Tag Archives: ereaders

Publishing Trends: Tropes Readers Adore Across 15 Fiction Genres

Crime Fiction Trends

Missing persons

When a person vanishes, they leave dozens of questions in their wake: not just how and why the incident occurred, but sometimes even whether the disappearance was a crime at all. And our readers are loving a good twist right now!

Cold cases

Our puzzle-loving readers enjoy books that reopen a cold case — a crime that’s lain dormant for years, sometimes decades — from a fresh angle, where someone finally finds the tools needed to crack it.

Historical Romance Trends

Marriages of convenience

In historical romances, readers love when heroines must wed the hero for reasons beyond their control, or marry for anything but love — only to find themselves falling head over heels!

Heroes with titles

Dukes might have been few and far between in actual 19th century England, but in historical romance they’re thick on the ground, and our readers have been loving them as heroes lately — along with earls and marquesses.

Middle Grade Trends

Fantasy

There’s nothing better than magic with a good dose of whimsy. Middle Grade fantasy often strikes a great balance between the quintessential magical elements our readers love and an inviting tone that appeals to all ages.

Mystery

Drawing from classic series like Nancy Drew and The Boxcar Children, contemporary middle grade mysteries combine sleuthing with charm for low-stakes puzzles that are fun, exciting, and stress-free.

Teen & YA Trends

Contemporary about real world issues

We’ve seen our YA readers turning to books about real-world issues recently, like abuse, suicide, and mental illness, as they explore tough topics through emotional reads.

Fairy tale retellings

There’s nothing more satisfying than a new twist on an old favorite. Fairy tale retellings deliver a wonderful mix of familiarity and surprise as they approach the classic happily ever after from a different angle.

Literary Fiction Trends

Small towns

Literary fiction often helps us reflect on how we as individuals belong in a community. Small towns — where everyone’s business is inescapable — are the perfect settings for exploring the divides between personal ambition, duty, and home.

Family sagas

The best literary fiction also helps us understand our relationships with those closest to us. Family sagas allow us to see how characters’ most intimate ties change over time, often underlining the sentiment that you can never truly go home again.

Science Fiction Trends

Box sets

Science fiction stories span galaxies and centuries — and more often than not, several volumes in a series. Our sci-fi readers love good deals that let them visit and stay awhile in worlds beyond our own.

Artificial intelligence

Great science fiction paints a picture of the future that shines a light on the present. Artificial intelligence has been a particularly strong frame for exploring current questions of consciousness, labor, and identity.

Fantasy Trends

Epic fantasy

Our epic fantasy readers like to be swept up in vivid secondary worlds and love tales with high stakes, magic, and intrigue.

Fairy tale retellings

Fairy tale retellings breathe new life into classic fairy tales and myths, offering either lush reweavings of established storylines or new takes on familiar tropes.

Paranormal Romance Trends

Sci-fi content

Our paranormal romance readers enjoy sci-fi romance tropes, particularly a steamier plot featuring a sexy, alpha alien looking for a human mate.

Fated mates

In the supernatural world, sometimes destiny delivers one’s soulmate, igniting an unfathomable, intense connection. Fated mates is one of our paranormal romance readers’ favorite tropes right now.

Erotic Romance Trends

Billionaires

Sure, you’re probably thinking about Christian Grey from Fifty Shades, but he’s not the only brooding billionaire out there. What woman doesn’t want a wealthy man who can offer her everything her heart desires?

Ménage

Right now our erotic romance readers are loving ménage romance and all the tension and pleasure that comes from adding another person in the bedroom.

Action & Adventure Trends

Military fiction

In military fiction, protagonists will likely have a degree of experience in the combat and survival departments, so the book’s action sequences will reflect that expertise.

Ancient secrets, codes, and hidden treasure

Given the gargantuan popularity of stories like National Treasure and The Da Vinci Code, it’s no surprise that our action and adventure readers are big fans of books featuring historical clues, hidden treasures, and puzzle elements.

Cozy Mysteries Trends

English village mysteries

Our US readers like to visit the pastoral countryside with English village mysteries — think cozy town centers and witty suspects who are questioned over afternoon tea. The inciting murder typically happens off the page and the amateur sleuth is able to tie things up neatly in the end.

Bookish mysteries

Bookish cozy mysteries have amateur sleuths with one foot in the world of books — often as bookstore owners, book club members, librarians, or authors — and evoke the charm of a reading ritual or the thrill of researching through dusty tomes.

LGBT Trends

Queer literary fiction

Queer literary fiction is often bittersweet, with plots involving difficult choices and self-reflection. It captures parts of the queer experience not always covered in romance or other genre fiction.

Suspense

In our LGBT category, mystery and thriller plots are popular when they provide a backdrop for a relationship — the central action or investigation creates tension, forcing characters into close quarters and bringing attraction sizzling to the surface.

Chick Lit Trends

Opposites attract & enemies-to-lovers

An unlikely couple slowly realizing they’re perfect for one another is a tale as old as time. This classic plotline is a perfect fit for those who want a taste of will-they-won’t-they tension.

Food

Whether they’re set in bakeries or centered around an aspiring chef, books brimming with food conjure up warmth and coziness — and are sure to satisfy every appetite.

Historical Fiction Trends

World War II

The horror, drama, and emotion of World War II have been depicted in countless bestselling books, and it’s no surprise that the time period continues to enthrall BookBub readers.

Early America

Looking at recent performances, we can see that BookBub readers love novels set in early America, which often illuminate the dangerous lure of the unknown, the desire for independence, and the promise of a fresh start.

Thrillers Trends

Memory lapses

Lapses in memory bring an added layer of uncertainty to thrillers, forcing us to question whether we can trust the person at the center of the story (or how much they can trust themselves).

Children in peril

Thrillers featuring a child in peril have heightened stakes — the helplessness of the victim means greater urgency to defeat whatever’s threatening them. This is a popular trope across many thriller subgenres, from legal thrillers to psychological suspense!

What category trends do you want us to talk about next? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

Source: bookbub.com

Visit us at First Edition Design Publishing

How to Captivate Hurried Readers with a Magic Opening Line

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Can I skip the opening sentence for this post?

Pleeeease?

Let’s say you skip reading the first few sentences and start with the fourth?

Or fifth?

I don’t like the pressure of writing a first sentence.

What if I fail to engage readers? What if I’m boring them? What if I’ve wasted my time on this article because my first line sucks?

The task of writing a first sentence can paralyze even the most acclaimed writers. In an interview with the Atlantic, Stephen King admits he can spend months, or even years, on writing the opening lines for a new book.

Sounds crazy, right?

As business writers, we don’t have the luxury of time. We have other things to do than worrying about one line of text.

So what can we do?

Let me share with you a trick for writing a first sentence super-fast. But first, let’s define what a good opening line is.

Okay?

An outrageously good opening sentence

This is how the novel “Nervous Conditions” by Tsitsi Dangarembga starts:

I was not sorry when my brother died.

Why is this sentence good?

It entices you to read on.

That first sentence creates drama because it instantly raises two compelling questions in readers’ minds: Why did the brother die? And why was the author not sorry? A reader reads on because he wants to find out the answers to these two questions.

Stephen King says it like this:

An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this.

One of the most famous opening lines

This is how “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger starts:

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.

This famous opening line is 63 words long.

Is such a long sentence a good idea?

Ben Blatt analyzed what makes a good novel great, and he also reviewed first sentences. His conclusions are not clear cut, as he summarizes in his book “Nabokov’s Favorite Word is Mauve:”

The first sentence is only as popular as the rest of the book, and brevity alone will not make a first sentence great.

Our literary heroes may write lengthy first sentences.

But when writing for the web, we need to remember our readers. They’re not curled up on a comfy sofa with a book and a glass of Rioja. They’re hurrying across the web, searching for interesting articles to read and share. Who has the patience to start reading a block of text?

So, instead of following J.D. Salinger’s 63-word mammoth sentence, take your cue from Toni Morrison, the master of short first sentences, like this one from “Tar Baby:”

He believed he was safe.

From “Paradise:”

They shoot the white girl first.

From “God Help the Child:”

It’s not my fault.

Each of these sentences makes you curious to read on.

Your first sentence has two purposes. First, get people to read your first sentence—a short sentence works better because it’s easy to read. Then, make sure they want to read your second sentence.

The worst opening lines

Ben Blatt quotes the opening line of the book “Paul Clifford” by Edward Bulwer-Lytton as one of the most ridiculed opening lines ever:

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents, except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the house-tops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.

Not only is that sentence awfully long, its worst crime is that nothing happens. Nothing grabs attention. Nothing makes me curious. It’s simply a description of the weather. So what?

Of course, in business we rarely write about the weather, but you may have come across similar opening lines that fail to whet your appetite for reading more. For instance:

Many ways exist to choose your words.

As you know, Rome wasn’t built in one day.

In business, you have to take risks.

Duh!

The above opening lines may be short, but they’re obvious statements, killing readers’ interest. There’s no incentive to read on.

A little-known shortcut for web writers

Getting nervous about writing a good first sentence?

No need for nerves, when you know this blog writing trick …

Unlike novels, a blog post is often a conversation with our readers. And what easier way to engage readers than asking them a question?

A few examples:

Do you hear that nagging voice, too? (source)

Do you ever feel a pang of envy? (source)

Has it happened to you, too? (source)

In a face-to-face meeting, you often start a conversation with a question, like: Cup of tea? How did your meeting go? Or: How’s business?

Why not do the same in your writing?

The one magic opening line doesn’t exist

So, no need to search for it anxiously.

Instead, remember your reader.

Imagine him hurrying across the web. He’s feeling restless. He’s impatient because he’s been wasting his time reading lousy blog posts.

How can you engage him? How can you make him read your first sentence? And then the next?

A good writer draws a reader in, and doesn’t let him go until the last word.

By Henneke
Source: enchantingmarketing.com

Visit us at First Edition Design Publishing

Writing Prompt: How to Choose Your Own (Writing) Adventure

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When I was a kid, I loved reading Choose-Your-Own-Adventure novels that had alternate paths written into the story. If you aren’t familiar with them, they were elementary or middle grade chapter books that begin a story and at key moments, offer the reader a choice: “To go through the portal, turn to page 37. To run away, turn to page 45.”

I loved seeing the story change with the choices, and I reread the books making different choices each time to experience a new story. I’ve channeled my inner adventurer to put together a fun writing prompt.

The Choose Your Own Adventure Writing Prompt

Today, I have a writing exercise that puts some choices in your hands. Have fun with it. If you get stuck, go back and swap out one of the elements and try again. The joy is in the journey, not in the destination (although a finished story is an accomplishment, too).

To build your own writing prompt, begin by making choices from categories. I teach my students to write a simple premise before they begin writing a draft, even if they haven’t outlined before. Here are the key components, and they should look familiar if you’ve been following Sarah’s great series on writing and publishing a short story:

A character {usually with a problem}
wants {goal}
But {obstacle / conflict / complication}
So {action he or she takes to overcome obstacle to get goal}

Build Your Writing Prompt

Now, here are the choices. Choose one thing from each category and make your character act to get what he or she wants!

Characters

Choose one and decide whether you want them to be a hero or anti-hero. (A too-reductive hint: hero — admirable; anti-hero — not so admirable.)

A sailor
A bartender
A teacher
A musician

Goals

To contact an old friend / partner / lover
To become anonymous
To avoid arrest / detection
To accept an inheritance

Obstacles

A flat tire or bus / car malfunction
Missed an important meeting or rendezvous
Exposed secret or miscommunication
Attacked by villain / bees / bears / barracudas

Action

No choices here; let the action follow the other choices you made!

Two Sample Writing Prompts

I’ve put these elements together to show you what a premise might look like. Try these out for size:

Sample prompt premise: A bartender wants to become anonymous but her ex-boyfriend exposes her real name, so she quits / seeks revenge / runs off to . . .

Swap it out: A hometown hero bartender wants to avoid arrest after he’s caught in a drunken brawl, but he accidentally overhears his boss on the phone reporting him. He . . .

As you can see, there’s incredible variety to be found even in these short lists of characters, goals, and obstacles. You’ll likely come up with something completely different. And even if the elements you choose are the same as mine, the actions that follow will make your story unique.

Sometimes working from a few choices gets the creative juices flowing. Where will your Choose Your Own Adventure writing prompt take you?

What’s your favorite combination of the elements above? Share in the comments.

By Sue Weems
Source: thewritepractice.com

Visit us at First Edition Design Publishing

There are more than ten types of people who read books

5 best book reading apps for iPhone and iPad

Kindle

Kindle for iPhone iPad

Kindle app is one of most advanced book readers in the iTunes AppStore. You can read not only books, but also newspapers and magazines that you subscribe via Kindle Store.

The app supports enhanced ebooks, the ones described as Kindle with Audio/Video – something you can’t read on your Kindle e-reader.

On of the most convenient features Kindle app gives is the ability to send own ebooks to an email address that is specific to your Kindle app (and different for Kindle apps on each and every of your iOS devices).

To find this email, slide the top bar to the right to reveal Docs section. Right below you’ll see “Send documents to” and the email address.

Every time you send a file with an attachment in mobi format (DRM-free), it will appear in the relevant Kindle app right away, so there is no need to download it from the cloud library.

The way dictionary works is also very specific – and much more useful than in other apps. When you jump to a full definition of the word in the dictionary, you are still able to get the definition of words there. Thanks to that you can further explore word’s meaning, as it’s not a one-step lookup, like in other apps.

Some books from the Kindle Store have a great feature enabled which is called “X-Ray”. It allows to better understand the book’s structure, and helps a lot if you’re lost in a plot. The feature comes together with Book Extras, powered by Shelfari. It’s editable book encyclopedia – a list of most important facts about the book.

⇢ Kindle Free

Google Play Books

Google Play Books for iPhone and iPad screenshots

Kindle app, however, is missing one feature. This feature is offered by Google Play Books and it’s the reason why Google’s app is in this overview. It’s instant translation.

If English is your mother tongue, you may not understand why translation is so important. If you speak another language and still learn English, looking up for the meaning of a word in a dictionary may not bring the immediate association of what this word is in your mother tongue. Translation is a quick help in every case like that.

You can get a translation in just two two taps. Tap on a word or select a passage, and a pop-up window will appear. Tap on Translate and set up language-to-language translation flow (you’ll have to do it only once).

Translation is powered, obviously, by Google Translate. You’d be surprised how accurate it is, not only for words but entire sentences.

I’ve found a workaround to translate words in the Kindle iOS app, using Google lookup as a tool. Anyway, Amazon should include it if they seriously care for international customers. Translation seems to be not a big deal. If eBookMobi app can have it, why not Kindle?

If you need a quick language dictionary lookup, Google Play Books is for now the best option.

⇢ Google Play Books Free

Kobo

Kobo for iPhone and iPad screenshots

Besides very friendly customization options, Kobo app offers an experience that makes the most of social reading in the digital age.

Kobo’s set of social features is called Reading Life. You can not only read the book, but join a conversation about it at any time.

There is a Kobo Pulse indicator at the bottom of the page. It get brighter on pages with more comments and reader activity. When you tap on it you’ll see what other readers think about what you’ve just read.

You can also share your own notes and thoughts. Simply, highlight the passage and write down your comment.

By connecting with your friends’ Reading Life on Facebook you’ll know what they read, as well as view and compare their awards and stats.

Awards and stats are two other features that lets read a book in a more dynamic way. Any time you can check out how quickly you read: how many pages per hour or how many hours per book.

There are also several awards to win while you use the app. These awards ”help celebrate fun milestones in your Reading Life”. You can become a Scout Leader or Deep Thinker or Night Rider, depending on how and when you read and use the Reading Life.

If you’re curious about what to expect from social reading, download Kobo app and explore what Reading Life has to offer.

⇢ Kobo Free

Readmill

Readmill for iPhone and iPad screenshots

The three apps above are devoted to get access to particular ebookstores, but if you prefer independency you should check out Readmill app.

You can start using the app by signing in with your Facebook credentials. The app supports popular file formats, epub and pdf – also the files with Adobe DRM.

Readmill’s Adobe DRM support lets you read with this app books bought in Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Sony Ebookstore. Remember to authorize the iPhone or iPad with your Adobe ID, before you start downloading the files to Readmill.

The app is a clean and simple combination of a book reader, book discovery tool and social reading. You won’t feel overwhelmed with too many features, and can start reading right away after downloading the app.

What’s the strongest side of the app is it’s sleek interface. It’s definitely the most beautiful book app in the iTunes AppStore. In fact, Readmill’s minimalist design had the iOS 7 look long before iOS 7 was announced.

Making ebooks beautiful is very difficult, because the design comes as a result of two factors: how the ebook is formatted, and how the book reader is designed. Readmill does the second job perfectly.

Although Readmill is an independent app, it lets you sync your library via the cloud. You can download books directly to the app on the iOS device: (via email, cloud service app like Dropbox, Safari, or in-app catalog), but you can also add books via Readmill.com website.

⇢ Readmill Free

Marvin

Marvin for iPad screenshots

Kindle is one of the most advanced book readers for iOS, because the most advanced one is Marvin. The app is available only for the iPad, and that’s because you can only see on a larger screen how much it can offer.

Marvin app gives you the most advanced personalization panel ever. You’ll not only change the font type and size, but can set up a different one to text and a different one to heading.

You can define your own theme (different for a day and night), but best of all you can also set up your own gestures, for instance swiping to control brightness, or page turn directions, or snapping to bookmarks.

Marvin supports DRM-free epub files only, but it lets add new books right within the app: via built-in browser, Dropbox, or OPDS catalog.

Most importantly, Marvin app lets you analyze the book the way Kindle’s X-Ray does – and you can have it for every book, not only X-Ray enabled.

Marvin intelligently looks up extended information on Wikipedia without leaving the app. You can look up characters or places in the book you’re reading to see biographies, articles, or photos.

The app supports metadata and Calibre book management. The ways you can search your library of books are extensive: by tag, topic, vocabulary and even by number of words.

⇢ Marvin Free

* * *

Ebook Friendly

Crime Fiction Trends

Missing persons

Cold cases

Historical Romance Trends

Marriages of convenience

Heroes with titles

Middle Grade Trends

Fantasy

Mystery

Teen & YA Trends

Contemporary about real world issues

Fairy tale retellings

Literary Fiction Trends

Small towns

Family sagas

Science Fiction Trends

Box sets

Artificial intelligence

Fantasy Trends

Epic fantasy

Fairy tale retellings

Paranormal Romance Trends

Sci-fi content

Fated mates

Erotic Romance Trends

Billionaires

Ménage

Action & Adventure Trends

Military fiction

Ancient secrets, codes, and hidden treasure

Cozy Mysteries Trends

English village mysteries

Bookish mysteries

LGBT Trends

Queer literary fiction

Suspense

Chick Lit Trends

Opposites attract & enemies-to-lovers

Food

Historical Fiction Trends

World War II

Early America

Thrillers Trends

Memory lapses

Children in peril

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An outrageously good opening sentence

One of the most famous opening lines

The worst opening lines

A little-known shortcut for web writers

The one magic opening line doesn’t exist

Share this:

The Choose Your Own Adventure Writing Prompt

Build Your Writing Prompt

Characters

Goals

Obstacles

Action

Two Sample Writing Prompts

Share this:

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5 best book reading apps for iPhone and iPad

Kindle

Google Play Books

Kobo

Readmill

Marvin

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