How can I get my "target audience" to notice my book?

DreamyPen16 · Sep 17, 2012

After years of rejection, I decided to self-pub and it's been quite the experience to say the least. I was aware that everyone would not enjoy my book, but now I'm becoming a bit frazzled.

I write African-American Fiction (Eric Jerome Dickey, Terri McMillan for example) and there's a huge audience...the problem is that I'm not reaching them for some reason. It's not even really about the sales. It's the fact that readers who normally would not read my genre (I'm assuming since I see the books on their shelves for example, are romance novels, YA, books about trolls and of course, 50 Shades of Grey lol) seem to grab it, read it and then say how horrible it is. The cover is different for my genre than the usual...so maybe that's it?

I've tried giving review copies to book clubs and reviewers that seem to love my book and leave excellent reviews, but it still hasn't caught on. At this point I feel I'm just giving away free copies of my book.

And I know you should NEVER compare yourself to others, but when I think of Amanda Hocking, JA Konrath (?) for example, I wonder what did they do and how.

Don't mind me I'm venting. That's okay here, right? Maybe a glass of Two Buck Chuck will mellow me out.

Polenth · Sep 17, 2012

It sounds like you've already worked out the problem by yourself - your cover makes it seem like your book is in a different genre to the one it actually is. Possibly the blurb also contributes to that.

Joanna_Kaary · Sep 17, 2012

I'm trying to figure the same thing out because I'm planning to self pub also. Would it be possible to get a new cover though? Also what is the title of your book? For example, Noire's books say something like 'an urban erotic tale' as a subtitle, kind of giving readers an idea of what sort of book it is. Maybe something like that could help?

jjdebenedictis · Sep 17, 2012

Konrath was traditionally published first, so he already had an audience. Plus he was one of the first self-published authors to make it big, and he worked to generate a lot of media interest in that fact, which helped him build his audience.

Amanda Hocking wrote at a ferocious rate, so she had a ton of books out at once. I think that huge backlist played a role in her popularity, especially given the fact she was writing about vampires when a large number of readers were rabid for more vampire books.

The point to take away is that Hocking got lucky with a trend and Konrath had an unfair advantage that he downplays. It's not that they did something right and you're doing it wrong. Everyone's path is different, which is why you shouldn't compare your progress too closely to others.

DreamyPen16 · Sep 18, 2012

Polenth said:
It sounds like you've already worked out the problem by yourself - your cover makes it seem like your book is in a different genre to the one it actually is. Possibly the blurb also contributes to that.

Hmmm, yeah I'm starting to believe so as well. I'm thinking about putting out another edition with a different cover to see what happens. People generally love the cover (even those who read my genre), but I guess it has confused plenty of them?

Joanna_Kaary said:
I'm trying to figure the same thing out because I'm planning to self pub also. Would it be possible to get a new cover though? Also what is the title of your book? For example, Noire's books say something like 'an urban erotic tale' as a subtitle, kind of giving readers an idea of what sort of book it is. Maybe something like that could help?

This is what I have to figure out. I think that I would be able to publish a second edition with a different cover. And that's actually a good idea...never even thought of that.

jjdebenedictis said:
Konrath was traditionally published first, so he already had an audience. Plus he was one of the first self-published authors to make it big, and he worked to generate a lot of media interest in that fact, which helped him build his audience.

Amanda Hocking wrote at a ferocious rate, so she had a ton of books out at once. I think that huge backlist played a role in her popularity, especially given the fact she was writing about vampires when a large number of readers were rabid for more vampire books.

The point to take away is that Hocking got lucky with a trend and Konrath had an unfair advantage that he downplays. It's not that they did something right and you're doing it wrong. Everyone's path is different, which is why you shouldn't compare your progress too closely to others.

Thanks jjdebenedictis, you are so right. I try not to get caught up and compare, but I had those negative thought creep into my mind earlier and it was hard to shake, so I appreciate your words. Esp given that I never know Konrath already had a following.

bearilou · Sep 18, 2012

A silly question but one I stumbled on with my own small efforts at SP, but how are you tagged at Amazon? Do you have clear tags?

And something to consider.

If I pick up a book, thinking it's one thing based on the cover, and discover it's a completely different kind of book on the inside? It's a very jarring experience for me. I am the reader trade publishers market toward when they create covers for their books. Covers tend to be influenced by the genre expectations. Something to think about.

Cyia · Sep 18, 2012

Have you considered going down the forum to the self-publishing area and linking to your book? The folks who frequent that room might be able to tell you where the disconnect between your cover/blurb and genre is. Then you can adjust accordingly.

KTC · Sep 18, 2012

Polenth said:
It sounds like you've already worked out the problem by yourself - your cover makes it seem like your book is in a different genre to the one it actually is. Possibly the blurb also contributes to that.

This is a great point. A cover actually DOES sell a book. Or, at the very least, it starts the dialogue between the book and the potential reader.

I feel your pain. I'm not self-published, but I'm seeing the same thing with both of my books. I'm constantly giving away copies. I've had nothing but excellent reviews for both books...unfortunately, this does not translate into sales. (Not that sales are what I'm after...like you, I'd just like to see the target audience reading it) I'm overwhelmed by the reviews...but it's not going much farther than great reviews for either of my books.

When you discover the magic word that translates reviews into sales, please let me know. (-:

Good luck! (I'd look into getting the book cover to say what you want it to say so that it speaks to those you want to target.)

quicklime · Sep 18, 2012

DreamyPen16 said:
. Esp given that I never know Konrath already had a following.

it should be clear from his rants that Konrath is a pretty modest guy.....that's why he often "forgets" to mention this.

veinglory · Sep 18, 2012

Is your book listed as being in that genre under the categories?
Have you sent it to influential bloggers/reviewers specifically of that genre?

Stacia Kane · Sep 18, 2012

DreamyPen16 said:
It's the fact that readers who normally would not read my genre (I'm assuming since I see the books on their shelves for example, are romance novels, YA, books about trolls and of course, 50 Shades of Grey lol) seem to grab it, read it and then say how horrible it is. The cover is different for my genre than the usual...so maybe that's it?

What's your blurb? Perhaps the description of your novel misleads readers into thinking it's a different genre?

James D. Macdonald · Sep 18, 2012

The "getting your target audience to notice your book" problem is just going to keep getting harder and harder.

When it was just one person walking down the street saying "Read my book," that was all right for that one person. Ten people, still not bad. A hundred ... then one of them dressed in a clown suit, so that one in the clown suit got a lot of attention. Then there were five hundred, all dressed in clown suits. Not so good. So one of them set his hair on fire. That one did okay because he got people to look at him ... but now there are around 500,000 people dressed in clown suits, running down the street with their hair on fire, waving banners and towing balloons, all yelling "Buy my book! Buy my book!"

Next year, a million. Year after that, two million.

Great for the readers. They have two million choices! Not-so-great for the writers. They have two sales.

Old Hack · Sep 18, 2012

Dreamy, welcome to AW.

You can all find out more about JA Konrath's publishing history here.

I'm sorry that you're having problems with your book, and that self publishing isn't how you expected it to be: I've worked as an editor for years, have had quite a few submissions pass through my hands in that time, and I have a few ideas about what might be going on here. I hope I don't sound too harsh, but I am going to be blunt.

DreamyPen16 said:
there's a huge audience...the problem is that I'm not reaching them for some reason. It's not even really about the sales.

There's a direct correlation between the number of books you sell, and the number of readers you have, so of course it's about the sales. And this is a core problem that many self published writers have: they just can't sell enough copies of their books to establish a decent fan-base.

If you go to our self publishing room you'll find a sticky thread which lists self publishing diary threads: some of our members report good sales but more report low sales, or don't report any sales at all. Poor sales are much, much more common than the great sales which Hocking and Konrath have enjoyed. It's to be expected. Which doesn't make it any easier to deal with, but it's what it is.

readers who normally would not read my genre (I'm assuming since I see the books on their shelves for example, are romance novels, YA, books about trolls and of course, 50 Shades of Grey lol) seem to grab it, read it and then say how horrible it is. The cover is different for my genre than the usual...so maybe that's it?

It might be the cover. Or there might be a problem with your blurb, your design, or your writing. We just can't tell you, I'm afraid, because we don't have enough information to go on.

I've reviewed a lot of self published books (see the link in my signature) and most of them have problems with everything: but the biggest and most common problem that I've seen is that the writing just isn't good enough. I don't suppose any of the writers who sent me their books thought they had published substandard books, but many had: it's really hard to gauge the quality of our own work.

Having seen how eagerly trade publishers sign up the very best work that they're sent, I have to wonder about this part of your post:

After years of rejection, I decided to self-pub

I'm not convinced that "years of rejection" is a good enough reason to self publish. Your book might have been rejected because you sent it to the wrong agents or editors; or because it had limited commercial appeal; or because (forgive me) it wasn't very good. As I've already said, I haven't read it so I don't know which is true: but if those last two possibilities are true, then they could be at the root of your problems and it's worth thinking about this carefully, and adjusting your expectations accordingly.

I hope you're still with me, and aren't upset.

If despite all my doom and gloom you're absolutely 100% certain that the problem doesn't lie with your writing, then you have some hard work ahead of you. You need to reconsider everything: your title, your editing, your design, your typesetting, your cover, your blurb, your marketing, your promotion: everything. Examine every aspect of your work, very carefully, and consider how well each point does its job. How well it positions your book in the market place. How well it gives your potential readers subtle clues about how much they might enjoy it. It's a lot of work, but it might well pay off.

Ari Meermans · Sep 18, 2012

Old Hack said:
If despite all my doom and gloom you're absolutely 100% certain that the problem doesn't lie with your writing, then you have some hard work ahead of you. You need to reconsider everything: your title, your editing, your design, your typesetting, your cover, your blurb, your marketing, your promotion: everything. Examine every aspect of your work, very carefully, and consider how well each point does its job. How well it positions your book in the market place. How well it gives your potential readers subtle clues about how much they might enjoy it. It's a lot of work, but it might well pay off.

Excellent post, OH. You know, I've learned so much about publishing--and self-publishing, in particular--from all the threads posted under the Publishing category. There's so much great information being shared by authors and editors alike it's almost mind-boggling. And, that last paragraph, OH, is a pure distillation of all those factors--spread across so many threads--that need to be considered when self-publishing. It's almost a checklist for every "job" a self-publishing author has to take on. Thank you for that.

DreamyPen16 · Sep 18, 2012

Thanks for the responses everyone, I really appreciate the support!

I do have clear tags at Amazon. Examples include "African American Fiction", "Urban Lit".

And I have thought about linking my book and putting everything about my book on here, but I guess I'm scared. :ROFL:

But ONLY because a few agents requested full manuscripts, so I don't know if I should put all my book info out on a forum (does that even matter?). Plus I guess I'm scared if someone googles me or my book, this forum comes up and they can read my deepest, darkest fears and questions!

My book is listed under my genre and I have sent books out to reviewers of my genre. Only two reviewers so far have finished and wrote their reviews out (I sent at least 12), which by the way were amazing...but it still hasn't translated into sales much. And I guess I get annoyed because the ones who claim to LOVE my book (writing me on FB to tell me, sending me an email or tweet) usually don't leave a review on Amazon or B&N (And I do ask... but I don't want to force them.). But those who stumble upon it and hate it...oh they will leave a review that same day!

Old Hack: Thanks for the welcome! And yes, I'm still with you! I can take constructive criticism and honesty, so no worries!

And you are correct, I honestly feel that I've queried many of the wrong agents in the past. In fact, only two agents (that I know of) represent books in my genre...as you see I'm new to this forum, so I didn't know of all the sites with agent info. I used to go through the authors credits and then google the agent name; which rarely, I found anything online. To be honest, I guess I thought it would be "easy" because I read so many success stories...it seems many of them just uploaded to Kindle and by the next day they were a success. Boy was I wrong!
I appreciate your words Old Hack, I really do! I was up all night thinking of a different cover, blurb even.

I really would love to show my book cover and blurb. Like I said, I guess I'm just scared because I don't want anyone to google and find me (the author!) writing my fears and questions or the agents I have written to see this either. If I'm making a big deal over nothing, please feel free to let me know and I will post! I really would love to receive the honest advice and critique from everyone!

And good luck to you too KTC!

*Sorry for any errors, I'm on my phone.

James D. Macdonald · Sep 18, 2012

DreamyPen16, just to be clear, you aren't querying a manuscript that's already out on Kindle, are you?

DreamyPen16 · Sep 18, 2012

James D. Macdonald said:
DreamyPen16, just to be clear, you aren't querying a manuscript that's already out on Kindle, are you?

I am actually. I've read on this forum that it's horrible to do, but I just took the chance because so many SP authors have gotten signed after the fact. The agents that have requested a full know of this as well. I hope it doesn't block all...otherwise I know now and will try differently for my second novel.

James D. Macdonald · Sep 18, 2012

...so many SP authors have gotten signed after the fact.

Yeah, and we can name every one of them.

Listen: If you sell about a hundred kajillion copies, you can resell that same title to a commercial publisher.

But it's more likely that, if you sell a hundred kajillion copies, the trade publisher won't be interested in that book but rather in your next book.

If you've sold less than a hundred kajillion copies, more likely the trade publishers will figure that you've sold every copy of this title that it's ever going to sell, and not be interested. Or, your book will be stamped Proven Loser, and no one will be interested.

Unless your sales are so very low that your book has essentially never been published because only your mom and your best friend from high school have ever read it. In that case you might be able to re-sell a book that's been previously published.

My best advice: Write a new, different, better book, using everything that you learned writing this one, and peddle it.

The sale of the next book to a trade house will boost the sales of your self-published work, and that will solve your problem: Your target audience will have noticed your book.

DreamyPen16 · Sep 18, 2012

James D. Macdonald said:
Yeah, and we can name every one of them.

Listen: If you sell about a hundred kajillion copies, you can resell that same title to a commercial publisher.

But it's more likely that, if you sell a hundred kajillion copies, the trade publisher won't be interested in that book but rather in your next book.

If you've sold less than a hundred kajillion copies, more likely the trade publishers will figure that you've sold every copy of this title that it's ever going to sell, and not be interested. Or, your book will be stamped Proven Loser, and no one will be interested.

Unless your sales are so very low that your book has essentially never been published because only your mom and your best friend from high school have ever read it. In that case you might be able to re-sell a book that's been previously published.

My best advice: Write a new, different, better book, using everything that you learned writing this one, and peddle it.

The sale of the next book to a trade house will boost the sales of your self-published work, and that will solve your problem: Your target audience will have noticed your book.

Thanks for the advice! And you're absolutely correct! It wasn't until I found this forum (earlier this month?) that I realized I should've waited longer before I took the plunge. And it's funny you bring up the next book because the agent I've spoken with has actually asked about my "next book" also. Everything you've said was spot on! Thank you so much!

Williebee · Sep 18, 2012

Uncle Jim is wise.

Scruffy, but wise.

Stacia Kane · Sep 19, 2012

DreamyPen16 said:
Thanks for the responses everyone, I really appreciate the support!

I do have clear tags at Amazon. Examples include "African American Fiction", "Urban Lit".

And I have thought about linking my book and putting everything about my book on here, but I guess I'm scared. But ONLY because a few agents requested full manuscripts, so I don't know if I should put all my book info out on a forum (does that even matter?).

Uncle Jim has already discussed the difficulties of submitting/selling a self-published book, but as an aside...the book is up on Amazon and thus for sale all over the world, but you're afraid to mention it on an internet forum?

Plus I guess I'm scared if someone googles me or my book, this forum comes up and they can read my deepest, darkest fears and questions!

Unless your title is very unique indeed, that's probably not going to happen. And just linking to it won't affect Google search results for the title, I believe (I could be wrong there).

I really suggest you post the link. We'd like to help you, but we really can't unless we can look at the book in question.

DreamyPen16 · Sep 19, 2012

Stacia Kane said:
Uncle Jim has already discussed the difficulties of submitting/selling a self-published book, but as an aside...the book is up on Amazon and thus for sale all over the world, but you're afraid to mention it on an internet forum?

Unless your title is very unique indeed, that's probably not going to happen. And just linking to it won't affect Google search results for the title, I believe (I could be wrong there).

I really suggest you post the link. We'd like to help you, but we really can't unless we can look at the book in question.

Hi Stacia! I was hesitant because I didn't want someone to do a random search of my book and up pops this thread. (I think I googled that if one linked, it wouldn't show up though, so that's what I'm going to try) I'm so happy to have found this forum and I want to be able to ask for help and vent at times...without the world, a potential reader or even agent coming across it. After all, I've never seen any of my favorite authors "whine" on a message board!

Here goes! I've had two Pumpkin Spice Lattes, a redbull and I'm wearing tough girl armor. Seasoned writers, editors and publishing experts...advice and wisdom appreciated.

Old Hack · Sep 19, 2012

Dreamy, I've looked at your book and downloaded the free sample, and I think that both your blurb and your writing need attention.

When you have 50 posts you'll be welcome to put a section of your writing up in Share Your Work for our members to critique, but until then I'm afraid that we can't give you more specific advice.

I'll close this now: if anyone wants it reopened, send me a PM and I'll consider it.

How can I get my "target audience" to notice my book?

DreamyPen16

Polenth

Mushroom

Joanna_Kaary

jjdebenedictis

is watching you via her avatar

DreamyPen16

bearilou

DenturePunk writer

Cyia

Rewriting My Destiny

KTC

Stand in the Place Where You Live

quicklime

all out of fucks to give

veinglory

volitare nequeo

Stacia Kane

Girl Detective

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman

Ari Meermans

MacAllister's Official Minion & Greeter

DreamyPen16

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle

DreamyPen16

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle

DreamyPen16

Williebee

Capeless, wingless, & yet I fly.

Stacia Kane

Girl Detective

DreamyPen16

Old Hack

Such a nasty woman