M. K. Theodoratus, Fantasy Writer, blogs about the books she reads--mostly fantasy and mystery authors whose books catch her eye and keep her interest. Nothing so formal as a book review, just chats about what she liked. Theodoratus also mutters about her own writing progress or ... lack of it.

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Thursday, February 26, 2015

My Worst Writing Fear: Not Finding My Readers -- T. W. Fendley


My Worst Writing Fear:

Not Finding My Readers

by

T. W. Fendley 


Since my first novel was published in 2011, my worst writing fear has been that I won’t connect “my” readers. With so many books competing for readers’ attention, it’s not easy to find my niche.

   One technique, I've been told, is to envision the “perfect reader,” and market to that person. The closest I’ve come to that is myself, since I write the kind of stories I like to read. In particular, I think my readers are those who liked:
·                     -  books by Jules Verne as a kid
·                     -  epic time travel books like Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series
·                    -   books about cycles and history such as Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series
·                     -  nonfiction books about metaphysical concepts like Gregg Braden writes
·                     - mystical fiction like James Redfield’s Celestine Prophecy and Elisabeth Haich’s Initiation, and
·                     -  adventure stories with aliens like the movie Super 8.

   One way I find out about books is through my friends on Goodreads and Library Thing. I’ve offered giveaways on both sites, and several hundred people added my books to their “to read” list. Yay! Through those events, I gave away 10 print and 10 ebook copies of my first novel, the historical fantasy ZERO TIME, and I got only two reviews. So far, I’ve given away a dozen print and 25 ebook copies of my young adult fantasy, THE LABYRINTH OF TIME, with similar results.

   Which brings me to the gorilla in the room. The marketing experts say you need good reviews—and lots of them--to attract readers. I believe that’s true, since I look at customer reviews for most things I buy. While I’ve been very happy with the reviews I’ve received, I’m pretty sure more would help me reach the right readers. This year, a couple of months before its release, I put LABYRINTH up on Net Galley. I got only a smattering of reviews, but a few hundred of the subscribers--bloggers, librarians and reviewers--learned about it. Awareness is the first step, right?

   I also envisioned readers who are as passionate as I am about ancient American history, particularly the Inca, Aztec and Maya cultures. So I joined the Historical Novel Society in 2011 and submitted ZERO TIME for review—it didn’t happen.  A couple of years later, I went to a Maya symposium at Tulane University, hoping to connect directly with archeologists and historians. Only nonfiction books were sold at the conference, and few of the other attendees seemed interested in fiction. How, then, to reach more armchair archeology and history lovers like myself?

   Perhaps, as one marketing guru suggests, I just need to be direct and ask my readers to leave reviews. You’d think with all the self-promotion I’ve been doing, that wouldn’t seem awkward, but it does. Of course, until I became a writer, I didn’t realize how important it was to get reviews. At some point, I will revise the copy at the end of the books to make my request.

   When I worked in corporate America, I used to have a bull’s eye drawn on a sheet of paper posted on the wall outside my cubicle.  When I got really frustrated, I’d bang my head on it. I know—not very sophisticated. My coworkers used it, too. Dealing with a bureaucracy can be frustrating, so we found a harmless way to let off a little steam and put things in perspective. I’m finding the publishing world at least as perplexing. Maybe it’s time to drag out the old bull’s eye—I have the perfect place for it on my office wall.

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Author Bio:
T. W. Fendley

The Scribe   T.W. Fendley is an award-winning author of historical fantasy and science fiction for adults and young adults. She began writing fiction full-time in 2007 after working twenty-five years in journalism and corporate communications. In October 2011, L&L Dreamspell LLC published her debut historical fantasy novel for adults, Zero Time. Her young adult contemporary fantasy novel, The Labyrinth of Time, was released in November 2014. Her short stories are available on Kindle and Audible.
    She fell in love with ancient American cultures while researching story ideas at the 1997 Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop. Since then, she’s trekked to archeological sites in the Yucatan, Peru and American Southwest. When she’s not writing, T.W. explores the boundaries of consciousness through remote viewing and shamanism. She currently lives near St. Louis with her artist husband and his pet fish.
  You can find T.W. Fendley online on her author website and Blog plus on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn


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BLURB:
The Labyrinth of Time

 
   Spending spring break in Peru with her grandmother isn’t sixteen-year-old Jade’s idea of fun. She’d much rather be with her friends at Lake of the Ozarks. Then she meets Felix, a museum director’s son. Jade discovers only she and Felix can telepathically access messages left on engraved stones in the age of dinosaurs.
   Following the ancient stones’ guidance, they enter the Labyrinth of Time and–with a shapeshifting dog’s help–seek a red crystal called the Firestone. But time is running out before the First Men return on the night of the second blue moon.

  Can Jade restore the Firestone’s powers before the First Men return to judge humanity?