Keywords and Smut

It’s been one week since my novel, Love Simplified, went live on Amazon Kindle. To all the kind souls who bought a copy, you should have a notification that the file has been updated. Why, ask? I had to update my keywords.

For those who don’t know about the Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing process, a part of uploading your novel is entering in up to seven keywords. Keywords are very similar to tags. They make it easier for people to search for my novel on Amazon.

Or they make put you in bad company.

When I first uploaded my novel, I didn’t use all seven of my keywords. I only used, in this order: Christian fiction, African American (my protagonist is African-American), reality TV, relationships and romance. I thought I had picked good keywords…until I saw the other books with those same keywords. Well, one keyword in particular.

Apparently, African American fiction is synonymous with smut. I am not a shy person and I don’t embarrass easily, but some of the other books with that keyword made me blush. And the covers! Oh, my. I really wish Amazon had a feature that filtered cover art. Call me sheltered, but I don’t want to see anything that makes me want to wash my eyes out with bleach.

And there was my baby, mixed in with all the smut. As soon as I realized it (last Friday night), I went in and changed my keywords. As much as I hate to admit it, I had to take the African American out. That seemed to be the culprit.  I did, however, try a new keyword: interracial relationships (there is a mixed couple in the book).

And that made it worse. I found my novel buried seven pages deep in more smut…now just interracial smut. So I went in and changed it again. No African American, no interracial, just Christian fiction, romance, relationships, dating, and reality TV. I have two more keywords I can enter, but I’m afraid.

The African American/smut connection makes me very sad. I would love to see some redemption come to that genre. I would love to read books with African American characters that aren’t half naked, crackheads, drugdealers or pastors sleeping with the members of his congregation. But that is for another post.

For now, I’ve changed my keywords and hopefully have escaped my bad company. 

Book Update and Meet My Audience, Part 2

The big day is in two weeks! My novel Love Simplified will be published on August 6th. I'm so excited. For all of you who have sent your congratulations and offered your support, thank you. As the anticipation builds, I have a few fun posts planned (like a preview of the first chapter), so stay tuned. 

Today's post you get to hear from my audience in person...well as in person as she can be in a blog post. Meet Linda Sothern!

Linda, my audience

I grew up in a middle class neighborhood in the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC. Being close to the nation’s capital awakened a love of history in me. Monuments, museums and landmarks were in my backyard. Every summer, my mother would take me and my siblings to various points of interest in the city. Not only would we learn new things, she expected us to write an essay or give an oral report about what new things we encountered. Our unofficial homeschooling aided our public school education. I was Salutatorian in my high school class, made dean’s list in undergrad and graduated summa cum laude from seminary.  

I am a pew baby. I’ve been in church all my life. When people ask when did I get saved, I unconventionally reply, “At 2, 14 and it finally stuck at 21”. My mother led all of her children in the sinner’s prayer at 2 and baptized us in the bathtub. When I was 14, a revivalist visited my church. I was spiritually stirred up to be a better Christian and recommitted my life. All through high school, I remembered this dedication. Then, I went to the cesspool of sin that is college. I became a blazon heathen for about 3 years. At 21, like the prodigal son, I returned to my Father’s house.

My love of books developed early. I was born with a disease called Sarcoidosis. However, I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 10. I wasn’t very athletic as I had fluid buildup in my lungs and developed arthritis. Sometimes, I lost the ability to walk. I couldn’t always go outside and play and for awhile, I was quarantined from my siblings. Reading was my escape. I could go anywhere, be anyone and avoid the doldrums of my existence. I read encyclopedias and dictionaries for fun. My family calls me the “Queen of Worthless Information.” I read anything I could get my hands on, history, biographies, fiction, and reference.

My favorite genre is probably fiction followed closely by biographies/autobiographies. I love a good story. The more compelling the better. Fiction allows me to incorporate many of my interests. I can read historical fiction to connect with times past. Futuristic, fantasy or sci-fi addresses my love of imaginary worlds and concepts. Chick lit gives me a good clean romance fix. Ethnic literature allows me to enjoy other cultures. Biographies/autobiographies turn the humdrum existence of people great and small into fantastic accounts. People and time periods that I have no association with are opened up to me.     

I’m not sure I have a favorite book. I love so many. I do have favorite authors. William Shakespeare and Jane Austen are my favorite historical writers. Steven James, Claudia Mair Burney, Kaye Dacus and Linda Windsor are some of my favorite contemporary authors. I read and reread their works several times a year.

Writers, how well do you know your readers? Readers, what authors do you believe targeted you as their audience?

Meet My Audience, Part 1

Linda, my audience.

One of the first things I learned when I got serious about writing for publication (hard to believe that was seven years ago) is you have to know your audience. It’s a piece of advice that is repeated over and over and worth following. It is the mark of a newbie or immature writer to think that everyone is going to enjoy your writing (but that’s nothing several rejections can’t fix).

I can’t say I was one of those people that thought that everyone was going to fall head over heels in love with every word I penned. But I must admit, it took me a little time to define my audience. In the beginning, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to write exclusively for African-American Christian women or not. Seemed like a logical assumption since I am African-American. I wasn’t sure of the age of my audience at first. I started with my own age, and now that seven years have passed and I am…ahem…a little older, I realized that I would have to broaden my range. And not to mention all of the other considerations I had to face when narrowing down my specific audience.

But God divinely answered all my audience questions by sending a wonderful woman into my life: Linda Sothern. Linda and I met in 2005 in a young adult ministry my husband and I headed. She impressed me immediately with her administration skills and the fact that she read as much as, if not more, than I did. We talked about books often and found we had similar tastes in books. It was so bad that she started calling me her "book wife."

I had mentioned to Linda that I was a writer and asked her to edit some of my writings. And that was the beginning of a beautiful relationship. Linda has been my champion for many years and I’m grateful. She also my motivation and is not afraid to call me and threaten me when I’m not writing and is a great brainstorming partner. And she charges me a very reasonable rate for her services: I pay her in hugs (I used to pay her in baked goods, but we had to end that program).

Most of all, Linda has helped me define my audience: educated, culturally and socially conscious Christian women, age 25-40, who enjoy diversity in literature.  You’ll get to hear from Linda herself in part two of this post.