Clarity and Publishing a Book

If you plan on publishing a book, you need to be clear. Lack of clarity can result in loss of future profits, as an unhappy reader will tell others not to read your writing and published works. This remains the case whether writing fiction or non-fiction.

What makes writing clear to the reader?

The answer is there are three elements and they must be present before you publish your book.

1) Spelling and Grammar:

You need to understand that there are so many aspects to writing, for instance fiction, including plot and character development and an awareness of the eventual readers of the published work. I think that beginning writers overlook many basic aspects to good writing, one of which is spelling and grammar. While your writing won’t be perfect, it must be clear.

This is a most often overlooked element. For example, if you were to write “Do you?” it would mean something different from “you do?”.  The context might help, but even so it is best to look at both grammar and spelling. Often, the emphasis can change how a reader looks at the book. A good reference book is The Elements of Style by Strunk and White.

The book has been in print for nearly 100 years, and is always good to have on hand. It is thin and inexpensive.

You can also get editing services done on a work in progress. That is one way to change your writing while still working with a draft. It’s simple to do as well, as all that is needed is to google. I prefer some of the more basic sites, the ones that check for spelling and grammar, and words, but that you can add content to as well.

2) Content:

Although many rate content as the most important element in a written work, if spelling and grammar are horrible, it doesn’t matter what you have to say. Still, if the content is off, it will be left unread and the reader will feel betrayed by the writer. For instance, if the content is supposed to be a mystery and it becomes a fantasy with a hint of mystery, it isn’t a mystery.

If the primary character within the span of two pages changes so drastically, and the reader didn’t have an idea this might happen, or worse still, expected something else, the writer is lost.

Writing in whatever medium such as blogs or novels, or websites require good content- and a focused writer. This is one way they can build their business.

Go to any blog, and anyone can see if the content doesn’t seem the same as the rest of the blog, it probably isn’t something the blogger to time to think of, they had something else to focus on. Writers are judged by content, and how they relate to their audience.

 3) Style:

Style is as important as content and spelling, as this is the the area where a writer must shine. If you base these thoughts on the book I mentioned before- it’s not called Elements of Style for nothing. Let me give some examples of writers: Stephen King, Terry Brooks, Harry Turtledove, while they are all successful, bestselling writers, we associate certain styles to each of them.

Stephen King is known by many readers as the “Master of Horror” because his style is direct and consistent. He grabs his readers with visual imagery. Terry Brooks known by some of his readers as the “Master of Fantasy” although this one might be one people would argue, I bring it up for one reason: I read his writing. His writing is somewhat over the top, and in the 3rd person omnipotent.  This hasn’t changed in the near 50 books he has published. The same holds true for Mr. King.

For both men, it is very rare they will change this style, because people see them as masters.  The readers know what to expect and the authors in turn also know their reader expect something similar from them

Harry Turtledove known in the science fiction readers circles as the “Master of Alternate History” because Turtledove takes the what if to a new level. He almost always includes a religion or two to his writing, and a “romantic couple.” Although never graphic, there isn’t much a sense of mystery as the focus is often on the what if, and some minor character dealing with these changes.