research

Marketing your novel: Content creation and sharing

/ patricialeslieauthor / Leave a comment

I’ve just spent the last few hours (not all in a row) looking for interesting articles to share on Twitter and include in my free online newsletter: Just Write.

just write

I’ve also been researching how to determine the target market and readership for my novels (current and future). Considering that I only recently “discovered” the genre of my writing (while researching the different categories that make up fantasy fiction), I thought having the correct label would make it easier.

Silhouette-Readers-11

Did you know that 1: the categories of fantasy fiction are confusingly varied and 2: knowing more about its many classifications does not help much. Previous to all this research, when asked who are my readers, I would vaguely answer: anyone between the age of around 15 and dead, male or female, and people who like a mix of fantasy, contemporary stories, mysteries, and action.

Now that I know that The Ouroboros Key (and my upcoming yet to be titled novel too just quietly) can be classified as “urban fantasy”, I may confidently answer any readership queries with: anyone between the age of around 15 and dead, male or female, and people who like a mix of fantasy, contemporary stories, mysteries, and action.

There will always be

Modern-day heroes find links to an ancient past in secret tunnels under the Rocky Mountains.

 

Hmmmmmm…..

Links to a few of the articles I’ve been reading will be in the next issue of Just Write. Click on the link to read for yourself or catch up on all my tweets by following me on Twitter @patricialesliea.

Another topic I’m interested in is how to improve readership and engagement of my blog and Facebook page.

Here are the top tips I’ve brought away from all my wanderings around the Internet.

  1. Blog posts should be clear and not too long.
  2. Facebook posts should be to the point, include a hook, and short.
  3. People are visual: use lots of pictures.
  4. Videos are really popular. Use as many as possible and if you’ve got the time and capability, make your own.
  5. Posts should help people. Tips, how-tos, diagrams, and sharing of journeys and processes.

Here is what I’ve concluded for myself:

  1. Maintaining and keeping a blog current and interesting can be hard work and requires a lot discipline.
  2. Facebook is great for catching up on all the latest news and keeping in touch with family and friends. Getting your voice heard when you are just one note in a vast chorus of people sharing their stories and promoting their endeavours is not so easy.
  3. Twitter is easier to manage and can be worked in quickly and in between other activities like travelling from home to work on the train. However, to keep your voice above a whisper it must also be fairly constant.
  4. Researching new ideas, improved ways of communicating, and changes to social networking sites needs to be a regular activity.
  5. Collecting images, videos and quotes and keeping them in a handy place (like Dropbox) is a great way to decrease time spent on individual posts and stir the creative juices when you’re feeling a little dry.

Finally, I’m very aware of copyright on images, videos, and words, and the grey area this often falls into when it comes to blogs and social media. I’m working on a separate article concerning that issue as well as the sharing of memes.

If you have some experiences or thoughts on That subject I’d love to hear them. Comment here or DM me on Facebook or Twitter.