Indie Book Club discussion

Hi Everyone,

My biggest dilemma with marketing is finding my target audience, which would be those readers who enjoy a more Gothic type of read in the realm of Dark Fantasy. I've looked into a couple Fantasy/SciFi promotional sites, but in viewing through the offerings, I don't really feel my book (The Honey Witch) quite fits. I'm not real certain if the book fits in a straight paranormal market either.

How do you find your target audience with Gothic Dark Fantasy? Is the genre more within a niche market?

Thanks~

Thayer wrote: "Hi Everyone,

My biggest dilemma with marketing is finding my target audience, which would be those readers who enjoy a more Gothic type of read in the realm of Dark Fantasy. I've looked into a cou..."

My books are multi-genre. They are medieval adventures dealing with the politics and lifestyles of medieval nobles (hence the series name Peers of Beinan) and grounded in my medieval history academic background, but set on a planet in a distant galaxy. There is both medieval technology and futuristic technology. Many Beinarians are psychic. The second book involves re-incarnation. Book one tells a coming of age story. Book two is a murder mystery.

So what genre do I fit in?

I think like you, this makes it hard to find that audience that will really love it.

The only answer I can give you after a year of trial and error is that you should take your time with different approaches, different book descriptions. Try to get reviews from readers coming from different genre preferences. The readers will tell you what they feel it is.

At the moment, I think I have a little traction from my family friendly writing. I've toned down the sex/violence and there's no profanity as a matter of logic: swear words are time/place centric. I know there's a backlash going on against the twerking and in your face sex stuff.

So my books appeal to people who are sick of the Ms. Cyruses and Mr. Thickes out there and want to just enjoy a good STORY.

But look, finding your audience and finding the right approaches that convert to sales is the hardest part of being an independent author. Indie writing is NOT for the person who wants to just get rich quick.

My sales are many times less than I was hoping by this time. But you know what? I've written well-researched, detailed, and scientifically accurate stories. Put out the best book possible and eventually people will notice.

I so appreciate your response, Laurel :)

I've tried a couple different genre approaches from Paranormal Mystery and Suspense to Urban Fantasy before deciding that Gothic Dark Fantasy is really the best fit.
I have experimented with descriptions, which I swear is more difficult than writing/editing an entire book!

I've never held any expectations on having outrageous sales, and so that is not an issue for me; however, I would like to find readers looking for Gothic reads and that has not been easy.

I think it is important to have more than one book in the offering, so I do keep writing.

Thank you!

Thayer wrote: "I so appreciate your response, Laurel :)

I've tried a couple different genre approaches from Paranormal Mystery and Suspense to Urban Fantasy before deciding that Gothic Dark Fantasy is really the..."

Keep writing, keep perfecting what is already out there (not telling you how many tweeks I've made to the existing books, tiny adjustments only I would recognize as "errors"). And yes, work rework and rework again that description. I just re-wrote the description AGAIN for book two Ghosts of the Past. It was prompted by a Halloween promotion of some indie books.

100 words and it took me FIVE HOURS to come up with that. So yes, I think the book description or any sort of marketing copy is harder than some scenes in the books!

Thayer wrote: "Hi Everyone. My biggest dilemma with marketing is finding my target audience, which would be those readers who enjoy a more Gothic type of read in the realm of Dark Fantasy..."

Marketing is not easy. The best advice I heard was to think about what the store recommendation might be; i.e. "if you liked this book, then you also might like [insert your book here]." Once you get an idea of what else your target audience is probably reading, that should answer your question.