t overestimate your covers.
Of course, how your cover looks is attracting new visitors, but the more time you spend on it the more issues will appear. If you are not as certain about what you want to put on there — don’t overdo it. Let me show you what I mean by comparing the first books of two YA fiction series:
At first, the covers look in the same style — mesmerising with details around the border and symmetry that brings mysterious effects on the eye. Yes, but when you have already been a part of the fandom, you may discover several differences which will irritate you: Mr Scott has guides and symbols on his covers which lead to the discoveries made within the new book. Through them, he would keep the audience expecting — trying to guess from the very cover release moment through to the date the book is shipped: what does the new cover entail? What are these symbols? Who is the Magician, the Sorceress, the Necromancer — can you guess it from the covers?
This cannot be said about the second example: the cover has blatant discrepancies when compared to the book content. The visuals for the characters don’t match what’s in the text (burned hair, intricate designs around the eye — no mention of a teardrop pattern, etc.). On top of this, we get a serious issue: the symbol for S in the top left and bottom right corners is particularly similar to the mapped symbol for a type of magic in the story — but has nothing to do with the abilities of the main character. As a reader, I feel mislead. I was expecting one thing but got nothing of the kind. As another great issue I had with this cover I need to point out the lack of important to the story details on the… let’s call them tattoos of the character.
I do appreciate your covers, everyone, but please — if you are going to put details — make them worth it. If you’re just putting in letters and pretty lining — leave it at that.
Pick a style and stick to it.
One thing I hate about being a reader is the feeling of disappointment. I am a picky reader, but when I start feeling attached to a writer’s style —you can trust me to be as devoted as a puppy you saved from starvation. This is why harsh changes of style would disappoint me — if I want to read Jane Austen, I will buy one of her books, not a Haruki Murakami! If I want to read indie-quality horror, I would definitely not purchase a King novel.
If you are still choosing, feeling around for a style — it’s forgivable, but keep in mind that it’s the same as with music and any kind of media around us: people would expect stability; readers like me would want to be able to trust you as a writer to deliver that amazingly enchanting storytelling for which we started loving you.
This is why I personally have no issues with pseudonyms — it helps me decide if I want to read this book or not. It may be my a favourite author of mine, but in a totally different genre for which I may not be ready or in the mood.
Focusing on the writing
That’s for you to decide how to do, but I have some patterns I personally appreciate a lot! Most recently, I discovered I don’t hate heavyweight descriptions as much if they bring me a hidden meaning. Describe the forest by using the woods that grow in there.
Forests can be murky, tall, old, ancient even. If you have the world’s oldest oak in a forest, then it will be welcoming. People would come to visit the tree and take a photo of it. If there are seventy tall pines on a mountain, then we can bet it will be dark-green in colour most of the year, with the exception of when the new young tips of the branches pop-up. It will not be a welcoming, semi-full shadow in the summer, but will be a great place to collect pinecones! The people around it would be able to make “pine cone honey” (delicious and very aromatic preserves popular in Russia, Georgia and the Balkans).
See what I mean? I noticed that it’s been used quite well even in children's stories as seen in the newest by J.K. Rowling — The Ickabog:
This was the part of Chouxville where all the people who worked for King Fred had houses. Gardeners, cooks, tailors, pageboys, seamstresses, stonemasons, grooms, carpenters, footmen, and maids(…)
Do I need to know that the cottages were neat, well-managed, clean and that well-mannered things happened in their yards? No. I just know it, because all these people, all these professionals were living there.
Every reader has his or her own preferred adventures and stories. These are just a couple of mine — those I could pinpoint as a pattern among all those pages I have read. Naturally, in a decade or two, my habits and preferences may have changed, but one thing will remain: I would expect writers to care about their readers as a priority. With the immense jump of self-publishing, you can allow yourself to not be a part of the big industry if your ideals do not allow it. Want to write for a specific niche? Hell with sales, the other niches would probably not like what you wrote anyway. Stick with what you care about and let others stuck with the other niches.
What are your reading preferences, everyone? Do you like to switch between genres and authors? Have you tried taking on writing as a means to bring forth what you’re missing on the market? Feel free to share with me. I’d love to chat about books!
