Who’s Your Target Audience? Do You Know? #MFRWauthor #WriteTip #Writers #Authors

It’s been a while since I posted. I’m sorry for disappearing and apologise for the incredibly long absence. Life got in the way, but I’m back now and ready to help you to level up!

I remember when I first decided to pursue a writing career; one of the first aspects I had to understand was who my audience was. Of course, I immediately thought: easy-peasy. My audience is the same as every other romance author out there. Women between the ages of 18 and 100. If she is able to read, she’s my audience. Rich or poor, it doesn’t matter, so long as she enjoys reading romance. Nor does it matter where she lives. Romance is world-renowned and everyone loves it, right?

I’m betting some of you have boiled your marketing aim down to that same wide margin. What would you think if I told you you’re looking at this thing all wrong? My light bulb moment came once I realised my target audience wasn’t who I thought it was. If you don’t know who your readers are, you can’t effectively market to them. How are you going to target everyone? Impossible. And here’s the rub—not everybody will love your amazing, beautifully written story. What? Yep! So you need to know your audience. Take the time to figure it out. It’s like trying to understand your main character’s internal conflict—you need to dig deep.

Your real audience.

As an example, my target audience looks a little like this. Yes, I have readers who are in their

Created by Crystal Swan

early twenties and readers who are well into their seventies. These are the ones I know of so I will say my readers are between the ages of 20 and 80. Notice I say readers and not women because there are men who also enjoy romance novels; I have a few of those, too! So that’s the age and gender of my readers.

S/he has Christian views. Most of them go to church and read the Bible, but are not religious. They love God and have a strong relationship with our Saviour. Abhors profanity, blasphemy, and gratuitous sex and violence. But while this is the case, my target audience are open-minded and enjoy the gift and pleasures of lovemaking with their husband/wife. Yes, lovemaking is in the Bible and not only Song of Solomon. Read the various books and see for yourself if you don’t believe me. Anyway, back to my target audience. They are gentle-minded and long for a world filled with love and not hate. S/he prefers the lighter side of life and loves to laugh. So fun, feel-good, saucy stories are perfect for them. 

My stories are not marketed as Inspirational or Christian romance, but my characters believe, pray and even go to church off stage. If you look at my author brand, you’ll see I market my books as sweet ‘n’ spicy romantic comedy. That’s because they’re like the sweet romance, but the bedroom doors are wide open. You won’t find foul language, but you will get super-spicy love scenes. And my audience will enjoy my brand of emotional conflict and humour. 

You can't please everyone.

In the same way that we don’t all enjoy the every book, not everyone is our audience. It’s our job as authors to pinpoint our readers and market our books to them. Do you know your audience? Tell me all about it in the comments section below.

Until next time, write with clarity and style!

Monique xx

Monique DeVere is a full-time author of Sweet 'n' Spicy Romantic Comedy and Contemporary Romance. She also writes Christian Supernatural Suspense movie scripts. She is married to her very own strong-silent-type hero and has four children. When Monique isn’t writing or spending quality time with her family, she likes to armchair travel to distant and exciting parts of the world and considers herself to have the best job on earth. 

You can visit her at moniquedevere.com where she invites you to join her exclusive Sweet ‘n’ Spicy Readers Club packed full of goodies for her members. Monique loves to hear from her readers, do contact her at monique@moniquedevere.com.

When Seasons aren't Seasonal #MFRWAuthor

HOT HOT

On Easter Sunday I had to leave the Agility practice area after ten minutes because it was so oppressively hot. Practice time shifted from 10 AM to 8:30 AM since summer was obviously here. The next weekend it was damp and chilly and no thank you I’ll stay home this Sunday. The weekend after that I watched snow pile up around my new plantings. After that Easter Sunday I washed my heavier sleeping sweats and put them in totes to store for the next few months. Back out they came since these are also my go to writing clothes.

Welcome to Spring in New Mexico.

Kinda Cold

Why am I blathering on about climate anomalies? Don’t we all from time to time have to deal with weather oddities? Of course we do. Since we generally know at least a few days in advance we can prepare by opening or closing windows, and by wardrobe awareness. This time of year I keep my furnace turned very low but not completely off, to maintain at least minimal comfort in the house. All these adjustments address immediate needs and can be handled pretty much in the moment. The same as we can adjust our writing to reflect a new plot idea, a new turn of phrase.
The early spring, after a milder winter, followed the pattern of no real pattern one becomes accustomed to in the Southwest high desert. One deals with it by being flexible, prepared with a wide range of clothing options.Yes there is a parallel to our writing world. We dress to the immediate need, not automatically to the calendar. In that same fashion, we write, or should be writing, the story we need to share. Not the story we think people might want to be reading in six months and certainly not the story people are reading now. That would be similar to pulling out your bikinis (yours, not mine, I gave up on those a long time ago) because by glory the calendar says May even if the sky says gotcha and do you want snow or hail or both? We can’t know for sure purple aliens in chain mail will still be popular by the time our book is done. And do we really want to write about chain mail purple aliens?
Write your book. Not anyone else’s.
BICHOK, y’all

Pretty Much Perfect

Mona Karel, list moderator

Mona Karel is the writing alter ego for Monica Stoner, who gave up life in Southern California to

retire with her husband to New Mexico. Not a great sacrifice except between the sunsets, the gardens, and the Salukis it's harder than ever to find time to write! Her Stormhaven series is set in New Mexico, telling about strong men and the women who understand them. A Question of Faith

It's Retweet Day with #MFRWauthor and #MFRWorg

Retweet Day for #MFRWauthor - Join the fun

For this month's Retweet Day on Twitter, we'd like to invite all Marketing for Romance Writers to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet. Make sure to use #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg

Once the tweet has been posted, click the ... (three dots) in the right hand corner.

This will give you the option to (copy link to tweet). Copy the link and put it in the comment section of this post.

Remember to visit the blog on the second Wednesday of the month and retweet everyone on the list.

Also in an effort to help people find tweets to share of yours, click the ... (three dots) again and pin your tweet to your profile page. This will give you an easy way to find and count how many people retweeted your post.

Don't forget the Rules

1. Have #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg in the tweet. (This retweet day is to promote each other and our group.)

2. Do not use profanity or sexual explicit graphics. Keep it for all age groups.

3. Return on Retweet Day and click each link and share everyone's post on Twitter.

4. Click the G+ symbol on the tweet so you can see where you left off, and to add a little more visibility to the post.

5. No more than 3 hashtags in a post. Any more than this and Twitter might believe it is spam.

Here's to a great day of retweets,

Tina Gayle
www.tinagayle.net
free read
https://www.instafreebie.com/free/EwL6x

Join us at #MFRWauthor and #MFRWorg It's Author Retweet Day

Retweet Day for #MFRWauthor - Join the fun

For this month's Retweet Day on Twitter, we'd like to invite all Marketing for Romance Writers to set up tweets for their books.

Go into Twitter and create a tweet. Make sure to use #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg

Once the tweet has been posted, click the ... (three dots) in the right hand corner.

This will give you the option to (copy link to tweet). Copy the link and put it in the comment section of this post.

Remember to visit the blog on the second Wednesday of the month and retweet everyone on the list.

Also in an effort to help people find tweets to share of yours, click the ... (three dots) again and pin your tweet to your profile page. This will give you an easy way to find and count how many people retweeted your post.

Don't forget the Rules

1. Have #MFRWauthor or #MFRWorg in the tweet. (This retweet day is to promote each other and our group.)

2. Do not use profanity or sexual explicit graphics. Keep it for all age groups.

3. Return on Retweet Day and click each link and share everyone's post on Twitter.

4. Click the G+ symbol on the tweet so you can see where you left off, and to add a little more visibility to the post.

5. No more than 3 hashtags in a post. Any more than this and Twitter might believe it is spam.

Here's to a great day of retweets,

Tina Gayle
www.tinagayle.net
free read
https://www.instafreebie.com/free/EwL6x

5 Tips to Avoid Author Burnout @kayelleallen #writertips #amwriting #MFRWauthor

Burnout: Melt, break, or become otherwise unusable. If you've experienced burnout, you know how hard it is on the mind, body, and spirit. No simple process can eliminate it, but even little things can help. 

Burnout is dangerous.

When writers get it, they stop writing. Teachers stop teaching. Mothers stop mothering. Wives stop... well, being wifey. Avoid burnout if possible. If you've got it, deal with it. Here are five things you might not have considered.

Put off decisions.

Rather than say "no" say "I'll think about it." Then write it down, so that your mind isn't busy trying to remember. When burned out, the mind stops being able to focus, so we put off doing things because we don't have the energy or ability to decide. We stress when we have unmade decisions. Listen to your body. Allow yourself the freedom to put off making a decision until you've rested. Write it down and then come back to it later.

Permit yourself to take a break.

Notice that I didn't say "take a break." I said to "permit yourself to do it." One of the reasons we don't fully rest is that we feel guilty for taking time off. When you get away from the computer, or your job, or your family, or whatever is burning you out, let yourself relax. Give yourself mental permission for that break. You'll feel better than if you walk away but then mentally pace until you can get back to your desk.

Put things in order.

Straighten your desk. Make your bed. Fold the towels and put them away. Sweep the kitchen. Wipe down one shelf of the refrigerator. Doing mundane tasks that make your environment neater, cleaner, and more organized can free your mind for other tasks. When you're folding laundry, your mind isn't focused on the task, yet you are accomplishing something important.

Purchase something you've wanted but normally wouldn't have bought.

Not talking about a diamond bracelet, although if you can afford it and want it, then why not? I'm talking about some little thing that you would get as a impulse gift for a friend that you might not indulge in for yourself. I bet when you read that line you thought of something right away. Why not let yourself have it? You deserve a goodie.

Pay attention to something insignificant.

Pet a kitten and notice the underlying stripes in its fur. Feed a goldfish and watch it swim. Toss a ball for a toddler and watch how their legs move when they run. Unwrap a straw and look at the way the paper is fastened around it. These things are minute details, but each has meaning in its own way. Doing this can give your mind the kind of break it needs to think about other things.

Want another source of ideas on handling burnout? I was inspired recently by a blog called The Freedom Experiment. There were many articles on self care. One of them inspired this post.

How do you avoid burnout? Share it in the comments.

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Kayelle Allen, author of unstoppable heroes and warriors who purr
https://bit.ly/kayelle-books
Twitter https://twitter.com/kayelleallen
Facebook https://facebook.com/kayelleallen.author