Finding Your Audience

[HisSweetie]

Hi All,

I've written a mainstream/general fiction novel, Kings & Queens, intended for a secular audience. It contains suspence, romance, action, violence and mystery, not genre specific at all.

My raw hook for now: When seventeen-year-old Majesty Alistair overhears two fellow students in the woods plotting to shoot up a church, striving to learn their identities makes her a target of terror and she uncovers a far more dangerous conspiracy, one that affects everyone.

The main themes for the book are testing the bonds of friendship, overcoming fear, and finding peace and love in a chaotic, dangerous world.

In my novel, Majesty's best friend, Derek, is pretty dispicable, he's lusty and has rage built up inside. His path of self discovery leads him to the foot of the cross and transforms him. I didn't just through it in for there to be a salvation message. This messed up kid really, really needs Jesus. I feel I hit the right chord in conveying God's grace and showing how redemption works but without being preachy. It's only a small part of my book, but it resonates nonetheless.

When I had the dream for the book, yes literally, pretty cool, I just wrote it without giving thought to audience or the book's niche in the market. I know I haven't given a ton of detail, but I'm not sure if I should include Christians in my audience...or men, who, demographically speaking, mainly read thrillers or best sellers.

Out of 96,000 words my book does contain about 15 swears, that either emerge in thought or dialogue. I don't speak with profanity myself, but it almost got ridiculous in some instances where it sounded like I as an author was doing everything in my power to avoid it. All my main characters are teenagers, who are not saved. To bring authenticy to it, I stopped worrying about it. This bit of profanity in the novel concerns me as I know most Christians find it offensive. Do you think I should include believers in my market? I think most would be happy with the way I handled the grace aspect of the book, but they might be turned off by the minimal profanity, even though it's far less than most movies have.

Also, what are you working on and who do you consider your audience to be? If you're writing for secular audiences, do you go after the Christian segment too?


Have a nice day.

Amy

[wgjones3]

Okay, first off--I know you didn't ask about this, but since you included the hook I feel somewhat obliged to comment. Take your hook and cut it down to fifteen words or less, but make sure the reader still gets the same info as what your current hook conveys. The fifteen words or less hook will then make a nice opening sentence for your query letter or a jacket blurb for your book.

I don't know if you're self publishing or looking to go the traditional route, so my response is somewhat muddied by that.

Now, as far as audience and markets, those are two different things, and they'll mean different things at different times in the publication process. Assuming your book is unpublished, your first audience is with an agent or editor working within the market to which you want to break in.

As a writer, there are two general markets for your work. ABA--also referred to as the secular market, and CBA--aka the Christian market.

What you'll find is that ABA and CBA publishers are so wildly different in the way they market their books that it's almost impossible to find a crossover point. If a book has runaway sales in the CBA, then secular booksellers will carry and promote it--see Left Behind for example--but I can't think of any cases where a secular book was promoted within the CBA marketplace.

Since you've already stated your intended reader is secular, you'll probably want to refrain from targeting your initial efforts within the CBA. There are a few houses that look at material which contains "objectionable content," but by and large that's not what CBA is about.

Once your book is published, it will be largely up to you to cultivate an audience for it. You can do that in any number of ways, and you can target different marketing efforts to different reader groups.

The good news is, a lot of Christians read outside the CBA, so even though you may not be writing for the CBA reader, you'll still reach Christian readers. But if you market a published work explicitly toward Christians, you'll run a risk of alienating non-Christian readers. Ironically, if you don't market to Christians, even though your story is appealing to Christians, you're still quite likely to have a Christian readership.

Now, if you're trying to get published in the secular market, I wouldn't even let the Christian angle factor into my query or submission package unless the agent or editor has is known to work or have worked in both markets. Again, you don't want to put off a non-Christian who otherwise has no reason to dislike your work. Remember what Jesus said, harmless as doves, wise as serpents.

There's a lot of information out there about marketing books once they're published. Don't get into that until you've got product to sell. If you've already self-published, immerse yourself in marketing and advertising books until you've got a firm grasp on how to effectively market yourself. Greg Stielstra's PYROMARKETING (http://pyromarketing.com/) is a really good book to get started with and I believe you can still download the whole book as an audio book off the website for free.

[Phy]

It sounds like you have a strong idea of your intended target. Make sure you have the ok from above, and then work your plan and stick your landing. If God endorses what you're doing and why, that's enough.

[HisSweetie]

Thanks for the great advice. Very helpful.

[PastorArlie]

Hi ! For years the Lord told me " Arlyne write your book, your book is the answer" Well, I never considered myself a writer, so my older sister wrote my story, BUT she was afraid that if she wrote it in laymans language(the way I talk) that it would be offensive, and no one would read it. She really smoothed it out. It's called "Arlyne Lucille, From Hellish Deepths to Heavenly Heights" The people who have read it said they thought it was really good. As far as I know it's not selling. Do you think I should write my life story as it really took place ? I'll be waiting to get your answers, this is all new to me.
Thanks and God Bless !

[Phy]

People keep telling the author everything they think they need to know, but all they really need is one thing - the green light from God. If He gives you peace about telling your story as it happened, I'd strongly consider going for it.

[PastorArlie]

Thanks Phy !!! I'll pray about it tonight again. The book that my sister wrote may not be selling because God told me to write it. Should I decide to write the book I'll be driving all of you crazy with questions. Blessings ! PastorArlie

[Phy]

Thanks Phy !!! I'll pray about it tonight again. The book that my sister wrote may not be selling because God told me to write it. Should I decide to write the book I'll be driving all of you crazy with questions. Blessings ! PastorArlie

Well, there are two different questions here; what does God want you to write, or what do you want to try to sell. The former question assumes that you are willing to write what should be written regardless of market sensibility or a fickle buying public. You're writing what you believe should be written, period.

The second is a different kettle of fish. If you're looking to sell books, write what the public is clamoring for. Just be aware that if you write the story that God wants you to write, that there is no guarantee it will sell.

I guess it comes down to being God-smart or market-shrewd. Is there a nexus where one can do both?

That's a fine question, one I haven't figured out yet.

[GentleJourneyAu]

Thanks for your suggestions W.G. I just clicked on the PyroMarketing link and bought a used book for $1.98. I have a similar problem to HisSweetie. My first book was geared toward the mainstream market because when I started it many years ago, I was not even aware of a Christian Market. Now the back jacket describes the story with no reference to the Christian values found in it. I had kind of hoped to reach people with the Word who did not necessarily know the Lord. Sort of not always preaching to the choir. Anyway, when I first started, I didn't know I would have to be so involved in the marketing side.

[HisSweetie]

What is your book, Elaine? And how long ago was it publsihed?

[GentleJourneyAu]

Gentle Journey and it was published in November last year. It is on Amazon and Barnes and Noble etc.

[ChristChild]

I haven't posted in a long time, but I felt the need to reply to the profanity issue. This was dealt with by writers in the past, up until the last few decades, in a simple manner--they inferred the language so that it would not be offensive, but still get across the idea, so as to be true to the character. You could you the milder form and say, King John cursed profusely, then said something; or you could say, King John yelled, "You @#$% idiot! Didn't I just tell you to move your sorry @#$% away from the rare art work?" This infers the cursing but leaves it completely up to the imagination of the reader. I have no idea why people have felt the need to move away from this type of thing and actually use profane language, especially Christians. You still get the idea very plainly, yet without being directly offensive. It gives the person the option of just reading the @#$% as "Blankety" or "Blank" in their mind if they want to do so, or imagining the word.

Shane