• Blog

    Time for an update on my writing life

    9/29/2017

    Long time no blog…
    Jewel Sisters - Something of a Spark - Original CoverIt seems like it is ages because I’ve done any blogging here in earnest and I suppose that’s because it is. Since I went back to work last year I seem to have less and less time to do all the fun extra parts of my writing life.

    I like blogging because I like writing but it gets pushed aside in the favour of the need to actually write the books, which is logical enough I suppose but still not idea.

    I’ve had this blog going for over five years now, so I don’t want it to feel neglected. Like everything else I just need to get myself organised and get it done.

    As I write this Something of a Spark, the pretty cover of which you see to the left, is off with the editor (out later this month) and I am busily working on book 2 in the series, Something to Sing About.

    Writing a new series has been fun, I’ve been doing the Upper Crust series for a while now and even though I love it some of the fun for me is meeting a whole slew of new characters and I can do that with a fresh series.

    I am working on the eighth book in the Upper Crust Series and I will be writing a spin off series in 2018 so I’m not done with those characters yet.

    The new series takes place between Australia and Nashville with a bit of Napa thrown in for fun. I have a cousin in Napa, I wonder if I can visit her in the name of research?

    I also have a book coming out for Christmas in a multi-author box set. I haven’t done that before so fingers crossed it is a good experience for me, because I’m signed up for another one next year as well.

    This is a tough business so I’m always looking at new ways to reach readers so hopefully the box sets help.

    If you really want to keep up to date with my books your best bet is to follow me on Facebook or sign up for my newsletter…that’s where all the real secrets are revealed.

  • Blog

    Where in the world are your readers?

    3/2/2016

    I mean literally – where are they located, the people who read your books?
    GlobeWhere in the world are you?
    hen you do an author marketing plan you’re asked to look at the demographic of your readers and who your ideal readers are.

    I’m pretty sure most of my readers are 28-50 year old women but where are these people residing? In order to target my advertising, branding and social media I should try and work that out.

    So with that in mind I thought I’d try and find out.

    One thing I did this week was a little experiment – I asked people on my Facebook page their location. I wanted to know where they were on this amazing planet of ours.

    The results are:941 people saw that post and 14 people liked it.
    In case you were wondering for me that’s pretty good. I have around 1100 people who have liked my Facebook page but some posts are only seen by a handful of people most weeks I have a couple of posts at least that reach 300 or more people, ( If just in case you don’t understand not all of those are the people who like my page – some are my twitter followers and some are followers or the various hashtags I use).

    Now let’s break this down:
    32 of those people that shared their location:
    USA – 24
    UK – 3
    Australia – 5
    Other – 3 (India (a travelling American), South Africa and Fiji (my very Australian husband))

    So let’s look at that…
    I’m an Australian author but look at that number there…only 5 Australians and only 1 of those actually lives near me and is known to me.

    That told me a lot.

    Firstly – my friends, neighbours and relatives either:
    a) are not seeing my Facebook page (more on that later*) – probably
    b) are genuinely not my audience and don’t care to read my novels – sadly also probably true
    c) a little of both.

    Secondly – My Facebook page for whatever reason reaches a lot more Americans than Australians. And where do I sell more books? America. ( I know every person who visits doesn’t intend to buy books but I’m just looking at who I’m even reaching, because if I’m not reaching people they’re definitely not buying my books. Also anecdotally I know fewer Australians read on devices so that is a factor but let’s just use what we have).

    That’s not true for most Australian authors I know so that’s kind of interesting – most Australian authors especially independent ones seem to sell more to the Australian market.

    I guess the question now is what do I do with that information?
    1. Skew my marketing towards American readers
    2. Try and get more Australian readers
    3. Do both of these things using segmented marketing.

    I guess I need to work that out

    Authors do you know where your readers are?

    * While I’ve been writing this blog post I asked my Facebook friends who also like my Facebook Author Page if they’ve seen my page this week. 60% said they hadn’t, 40% said they had and the others weren’t sure.

    Comments

    Renee
    2/29/2016 11:00:19 pm

    I slightly stalk my blog stats to see where my readership is. In pure numbers, I have more pageviews from USA five times over compared to Australia, but when you consider that USA had about 13 times larger population, our Australian following is stronger per capita. That saying, the US market is huge compared to the Aussie one and I think you should work that baby!
    Reply
    Monique
    2/29/2016 11:42:25 pm

    I should be more of a stat stalker than I am. I think Americans visit blogs more than Aussie’s in gereneral to begin with (anecdotal evidence of course). Obviously there are exceptions.

    It’s all fascinating isn’t it?