A Self-Published Author’s Guide to Hooking Readers and Leaving Them Wanting More

Book series are a fantastic way for self-published authors to boost sales, develop a devoted fan base, and possibly even make it to the bestseller lists. Avid readers love to dive into a series, and authors who know how to grab readers' attention from the start and keep them hooked are reaping the rewards. Here, we’ll share some tips on creating a binge-worthy series that keeps readers eagerly coming back for more.

Dystopian literature, a subgenre of speculative fiction, has always been like a mirror, capturing society's worries and evolving to reflect the unique concerns of each era. Timeless classics like 1984, Brave New World, and The Handmaid’s Tale set the standard for bleak, cautionary storytelling, and the genre surged again in the 2010s with young adult hits like The Hunger Games and Divergent. As a result, many readers began to feel dystopian fatigue, citing predictable plots and overused tropes.

Now that dystopian fiction is making a big comeback—how can you find the right balance between grit, hope, and realism in your story that will keep readers engaged?

Research…technically, it’s not a dirty word. However, to many writers, it might as well be. Though it can be fun, it can also be headache-inducing at times. All in all, well-researched books feel more authentic, and readers do appreciate attention to detail. Any inaccuracies in your setting, real-life events, or historical references will be noticed and could pull readers out of your story altogether.

Before the internet, performing research for a book was a lot more labor-intensive. Though not necessarily intimidating, it did require, at the very least, a trip to your local library to find books and articles about your subject. At most, you might have traveled to another state or country to be sure you got your details just right. Thankfully, we don’t have to go to those extremes anymore – unless we just want to.

Webcomics aren't just a digital trend; they're reshaping the entire landscape of the publishing industry, offering incredible opportunities for creators and readers alike. As the dynamic webcomic community continues to grow and evolve, so does the opportunity for authors to branch out and take their comics from the screen to the page.

In case you haven’t heard, Taylor Swift has chosen to bypass the traditional publishing route and self-publish The Eras Tour Book under her new imprint Taylor Swift Publications, exclusively at Target on Black Friday. This decision gives her the opportunity to keep more of the revenue from her book than she would if she went through a traditional publisher, and it also gives her total creative control over her book—she can choose when to publish it, what her cover looks like, how much to charge, how to market it, and where to sell it—without having to answer to a large publishing company.

It's becoming increasingly clear that BookTok—a subcommunity of TikTok—has significantly influenced the sales of fiction books and is expected to do so for the foreseeable future.

GfK Entertainment and Nielsen BookData recently released their global report for the first eight months of the year, and data shows rising revenues in fiction. Among the fiction genres seeing the most growth are crime and thriller novels, whose sales are up in three-quarters of the surveyed countries.

America's obsession with true crime isn't new. One of the earliest known stories of crime involves the murder of a government official dating back to 1800 BCE in Ancient Egypt. People have been drawn to the darker side of human nature that presents itself in true tales of horrific crimes for ages. 

With the publication of such books as In Cold Blood (1966) and Helter Skelter (1974), however, the genre became popular with more and more people. Since that time, it has evolved and branched out into all forms of media. 

If you're interested in trying your hand at writing for the true crime genre, here are some tips to get you started.