Tour of My Reader Site

My READER SITE is an answer to the problem I see of writers mixing their audiences with writer blogs. The only cost we've spent on the site is hosting space on Go Daddy. I am using Wordpress. My logo I created with Gimp. You just go to File, Create, Logo, and this is a Glossy with purples and pastel gradients. 


Features
I picked a very simple design because as I add pictures, links, and posts, the simple design will help minimize the clutter. I am using ZeeCorporate for my theme.


CHAT: I installed the plugin for Chatroll and signed up for an account at chatroll.com. It's free for up to 10 people chatting at a time. I want to offer a weekly chat with readers as a modern day update of the Meet the Author events. You can pick the color and size of the chat window, as well as if people can share links. What's nice is people can log in with Facebook, Twitter, or their own Chatroll log in.


Extras: I installed the plug in Pages Post to allow me to create a page that shows posts of a certain category or tag. I created the category Extras: Behind the Scenes CANCELLED. Each book will have their own page under the parent of Extras. You have to create the page first, then go into the Pages Post setting to say designate the page as a display of posts with a certain category. Pre plan this out to keep things organized. To password protect the posts, I just changed the Visibility (it's a setting in the top right corner) to Password Protect, then picked a password and saved.


I didn't want my password protected posts to show up on the front page. They're supposed to be kinda secret for people who have read my books. So I needed another plug in. Front Page Category lets you check mark which categories you want to show on the front page of your site, the main area. I just unchecked Extras and the child categories underneath it, and voila! No posts of extras on the front page.


I will add more to this as I develop the site. But this is the under the hood walkthrough for any other writer who wants to create a reader centric site.


"CANCELLED" arriving SEPTEMBER 2011. A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby.

Free Advertising On My Reader Site

I just overhauled my reader site because we changed to Go Daddy for hosting. I have 4 spots for 125x125 ads on http://eawestwriting.com. I would love to feature other indie authors/resources for readers. This site is NOT for writers, so if you are trying to sell a book about writing, this isn't the right venue. I know one spot will be taken up with a spot for the paupersbookclub.com. But I am open to other suggestions. I will be leaving up the first set at least through the middle of October. 


For individual books, I would like to read a copy first (and no, it doesn't have to be free, if your summary grabs me, I'll buy it and read it). I am making this site personally for my readers and don't want to recommend books I myself did not enjoy. It's nothing personal. I am not charging for these ads, and my site will be a link at the front and back of each of my ebooks. There will also be weekly chat. The ads do show up on every page. Also coming is super secret behind the scenes information for my readers to access via password in the ebook.


If you're interested, please email me with the information on the contact page.


"CANCELLED" arriving SEPTEMBER 2011. A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby.

If Everyone Is Offering Free eBook Contests, Are They Still Novel?

Every thirty seconds is another Tweet of "free ebook" and it's a drawing for people who leave comments on an author's blog. I don't click these links anymore. 


First, I see a fundamental problem with most of these sites: they aren't FOR readers. They are the personal blog of the author and most of the posts are about writing, marketing, being an independent author, etc. Occasionally, there are features for a reader, such as book reviews, background information about a character, etc. I have authors I love. As a reader, I don't care about their daily goals, word counts, or their marketing plans. 


As a reader, I care about their personality, what they're into, what's the latest project they are working on (just that, not daily updates about it), other authors they can recommend, sales on their books, and maybe where I can discuss their book with them. Most of that is not addressed on an author's blog.


My next dilemma is what is the point of a "free ebook" contest?


Get more comments/followers on a blog? Are they really good comments? Do you need to give away a book for an extra ten or twenty comments on your blog, or would it be better to just write content that encourages comments? What do the extra comments get you if the blog is not even geared towards readers?


Increase exposure for the book, maybe the people who don't win will buy it! This is probably not likely. First, readers who follow an author's blog probably already BOUGHT the book. Second, anyone entering the contest is probably just willing to get a free ebook, not waiting with bated breath to WIN your specific book. Especially books priced at $.99. I mean, it's not a commodity people save up for. Like a car. Or an ereader....


But wait, every day one comment gets my ebook free and then at the end of the month/week there will be a drawing from every daily winner/everyone who entered for a $25/$50/$100 gift certificate/ereader of their choice.... ::slaps forehead:: Let's do the math shall we? Assuming a $.99 ebook and the cheapest $25 gift certificate grand prize, and even just a week long contest. Overall, the author gives away 7 ebooks, for a loss of $2.38 ($.34 commission on each book) and $25 in a gift certificate. Grand total author cost = $27.38


To break even on this promotion, for a $.99 novel, the author would need to sell 81 books as the result of this promotion alone. If your contest see a sales spike that large, I'm impressed, but the ones I've seen have maybe 10-20 people leave a comment to get a free ebook. For a $2.99 novel, it's 20 sales. Not 20 comments/entries, but 20 sales. And if you don't make up the difference? Well take how much money you are out and divide it by the number of entries you received. That's how much you paid per comment. Ask yourself, if someone spammed you on Twitter and said "Free comments on your blog, just $1 a piece!" would you buy it?


Lesson? Give away your book for free, don't add a grand prize. And if you aren't getting traffic/sales to make up for the free ebook giveaway? Find a better way to market. 


Oh and contests with like 6 things a reader must do to "enter?" Like comment here, add link on their blog, like you on Facebook... and so on. Give them the book for free.


I think these contests were very effective originally when the idea of winning a free book from the author was exciting and new. Today, with nearly every indie author/reader blog throwing a free ebook contest, it's just a spam thing. If you're doing an interview somewhere, give a free ebook to everyone in the audience (the people who leave comments). Oprah did it, and look what happened to her ratings? LOL. 


Put yourself in the reader's shoes. What makes YOU want to buy a book? This is probably the answer: an interesting cover, great hook, and a decent price. If a book doesn't have an interesting cover, you aren't going to read the hook. If the hook is exciting to you, you won't even look at the price. And if the price is too high, you're not going to buy. This is why digital advertisements work on reader blogs to spike sales. Readers know the book will fit into their price range (whether it's $.99 or a under $3 blog etc.), the print ad with the cover grabs their attention and then it comes down to the hook. 


Advertising and marketing that plays to these strengths -- a visual image of the novel, a great hook, and decent price -- those are the marketing campaigns worth the money. Intent is just as important with advertising as it is in writing. Intent can be increased sales, exposure, or both, but make sure the effort and money is worth the results. 


"CANCELLED" arriving SEPTEMBER 2011. A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby.

Rethinking the Paperback's Place in Self-Publishing

I will be a self-published author. I have 0 designs of selling a paperback version of my book in book stores. First, it would never be on the front displays, it would be lost somewhere in the lengthy Romance fiction shelves, near the end, under "W" for my last name. No one would even find it back there, unless they were looking for it. If they were looking for it, they probably heard about my book online, which means they can buy it from Amazon directly, or read the ebook version.


Now, this doesn't mean a paperback version of my book is worthless. Far from it. But, it is more likely that the people who want a printed version have already read the electronic version and enjoyed it. Or, they know someone who read it and don't own an e-reader. In the first situation, I've already made my royalty off the reader, I don't care if they get the paper version for the lowest price possible. In the second situation, they're trying me out on the recommendation of a friend, so again, I'd like them to get a hold of the book for the lowest price possible. And, I'd like to encourage them to adopt e-reading as that helps grow author-centric publishing for all of us. 


SO HERE IS MY PLAN:


I am not in favor of long-term $.99 pricing for my ebook. That is just me, and I understand other authors will have different strategies for their works. That's great! For my plans, I will price my ebook at $2.99. This will net me roughly a $2 royalty per ebook sold.


My printed books with be POD through Createspace. I will sign up for the ProPlan for $39 a year, so that this plan can work. My paperback will be 6x9, 300 pages. Included in the purchase of the paperback will be an offer for a free electronic version (probably in PDF). I should preface all of this with I do not believe in DRM. My paperback price? $7.99. 


Royalty-wise this is roughly $.34 if a reader buys my paperback book through Amazon's website, and $1.94 if they buy it from my author site. 


This is how it would look:


Reader who wants BOTH e-book and paperback copy: Buy it from my site for $7.99 and get both. (I make $1.94)


Reader ONLY wants ebook: Buy it for $2.99. (I make $2.00)


Reader stumbles on my paperback on Amazon.com: I make $.34, but did 0 marketing for that sale, and hopefully the reasonable price makes the reader more likely to recommend it to someone else. Also, there will be an offer for the reader to email me and get an electronic copy for free.


I think the number of readers in the last category will be very small. This idea started from reading on another's blog (I honestly do NOT remember who's blog it was) that they offered the print version mainly as a service to their readers, they didn't expect major sales. Yet, the paperback version was priced at $12. 


This got me thinking...what does the paperback version as a SERVICE to readers really look like? And this is what I came up with. I'm happy to hear comments and concerns from others. Maybe there is an angle I missed. However, I think pricing the paperback as low as possible will be better for readers overall. 

"CANCELLED" arriving SEPTEMBER 2011. A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby.

#ROW80 Check in #3 SOUVENIR!!

This is too cool. This has me elated on the inside. This is so simple, it's scary.


My "souvenirs" on my Round 3 of a Round of Words in 80 Days is working on my reader website, eawestwriting.com, and man did I just find a bargain!


My goals for my reader website are here. One idea I feel very passionate about is behind-the-scenes information. As a reader myself, I go bananas for the author's notes/insights into what's coming next, etc. But I also wanted to make the information secret to people who haven't read the book. Yet, not require all of my readers to "register" with a site (the server space alone would be difficult to manage if my books do well, which is the ultimate goal here). 


Enter password protected posts. This is not a feature available on Blogger, but it is available on Wordpress. Thankfully, my reader site is powered by Wordpress (.org install on my home server). Check this out: http://eawestwriting.com/index.php/news/super-secret-information-about-alex

You can't see it, can you? Put in the password Pumpkin


Ta da! (Funny Freudian note.... Pumpkin is my nickname for my stepson, funny how that was the first password that popped in my head.)


Here is a little author's insight on my character Alexis Rodriguez. I might put in a stock photo or something of how I imagine Alexis to look like. Not sure if that's a good idea.... unless I maybe add the caption "Here was my inspiration for Alexis Rodriguez" 


I also added a SPOILER at the bottom, a small detail I know happens in the second book. I tried to make the text the same color as the background, so you have to highlight it to read. This way, people can still read the behind-the-scenes, but choose not to read the spoiler if they don't want to (I don't know anyone who would).


Keeping the Fun Going


Obviously there will probably be someone who tries to ruin the fun by giving out the password. But I'm one step ahead of them. First, I will politely ask that people preserve the fun for others and not spoil the surprise. That usually thwarts the people who will work around the system, if you just roger up that they can and the password is just for fun. Second, I plan to change the password either monthly or quarterly (I'm leaning quarterly). 


For my ebook readers, I will have a Note to My Readers where I will profusely thank them for reading and leaving a review if they so choose to do so. Explain the game of getting to the sneak peeks, and put in the password. On a quarterly basis I will update the ebook file with my distributors and also give a way for them to email for the current password/join a mailing list. By updating, I can also update my reader letter to reflect what is currently going on. I.E. first quarter is just "thank you thank you, here's the game....."
second quarter is "thank you thank you, hope you check out my new book (link) and here's the game....."
third quarter is "thank you and thanks to all of you my sales are X,Y,Z beyond anything I could ever imagine. So glad the book is reaching people, here's my other titles. Here's the game..."


And so on. 


In the print version, I will use the email listing. They give email, they get password in a quarterly Elizabeth Ann West newsletter.


"CANCELLED" arriving SEPTEMBER 2011. A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby.

Self-Published Author: Catering to the Readers

Astro Orbiter in Tomorrowland

I just finished a rant about the difference between $.99 price for my book (like so many indie authors do) and a $2.99/$3.99 price. No idea if I will ever let it actually post. In the end, I am going to ask my readers for more than a $.30 royalty on my hard work. This made me think about my brief time as a Merchantainer in Tomorrowland.


Waaaaay back in the summer of 2001, an average family of 4 spent more than $4,000 on a week long vacation. This is why when Little Johnny drops a $3 ice cream cone, cast members immediately get Little Johnny a new ice cream cone. $3 loss for family to return and spend another $4,000, and to tell their friends how awesome their vacation was. More $4,000 vacationers. And no one talks about the overpriced ice cream.


So what can I do as an author to keep people talking about my book, but not that it is more expensive than the indie author's next to me?


Here's what I've got so far:

• Spend extra care and time to make the reading experience easy. No formatting goofs. Absolutely no typos (working on quality assurance methodology). 
• Create an inviting web home for my readers.

1. Schedule regular 2-way conversations with my readers, live chat. 
2. A place to talk and interact with other readers, at their leisure.
3. Keep them on the pulse of what's going on.
4. Create contests and activities that single readers out as special. Monthly drawings for early readers of new chapters, Amazon gift certificates?
5. Offer quality list of related genre books my readers can read in the 5 months between when I publish novels. Not just a hodge-podge list. But books I've read myself and would recommend to my closest friends.

If I go above and beyond in the care of my readers, I give them another reason beyond my writing to be my friend. As a voracious reader myself, when I'm not toiling behind the keys, I know the difference between an author who works for their readers, and those who work for dollars. While I am not in a position to exchange the hours I spend giving more attention to my writing than my children for free, I can accept a modest living that will enable me to offer them more opportunities (not things) as a trade off. Plus, I think it's healthy for them to see Mommy doing more than just being Mommy. 


The very nature of my Red Ink collection is to share the imperfect journeys we make to find love in today's crazy mixed up world. My first story handles the idea of Prince Charming coming with a kid as part of the deal. This happened to me, but I wouldn't trade my Prince Charming, or his heir to the throne, for anything. My second story addresses financial compatibility, and how crushing debt can put the damper on serious passion in a jiffy. No handsome, rich man to swoop in and make those bills go away, either. I was more embarrassed and nervous to share my credit card debt and student loan balance back when my husband was my fiance than I was to get naked in front of him for the first time. And finally, the third book currently planned, a sequel to Cancelled, will focus on how co-parenting can really screw up a relationship quicker than adultery. Really. It's very hard to have a parenting team where both parents are equal players, even within a marriage. 


They aren't preachy books. They're the love stories we gossip about around the weekend breakfast table when it's our friend of a friend or disliked co-worker in a romantic mess. The stories we hear and think "Never in a million years would I ever get myself in that situation."  Love as it is. Messy, wonderful, hot, and in the end, the hope for us all. 


"Cancelled" arriving August 2011. Getting married and having a baby in the same year isn't that unusual. Unless it involves two different women.

Self-Published Novel: I Don't Get the $.99 Pricing

This isn't about greed. This is about belief in my product and questioning the economics of the $.99 price in consideration of building a fiction writing career. 


The $.99 opener. The argument goes like this: price your first novel at $.99 to grow a readership, then price future books higher. Maybe it's my experience as a non-fiction writer, but I can't stomach this. I can see offering a short period of time every month for a $.99 sale on one of my novels, but I can't see this as an effective introductory price. I do not dispute that more readers will probably buy a $.99 book. But what is the economical trade-off of this increase in readers when a writer does not have additional books, just the debut?


I have sold thousands of dollars (not many, but still, it's thousands) worth of non-fiction articles since October of 2007 when I fell into writing. I make either 65%-90% of my price, depending on if I sell it straight to the customer or go through a type of gallery site. After 4 years, I'm bored writing about real estate, finance, taxessssssssssssss....oh I'm sorry. I fell asleep talking about it. :) 


But here's one axiom I learned: there's a buyer for every price. It's just a question of time, assuming the writing is of a good quality. On the gallery type site, that isn't an issue, as all articles are approved by an editor before going up for sale. However, my articles sit indefinitely until they sell. A 1,000 word piece on shopping addiction priced at $150 sat for 6 months before I sold it. In terms of $.99 books, that's 325 books sold in the same 6 months that article sat. (I sold it for full rights, meaning I cannot resell it.) But, it takes a great deal longer for me to write a book than a 1,000 word article. You're comparing hours to months. 


Price and perception of quality. I used to be a casual game addict. I bought games for $4.99 a piece, sometimes spending nearly $100 in a month because I would beat them so quickly. I played them on my computer, so I didn't have to fight my family for the TV like my video games on the Xbox 360 or Wii, even though those are a better deal ($30 or less for used RPG games I easily log over 60 hours on). 


I justified my spending by the number of hours of enjoyment I received for the money. 3 hours of fun for less than $2 an hour? Sign me up! Guess what? At $5 a piece, and every seventh game free (thanks to a stamp card you filled through the month), I didn't buy less than 6 games a month. That's a $30 monthly budget, or about half of a percent of our after tax monthly income. 


I never played all 6 games to completion. One unplayed game was $5 wasted. Who cares? I'm a frugal, but comfortable, stay-at-home-Mom with a husband who makes more than $50,000 but less than $80,000 who has limited avenues of escape. I was well within our monthly "entertainment" budget, and even a waste of $5 was far less than the overages associated with gas to drive to a store or other entertainment venue and extra spending on snacks or impulse items that plays to my gatherer instincts. 


My reader. I know not every reader is in this category, but based on my research into my target audience, these are men and women with a healthy monthly allowance for their own escapes. They don't generally have time to waste on failed avenues of lowering stress. It's not about the money, it's about the time. Most of their time isn't theirs to give. They have careers themselves, children, and other responsibilities. 


I buy ebooks to read on my computer. My limit is again, about $4.99 but that's more of a guideline. I do splurge on bestsellers because it's worth the extra money than driving 30 miles round-trip, kids in tow, to buy a book. It's never the price alone that gets me to buy a book. It's the cover design. The description. Occasionally, the reviews (I don't put too much stock in them, but they can make or break a borderline decision). 


After the cover and title grab my attention, I read the sample. If I get to the end and didn't see many mistakes, and want to read more, if it's $4.99 or less, I buy it. Again, I'm a Mom. Dragging my 2-year-old who won't sit in a stroller and browsing books in a book store is not fun for me. I can browse e-books while Mickey Mouse Clubhouse blares in the background. If I was still working outside of the home, I would buy them on my lunch break and read on my lunch break, etc. 


The consumer in me doesn't identify with this mantra that readers who buy $.99 can't afford anything more and won't buy a book priced higher. Maybe a handful of them won't, but if that was true, why are these readers buying the author's next titles for $2.99 and $3.99? I know when I buy a $.99 book, I don't think "great deal," I think cheap. To me, all ebooks technically are a great deal just in convenience!


The trade-off: readers for dollars. But here's the meat of the issue, and readers might be surprised about this: How much is an author truly giving up to increase the number of purchases by pricing at $.99? 


Let's just look at Amazon. Amazon pays royalties after 60 days of publication from what I can tell. My goal is to sell 100 books in those 60 days. If I price at $.99, I make roughly $.30 per book. There is a small charge I believe for the size of the file. Selling 100 books, I make $30. I make that much selling two short and sweet non-fiction articles that I write in about 2 hours. Even the argument of the infinite shelf life isn't selling me on this idea. I understand YA books using this price because their general audience, teens, have much more limited disposable income than my audience, grown women and men. But other genres, especially those aimed at productive adults?


Any book priced $2.99 to $9.99 is paid a 70%, not 30%, royalty. Same 100 books, higher price, I make $209. In fact, to make more than the $30, I only need to sell 15 books. In two months. 


Sell 100 books. Choose to make $30 or $200. 


How is this even a choice? $.30 is almost such an insult, I don't want a reader who only values my hard work at providing them an escape as worth slightly more than a quarter. A quarter. You can't even buy bubblegum at the machine in the grocery store for a quarter any more. No, a big, sugary ball of bubble gum costs $.50. My book would be worth less a piece of gum. 


To be honest, I was seriously considering making $2.99 or $3.25 as my introductory price, advertising that once the honeymoon period of 60 days was over, the price will go up to $3.99. I make $.70 more per book, and more importantly, since some back listed romance novels are coming out at $3.99, with a professional cover, description, and author photo, it will be more difficult for a reader to distinguish me from a traditionally published contemporary romance writer. That's what it's all about. Look professional, be treated like a professional. Give the reader a great story to lose the stresses of reality. 


But Elizabeth, what about losing readers because of the price point that's $1 more than $2.99?


If I sell 10 books at $2.99, I make $20.90. I only have to sell 7.5 books to make that same $20.90 at $3.99. So, I would have to lose more than 1 reader in every 4 seriously considering purchasing my novel to make less at $3.99 than $2.99. With so many other variables, such as the description, reviews, or sample turning readers off, I don't know that the difference of $1 will cause a mass exodus. 


There are bargain shoppers. People like my Aunt Sandi won't buy anything unless it's on sale. Those people will click the "Add to Wish List" link that Amazon so helpfully provides. When I advertise my book going on sale, they will snatch it up. 


The bottom line is price alone has never made me decide to not buy a book. I read the description and sample, and from that information, decide if I think the book is going to be worth the money. Price is only a tie-breaker vote. 


For me, my job as an author isn't to play games with my pricing, but to write a book and meta data that makes a reader think "This writer is worth the money." Now, if I had a "large inventory", I will happily price older novels at $.99 just to move titles. Then, it would make sense as a gamble on a $.99 price, or throwing that quarter at me, because when the reader buys one or two of my other books at regular price, it was worth the loss of $2.49 in royalties on the first book to possibly get two or three times the $2.09-$2.79 from the future purchases.


Now, I don't want to make it sound like I see readers as dollar signs. I don't. I don't want to insult readers by believing that they really see our hard work as worth slightly more than a quarter per book for a royalty. I know these $.99 book buyers, they are not people who walk around playing Fred Mertz. I've bought books at $.99 cents. I am not a cheapskate, but it was the price the author set. The books that were great, which I had a good idea would be from the description and sample, I would have gladly paid more.  


By pricing my work at an affordable price for the months of work and investment, here is what I can offer my readers:

• I can invest in newer technologies as they come along for "enhanced" ebooks. 
• I can continue my education in the writing craft, producing a better book with each release.
• I can use my success to pay-it-forward to other writers, bringing more and more quality and affordable books to the market. 
• I can afford to donate books and time to those who truly cannot pay even a penny.
• I can justify my work to my husband and the IRS as a legitimate business, letting me stay in business and keep writing.

Word-of-mouth campaigns. On a final note, there is the question about word-of-mouth. Are readers who read $.99 books more likely to tell people about the book than readers of $2.99 books? I don't believe so for a few reasons. First, I suspect a significant percentage of $.99 books go unread, like one of my six games went unplayed. There is no sacrifice for the reader in neglecting the title. It isn't going anywhere. Like the unread pile of print books every reader has that he or she bought on clearance, the chances a reader will get to it is slim. Second, I think word-of-mouth comes down to writing quality. Is it fresh? Is it spunky? Was it fun to read? Who says "Read this $.99 book, it isn't terrible?" 

But time will tell. I publish Cancelled in August, the first book in my planned Red Ink collection. I will see my first royalty check in October. I will publish my sales figures like the many awesome writers who have come before me, just as I gladly shared my pricing strategies and sales with new freelance non-fiction writers over the years (my sales figures were public already). And when that first royalty check is more than $30, I will be very thankful I held onto my bravery in this new world of fiction.



"Cancelled" arriving Late Summer 2011. A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby.

Day 15: Self-Publishing Genres, Marketing, and Who On Earth Is Going to Read My Book?

On Friday, my day 12, I spun-off about a post on BigAl's Books and Friends about the debate continuing between chick-lit and romance genres. Turns out I wasn't the only one moved about the subject. A fellow BigAl's reader, Cookie's Mom, the author of Cookie's Book Club also continued the discussion in defense of the genre. 


After my interesting run-in this weekend with very vocal readers of romance, and the sacred HEA, one of my voices of reason (acquaintance who reads my raw material and keeps me motivated to keep writing, if only just for her) asked me "Why does it even matter?" That's a very good question, because she pointed out if I don't have a publisher telling me I don't quite fit in either genre, it shouldn't matter. But it does. I have to sell my novel to readers in both of these audiences, and try to make sure they don't get pissed off because their expectations were not met by my story.


One of the exercises I completed in preparation for this novel was to make lists of my favorite books, least favorite, and books that influenced me the most. The most eye opening was my least favorites and why. Here's a sample:

• The Scarlett Letter I hate narrative and smack-in-the-face morality.
• Wheel of Time Series Blah, blah in woods, too many characters to keep up with, WAY too much narrative
• House of Night Series  I liked the fist few, but then typos and mistakes took me out of the story and the plot has been dragged on to the point of insanity in the last 3 books. First series I won't finish, and I hung in until Book 6 or 7

After analyzing what I like to read, both the love and the hate, I came up with this statement: "The kind of book that I love to read most in all the world is any genre with a tangible world and characters where love plays a part in an engaging storyline." This may seem like a self-serving exercise, but trust me, for a self-published author, it helps to put yourself in a reader's shoes. Knowing my own "reading statement" let's me stay true to myself and what's in my heart. Anything less will come off as artificial in my writing. 

Now to really get in your novel's readers' shoes: Before I can even think about building a marketing platform, I need to know who my reader is. Try it. Make a list of your reader's life, religious ideas, economic goals, etc. This is what I came up with.

1. Primarily female, potentially male.
2. Experienced in family drama, but feels she has risen above it (whether she actually has or not).
3. Holds a diploma (HS, or college), most importantly she feels sufficiently educated.
4. Seriously thinks about career and family planning.
5. Lives independently.
6. Has had a relationship that resulted in marriage, or nearly did so.
7. Pragmatic or highly compartmentalized religious views.
8. Isn't sure how far she'd go to protect a family member.

Now, thinking about my reader, I don't think she would ever buy into a sappy, happily ever after ending because she doesn't really believe in fairy tales. What she wants is an ending where everyone is going to be okay. And part of this might be the generation I am a part of, Gen X/Y (I'm right on the cusp of them by my birth year). For my mother's generation, marriage was the penultimate happy ending. Ultimate was marriage AND a baby. :) Motherhood was the end all, be all for a woman's life goals.

Oh, how things have changed! I'm a stay at home mother myself and struggle with my identity because my original plan was to be an international jet-setter, corporate lawyer with a boyfriend in every major international city. Granted, I don't want multiple boyfriends NOW, I'm very happy with my husband, but the fact that I ever saw that as a happy existence screams something important. My generation judges love and success in love not just by the result, but also the journey to get there. In other words, a marriage that results from a tumultuous relationship isn't as prized as a couple who have a happy journey and decide to just live with one another. Not happily ever after, but happy for now.  

Writing a novel for self-publication, or indie publication makes it easy for an author to go in too many directions, and end up stuck in one spot. My reader is a sub-set of both the chick-lit and romance genres. I'm going to have to find them and at the same time, warn off readers who probably won't like my book. They will likely be older, more rigid in their ideas of what romance is, or jaded by life experience. Does this mean every person my age will love my book and everyone my mother's age will hate it? No way. My mother better love my book! So that's one. But seriously, no, when making these sweeping generalizations, it's just to keep a focus point for marketing, and shaping my product description. Not to exclude any potential reader.

I'm officially half way finished with my first draft. I am excited. June is my marketing month, and I will be sure to post how I make these points about my genre and reader into real-life marketing endeavors. 

"Imperfect Timing" arriving Fall 2011. Johnathan Michaels, a robotics engineer, jeopardizes his engagement with his business partner when a previous one-night stand surfaces, carrying his child.