December 14, 2022
Week 114
Emotional State: Floundering Choice
Too Hard to Choose
This post is a day late, but not a dollar short. I thought about changing the date at the top, but nah. I’ll leave it set to Wednesday, since I’d planned to write yesterday, but life got in the way.
Namely, the holidays and the world builder’s birthday, which falls close to the holidays. As my kid and I were roaming from store to store trying to find the right gift for him, it reminded me of where I’m at right now in my book marketing.
I have no idea who my perfect audience is for my urban fantasy (UF) series. None. It’s not your standard UF series. I just binge-read all eight books in a standard UF series and my books aren’t even close. The series I read (The Guild Codex: Spellbound series by Annette Marie) featured a smart-alecky and strong female protagonist who fights her way through all sorts of creatures to save her friends (who are all hot).
Seraphina’s journey isn’t that. Not even close. Sure, she fights a few things, but only because the voice in her head compels her to. In reality, Seraphina is the envelope, the shell, of the powerful being who drives the slaying part of her story. But the story itself is all about Seraphina’s journey. Her growth. How she changes from A to B to C.
In fact, Seraphina’s story fits the definition of women’s fiction that I recently learned from a video presentation. To wit, a later coming of age story with a focus on emotional growth (and not a guy (so not a romance)), with two women protagonists. Technically, Seraphina and Angwyndith are those two women and their relationship is central to the book. (Technically, because Angwyndith is whatever gender she needs to be for her current host.)
But I can’t market it as women’s fiction. The cover is urban fantasy (more YA/New Adult UF) and the story has a lot of world building. So, how do I find readers for a book with an urban fantasy overtone and a women’s fiction undertone?
I have no idea.
But hey, I have a marketing plan for Q1 and Q2 of 2023 and most of the mats created. So… yay? The thing is, I know my cozy mystery series will be much easier to market, but I don’t think the cozy mystery crew will like my UF series because they are very different.
Which leads me back to how to push my UF series when it’s not very UF-like. And what can my kid get her dad for his birthday? I have no idea on either front. But I’ll come up with something.
I hope.