2021 is just around the corner! Read my most read creative writing tips articles of 2020 to help shape your next novel or story.
Over the past two years, I have worked hard on my craft as an SEO copywriter and blogger for myself as a fiction author and professionally with businesses across Northern Ireland. There have been ups and downs, personal health issues, and a pandemic during this time, but I have kept my writing tips blog ticking over.
However, I feel I have stuck to my guns and developed a creative writing blog that can be a valuable resource for writers of all ages and ability levels. Whether you are a teenager penning their first story or an experienced writer looking to cast off the shackles of creative impotence, there are almost one hundred writing tips articles for you to browse, read, comment on and share.
I love writing, and it is this passion I have to share my writing process with everyone and anyone that has ensured I kept posting these blog articles through turbulent times. I have also loved receiving wonderful messages from fellow writers and authors who find my blog a helpful hand within their craft. It’s incredible how the kind words from someone halfway across the world can refocus your determination to stick to the path you set out on when it would have been easier to do something else.
Thank you to everyone who has read, shared, commented on and engaged with one of my blog articles over the past two years. I thoroughly believe that by sharing our story, blog articles and published works, we can be a genuine writing community and help one another grow year upon year.
How These Writing Tips Articles Can Help You
All writers need some form of information to help them on their journey as a creative. Whether it is advice on book cover design, how to write effective dialogue, or how they can use Search Engine Optimisation to reach a wider audience, we are always learning.
I am an experienced teacher by profession, and I firmly believe that we never stop learning. It is a cliche, but it’s true.
This is the reason why I love my job as a copywriter. There is never a dull day and the fact that I get to read and learn about everything from the latest hair colours for winter 2020 to how effective 75% alcohol sanitiser gel is against Covid-19. I learn every day, and I’m grateful for the opportunity.
When writing, we all need to read and experience as much as possible from relevant sources to develop as authors or poets. Wherever you are on your writing journey, there will be a writing tips blog article for you.
Check out the list of my top seven articles below and comment, which would help you as a writer.
7)Belfast Authors
When it comes to local writers in Northern Ireland, I wanted to compose a blog article that included a list of some authors that would be worth a read over the months and year ahead. As someone born and brought up in Belfast, I am only too aware of how small a place Northern Ireland is and getting noticed can be difficult.
With recent successes, like Adrian McKinty‘s The Chain and Steve Kavenagh‘s Fifty Fifty, it is great to see and hear writers with ties to Belfast rightfully getting praise for their works. These authors got me started into reading crime fiction and, at the minute, I love it!
Throughout this article, I share several works from writers, like Lucy Caldwell, Anna Burns, Glenn Patterson and Colin Bateman. These writers have been award-winning authors over the years and are worth a read.
Give my Belfast Authors article a read and share your thoughts in the comments section at the bottom of the blog.
6) Adobe Portfolio
In this article, I shared how writers could benefit from learning how to use the Adobe Creative Cloud to compose and create content for every aspect of their online writer promotion.
As a qualified digital trainer and iPad specialist, I have years of experience working with such programmes. Therefore, using Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator can boost your game as an author online. With access to a multitude of mobile apps with the full creative suite, you can be creative on the go.
Within this writing tips article, I give you ideas about how you can use these applications as a writer online. Their use on social media and digital communication is a starting point, but considering it is the industry-standard graphic design suite, the sky’s the limit.
Give the Adobe Portfolio article a read and pop your thoughts in the comments section at the bottom of the blog.
5) Kindle Book Promotion
Another of my most read writing tips blog articles was how to promote your Kindle book online. At the time, I was running my promotional campaigns for Inside Iris and Anna’s Awakening, and I thought it would be a valuable piece of content to share what I did with fellow writers.
Ultimately, there are dozens of techniques to use to help get your books out there in front of potential readers. However, there is no exact formula to ensure guaranteed success when it comes to making sales. It there was, every independent author would be a millionaire and real bestsellers rather than ‘free book bestsellers’.
Throughout the writing tips article, I offer various tactics writers can use, including:
- Blogging about the promotion,
- Using social media networks,
- Composing YouTube content, and
- Sharing positive reader reviews.
As writers, we would all love to sell millions of books and focus solely on writing our next opus magnum. However, that isn’t the case for the majority of us, but, by reading this article, you may get a tip or two to boost your next Kindle promotion.
Read my Kindle Book Promotion writing tips article and leave a comment in the blog comments section.
4) Guide To KDP & Kindle Direct Publishing
Ever since I started blogging using SEO to increase my organic reach online, this blog has repeatedly been one of my most read. Here, I offer my advice on the Kindle Direct Publishing route as an independent author.
There is no doubt that Kindle and Amazon is the world’s largest bookstore. Whether you love them or loathe them, it’s the place that hundreds of millions of people use to browse and purchase eBooks and traditional print books for themselves and loved ones.
If you can crack the KDP world, you can make some money and turn that novel of yours into a solid side hustle. However, as I state in the article, being a successful writer is not easy. Whether you are self-published or have a traditional publishing deal and an agent, it is a long, arduous road that can leave you demoralised when things don’t pan out as you’d hoped.
Throughout this article, I offer advice on how one can best approach independent publication, prepare yourself mentally and believe in the fiction author you dream of one day being. I also discuss how you have to expect to sell your book, even for a small amount, if you ever want people to part with their hard-earned cash. If you offer the book for free, potential readers will wait for your next giveaway rather than pay for the book outright.
Read the Guide To KDP writing tips article and pop your thoughts in the blog comments section.
3) Sci-fi Settings
I love science fiction and have had my imagination fired from a young age with movies like Star Wars, Star Trek and dystopian science fiction, like Blade Runner and numerous Christopher Nolan blockbusters.
There is something about how the top sci-fi writers can blend the real world with the imaginative, futuristic societies in their minds. When we see technologies, like handheld computers and wearable tech, making their way from the bridge of the Starship Enterprise into our hands, it is clear that sci-fi writers inspire the minds of engineers the world over.
Throughout my Sci-fi Settings article, I share some of the most memorable science fiction worlds that have impacted me. It was a difficult decision to make, but I had to narrow my choices down to the futuristic worlds in:
- Bladerunner,
- Inception,
- Interstellar,
- The Martian, and
- The Road.
Rather than choose all space-based settings, I wanted to showcase a mixture of just how inventive writers and directors can bring the conceptual to life before our eyes. As writers, we can all learn from how the best creatives craft worlds that almost feel tangible, have depth and practically become characters in their own right as the protagonist’s journey unfolds.
Read my sci-fi settings writing tips blog and pop your thoughts in the comments box in the blog.
2) Kindle Sci-fi Books
My runner up has been an article that highlighted some of my reads for the year ahead. In my Kindle Sci-fi books article, I wanted to bring a mixture of fiction to the table to ensure readers would be more likely to find something of interest.
As I stated above, the world of science fiction can be an inspiring one with settings and technology. However, they can also highlight warning about hoe we are as people, society and species.
When browsing the science fiction genres within Amazon and Waterstones, I wanted to choose five books that I aimed to read over the next few months and year. When it came to the crunch, I could not read as much as I’d like with pressures that came about due to the pandemic and setting up a thriving private tuition business.
This coming year, I want to set aside time to read and write. Therefore, I will ensure I read all five of the books on the list, including:
- The Testaments, by Margaret Atwood (and also The Handmaid’s Tale),
- One Word Kill, by Mark Lawrence,
- Children Of Time, by Adrian Tchaikovsky,
- The Institute, by Stephen King, and
- Anna’s Awakening, by Scott Gilmore (and Inside Iris as preparation for writing book three).
These are only five of the books I have earmarked for reading this year. I have also started to read more crime fiction and SAS non-fiction to prepare for Kyle’s prequel novel. Setting aside some downtime throughout the day, as I work from home, I plan to read one book a month.
If you are in the market for new books to read over the coming months, give my Kindle Sci-fi Books article a read. If you have read the novels listed, leave a comment on the blog with your thoughts and whether you would recommend it to others.
1) e-Book Marketing Writing Tips
As a professional digital copywriter who works for a digital marketing agency, I thought I would do my utmost to apply what I have learned working with Belfast businesses to marketing my eBooks. Therefore, this well-read writing tips article is used many times by fellow writers and authors.
I thought it was one thing to offer a few tips that one could use to sell a few books over a Facebook post or two, but I wanted to go further. I wanted to compose a step-by-step guide to how a writer could plan out and execute a Kindle eBook marketing campaign.
When working with companies to promote a cleaning service or a sanitiser product, the team I work alongside do their utmost to compose a plan of attack for the weeks or months ahead. Rather than sitting at a laptop and pumping out a series of generic posts for no reason, I work to structure a campaign with a series of digital content ideas that can best sell the product to potential customers online.
I take a similar approach in my private tuition business, and it pays off multiple times over. This shows that how one plans and composes a marketing campaign from start to finish is vital for its success.
In this Kindle eBook Marketing writing tips article, I walk you through from the pre-launch phase to website landing pages and giveaways. Read this comprehensive article and pop your thoughts in the comments box on the blog.
Writing Tips: The Takeaway
In the introduction of this Writing Tips creative writing blog article, I thoroughly enjoy what I do and how I do it on my author website. I love how I can share advice with others and the fantastic feedback I get.
2020 has indeed been a challenge for all of us as creatives and as people in general. There is no doubt that millions of people’s plans have been interrupted by the pandemic, but we need to work more diligently than ever to ensure we get back on track.
Throughout 2021, I plan to work on my Hexingham Chronicles short story collection and then write and publish the final part of the IRIS Trilogy in the latter part of the year.
What are your writing plans for 2021? Please share them in the comments below.