Identity Crisis

For about the last eight months of so, I have been trying to figure out the best ways to market the Stories from the Forester, particularly the completed Flagrant Foul, online. And yet, I have come to it with very little success (i.e. Zero sales in any format).

So, while I'm in back-to-the-drawing board mode. It makes sense, since the entire series is, at the present, incomplete, with the second story in Volume I, Unwritten, still in the works.

Even with that, Flagrant Foul still is available and is now on Amazon. I've given thought to abandoning the series, but that makes no sense whatsoever. The groundwork has already been laid. To quit now would be, at the least, lazy, and, at most, defeatist. And I don't like to lose.

However, the issue I have with Flagrant Foul that has dogged me since I finished it is one of identity...

What is it?

I can say for sure that Flagrant Foul is, first and foremost, NOT a sports book. However, that has not prevented a number of potential readers and even reviewers from making at assumption, and therefore not taking a look.

Thankfully, once more parts of the series are released, readers and reviewers alike will see the whole picture. Understandably, it's not helpful that I finished Flagrant Foul first. Of course, I hadn't intended for it to mutate into the series of stories as it has.

But then, I get past that, the issue of genre comes up. Who am I targetting?

In an ideal world, the obvious demographic would be the same demographic as the characters - college-aged. But does it mean these are young adult books? Looking around, the bulk of the YA titles I've seen are set in high school and seem to cater to a much younger crowd.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'm clearly in need of some help. If you're someone who's written or reviewed books like this or, even better, someone who's a YA book reader, drop me a line at bobmc@togsolutions.com. No advice will be turned down!

The Lauren Conrad Book Deal (Because I HAD to Say Something!)

Even as I posted my last entry about the New York Magazine article and how the publishing business is fixing to change around, I had this in the back of my head. And I'm sure it also sticks in the craw of some of you other Questers.

About a week and a half ago, alleged celebrity Lauren Conrad, whose mere presence is endemic of what's truly wrong with television these days and who, to noone's knowledge, has ever wrote a story in her life, got a three-book deal from HarperCollins. This is an odd move by a publisher that, according the the New York Magazine article, is trying to reinvent itself with its HarperStudio imprint.

Her subject matter? The L.A. Candy series, as it's been dubbed, is loosely based on her "transition from regular gal to recognizable face."

Meh.

While I personally do not write in the particular genre, I feel badly for those Questers who were already going up against Gossip Girl and Clique books and other YA items of that ilk. And with a publishing industry already tightening up ship after a ton of bombs, was this really what YA Questers wanted to hear about?

If these books can be considered literary junk food, then that would make the upcoming Lauren Conrad series Hardee's (or Carl's Jr., depending on your location).