The more I learn about publishing the more I hear about demographic and platform for the author-for the sake of marketing and knowing your audience.Now I would have said that I guessed my demographic would be predominately male-hence I am hoping for perhaps a bump in sales for the sake of Fathers Day-BUT I have to admit that the greater majority of people who have told me they have read the book are women.
It was 75% young men that bought Heroes of the Fallen at my first signing but the most I have heard from them since is "Great Book" or "I couldn't put it down."
All of which is great and good for the EGO-BUT that is also the end of it.
All the online reviews (with 3 exceptions) have been from women-heck even my 10 year old niece called to tell me she loved it and begged for a rough draft of book 2 Blood of Our Fathers to read early. Go to Grandma's.
So I have pondered-while I think it is a book that should appeal to men-perhaps I shouldn't mind saying the YA crowd could enjoy it-after all if my 10 year old niece, 12 year old nephew and 16 year old niece all loved it-why not more kids?
Honestly, I was surprised, it wasn't written to appeal to kids. I didn't expect them to read it.
So when it comes down to it, how much does demographic really affect newbie sales?
I would have said my audience was 18-55 year old males who like adventure fiction but I haven't the foggiest in how to reach them anyway-most don't blog, don't twitter, etc etc . . . So how do I reach them?
10 comments:
Women are most often the book buyers in the home. So when one of them tells you how much they like it, tell her to give it to her husband. Ask if she has kids who love to read fantasy. Tell them to let her teenagers read it. Keep saying it over and over.
My husband has no idea what books are out there, unless he sees the movie first.
I'm the one that buys books for him. I know what he likes and when I hear about a good book in one of the genres he likes I usually pick it up for him. And I pass along books that I've read to him as well.
Your key is probably to target the female audience and hope it makes its way into the hands of a man. Don't hesitate to market it for Father's Day!
I've got my husband reading it now, and I'll give it to my book-loving boys after that. Too bad I didn't get separate copies for each of them, but you know... I can only do so much. I must get me one of those T-shirts. I used that line constantly in high school in Vegas.
Thanks Karen.
I appreciate it Lisa.
Great Angie-I had no idea you were from Sin City.
Well, women are biggest readers and buyers of books today so I'm not surprised. I've actually had quite a few women respond to my books too, which I think of as generally more male oriented.
Thanks Charles, it's kinda what I imagined. When I think of all the people I know on a personal level I do have a lot of guy friends that read (perhaps higher than a real average) but the women still outnumber them.
So I'll preface my comment by saying this is just a guess on my part, but I think the way to reach the men is often through the women. Passionate male readers probably go out and buy their own books, but I know that in my life it's me saying to my husband, a guy friend, or the teenage boy in our ward, "Here, read this." that generally gets them to try out a new book.
Luckily the female demographic is easier to reach than some might think. There are female readers like me who love nothing more than a good sword fight. Don't worry, we're passing your fab book on to the men in our lives.
I truly appreciate that Kim. Thank you.
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Men don't buy books. Except me and maybe you and Justin Bieber.
I'm just kidding.
I'm pretty sure you don't buy any books.
Th-I've been known to get a few here and there.
This has actually been about my driest last couple of months in forever simply because we have been dead broke. Good thing I have a massive back catalog of a library.
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