Writing a Fiction or Non-Fiction Book Series

Whether you’re writing and/or publishing your own fiction or non-fiction Kindle books, establishing a series is an excellent idea.Looking at some of the best-selling books and movies currently on the market today, many extremely popular, extremely lucrative series stand out almost everywhere you look. From the Harry Potter series of books and movies, the classic …For Dummies non-fiction instructional guides, to George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire book series (which has now been adapted into a hit HBO TV series, to the love-it-or-hate-it Twilight books and movies, it’s quite apparent that people love (and will subsequently shell out money for) them multi-part series entertainment.

>> Non-Fiction Series Ideas

Thinking in the same vein as the …For Dummies series of instructional books, non-fiction series work best when you’re continuously offering something of value. Thus, they usually aren’t of a biographical/autobiographical nature since there’s only so much information that exists — or at least exists that people will care about — regarding a single person. However, subjects such as countries, cultures, instructionals, food recipes and the like — really anything consisting of any kind of information that can be presented in an episodic nature — are perfect for non-fiction series’.

Your best bet if you’re having trouble coming up with a solid idea is to just look at the top best-selling non-fiction books and reference or take note of which of them span over multiple books or exist in some kind of series.

>> Fiction Series Ideas

While it may seem that fictional books would be vastly easier to craft into a series, the important thing to remember is that in order to do so, you’re going to need to create a solid, cohesive story that — perhaps most importantly — makes sense to have stretched over multiple books.

Some of the most popular fictional series — both currently and in the past — are fantasy and science fiction series. This is largely due to the fact that fantasy and science fiction stories are so much more easily scaled to an epic level. So much so that there’s practically an entire genre for this type of fiction called epic fantasy/science fiction. Think the Lord of the Rings, the aforementioned A Song of Ice and Fire and Ender’s Game – the latter of which you most certainly read at least the very first one in high school sometime.

Series works well with other genres too. Romance, for example can often be a series. This can be done as the continuing development of one relationship (50 Shades of Grey) or as a series of loosely connected books that take place within one family or one town. Paranormal and multi-genre series (Sookie Stackhouse series, for example) are also incredibly popular.

While technically any topic could be crafted into a series, perhaps the best series are created — or are at least created the easiest — by letting it happen naturally. Trying to force your set of Kindle books into a series of different books could very well simply diminish the overall value of the books as they stand alone, and that’s certainly never good.

However, series publishing can be smart marketing. With multiple books in a series, you can cross promote your other books much easier and grow your audience. The best way to do this would be to plan out your series before you start your writing and publishing.

The Importance of Properly Pacing Yourself in Writing Your Kindle Books

Publishing and writing can easily lead to burn out. Treating the writing and publishing process as a marathon and not a sprint is most definitely your best bet.

Let’s go ahead and take a look at this method of properly planning and pacing yourself while writing your Kindle books step-by-step, shall we?

>> Kindle Book Planning is Caring

Not only will planning your Kindle book ahead of time via an outline of chapters, characters (if fiction) and conducting research help you map things out easier, it will also likely help speed up the overall writing process quite significantly. Once you have the overall gist of your Kindle book outlined you can then effectively begin planning out what you’ll be writing each day, week and months.

>> Avoiding Writer Burnout

When you first start out writing your next Kindle book after planning the overall summary and outline, you should schedule several days each week to include short, concentrated stints of writing and a couple much longer, intense sessions. It’s up to you in regards to what you choose to do with each, but we highly recommend focusing on your rewriting, editing and proofreading on the shorter writing days and getting as much as you can on paper (or screen, rather) during your long writing days.

As an aside, you’d do well not to make a habit of trying to critique and edit your writing as you’re writing/typing it. This can be accomplished when you go back and proofread, rewrite and edit what you’ve already written on your longer writing days. You’ll definitely save yourself a whole lot of unnecessary aggravation this way.

>> Take it to the Next Level

As you progress further into writing your Kindle book, you should adequately increase your longer writing days to match. Not only will this help avoid the aforementioned writer burnout, but it will also help you speed towards actually completing your book at a point where the end is actually in sight.

>> Don’t Be Afraid to Take Breaks

Writer’s block (or writer’s burnout if you prefer to call it) will happen eventually. It happens to everyone – even the best of us – especially if it’s a relatively long fictional book you’re attempting to write. While it’s ultimately up to you as a writer whether you try to brute force your way past writer’s block or not, we personally prefer the escapist method.

Essentially, once you hit that proverbial wall, get up and get as far away from your computer or writing area as you can. Don’t even think about your book at all and simply do whatever it is that strikes your fancy at that moment, whether it’s catching up on your favorite TV show, taking a relaxing stroll in the park or participating in extravagant tea parties with your children. It’s up to you – the important part is that you separate yourself from your writing and give your creative mind a chance to reset and get ready for however much road you have left ahead.

>> To Work Towards a Specific Finish Date Goal or Not… That is the Question

Just as with overcoming writer’s block, it’s going to be up to you whether you decide to set a final deadline goal to have your Kindle book finished. Personally, we recommend doing this only after you’re at least two-thirds to three-quarters of your way through if you’re going to do it at all. Any earlier and you’ll be at risk of it constantly looming over your head during each and every writing session that you have.

As the moral of the famous “The Tortoise and the Hare” fable taught us, slow and steady wins the race. Just don’t be afraid to mix in a few sprinting sessions throughout and you should be good to go. Good luck!

5 Surefire Tips to Help Prevent and/or Overcome Writer’s Block

Ah, writers block. The mere mention of it will oftentimes clear out a room of writers faster than if you’d told them said room housed the bubonic plague. While most of us don’t honestly believe that writers block is contagious or anything, some do still believe that the mere mention or thinking about it can help to bring it upon you when it would otherwise have stayed far, far, away.

In the interests of helping out any of you readers who are currently experiencing writer’s block and/or would like to arm yourself with tips in case it happens in the near future, today we’re going to take a look at 5 surefire tips to help make it go away or never come visit you again below. Please do enjoy!

1. You’re not glued to your computer seat – so feel free to get up, move around and even *gasp* go outside!

We oftentimes feel such a strong connection with our stories and writing that we almost don’t ever want to leave their side until they’re finished. It’s almost as if they were our very own children in this way! Fortunately, getting up and away from your writing area can have amazing effects on your ability to surpass any writer’s block you may experience.

2. Disconnect Your Internet – You Don’t Have Writer’s Block, You Have a Thing Called Procrastination

Don’t feel bad – with so many amazingly useless wastes of time available to us in any of a thousand places online, the allure of these mindless pleasures can oftentimes be too much. So put your big boy (or girl) pants on, cut the wheat from the chaff and do what you need to do to get your writing all written!

3. The Anti-Writer’s-Block Joys of the Rough Draft and/or Outline

Yes, it’s going to entail you put in some extra work, but actually jotting down your thoughts, ideas or an outline before you even sit down at the keyboard can quite literally be the antidote to  writer’s block you’ve been searching for for oh so very long!

4. Stop Proofreading and Editing As Your Writing and Just Let It Flow

This is a common mistake many beginner writers make – namely trying to complete a final draft copy that needs minimal editing or proofreading on their first try. Unfortunately — unless you’re some kind of writing guru or outlier or something — that’s just not how the process usually works, so get with the program and say goodbye to the ever present threat of your writer’s block in the process!

5. Read, Read and Read Some More – Preferably About Things Unrelated To Your Particular Writing Genre or Topic

Consider this tip a double whammy of sorts – namely in that not only will it help you stave off writer’s block if need be, but it’s also arguably one of the most commonly recited writer tips and tricks in the history of writing. Many people mistake the fact that simply writing themselves will help them become better writers, when in reality, both reading and writing equally contribute to the process. Not only will you stimulate your mind and give yourself an ear for various prose, but you’ll also learn new words, styles and help get your mind off of the very thing that you’ve been obsessing over against a brick wall for days and weeks on end.

So there you have it! While there’s obviously a lot more (don’t worry, there’ll be a Part 2 eventually) these are definitely five of the best that I’ve ever come across. And please feel free to share your own anti-writers block remedies in the comments – I’d love to hear from you!