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Authors often do very little research to really understand who their potential audience is – or could be.  Asking them: “Who is your audience and who is your competition?” one might receive only vague answers …  However, these are essential questions that are not only very important for self-publishers, but also for authors who want to go with a traditional publisher!  They need to proof to the agent or the publisher that they have done their homework.
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How Can You Research Your Competition?
First of all make a long list with possible keywords that readers might use to find a similar book.
Check out the complete categories / genres at Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Kobo, Apple, Sony, Google Books, Waterstones etc. and study all the books, that could be akin to your future work. Visit several public libraries to learn about your competition. Borrow the most interesting ones…

I’ve been tagged by Samantha Stroh Bailey, author of the fabulously fun novel, Finding Lucas, co-founder of the equally fun and fabulous BookBuzz author/reader mix and mingle, and one of my closest friends and confidants to participate in the Blog Roll – Writing Process. In the post below, I have answered questions regarding my writing process and at the end of the post, I have tagged three authors to answer the questions too and tag three more authors and so on and so on and so on.

Question: What am I working on?

I currently have two works-in-progress. The first is almost ready for submission to my publisher and is about a thirty-nine year old woman who is struggling with the impending end of her thirties having not reached life milestones like marriage and children typically reached at an earlier age. I hope my publisher, Booktrope, will release this…

*Since this got super long while writing it, please note that this is now part I in a…more-than-that-part series. Let’s see how this goes.

I don’t know if you guys know this, but I’ve had a book out for two whole weeks now, so I’m kiiiiind of an expert at everything relating to publishing.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Whatever, though, because the truth is, no one really knows WTF they’re doing as far as I can tell, and so much of this business is luck, and I’m only one person with one experience. (Though I am gonna speak based on what I’ve learned from others as well, in a general sense.) But this falls under the category of things I don’t think people blog about enough, which tends to be my forte, so, hey! LET’S DO THIS.

Let’s start from the beginning: the actual announcement. Here are the few things you should…

As I draft this blog post, I’m a chapter away from finishing my fourth manuscript. It’s also the third and final book in my Isla’s Inheritance trilogy—and it’s under contract with a scheduled release date partway through next year, so needless to say I’m pretty keen to get it whipped into shape so I can present it to my editor with a pretty pink bow wrapped around it.

A virtual bow. You can get those, right?

But here’s what I’m going to do (after I do an ecstatic dance around the house, frightening the dogs, and have a brag on Twitter):

That’s right. I’m going to step away from the manuscript. And, gentle reader, if you’re in this situation you should too. If you’re anything like me, you’ll want to dive headfirst into that precious document, to roll around in your words. You’ll be riding the rush of those final…

Good morning, bloggers!

I have a treat for you! We have a very special guest today, JO JENNER! She  is a very talented author and a very supportive member of Rave Reviews Book Club. I couldn’t be happier to share the floor with a fellow member. So without further ado, here is Jo!

From Idea to Novel

I have often been told by people that they don’t know how I think up the ideas for my stories. I can honestly say neither do I. Sometimes they just pop into my head. Sometimes I will be given a prompt, for example a first line or a theme, as part of a competition. And sometimes I will use my own prompts, books with writers’ prompts and story cubes.

Then I write and see where the story takes me. Sometimes I come to a stop half way through and that generally…

I’m excited to invite A.R. Rivera, author of Between Octobers, to my blog today discussing “The Art of Falling” – I think I have found my soul sister of klutziness 🙂 Without further ado:

I don’t think of myself as a clumsy person. But I must admit that I seem to possess a real knack for executing spectacular falls.
The biggest, most embarrassing ones come along when I’m mingling among large groups of people, feeling confident—yeah! I’m getting published. My book is so good. I’m so happy! My life is awesome!
(Yes, these are my actual thoughts.)
The most recent spill was at the husband’s company picnic. He works with a really great group of people. They are all smart and funny, and generally great to be around. Lots of them are bibliophiles, like myself, so it’s natural to discuss my writing among them.
(CUE SHAMELESS PLUG: Between Octobers…