“Authors cannot write without readers. It’s precisely like a kiss—You can’t do it alone.”
– John Cheever
The aforementioned quotation is a strong statement about the relationship between authors and readers. But what brings authors and readers together to foster lasting relationships, and how is it done? Arguably, there are multiple theories. Our opinion: the concept of readability, and writing highly readable books.
At its core, readability is simple: how easily readers can move through your story, understand your message, and remain engaged from beginning to end. I have not heard the writing community speak much about it, but I believe they subconsciously have it in mind; however, they don’t always practice it.
The authors’ passion is to create exciting, entertaining books and market them to potential readers who will purchase and read them. Take that one step further: they want those same readers to become their followers, read their future books, and become recognized as “best-selling authors.”
At Word4Word Proofreading and Beta Reading, we work exclusively with romance authors, one of the most successful and widely read genres in publishing today. Romance readers are passionate, loyal, and constantly searching for stories that capture their imagination and emotions. And, why is that? Romance authors write great stories. Their plots and subplots are exciting, enchanting, and unpredictable; the characters are dynamic, there is plenty of emotion, conflict, and happy endings. Readers will express that, regardless of whether the stories and characters are works of fiction, they can feel a sense of identification; they may have had the same experiences or know someone who has. Readers become immersed. It allows them to escape their own lives and step into someone else’s.
Furthermore, the settings in which the stories take place are magical and mystical. The locations can be at resorts, on islands, at beaches, in the mountains, and more. And let’s not forget, they are very entertaining, and people certainly want to be entertained. I think all of these add up to why book readers enjoy reading romance novels and how the romance industry has achieved greatness in literature.
There is more; it has to do with actually writing a book. Successful writing is an art. There is a wealth of ideas offered by writing experts that can help a writer become a great author. In proofreading, we believe one of the characteristics of successful writing is to make books more readable, what we call the glue, making it stick with readers, easy to read, decipher, process, and understand.
How does a writer make their works more readable? Using the “KIS” principle: “Keep It Simple.” Don’t overwhelm readers with your vocabulary. It can be irritating to have to keep a dictionary handy to look up word meanings while reading a book. So, use words that are the best fit; a high level of sophistication can be okay, but typically not needed; “everything in moderation.” You can accomplish it while maintaining your style. Further, be mindful of your sentence structure. Make sure all the parts of a sentence fit together, in the right order. Add in good grammar, subject-verb agreement, proper punctuation, spelling, and correct use of tenses. And, don’t overload sentences. I have often suggested to authors that they should build shorter sentences. Sometimes, they go on needlessly, 50 words or more in one sentence, redundancy, creating confusion, and readers become lost; “Good grief, what did I just read? What is the author trying to convey?” It can be common that readers will have to read sentences 2,3, and 4 (or more) times and may not get the point. If some or all of this happens too often in a book, the reader may never become a follower, resulting in an opportunity being lost, and those readers will move on to the next author in search of something better. Be aware, recognize your audience, and talk to them through what you write.
If you want to build lasting relationships with readers and turn them into loyal followers, keep it simple; “KIS” it. Great stories attract readers. Readability keeps them coming back.
Written by Francis Boschi
