Tuesday, February 17, 2015

WHAT READERS WANT

I'm still learning who I am, and what I want from my life. I suspect I'll never stop. As a writer I seek mostly love. I don't give a damn about money or fame. I just want people to love my work. I daydream about logging onto the computer in the morning and seeing thousands of 5 star reviews on my books, or having thousands of 'likes' on my facebook page. Why? Fuck if I know, isn't love what everyone wants? I write because I love creating; the characters, their lives, the flow of the story, the imagery of their world. It's exhilarating to say the least. It's like giving birth.

But, it also seems utterly pointless...Why spend years writing a book that no one likes? All the love, all the creativity, the attention to every detail, symbolism and humor and drama and joy wasted, completely wasted...It's sad.

Often I spend hours searching for ways to draw readers to my books, and when I say books, I really mean something so much more profound than a simple b, o, o, k could possible express...I want to say soul, my heart on paper. Drama bomb! LOL I know it sounds stupid, but that's how I feel. It takes a very strong resolve to put what amounts to your soul out there for the masses to judge and ridicule.

Why do some books  have many reviews, while others have only a handful of reviews or none at all?
-Marketing? Can't afford that business...
-Online Social Presence? I'm socially awkward, in person and online.
-Better Product? Have you tired to read Twilight of 50 Shades or Grey? LOL No, definitely not it.
-Famous Author? 100% yes on that one, but I can't help that...

Tonight I Googled, "What are Readings Looking For?" to better find out what readers want, in the hopes that it's something I can give them, that they would find my work more appealing. I just read this article from Salon that was very intriguing. Click here to open link

In this article a reader tells us 5 things readers really want from a book:
1. A main character who has goals, something to strive for. A character who observes only is flat and boring. That's what really killed Twilight for me. Bella was too much in her own head. I kept saying, shut the fuck up and do something!
2. A main character who acts, who makes things happen rather than reacts when something happens to them. I too find it annoying when I'm reading a book in which the character is passive. This happens to them, and then that happens to them. Never taking the initiative, blah.
3. Readers care about things in a certain order of importance: Story, Characters, Theme & then Setting. I 100% agree! I cannot stand it at all when a writer spends an entire page describing a room, or what someone is wearing, or where everyone is standing and how they are posed, the looks on each and every face. You know what, bud, get to the fucking story already. Don't paint me a 600 mega pixel picture. I have a brain, I can fill the blanks...Gosh.
4. "Good Writing" is less important than Good Story Telling. Again, I fully agree. Nobody buys a book for it's perfect sentence structure, or comma placement. I mean, terrible comma placement can change the meaning of a sentence and too many errors can distract from a story. But if a story is good enough, the errors can be forgiven. The story and the way it sounds and flows is more important than proper grammar.
5. The book MUST have a sense of humor. It is true. I can't think of a single book I've read cover to cover that wasn't silly at times. Books without lightness seem damp with heavy emotions, and a tad draining...

Well...I'm still searching for how to draw people into my little world, but that article made me think about myself and my books in a new light, so I thought I'd share it. I think my babies don't break any of those rules, but still, how do you get readers to love you enough to let you know it? IDK. I'm doing something wrong, obviously. Sometimes I think what I'm doing wrong is caring at all. But how do I stop that?

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