Do you know what the Secret to Bestseller Success for Indie Authors is? Have you ever wondered how one self-publishing author manages to write their books so successfully over another? 🤔 Well ponder no longer, dear writer, for I know one of their secrets and I’m going to share it with you today. 🤫
The indie author field has blossomed.
With the explosion of the self-publishing revolution, more and more of us are getting our stories out there. Trouble is, there are a growing number of helpful writing guides out there too. Each guide telling you the rules and how you should write!

I understand how overwhelming it is to have so many answers available at the end of a google search. Many so-called rules of writing seem to contradict one another! It extremely frustrating. 🤷♂️ And that’s the thing, as a qualified editor myself, I’ve learned that these frequently quoted rules are actually more like guidelines and shouldn’t be followed blindly.
Language guidelines were (and still are) created to help readers understand the text they’re reading; following these guides should help bring clarity to a piece of writing not stamp out an author’s voice. Good editors understand this and pass that on to their clients.
So, here’s the secret to bestseller success…
…are you ready?
Hone your own author voice and create your own style guide!
Simple, isn’t it?!
With your own style guide, everything in your book will be clear and consistent. For example:
✅ When you write a character’s name, it will be spelled the same way through the story.
✅ When one of your characters is sharing their thoughts with the reader, it will be formatted identically each time. It becomes easier to distinguish from the spoken dialogue.
You get the gist.
I’m not saying abandon all spelling, punctuation, and grammar conventions, 😘 instead work with your editor to find the styles that fit with you, your stories, and your readers.
I collaborate with my author clients to create a style guide for their books as part of the editing process.
“After bathing in a sea of vaguely conflicting advice online regarding punctuation, I emerged with one clear message: there are no Actual Laws in force.” (—Author Holly Bell)
The good thing is, once you’ve got all these little “styles” agreed, it’s makes things easier in the future — for both you and your editor.
Start creating your style guide today and enjoy some bestseller success as an indie author yourself!
From now until 27th August 2022, I’m giving away How to create your Author Style Guide. My guide also comes with a free template. Start your new stress-free writing today!
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