Lightlark, a YA fantasy novel written by Alex Aster was a BookTok phenomenon and remained on the NYT bestseller list for over a year. Universal bought the movie rights to Lightlark before the book was even released. Aster is in her 20s and it’s still very early in her writing career to see skyrocketing success. This sounds like every author’s dream come true, so how did it happen?

An author’s job is to please and delight readers. This is the joyful, beautiful, wonderful gift of being a writer. Writing success is directly linked to how well we can engage readers. If you are not considering what a reader experiences when they read your story, then it will be incredibly challenging to figure out how to become a successful author.

Writing a novel is a monumental task! Gone are the days of leisurely writing and being paid a living wage for it. Most writers don’t get paid enough to write full-time. Most writers are balancing full-time jobs, children, school or other family responsibilities. Writing is our side-hustle. That’s why it’s incredibly important to learn how to write smarter, not harder.

Colleen Hoover (CoHo) is a romance author and BookTok sensation who has sold over 20 million books. Whether you enjoy her books or hate them, you can’t deny their popularity. So, what can authors learn from CoHo’s writing? I’m going to break down some things Colleen Hoover does really well in her most popular novel It Ends With Us.

When I finished writing my first novel, I typed out ‘The End’, patted myself on the back and gleefully sent it out to readers for feedback. It had taken me many years to work up the dedication and willpower to sit down and finish a novel. I was so proud of myself. I thought the hard work was over and I just knew my readers were going to love it. I waited patiently for their feedback, anticipating all the praise that was about to come my way. But instead, what I got back was loads of red lines, including comments about how boring my story was and how unlikeable my main character was.

Improve your writing process with these tips

Everyone has their own writing process and novel writing strategies that work best for them. I’m not here to tell anyone how to write a novel. Okay, maybe I am, but it’s entirely up to you if you want to take my advice and finish writing a novel faster.