The Comfy Hermit

You wrote a book, so what?

Um, excuse me, this is The Comfy Hermit.

Right, so you wrote a book?! Omg, yes!

Of course, there is no real way to measure it but there are guesstimates out there that less than 20% of manuscripts are written. Less than 1% are traditionally published (I think I actually read 0.03%-eep. No wonder why querying is soul sucking.)

First things fist, let’s determine your audience and genre. Fun fact, there are sub-genres. Oh, and cross-overs. I was lucky enough to have a wonderful, industry experienced editor to help me with this hell scape. I will say, start from the top and work your way down.

This is a helpful article to help you determine your target audience (middle grade vs. young adult etc. Also, there is new-adult which is geared towards specific stages of life typically experience from 18-~25) from Southern New Hampshire University. It also covers different genres out there.

When you decide to tackle sub-genres, it gets even more messy. I am considered “contemporary fantasy”-> Urban fantasy, but less leather and none of that noir feel. Here’s an article about fantasy sub-genres that could help you. I mostly interact with fantasy authors and I hope to build resources for other genres in the future.

Why does this matter? Down the line, you need to market. If you go into a book store geared towards mystery novels and you have a romantasy (romantic fantasy, but it’s more focused on the romance than the fantasy world), you are not going to do well. When you go to self-publish on KDP, or another website, they will ask for your metadata. If you don’t have your key terms, people won’t find you. Which means, less sales.

This is NOT a self-publishing blog. This is a website dedicated to community and resources. Please help build it by listing resources below specific to the subject above.