I've been navigating the choppy waters of social media for about a month now, and I've made contact with a lot of fun, friendly writers who publish ebooks. One thing I've noticed is that there are a great deal of writers of erotica and romance (which, at times, is erotica with more plot line added.)
Not that there is anything wrong with that, I hasten to add! It must be very difficult to create a great novel which drives the characters to the bedroom (or the billiard table, or the hot tub, or the grotto.) This can be done brilliantly; I've read some romance books that are both titillating and amusing and exciting, all at the same time.
It's not my genre, though. I am a writer of YA fiction, which is steampunk in nature and G-rated. I just am a G-rated gal. I don't know why; it's just what comes naturally to me.
My main characters are 12 - 15, and they go through loads of adventures, encountering a tiny bit of romance along the way. So, the books are geared towards young adults.
But am I reaching that population? What I mean is - do young adults own ereaders?/ I see a lot of them with ipods and smartphones; Kindles and Nooks, not so much.
Hm. I'm not going to become a writer of erotica. My failure as a sexy author would be truly epic. I"m going to stick with my own little G-rated universe that I've created, because it's what I do. I'm just wondering - are there young adults out there who have Kindles and who read books on them regularly?
Please ring in if you have an answer for me.
12 comments:
You can read ebooks on your mobile phone too, so kids who have smartphones can read your book on that.
That's a good question--I'll ask some of the kids in my neighborhood.
Gianna already asked to borrow my Kindle to read your book if that helps. I think as ipads and such become more mainstream in classrooms you'll see more of their personal choices downloaded to those same devices. It may be more a quesion of effective marketing for those readers in the end.
Janine B.
My bff in Minnesota tells me all the classrooms in her kids school are stocked with ten ipads (per classroom) to be used for learning purposes-reading has to be included in that.
You are probably reaching them too or if the parent has an eReader, they can probably borrow it. Some young adults might simply read more at home and not in public locations where we would see them. I grew up loving reading, but in public I would barely read. I didn't like the distractions, but at home you couldn't pry a book away from my face! :)
And I don't write that erotic sexy stuff either. That's stuff that should be kept between a husband and wife, not everyone else in my opinion. :)
Hmmm. Good point. The teens and young adults that I know because of my own 2 teen/young adults do not have kindles or similar. They DO have smartphones (but would not use one to read a book, laptops and notebooks/laptops. And they are big into getting/wanting ipads and would probably read books on ipads. They already do a lot of their reading for classes online, so it is not a stretch from ipads or netbooks. Or whatever those little bitty things are called.
Oh, sorry - that was me. Posted as Anonymous by mistake! Such a techie, aren't I?
I know of at least one-- my physical therapist's son has one. Not sure of any others. Nice that a free download is available on other electronics, though, huh??! How are sales going?? Great, I hope!
*waves* New here!
Well I wouldn't worry too much about being G-Rated or not.
JK Rowling's books started off as a "YA" Fiction and I don't think I've met many adults who hasn't read it.
So I think if you just concentrate on writing a ROCKING story, readers, regardless of age will buy & read. Ya know?
Personally, YA Fiction is probably my favorite read.
I think part of it will be marketing to your targeted audience. And Sophie (hi Sophie: ) has a good point, some "YA" books are read by many adults too.
An editor that I worked with on my novel,"Quintspinner - A Pirate's Quest" suggested that I lower my protagonist's age to 16 so that the novel could capture both YA and adult audiences. I did, but I think that the majority of my ebooks have been purchased by adult readers, and soft covers by upper teens. However, I do hear from adults who have shared their ereaeders with the teens in their households, so initial purchase identities don't always count. YA readers are very tech-savvy, and as ereaders come down in price, I think that more teens will embrace them as their own gadgets. And I agree, that teens are not as likely to be seen in public with an ereader, as they are with the physically smaller phones and iPods; because of their comparably larger size,the ereaders are simply more comfortablle to use lounging at home.
Great post and blog. Following and your tweets. My blog is http://characterswellmet.blogspot.com. Keep up the great writing. Hope to see your novel soon. Night watchmen Express
Post a Comment