Defining an Audience
I’m having a little problem, and perhaps all of you bloglanders could help me with it. People enjoy various categories of books. I happen to like romances, humor, paranormal romance, and fantasy. I have a friend who will only read nonfiction. I have another friend who will only read self help books. (She’s the most friggin’ normal person I know, so this might be worth a shot for all you weirdos out there.)
When I sent out queries to agents, I sent them to agents who represented books on parenting, psychology, and humor. This should have been the first hint that my book had an identity crisis. (Quick reminder – Shrink Rap is a funny book that teaches people about child psychiatry using anecdotes from my family and fictitious patient scenarios.)
Comments from publishing houses varied. They all started out with “We love her voice, she’s very amusing, etc”, but that might be the publishing house equivalent of “No, Honey, you don’t look fat in that dress!” Or maybe they sensed they’d make me cry. Who knows? It’s the next comments that express the identity crisis of my book:
“The market is already glutted with parenting books. They don’t really sell.” I don’t really consider Shrink Rap to be a parenting book. Who am I to write a parenting book? Have you met my kids? Yeesh.
“We’ve already published our quota of memoirs this year.” This is a memoir? I’m too young to have a memoir. OK. Maybe not. But I’m definitely too boring to have a memoir. “My mother used to make me cream cheese and olive sandwiches for lunch. My friends thought they were gross.“ Snore.
“We have no idea how to market it.” I’m having some sympathy with them on this one.
“We don’t know what category it fits into.” My sympathy runneth over.
My favorite: “We’d consider publishing it if you could make it more like A Girlfriend’s Guide to Pregnancy.” Well, I can understand the desire. That book sold like hotcakes. I’d like my book to be that popular. There’s just one itty bitty widdle pwoblem. . . my book is completely different. It is unrelated. It could not be written in that form unless I were a different person writing about a different topic. When I read that feedback I definitely had a “huh?” look on my face.
So, I took the bull by the horns and published my book myself. And you know what I’m finding? I’m not sure what category it fits into, I have no idea how to market it, and I really wish it were more like A Girlfriend’s Guide to Pregnancy.
Erica Orloff has given me wonderful advice as to how to write more of a parenting book, with my same style, yet more geared to a specific audience. (Erica is so nice. She never says things like, “Stop annoying me, you stupid cow!”) I’m going to follow her advice for my next book. I’ve already got a title – A Girlfriend’s Guide to Child Psychiatry. Catchy, don’t you think?
zoewinters
Moriah Jovan
R.J. Keller
robinaltman
Evangeline Holland
alanbaxter
Add my sympathy to yours and we can have a party.
LMAO, Robin you crack me up!
I love this whole post, and I loved “Shrink Rap” too!
But I’m with the publishers on “not quite sure how to market it.” It’s definitely in a class all it’s own.
That’s a good thing on one level, but it makes things more difficult when you are trying to figure out which “blanket group” to try to market to.
MoJo: One can always use more sympathy! I don’t know what the hell to do with this puppy.
Zoe: Isn’t it annoying when the stupid publishers have a point? It’s like hearing Paris Hilton say something intelligent. You backtrack for a second, and then you say, “Huh?”.
IMO, that’s what things like “fiction” and “literature” and “non-fiction” are for.
“Parents are from Mars, Kids are from Venus.”
I’m in the middle of Shrink Rap and that’s what I’m getting out of it.
Hah! Well, there you go! A Girlfriend’s Guide to Child Psychiatry. A definite winner! LOL!
MoJo: I know! That’s what you would think! When I was asked who my book was geared to, I said “All moms”. (It was sort of sexist to leave out dads, and as Zoe points out, you don’t have to have kids to remember being a kid.) Yet, “nonfiction” is not enough. People want you to spell out your niche so they don’t waste their time (or money). And I can’t. This book literally has no niche. This fact actually hurts sales. (I think. Or it might just suck.) Plus, people aren’t as jazzed to learn about Child Psychiatry as I thought they’d be. That was Erica’s point. She thought it would sell better is I definitively marketed it in a parenting category. I’m disheartened. A Girlfriend’s Guide to Child Psychiatry is sounding better and better each day. I have the unique distinction of almost reaching # 1,000,000 on Amazon today.
Kel: That’s probably the major theme! No kid is normal!
Spy: I’m going there shortly! Hope they don’t get me for copyright infringement.
Cream cheese and olives?
Your book should sell more copies since it’s SO versatile. It can sit on the shelves of several categories in Barnes and Noble…I’d think that would be a good thing, but I know squat about publishing.
Good luck!
-FringeGirl
Domestic: It’s actually pretty good, but I haven’t eaten it much as an adult. There’s pretty much no nutritional value in the sandwich.
That’s what I thought at first – it can go anywhere! But that’s not how bookstores or even book buyers work. They want to read something in their favorite genre. I’m even like that. If I get something from audiobooks, I first search for “fantasy/science fiction”, then “romance”, etc. If these places listed it in all the places it could fit, it might work out OK, but they won’t.
I believe that trying to pigeon-hole any creative work into a particular genre or brand only leads to mediocrity in the long term. Whether we’re talking about books, movies, or music, it is the works that break free of generic restrictions and expectations which most often contain the fresh, exciting ideas. Creating something “by the numbers” also diminishes the role of the author/musician/filmmaker. The creator’s vision and ideas get lost.
If someone were to ask me into which category my books belong, I’d say “young adult”, but that’s only because my main characters are teenagers and the setting for most of the action is high school. My books though, don’t have much in common in terms of theme or story with “Twilight” or “Gossip Girls”.
Besides, when we look at the history of literature, it’s the writers who defy the expectations of their genres are the ones who have the biggest impact on future writers.
Hm. I initially want to caution our sometimes hyperbolic use of “original” genre. Yes, a genre can be created; as may be the case with Capote and the Non-Fiction Novel, but when you look for In Cold Blood in Barnes & Noble, you can find it in fiction (literature) and true crime. Don’t get so caught up in damning the cubbyholes that you miss out on correctly marketing your book. I’ve read several books from doctors that incorporate true case studies with fictitionalized characters. There are many books that offer carreer-specific anectdotal stories (and I particularly like them), like Oliver Sachs. If you truly are forging a new field, I advise you be quite particular about defining it. You know best. But it is certainly wrong to think you don’t want to limit your audience by picking a genre. It’s a business must. When I shot weddings, I promoted myself as the Black and White specialist (I had my own B&W lab) even though I knew most of the pictures I would take would be in color, as the families weren’t as mod as the kids. But I booked, because the niche I defined found the correct audience. It’s paramount to define a niche. You have a great advantage: your book can tie in with current events. Most Fiction can’t. Perhaps what will be helpful is for you to not consider what niche your book fits, but what niche you fit. What writing arena are you a subject-matter expert in? When you dream those interviews, what are you talking about? Think of yourself as the marketing namebrand, not one book.
As for the agents replies; take them with a grain of salt. Many pad their genre interests, but really only have one or two solid publishing connections, which may dry up as people change jobs.
JM: I essentially agree and I’m really proud of Shrink Rap. I don’t know if you’ve found this problem with your books (which sound wonderful, by the way). It just seems tough to defy expectations, at least for me. I don’t seem to be very successful at paving new roads. Maybe I should cut off my ear.
Ara 13: Really great points. I suppose I think of myself as a humorous child psychiatrist. I’ve been doing tons of magazine/newspaper interviews trying to build my platform, but these sorts of outlets aren’t looking for humor – they want it straight up. I can do straight up – I just don’t enjoy it. Plus, I find serious books on medicine or child rearing extremely snore inducing.
Unfortunately, I’m no Oliver Sachs. I’m more Erma Bombeck mixed with a little Woody Allen. I’ve got a weird little following with Shrink Rap 1, and I think I’ll market more towards parenting with #2. When I get reviews, that’s usually what people mention, although I don’t consider it a parenting book.
To be fair, one of the book’s problems is the attempt to describe child psychiatry with humor. Current Psychiatry didn’t want to review it, because “they didn’t think Child Psychiatry should be portrayed as funny – it was disrespectful to the subject”. I bugged their asses off, and they finally gave it to a child psychiatrist on their staff to review. He loved it and gave it the go ahead. And all that trouble probably sold me 1 book. The conception that this is not a funny subject probably hurts the book, in that people won’t look at it to give it a chance.
What’s your boxing name? (I’m not joking.) Robin “The Humorous Child Psychiatrist” Altman? It will help you define your namebrand.
I like the idea of defining your name brand, but I’m a little embarrassed: I had no idea authors had to do this! Before I started this whole writing lark, I thought that all a writer had to do was generate text, revise, submit, resubmit (etc.) and publicize. Sheesh.
I finally just came to mine about a week ago: subversive Mormon romance.
Robin, you really DO strike me as an Erma Bombeck and I was thinking that just before I read your comment. Maybe, as Ara suggests, your boxing name could be “The Erma Bombeck of Child Psychiatry.”
Ara: I guess that’s my boxing name – “Robin the Humorous Child Psychiatrist” . If I get in the rink with that name I’m going to get the shit kicked out of me.
Seriously, Ara, thanks for the help. I really appreciate it. If I knew everyone would be so helpful, I would have posted this first!
Mary: Tell me about it! It’s really quite ridiculous, if you think about it. I think your books are going to be awesome. You are one talented babe. Plus, you could do the “A Year in Provence” croud. Plus, plus, understanding our world in an international, non America-centric way is very hip right now. Gee. I think I could sell your books better than my own.
MoJo: I love subversive Mormon romance. That’s friggin’ awesome. Does “Big Love” being on HBO make the Mormon aspect more “hip”? I would think so. (My husband and I are addicted to that show.)
I’d love to co-opt Erma’s name, but I don’t know if I can. She is dead and all. But I’d think her estate had rights. And what if she disapproves from the afterworld? I’ve got enough problems without moving objects and bloody writing on mirrors.
Robin, I really hope you can find a marketing “gimmick” that works. It sounds like you’re doing all the right things with the interviews, etc – you deserve this success and I’m STILL looking forward to reading Shrink Rap! And whatever books follow.
Melanie: I’m certainly trying! What do you think about offering free brownies with each book?
Your book reminds me of this one: http://www.amazon.com/Another-Day-Frontal-Lobe-Surgeon/dp/1400063205
Another Day in the Frontal Lobe by Firlik. I found it a nice balance between the anecdotes I wanted with the insight to a career, though interested in, I wouldn’t ever experience.
Robin, I don’t think Erma would disapprove — not at all! I think ‘the Erma Bombeck of child psychiatry’ has a nice ring to it.
One agent told me that my pieces, ‘although charming’ would only sell if I were famous. So all I need is for you to think up something I can do to achieve notoriety. Or failing that, maybe I’ll go for the brownie ploy too: I’m great at brownies.
Ara: I’m going to check that out! Thanks!
Mary: That is just so dumb. It reminds me of the “Girlfriend’s guide to pregnancy” advice. Yes, Dummies, we get that if Angelina Jolie wrote a book on her world travels it would sell well. Doy. Now get her to write it. Oh. She can’t? Then how’s about we try Mary’s anecdotes which are beautifully written, charming, and entertaining.
Sure. Everyone wants a sure thing, but you can’t have that in reality. Maybe I’ll change my practice to only treating children who promise to get well.
Try the brownies. Or run around naked in Turkey. You’ll get famous!
I’m doing my part, babe. I even passed my copy of your book on to an English therapist friend of mine. I asked her to pass it on when she was finished….
Here’s to finding your niche and rolling around in it.
Goodmum: You are definitely doing your part. I tried rolling around in my niche, but it was too smelly.