Where Did all the Tweens Go?

As an author, marketing has become a large portion of my day-to-day routine. That used to mean blogging, online interviews, social media networking, with a few road trips to the brick and mortar stores nearby. With my latest release, The Wishing Ring, I’ve had to do a little regrouping. Rethink the traditional marketing realm and get creative. Still working on that part. Gives me a headache at least once a week. (Or once a day, depending on the day).

One would think marketing is marketing. Get your name out there, brand yourself, grab those followers…That’s all well and good, but with a tween novella, like The Wishing Ring, the audience begins to alter the landscape a bit. Here, let me show you. Up until now, I’ve written young adult (Driven) or contributed the young adult pieces to contemporary stories (A Summer in Oakville, co-written with Lisa Lickel). Blog interviews and social networks are key avenues to marketing both of those. With teens avidly participating on social sites and adults perusing the blogosphere such tactics makes sense.

However, The Wishing Ring is a tween novella. In other words it’s storyline is geared for readers ages 8 – 14. Facebook limits its users to those 13 and older. Makes hitting my readership tough. I could go for their parents, but unless it’s Christmas or their lovelies’ birthdays, parents are generally not as eager to thumb through tween fiction titles or reviews. (I know I don’t…speaking as the mother of tweens:). Twitter is just now capturing the teen market (according to USAToday.com). Until that audience ratchets down from the 12 – 16 to the 8 – 14, I’m still sunk.

So where do tweens hear about their favorite reads? Here’s what I’ve discovered (oh, and the results are in no special order)…

• Word of mouth–always the best advertisement. If one tween (make that one popular tween and you’ve got it made) likes a book, other readers will follow.
• Kindle Free lists–Bet you didn’t expect that one. One of the top gifts for tweens this past Christmas season seems to have been ereaders. Teachers in our area are now encouraging children to use their ereaders in school (provided the games are not used–that could get your reader taken away:(). So tweens are looking for affordable reads, just like their parents. And when they find one they like, they…
• Read an author to death–in other words, if they like an author, they’ll search for all the material they’ve written to date. Creatures of habit, these guys are, but they are willing to try the newbie. Especially if that newbie book comes up while searching for their favorite author. Gotta capture those links.
• Reading the back cover blurbs–this surprised me. I thought cover art would capture their attention before the back cover did, but from watching kids in action, they read the summary on the internet or flip the book over before making their decisions. These are savvy readers. Guess they have to be, considering the plethora of information thrown at them.
• The book was a classroom requirement–Tried and true. If your teacher says read it and you’ve got some homework to do, chances are, you’re going to read the book. (Ok, except for the few of you who are reading this and thinking about the book reports you weaseled your way through. I’m not talking about those “readers.”)

There’s nothing really ground-breaking about theses simple observations. And perhaps there are a few points you’d like to add (from your own observations or moments as a parent). I’d love to read them. Please leave them in the comment section below. For now, however, I am left with the dubious task of figuring out how to break into the tween market.  **Drums fingers on table and wonders how in the world to do that**

I pray word-of-mouth will come, but first they must hear about the book. They must read it. And so we move down the list…

Whether or not my book goes free for the kindle-free lists is a decision left up to my publisher. Considering this is my first tween (also known as middle grade) piece, I haven’t built an audience seeking to read my newest works (having read and loved my previous ones), so that is also on hold…for now (always the optimist). That leaves me with two options. Really one, considering the back cover blurb has been written and posted. Yup, I’m taking the book to the classroom.

Wish me luck?

Before you go, don’t forget to share how your tween chooses the books they read or if you have a creative way to market a tween novella, I’m all ears (or eyes in this case:). What Do You Think??