Guest Post with Author Linda Katmarian and Giveaway

Welcome author Linda Katmarian to RFTC. Celebrating the release of her debut book, Dreaming of Laughing Hawk, Linda has stopped by to chat. Please give her a warm welcome.

Author Linda Katmarian grew up in the Midwest and graduated with a Master's Degree in French literature from Illinois State University. She has studied under Sol Stein, prolific author and former owner of Stein & Day publishing company in New York, and Louella Nelson, an experienced romance writer and teacher of fiction writing. In 2012, after a long career as a technical writer, Linda committed herself to writing fiction full time. She lives in Southern California. DREAMING OF LAUGHING HAWK is her debut novel.

Places to find Linda:

| Site | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | 

Finding Your Target Audience

One of the hardest concepts for me to get my arms around as a writer is how to define my target audience. You may shrug your shoulders and wonder why that is so important. If you write a good book, surely most people can recognize and appreciate that. Maybe yes, maybe no. I believe that there are certain readers who have precise expectations for their reading choices and to put a book in their hands that does not conform to those expectations is to ask for rejection.

I occasionally review books for fellow writers. When someone gives me a fantasy, sci-fi, or erotic book, I usually cringe because I know I am probably not their target reader. Nevertheless, I try to read those books with an open mind and evaluate the pros and cons of the book and the total reading experience. I never start a review with a sentence like `I really did not like this book.’ That is not a review comment under any circumstances, it is an insult to the writer, and it doesn’t help readers. But in the process of trying to develop a review that is useful to others, I have to look at myself and understand why I am not the target audience for this book and how that shades my acceptance of a book.

Initially, I thought that a reading audience of DREAMING OF LAUGHING HAWK could include a broad spectrum of readers and it has, but there are certain realities I have had to come to grips with.

• Most men don’t read books about female protagonists. In fact, fiction readers are predominantly female. A male writer once said to me: “At first I thought this was going to be one of those sappy women’s stories, but when you described Elizabeth’s stepfather, I decided this is a story I would read.” The problem is you probably can’t convince most men to read a story like Dreaming of Laughing Hawk unless they are willing to set aside their prejudices about women writers and stories with female protagonists. So clearly I do not think I should expend a lot of energy in targeting male readers.
• Some readers only read specific types of books. There are some who will be open-minded enough to try a genre that they don’t normally read, but many will not. So in evaluating these readers there may be some things you can do to appeal to them, but they cannot be the yardstick you use in making marketing decisions.
• Some readers have strong religious or political beliefs that will influence their acceptance of your writing.
• You can’t design a marketing strategy that will appeal to all groups of readers. In other words, you need to select that reader who is most likely to be representative of your most supportive group of readers. I have to admit I’ve fumbled around with this concept and I still make marketing mistakes.

I believe my most enthusiastic readers are women in the 25-40 age group. That ideal reader is a young professional, liberal-minded, well-educated, and adventurous. This doesn’t mean I’m excluding other readers, but that this particular group tends to be the most responsive and so I need to get inside their skin to understand how they see the world. I’m still working on this.

So let me turn this around to you. What do you as a reader expect from a book? What criteria do you use on making a decision about a book?

In 1964 Elizabeth Leigh is looking forward to college, escape from her unhappy home, and the fulfillment of her dreams. Adventure. Love. Her place in the sun. On a restless afternoon, she leaves school early and discovers her mother is packing to run off with a lover, abandoning Elizabeth and her stepfather. Worse, she learns her mother has squandered the college money her grandfather left her.

A fortuitous invitation from her cousin Melina to come to Los Angeles rescues her from an uncertain future. In Los Angeles, Elizabeth finds security in the embrace of her aunt's family and is introduced to the man who soon becomes her fiance, Collin Greenslade, an ambitious, up-and-coming real estate developer. Life could not be more perfect.

When her cousin's boyfriend, a civil rights activist, has his Thunderbird vandalized in Mississippi, he enlists his roommate, Mark Laughing Hawk, to tow his car back home. Melina insists that she and Elizabeth should come along for the ride, but what starts as a fun romp across the country becomes a journey of the soul that complicates love and endangers lives.

Dreaming of Laughing Hawk explores the desire for love, power, and sense of purpose and the lengths we will go to attain them.

Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle |

Elizabeth

At her insistence, James had driven her by Grandfather's old farm one day. She had claimed curiosity, but she had gone expecting to rediscover something. The place had been burnt to the ground, her childhood memories reduced to a blackened foundation and a dingy clutter of outer buildings.

The image of leaving that spectacle of ruin was burnt in her mind—she and James driving down the gravel road. Weeds and the low-hanging branches of unpruned trees swooshed and thumped against the car while gravel popped loudly under the car's tires. As the car had bumped along, a flock of startled black birds exploded out of the brush. For a moment, they fluttered and swirled about like pieces of charred paper in the draft of a flame and then they were gone. The mind could play such tricks.

Check out what's up for grabs.

Up For Grabs For Entire Tour:

• 1 lucky winner will win a $25 Amazon Gift Card

To Enter: 

• Please answer the question: What do you as a reader expect from a book? What criteria do you use on making a decision about a book?
• Please leave your email address along with your comment to be entered. 
• Giveaway ends September 9th.

Good Luck!