How to improve writing skills

Read a lot in all different genres and skill levels (so self published as well as traditionally published.)
Write a lot. Whatever you want. Journal entries, stories, articles. Just Write.
Read over what you wrote, see where you can improve. Learn to edit.
Repeat ad infinitum.

Definitely avoid books that are self-published -- unless the Acknowledgement page mentions beta readers, copy editors and/or a proofreader. Even then, scan a few pages.
Read books in the genre you are interested in. Read other genres -- they could come in useful in your story lines.
Maybe read selected chapters from the Chicago Manual of Style or other style guides -- if you have problems with grammar, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, etc.
Write. Write. Write. I've filled up five blank books (both sides of a page) journaling in the past four years (tomorrow.)
Don't listen to anyone who says you can't do it.

Remember, unless you're received more than ninety-three rejection notices, you're at least as good a writer as Stephen King.

Learn how to critique others' work, and how to accept their critiques of yours. Listen without dismissing to what they say; they are your readers, that is how they are reacting to what you wrote. There's no "wrong" or "right" in the impression you made on them, just listen to what that impression was and figure out why it's different than what you were going for. The more you get your back up, the worse off you'll be. Take it as direction, not a put down. Turn it into a change in how you write, and you'll begin to write better. Run it past them again, be prepared for different suggested changes they didn't mention the first time. That's how the process works. Know when you've done all you can, then submit it somewhere to fresh eyes, fresh readers, and hope.

Also, read your work aloud, and listen to how it sounds. It helps you hear awkward phrases, reversed words, clunky dialogue, things you can cut, bad pacing changes, point of view problems, etc. Really listen, as if somebody else wrote this stuff and now you have to read it at the front of the room. Forget about what you meant by it, what you felt as you wrote it, what brilliant allusion or metaphor you were making. Just listen to how it sounds.

Btw - readers who instantly love everything you write and tell you it's perfect, every time, are useless to you. Perfect writing doesn't exist.

>2 tTow: >5 WholeHouseLibrary: I disagree on the whole "Avoid Self Published" thing. Why? Because you have to know what pitiable writing is. You have to see what most READERS dislike, so you can write better. Know why readers avoid many self published.

Though I've also found a few diamonds in reading through some self published works, which didn't mention any betas, editors, or proofreaders on their acknowledgement pages. (Because most people don't.)

Amazing thread!

That will embiggen you.

Please notice that a lot of this fairly old topic has been removed as spam. In future I would recommend not reopening old topics unless the existing content is really important to what you want to say. If you really want to be associated with spam, then go right ahead.

Eggs are associated with spam. What have you got against eggs?

I think that the best thing to do is to practice. You can try to write in different styles, experimenting and so on.
Reading also helps. The more you read, the better it is. I'm talking about literature, but I'm sure that there are some books which are good for skills development.
When it comes to academic writing, I think it's something more complicated, at least for me. Sometimes, I use https://ca.papersowl.com/do-my-homework because the task can be that hard, and there is no time for me to finish it. But I also believe that I need to practice, and with some more effort, it all will be good.