“Weird” sells, in both fiction and nonfiction books. This isn’t surprising, because books are an entertainment medium.

Unfortunately, many writers forget to make their novels offbeat, whacky and unusual while they’re writing. They leave their inner editor in charge, and this is death. Lock up your inner editor while you’re writing.

Turn on your creativity. It can make the difference between a book which sells, and one which stays on your hard drive.

For example, in PublishersMarketplace’s current book deals, you’ll read about these offbeat books which have just sold:

* Dakota Cassidy’s THE ACCIDENTAL HUMAN, about a multi-level cosmetics saleswoman who thinks she’s seen it all with her “accidentally” paranormal friends until she meets a vampire turned human…

* Judith Healey’s THE REBEL PRINCESS, the story of a princess, sister to the King of France, who battles corrupt court officials, religious fanatics and her beloved as she engages a band of underground Cathar noblewomen to assist her in the rescue of her illegitimate son…

Look for unusual twists you can give your characters and your plot

Write out a blurb of your novel – a couple of paragraphs which encapsulate your characters and plot. Where can you add twists?

In our example above, THE ACCIDENTAL HUMAN, the sales rep character is given a twist, she’s a “multi-level” cosmetics saleswoman. I’m not experienced in MLM, but I can see where this world has lots of potential for conflict. Better yet, the saleswoman meets a vampire turned human – a twist on the idea of a human tuned into a vampire.

As you’re writing your novel, ask yourself continually “how can I twist this? How can I add the unexpected”?

Adding a little weirdness to your characters and plot can lead to a book sale.

Write more – the key to your writing success

Many years ago, I wanted to be a “good” writer. So I wrote less. I became obsessive about revision – polishing the life out of my writing.

It finally dawned on me that “good” doesn’t mean slow. In fact the faster I wrote (which was my natural inclination anyway), the more quality I could winnow from the chaff.

Most of my writing students have similar experiences. For them to become better writers, they need to write more. They find that when they write more, writing is easier for them – they’re not giving in to their inner editor – and the overall quality of their writing improves.

My new writing class, “Write More And Make More Money From Your Writing: Develop A Fast, Fun Productive Writing Process” is based on lessons I developed for my private coaching students to help them to write more and improve their writing.

If you’re struggling with your writing, the class will help. The techniques you’ll learn in class with help you write fiction, nonfiction, and copy for business.

I’ll see you in class.

When you’re selling a nonfiction book on proposal the proposal needs to make sense.

The letters in More World’s Worst Book Proposals By Angela Hoy just don’t make sense:

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p>Is there a way to supplement the submission process that might allow me to send in a representative sample chapter instead? I am confident you will be able to judge the quality of my work from such. In addition to submitting a representative sample, I could provide a letter from my lawyer supporting the quality of my writing…”

Read the entire article. Great stuff.

Knowing how to write a book proposal is essential.

It’s one of the first skills you’ll develop on our membership site.

Excellent interview with Ann Enright, whose book The Gathering has just won the Man Booker prize. She says of her “inspiration”:

I don’t know if I ever get ‘inspired’ to write. It’s more a case of sitting in a chair and mulling things over until slowly I realise what it is I want to write. I felt like this story of the Hegarty family had been made up for me – so much so that I felt the suicide of Liam was self-evident and it wasn’t until a good way through the book that I suddenly realised I’d better tell people what had happened. I felt like the story already existed before I wrote it.

If you’re waiting to be inspired, don’t wait. You don’t need inspiration. Perspiration and tapping fingers on your keyboard will do just fine.