28 Weird and Relatable Things That Readers Do

We readers are a funny bunch. Here's a list of some of the many weird and relatable things that we find ourselves doing. How many do you do?

Book sniffer

1. Smell our books!

2. Close the book once we have finished a reading session and check how much progress we have made by seeing how much closer the bookmark is to the end of the book.

3. Run our fingers across the embossing on book covers.

4. Think about how many other people have touched the pages before us and wonder what their stories are (and what they thought of the book).

5. Judge books by their covers (not always, but sometimes we may even select a book based solely on its cover... without even reading the blurb!).

6. Lose track of a story element then have to flick back to remember who someone is or where they are (or why they have gone wherever they are).

7. Picture things in our head one way and then have to mentally rearrange things when a detail in the book throws off what we had in our mind.

8. Feel proud when we see books that we have already read on shelves at the store or library.

9. Like to point out the books that we have already read that are on shelves at stores or libraries.

10. Give our opinions of the books that we have read that we point out on shelves at stores or libraries eg. "Read that. Loved it," or "Didn't like that one. Couldn't get into it."

11. Get excited to start a new book. Like, smiles and butterflies.

12. Go on dates with our books. I'm talking candles, wine, and soft music, maybe even a bath or a picnic under a shady tree.

13. Mourn the end of a good book (and being unable to go through that first amazing time ever again).

14. Feel sad and anxious about the thought that there are too many amazing books to be read in the world and not enough time.

15. Develop very real crushes on very fictional characters.

16. Recommend and lend books to people you care about as a display of love and affection.

17. Keep your most favourite books in pride of place, likely set apart from the rest.

18. Love the feeling of history that comes with a secondhand book.

19. Love the special ambiance of being around books (there is a different one for each setting - bookstore, library, thrift shop, market - all have their own special vibe).

20. Set themselves times that they will stop reading eg. at 10pm or at the end of the chapter, then feel a very real resistance and think 'just a little bit more'. Then all of a sudden it's midnight.

21. Get a kick out of finding errors in a book.

22. Fight really hard with ourselves trying not to let our eyes jump ahead to find out what happens later on the page.

23. Have an enormous list of books that we want to read, then struggle to remember any the second we step into a library or bookstore.

24. Keep a list of books we have read and books we want to read (to avoid #23).

25. Have a large pile of books on our bedside table (der).

26. Use anything as a bookmark (it doesn't need to be flat).

27. Remember only odd or specific details about a book that we have read, then think 'Oh yeah' when we read a review that mentions the main points of the story that we forgot

28. Know that book lovers get a little more vicarious living done in their lives than non-readers.

Just me? I don't think so!

I want to know...

How many of these do you find yourself doing?

Much love - Marley x

What is Women's Fiction?

Women's Fiction, Contemporary Women's Fiction, Women's Literary Fiction, Commercial and Upmarket Women's Fiction, Paranormal Women's Fiction, and Chick Lit. Discover everything you need to know about the genre in one helpful blog post. Read on!

Book Genres

Let's start at the start.

A 'genre' is used to categorise a book.

Firstly, a book is either fiction or non-fiction.

In fiction, books then fall into a literary subgenre e.g. romance, science fiction, fantasy, women's fiction, etc.

Each of these literary subgenres has its own expectations, for example, did you know that a book has to have a happy ending for it to be considered a romance? While fantasy books need to contain either magic or the supernatural.

There are so many genres that things can get confusing! So, let's look at some of the main Women's Fiction genres and hopefully clear some things up. First things first:

What is Women's Fiction?

Women's fiction is the umbrella term for books that focus on the lives and experiences of women. These books are marketed to women and often include journeys of self-discovery/personal growth during which you get to see a snapshot of what is going on inside a woman's mind.

What is Chick lit? (aka. Beach Fiction)

'Chick' is a slang word for 'young woman', and 'lit' is short for 'literature'. Thus, Chick lit is literature aimed at younger women. It is often:

• lighthearted

• funny

• easy to read

• urban

• 20-or-early-30-something-year-old female protagonist

Fun and young, but not dumb. It often centers around real issues for this demographic at their stage of life: friendships, romantic relationships, and careers.

What is Commercial Women's Fiction?

Commercial Women's Fiction is much like Chick lit but not specifically aimed at younger 20-to-30-year-old women. Therefore, it tackles some deeper and more wide-ranging real-world issues, and may be a bit less light and humorous, while still remaining broadly accessible and easy to understand.

What is Contemporary Women's Fiction

Contemporary Fiction books are set in a present or modern-day setting.

Therefore, Contemporary Women's Fiction is just Women's Fiction set in the present or modern-day.

What is Women's Literary Fiction?

Literary Fiction is a bit more serious. It generally has a purpose and a message and aims to get readers to think about important and complex themes, such as social or environmental issues, which are just as important to the story as the plot.

The plot tends to be character-driven, which means that it is just as focused on what is happening inside a person as what is happening outside, and the plot moves forward because of the person and the choices/actions that they make.

Literary Fiction uses words in a more complex, creative, and innovative way.

So, Women's Literary Fiction is a mixture of Women's Fiction + Literary Fiction.

What is Upmarket Women's Fiction? (aka. Book Club Fiction)

Upmarket Women's Fiction fits between Commercial Women's Fiction and Literary Fiction. It is generally fairly easy to understand and broadly accessible, like Commercial Women's Fiction, but often less predictable, slower paced, and more innovative with language, like Literary Fiction. Check out the following 2 links for more information:

• Lidija Hilje's blog post: Genre Guide: Women's Fiction, Upmarket, Romance, Literary...?

• Carly Watters': Infographic: Do You Know The Difference Between Literary, Upmarket, and Commercial Fiction?

What is Paranormal Women's Fiction?

Paranormal Women's Fiction is a new genre

(created in 2020) that is aimed at women in mid-life (40+). It deals with real-life issues for this demographic (e.g. menopause, empty nest, widowhood, divorce, etc.) and combines them with a protagonist's new or developing magical powers.

Cross-Genre

Most fiction books are cross-genre, which means that they mix genres together. For example, my latest book, The Silver Sheep, is a Contemporary Women's Literary Fiction novel. It:

• Has a modern-day setting (contemporary fiction)

• Is a young women's coming-of-age story that spans the teen years to early twenties (women's fiction)

• Is a journey of self-discovery and personal growth (women's fiction)

• Follows her journey from a rough and poor only child of a single, alcoholic mother, to a free-thinking and spiritual, commune-dwelling young mother herself (women's fiction)

• Tackles issues such as: Substance abuse, abandonment, teen pregnancy, dysfunctional family, being a child caregiver, and moral dilemmas (women's fiction)

• Has social and political themes eg. social inequality; prejudice, intolerance, discrimination, hive mentality; political influence, and corruption (literary fiction)

• It also has a strong earthing theme and aims to encourage free thinking about the themes explored and the very real benefits of connecting with our planet (literary fiction)

Hopefully this helps to shed some light on Women's Fiction for you. Have you tried reading in each of the genres listed? Maybe you can find your next favourite book in a genre you have yet to explore!

Much love - Marley x

P.S. The Silver Sheep is available as an ebook or paperback, and can be downloaded for free by Kindle Unlimited subscribers. CLICK HERE to find out more.

Conventional Hippie Author Seeking Target Audience

A candid account of a common author problem: Marketing a book without a clear genre and target audience.

Why aren't we taught at school to first identify our target market whenever we are trying to produce anything that we want other people to like?

Maybe we were and I didn't pay attention, but before I became an indie author I thought that writing, like any artistic endeavour, was free of the confines of convention and expectation - A true unrestricted expression of our every part, thought, and innermost being.

Uh. It is... if you don't care about selling anything and making any money.

Regardless of where you are at in your author/creative journey, at some point, you will likely come to the point where you need to decide:

Do I write for me, or do I write for other people?

Do I care about making money or not?

Am I creating because I need to create and express myself, or am I creating something to appeal to people and make a living from the creating?

Your answers will then shape what you do from that point.

Honestly, I'm still undecided.

I want to live my dream of being a successful author with a decent income and strong readership, but I also want to just write whatever the hell I want, without needing to define *it*, or who *it* is for.

Without needing to fit my creativity in a box with rules and expectations.

So, this brings me back to attempting to define my target market.

I wrote my books with no clear genre or audience in mind, in other words:

I wrote my books for myself.

I hate writing that. It makes me cringe. It sounds selfish, almost narcissistic. I wrote them HOPING that other people would like them too, but I certainly didn't identify what those people like, want, need, and expect before I got stuck into the process.

I write because I want to write and writing makes me happy, but yes, I also want to make money from it.

So, am I my own target audience for the books that I have already written?

Hrmm, okay. Let's do this, um, "marketing homework".

This is me:

• A woman

• A reader

• A middle-aged mother

• A deep thinker/philosophical

• Nature lover

• On a journey of self-discovery - knows they can always grow and get better

• An anxious and self-conscious overthinker who cares deeply about what other people think but tries hard not to

• Creative

• Time poor

• Conventional hippie

What is a conventional hippie?

A conventional hippie is a term that I made up to describe a wannabe hippie who mostly conforms to social norms. eg:

• I'd love to walk around shoeless, but rocks and broken glass hurt

• I'd love to wear pretty, flowy, hippie clothes all the time, but I get cold. All. The. Time. And I have young kids, so I constantly end up stepping on the hem of my dress and yanking it down. And I'm a little self-conscious about the extra curves in my middle.

• I'd love to live off-grid in the middle of the bush, but I don't, for many various reasons

• I'd love to have no TV or electronics, but my husband and kids would hate me, and I work on computers and need the internet and stuff

• I'd love to grow my own food, but my thumb is not green

• I'd love to eat all-natural, organic, raw, vegan whatever, but I don't, because it's expensive and I am addicted to sugar and coffee, and I love the taste of bad things, and I have a family who I would need to cook separate meals for, which is never going to happen

Ya get me? How I picture my ideal life in my head is different from the way that I live, but I am totally okay with that. I'm a practical hippie - a hippie at heart. A conforming dreamer.

Why does all this matter?

Because my books are kinda the same as me - not full hippie, there are just glimpses of conventional hippie throughout.

In my books, you will find some hippie

themes: earthing, moon-bathing, crystals, singing bowls, meditation, and a lot of nature lovin' and philosophical thinking, scattered amongst the regular ole contemporary women's fiction stories.

Are people who are like me and who like the same things as me, my target market?

I have no fricking idea!!

Really. I don't know.

If you are a woman who likes to read and think, and if you don't automatically discount new-aged thinking and natural medicine as 'hippie-dippie woo-woo crap', then you are my people...

Read my books and let me know.

Are you my people?

Much love,

Marley x

* The Silver Sheep is available as an ebook or paperback and is free for Kindle Unlimited subscribers. Find it on Amazon and other good online bookstores.