With thousands of books being published daily, doing whatever you can to give your book an edge can’t hurt. You’ve spent a lot of time and energy in writing your book and naturally want readers not just to buy it, but to read and enjoy it. Otherwise, why would you have written it?

No one book is for everybody

Let’s be realistic too, no one book is for everyone. Although huge successes like Harry Potter and Girl on a Train may seem to contradict that statement, the truth is that few books will appeal to a super wide audience. So the woman who prefers romances probably won’t buy your mystery, and the man who reads true crime probably won’t be interested in your chick lit saga. However, personal preferences aside, most readers will put down a book, even one in their favorite genre, if it has any of the following problems:

Stilted or unnatural dialogue. Dialogue can be tough. You want it to sound realistic, but if it sounds too realistic it will come off as boring with a bunch of people all saying ah, er, um, in it. Take some time and listen to how people talk. Most of them don’t use complete, properly grammatical sentences. They drop off words, or they meander while getting to a point. It depends on your character. Do your research in coffee shops, grocery stores, concerts, malls and any other place where people are talking. Even the family dinner table can yield some interesting results.

Too much exposition/back story. In every story there are details that the reader must know for the story to make sense. And since as in life not all things happen in the present, the past will play a part. However, if you dump huge sections of back story, explaining why your main character feels this way or acts that way, you risk boring your reader. Try finding ways of dropping in details throughout your story. Use symbolic objects to represent part of the back story. Short flashbacks written in present tense can work too. But please do refrain from having one character tell another the back story. It will come off as unnatural and you’ll risk losing readers.

Nothing happens. In some books you may have a fascinating setting, well researched historical details, and really fun characters, but nothing happens. Mostly the characters just sit around and talk to each other. In some cases, the action takes place off stage and the author, via the narrator, tells the reader what happened. Nothing makes a reader close your book faster than having nothing happening, especially if you are denying them the action first hand. Don’t tell them what happened – take them by the hand and lead them smack dab into the middle of the action. They will love it and probably won’t be able to put your story down.

Typos, grammatical errors. This is self explanatory. If you can’t afford a proofreader, swap proofreads with other authors, or invest in inexpensive software to help you with it. There are also free online programs you can use for this.

The reader doesn’t like or can’t relate to your main character. Your main character doesn’t have to be a nice person or even a good person, but they do have to be interesting. Your reader has to like them on some level, whether because of their shining personality or because they are smart and clever or just the best bad guy ever. And even bad guys aren’t purely bad. Even killers have friends, pets, and favorite pizza toppings. Find things about your main character that readers can relate to.

Cover all these bases and you have increased your chances greatly that readers will enjoy your story and not put it down until they’ve read it.