Writing for Young Adults

If you're considering writing a YA book, you may also want to consider the following tips:

When writing your book, consider the audience. A book with 15 year olds is a good choice for someone a few years younger, and characters that are say, 16-18 are better for a 14-15 year old. The reason? When you're a teen, you want to be a bit older than you currently are. I don't know what it is about that, but until you're in your 20s, the idea of being older is the cat's meow.



Photo by: Sarah Alamimi, courtesy of Flickr

When was the last time you heard "the cat's meow"? This brings us to tip number two. How do teens speak these days? What phrases do they use? What do they say when they're frustrated, sad, excited? Now, I'm the first to admit that many teens swear, and I'm not promoting swearing here, but I like the thought of someone getting angry and using a lighter slang word to get their point across.

What happens to a teen reader that has to read a classic? Well, unless they are of the unusual variety, nothing much. Teens need action, and lots of it. They need dialogue and a smattering of setting, but not so much that they decide to skip the 'boring' parts. Teens need teens that do scary things; things they've only dreamt about, but they also need realistic stories that deal with trauma in a real and positive way.

Does your main character have cancer? How does she deal with it? Are her parents divorced? How does she feel about that?

Photo by: San Jose' Library, courtesy of Flickr

Take your YA fiction novel deep, but not so deep that the reader is wondering where they are. Whether you're writing a mystery, a romance, or an adventure, consider their age, the way they speak, and what they dream about.

If you have a hard time relating to teens in your own life, you may have a hard time writing about them. If this is the case you need to spend some quality time, or at the very least, do some focused observation.

Unless your book is taking place in the 50s or 60s when you were a kid, you'll need a sufficient update.

Write teen books yourself? What advice do you have?



This book is primarily for the middle reader, can you see why?

Marketing to Your Audience

I occurs to me today that I haven't yet discussed marketing to a specific audience. You need to know first hand from me, that I've been known to market to the entire gamut at one time, and haven't until recently, really started to think about marketing to my audience and what that would mean.

So allow me an example:

When I published Marketing Your Book on a Budget 2013, I wanted writers to see it. I knew that readers who weren't writers probably wouldn't care, but that most writers would. So how to get them to see what I had to offer?

One of the first things I did was to post the news on my blog. Most of my readers are writers, so I wanted the news to go first to them. Recently I've read that you will have greater success with readers if you have only one blog, rather than many that relate to each of your books, for example. Keep everything tidy and in one location, where readers can learn all about you.

Second, I focused on getting the word out on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. I'm aware that these posts went out to everyone, whether they were a writer or not, but this is a difficult one to narrow down, so in my efforts to share with all of my friends, I'm sure that some of my writer friends got the message.

Third, I actually posted a link to my book on my many writer related social media sites. I got many comments and some purchases from sharing the direct link to Amazon, and one not so good response. But all in all, writers appreciated that I let them know about my book.

Consider the theme of your book and get involved in social media groups that focus on your particular topic.

Fourth, I have been focusing on going to places where writer's spend their time. Classes and writing conferences are a great place for me because there are plenty of writers their interested in marketing their next book.

What if you have a book on gardening? Or cooking? These are easy. But what if you've written a  book about aliens? Do some deep thinking. If I'd just written a book about aliens, I'd consider planetariums, sky watching parties, stores that sell 'outer worldly' stuff.

Fifth, I usually put out emails to my family and friends and tell them about my new book. I also invite them to a book signing at my home. I didn't do it this time for obvious reasons.

Family and friends typically will buy anything you write; they like to support you in your endeavors and love the fact that they know a published writer personally.

Here's what you need to know:

1. Blog. Blog. Blog.
2. Share. Share. Share.
3. Link. Link. Link.
4. Go places. Go places. Go places.
5. Friends & Family. Friends & Family. Friends & Family.

Do you have a new book? How are you getting it out to your audience?

Let me know here!

What's In It For Your Readers?

Sometimes, when writing and publishing, we writers tend to get focused inward. Although we have been told to write to a particular audience and to focus on filling the needs of our readers, we may find ourselves looking inward to when and where we're going to make the next buck.

Photo by: Wonderlane, courtesy of Flickr

Unfortunately, when we make book writing all about us; how much money we're going to make, how popular we're going to become, etc., we lose the reasons we may be writing our book in the first place.

Photo by: Takashi(aes256), courtesy of Flickr

Yes, I go there too, but be assured that I don't live there. I prefer to ask myself, "What's in it for my readers?" And then I try to make my book and marketing efforts an answer to that question.

• I want the words I have written to be the best I can put out there. That means I want to write inspired words; words that create meaning.
• I want my editing to be sharp. Will my books ever be perfectly edited? No, but they will be edited.
• I want my cover to appeal to readers who enjoy reading my particular genre.
• I want my book's price to be fair and manageable.  
• I want there to be a take away value. A 'so what' factor. If a particular reader finishes my book and says, 'so what?' that's a problem. If they can ask, 'so what?' and then answer that question with, "I learned...." "I experienced..." that's a great thing.
• I want readers to come back and read other books I've written because they enjoyed the first one they read.
• I want readers to share my book with others either literally or by word of mouth, so that someone else will have a desire to read my books.
• I want to continue to see excitement in my reader's eyes when a free gift is given at a book signing or a book purchase.

When I ask myself, "What's in it for you?" instead of "What's in it for me?" I find that everything is taken care of. I share what I have written and others buy a particular book when it is right for them. There is no need to push or shove, just to be there to share.

God takes care of the rest.