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Finding Your Audience:
Let Me Introduce Myself
Whether you are creating content for social media, a web site or advertising, you need to know who your audience is. The type of content you create and how you market or promote it is dependent on who you are driving to your platform and why. As a writer you want readers to come to your website to see the books you’ve written and hopefully get readers to click on a link to a bookstore. Another purpose might be for an author to interact with readers to forge a more personal connection. An alternate option an author might consider is becoming a go-to expert on writing advice, writing tools, or a niche within those such as content creation for other writers.
I’ve been ruminating on who my website is for and what I want it to look like. Since I’m a relative newbie to the writing world, I don’t know that I have enough experience or knowledge to provide much writing advice. That isn’t to say that I won’t occasionally provide a tip or two if I feel I’ve got something to share from personal experience relevant to the writing community. But ultimately, my intended audience on the website is readers. Of course, this includes writers who are often also prolific readers.
In the end, I’ve decided this is a place where I can share my writing journey, bits about my personal life, celebrate successes (mine and others), talk about the books I’m reading, share a recipe or two, and eventually, post links to my books. (She stares into space imagining her first book launch.)
As of the date this blog is posted, I am not a published author. I do have an agent and a manuscript. In a relatively short time the manuscript will be sent out to editors in the publishing world. My fingers (and toes) are crossed in hopes it will sell. In the mean time I am working on an outline of book two, with the assumption my first book will be snapped up instantly. Perhaps there will even be a bidding war. A girl can dream. Simultaneously, I am working on another outline for an entirely different cozy mystery. On top of that, blog posts need to be written for my website, a newsletter is in the works, social media posts need creating, and I need to learn how to do graphics in Canva for all the above.
In the midst of all the writing and creating, my daughter’s pregnancy due date loomed. The first half of May was crazy busy and passed in a blur. The plan was to go to Calgary for about ten days, arriving shortly before baby was born to help out mommy and daddy. I could spend a couple days with the other children before their baby sister arrived. The due date was May 7 and I arrived first thing that morning as it appeared baby’s arrival was not far off. With irregular and widely spaced contractions, my daughter and hubby headed to a restaurant for dinner that night but had to detour to the hospital instead and had the baby a couple hours later.
Since I knew I wouldn’t get too much writing done at my daughter’s house, I had been putting in lots of hours at home before I left. I only managed to write two days during my stay and I’m okay with that. The week with the kids was wonderful, but busy and really did fly by in a cozy blur. Keeping a four-year-old and two-year-old busy was a time consuming project. Thus far, baby Sidney is a doll and not too demanding.
One thing I was able to do while on grandma duty is work on Canva. My four-year-old granddaughter is super creative, so I taught her how to use Canva. Within minutes she was creating Instagram worthy graphics from Canva’s templates. In helping her, I was able to figure out how to use various features that will level up my content hopefully.
As part of my introduction here are a few things about me. I am a former commercial banker and mother to four grown children and I have eight grandchildren. My husband and I live in a small village about forty-five minutes from the U.S. border. Fitness is a passion of mine, (I’ve done a couple of triathlons), but for the last few years I have been struggling with numerous exercise related injuries. Currently, I have tennis elbow, tarsal tunnel and my sciatic has been flaring up. While these injuries frustrate me beyond words, it does allow me more time to write. I always try to see the silver lining in every challenge.
Things I love:
- Chocolate (good quality, preferably handmade.)
- Sunshine
- Mountains
- Summer
Things I don’t love:
- Long winters
- Technology (when it’s not working)
- Bugs in my house
If you’d like to find out more about me, follow me on social media, you can find the links on my contact page. I’m still working on my quarterly newsletter and will have the first one ready by September. For now I’m committing to a quarterly newsletter and blog post, with the option to post more frequently. I hate not living up to my commitment, so I’d rather under promise and over deliver (something I learned in my banking days).
Fridays I like to post a joke or meme of some kind. It often reflects my somewhat twisted sense of humor. They say laughter is the best medicine. Stay safe y’all.
Sending out positive, cozy vibes,
Chris