Sassy Surveys, Blood & Snow

[Note: I'm also on the Indelible's blog today (link).]

I've always loved taking fun quizzes (not school quizzes).

Like back when I used to get my Sassy magazine (I had a subscription), I always liked filling out those surveys that told you if That Boy Was a No! or a Go!

I saw him first.
Neener neener.

Or if I had a Bookish Betty personality or a Bubbling Brooke... (I made those up in case you're wondering. #nerdalert)

So anyway, I've bumped into a Burning Question, and I've decided to turn it into a fun survey for YOU, reader-friends! (whee!!!)

Here, sit down. I'll French braid your hair while I explain it to you.

It's about Amazon Categories and buying books from online bookstores...

Background: On Sept. 4, 2012, when I hit "publish" on my very first indie book The Truth About Faking (link), I was pretty ignorant about how to reach readers.

I mean, we're talking about a place where there's no bookstore, no clerk, no nothing. How do I let people know what to expect? Well, first write a good book blurb, and then there's this...

Where do I belong?

Amazon gives indie authors two choices for where to put their books, taken from pre-established BISAC (Book Industry Standards and Communications) categories.

The Truth About Faking is a light romantic comedy in which a 16-year-old girl falls in love with one guy while chasing another. Several things happen, and by the end of the story, she realizes things aren't always as they appear and not to judge books by their covers.

That's the short version. So, I say...

Category 1: Juvenile > Fiction > Love & Romance
Category 2: Fiction > Genre Fiction > Coming of Age

There's no "Teen" or "YA" category, so my additional search terms (Amazon allows seven) are: romance, teen, clean, romantic comedy, chicklit, contemporary, young adult

Easy peasy, yes?

Well, it was in September. Readers found the book, it was exactly what they expected, and they either liked it or didn't. Lucky for me, most of them liked it--yaaay!

Fast-forward six months, and mixed in with the 5-star (happy!) reviews, I'm seeing more 2- or 3-stars complaining either, "I didn't expect this to be so innocent." Or, "High school." Or, my latest 2-star review: "Honestly, this was not a bad read, it was just too young for me. But there were some good messages."

Me = *head scratching*

[Important Note: The reviews are NOT the point. I am NOT slamming these reviewers.]

The Point is finding my intended audience in this new bookstore setting.

I don't want people buying my book expecting one thing and getting something that makes them feel... frustrated. But even more importantly, I want to connect with the readers I'm writing for. I want them to find the book I wrote for them.

So here's the Sassy Survey! Answering the Burning Question, "How do you buy books on Amazon (or online)?" (Whee! Let's see what we learn; fill in the blanks are optional but helpful!)

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

And please tell me in the comments your thoughts. Is there some other method I haven't thought about? For example, some people only buy books recommended by friends. Is that you?

* * *

Now bring on the Blood & Snow!

On Amazon

Blood and Snow: The Complete Set
by RaShelle Workman
(YA Paranormal)

Every thousand years the Vampire Queen selects a new body, always the fairest in the land, and this time she's chosen Snow White.

Snow isn't an ordinary girl. She doesn't know that yet.

When Snow gets bitten by a Hunter, her life is thrown into a whirlwind of change where instead of worrying about what to eat, she has to fight not to drink the blood of fellow high school students. She becomes a revenant - not quite human, not quite vampire.

With the help of an eccentric old Professor, his seven adopted sons, and her best friend, Snow learns to control her blood craving. Sort of.  She drinks a bloodlust tea, but she'd rather drink from her Hunter.

Or, a human.

She also discovers a whole other realm, one filled with fairies, dragons, and magic. And not only does the Vampire Queen want her, but there's a pendant called the Seal of Gabriel created for Snow by the Vampire Queen's twin sister. And Snow's supposed to use it to restore balance to all magical creatures. Including vampires. 

ON AMAZON | ON GOODREADS

RaShelle

RASHELLE WORKMAN lives on a mountain with her husband, three children, and three dogs. From her back porch she can see the city lights and imagine...

She's the bestselling author of the Dead Roses series (Sleeping Roses is being translated into Turkish, and will be available in print wherever Turkish books are sold in 2014), the Immortal Essence series, and the Blood and Snow series.

Find her here: Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

RaShelle's also giving away a Kindle Fire! Go here to enter and WIN (link).

I've known RaShelle since my early days of blogging back in 2010, and she's got the kindest heart. We're Indelibles sisters now, and I can't tell you how thrilled I am to know her and to help share her success with you. HUGE congrats, RaShelle!

And have a super week, reader- and writer-friends! <3

Napoleon Dynamite & One Direction

So I'm getting ready to release my second book ROUGE in a little more than a month, and I've been thinking about author branding and readers knowing what to expect from me.

The Truth About Faking is selling well, and a HUGE Thank You! To everyone who's bought a copy and taken the time to leave a review. I love hearing from readers, so if you liked it, shoot me a note (link)!

Anyway, ROUGE is not like TTAF.

TTAF is very classic young adult. It's sweet, relatively clean. There's romance, some humor, a little message tucked inside. You finish the book smiling and with a warm feeling inside. I love that book.

ROUGE is what you might call "edgy" or "mature" YA. It's not sweet. The main character's struggling to escape some pretty terrible things, she falls in love with someone who's impossible for her to be with, and then it just gets worse. It features more than one adult situation, and I'm not sure how readers will walk away.

And I love that book, too.

But it makes me worry about how shifting gears is going to impact my readership.

There's still a message tucked inside ROUGE. And I wrote it, so you'll still hear my voice. It's just my voice isn't telling you such a happy story this time.

It's a good story. At times, I wonder if it might be the best story I've written. (How can anyone ever know that?)

Will it hurt me that I've set readers up with TTAF to expect one thing, and then I'm going to give them something very different in ROUGE?

Luckeee!

I was thinking about John Heder (a.k.a., Napoleon Dynamite). He did that movie, and then he did the movie Blades of Glory, and then he sort of disappeared. Maybe sometimes doing the same thing, only going in one direction, can hurt you.

But what hurts more?

I guess I'm going to find out.

Have any of my other writer-friends gone through this? What has your experience been like?

In the meantime, I'm formatting, preparing, working. Thinking about how blessed I am to have such great reader- and writer-friends. 

Have a great week, guys~ <3