IWSG & da Joyful Brigade

Wednesday, March 4, 2015



Good morning, IWSGers. The days do fly quickly, don’t they? What is this group about? 

‘To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!’




This month, I published a New Adult novel, Perfection. The reviews are great so far and I dare say the story is a good one, but like my mother used to say ‘A fisherman will never say his fish stinks’. In other words, self-praise is no recommendation.

Anyway, I’ve grown in many ways on my writing journey, but my insecurity has to do with the fact that I haven’t been working the way I should on finding my audience. There are several million Jamaicans outside of Jamaica and I believe they are part of my audience. The cursory research I’ve done hasn’t produced much result and the one avenue I found didn’t yield any return

Unfortunately, writers want to write and we view that as our biggest priority. However, we also have to market and that’s a fact of life. Soooooo, I have to get with the programme and continue my research, otherwise I won’t ever know what effect or reach my stories can have if I never find my target market. What are you doing to find yours?

On another note, have you signed up as yet for the Blogging from A-Z Challenge. If you haven’t, make sure you hop over to here and get on the list now! Speaking of which, I’m still looking for people to assist with visiting blogs during the A-Z Challenge. On my Joyful Brigade, I have the following persons, P.V. Ariel, Sheena Kay Graham and Michelle Wallace. Can you give some time while you’re visiting others on the A-Z trail? Leave me comment or drop me an email. Thanks!

37 comments:

  1. Congrats on your new publication! I think your stories will travel the world.
    I plan to sign up soon for the A to Z Challenge. It really is a big, fun party.
    Play off the Page

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  2. I cannot believe we are so close to the A-to-Z! I am one of Lisa's minions and so excited to get started!
    I have a few Jamaican friends at work here outside of Philadelphia. It never occurred to me to share your blog with them but what a great idea, I will do that.
    Congratulations on your new book, so exciting!
    doreenmcgettigan.com

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    1. It's true, the time has just zipped by. Thanks so much for thinking of that, Doreen. I'm sure sending your friends my way would help.

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  3. I wonder how you would go about locating those people? A Google search?

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    1. I tried a Google search, but like I said, it was cursory.

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  4. Keep the good reviews coming! That goes a long way to reduce insecurity. Congrats.

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    1. Thanks, Lee. I need to do the work and work up the sales numbers.

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  5. Love that saying of your mother's! Good luck with PERFECTION and the A-Z Challenge!

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  6. Congrats on your new book! I am still thinking about whether I'll have time to sign up for A to Z - I know I've got to decide soon!

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  7. Find the right audience is such a big part of marketing. Let me know when you figure that one out.

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  8. Wow - I'm just like you. Marketing? Do I really have to do that? Can't I just write? I guess it's part of the process *rolls eyes* But congrats on your new book! Hurray for accomplishments!

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    1. Thanks! Yeah, the marketing is part of what we have to do, like it or not.

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  9. Congratulations! That's so exciting! I don't have any advice to offer about finding your audience as I am terrible at it. But I wish you all the best luck :)
    ~AJ from Naturally Sweet
    An April A-Z co-host

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    1. Thanks so much, AJ. One foot in front of the other. That's my approach. :)

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  10. Congrats on your new release. When thinking about marketing, I keep going back to the best advice I ever read: nothing sells your first book like your 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. Hang in there and best wishes.

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  11. Congrats on your new release, woo! (your covers are beautiful, by the way) Yes, the marketing is the tough part. I'm 6 months prior to my release, and am strategizing and organizing ideas, myself. Are you involved on Twitter? Sometimes that helps in reaching a wider audience (not just "buy my book" but actual relationship building, which widens your outreach). Best of luck to you!

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    1. Thanks, Carol. Best of luck to you with marketing. I am on Twitter, but like everything else, my tweeting time is limited.

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  12. I'm horrible at finding my audience too. I'm hoping that my A to Z blogging challenge topic will help me locate a few of those in my target audience--the scifi fantasy crowd. I'll be blogging about movies from the 80s in those genres.

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    1. We can always hope, Charity! I wish I knew where to tell you do go. Maybe search Facebook to see if there are any Sci-Fi reading groups on there?

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  13. Love the badge! Its fun to see the clever ideas other hosts are coming up with.And good luck with Perfection and hoping you get scores of great reviews!

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    1. He's a cute guy, isn't he, Stephen? Thanks a million!
      I've gone direct with the minion request since the general call-outs don't help that much.

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  14. Good luck with your new book and the research. :)

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  15. Finding your target market - and how to put yourself and your book in front of them - is so important. I hope your research yields some good results.

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  16. I love your A-Z badge! Makes me smile :)
    I think you're doing great at finding your audience. It's hard. I'm still pounding away at that job, too.

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  17. My book comes out in May, and I've been more active in joining groups that are interested in that genre. I also got new photos, a new website, a book trailer, and I have changed the focus of my blog to appeal to that audience.

    My old blog would have been great if I wrote inspirational novels, but it didn't have a thing to do with dark fiction! As always, though, it takes time to build an audience.

    Good luck with your marketing!

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  18. My market? My readers? I have a few but like you said writing is what I love doing and marketing is something I'm learning. Both are long hard roads. I'm hoping they will evolve as time goes by. :-)

    Here's my link if you'd like to drop by :-)

    Anna from Shout with Emaginette

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  19. Congrats on your new book, JL! Marketing is such a tough nut to crack! If we could just write ~ but then we do want to be read also! LOL! I haven't really put much thought into marketing my book yet; I guess because I'm so early in the process. My audience would certainly include Canadians and people interested in Aboriginal issues. For your middle school books, have your tried presenting at children's literacy conferences? Speaking at middle schools? I have a lot to learn about marketing, I know!

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  20. Congratulations on the book, JL! There are many, many Jamaicans outside of Jamaica--I work with several expat Jamaicans here in New York. I haven't really thought too, too much about audience since I'm nowhere near publishing anything yet, but I have some avenues in mind. My audience would include historical fiction readers, mostly, and for this book, contemporary fiction or women's fiction readers as well.

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  21. Congrats on the new book. I have no idea what I'm doing to find my audience. Still struggling with that. Although I have been a little better and with my upcoming, made a list of book bloggers I want to email for reviews. Didn't do that with the last one.

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  22. Finding that target audience - that isn't in the blogs - has been on my mind a lot lately. That is why I keep querying and hoping to be picked up by an agent or small press that has a marketing plan.

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  23. Marketing can be tough for writers. Just keep going Joy and if you can afford it hire help. Glad to be part of the minion team.

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  24. Its seems to be a nice publication best of luck

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Don't be shy, I'd love to hear what you think.