Tag Archives: #socialmediacontent

Lesson learned…more to come.

So.

I’ve been writing full-time and professionally now for 8 years. I’ve had to learn stuff I never in a million years thought I’d need to learn back when I got my first publishing contract in 2014.

Book formatting. Branding. Marketing. On-spec writing. Copyright law. Book design.

That’s only the tip of the iceberg.

I joined Twitter ( back when it was called that and not whatever the hell it’s called now) Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook ( and multiple FB groups), Goodreads, Bookbub, LinkedIn – again, just to name a few.

I’ve done more marketing than I ever in my entire life thought I’d ever want to do. Which is a lot considering I never wanted to do any.

And now I’m on TikTok, hawking my books to booktokers.

Here’s the lesson I just this week learned: none of the people on these platforms is my target audience.

None.

Tiktok? 18-24 year olds. I write 35+ age characters.

Instagram – same demographic

TwtX – I don’t even know what the demographic is there, other than the people on it are mean and grumpy and feel they can bully you anonymously

Bookbub – okay, here I may have some traction, same as GoodReads, because…readers! Of all ages.

Facebook – my professional page barely gets any traction/views other than my near and dear friends ( who also see the same content on my personal page because I’m a redundancy idiot). I don’t garner new readers to the professional page at all.

Now, I could PAY for ads for all these places to try and get new readers, but 2 things: I have no money, and the ROI is never comparable.

So my target audience is females, romance readers who like 35+ age romances, everything from sweet with heat to steamy, smalltown, romcoms and romantic suspense lite.

Now, I have my target audience. Does anyone know where I can find them so I can tell them about my books?? Because I need to sell some books.

My online holiday webstore has been open for 19 days and I’ve publicized the heck out of it.

1 sale.

KDP tells me I have no sales and no KU reads at all for the past 10 days.

Forget KOBO, Nook, and all the other sites where some of my books are widely distributed. If I get .25 cents a month in total sale royalties combined from these sites that’s saying something.

So, where can I find new readers? Where can I find readers who enjoy non-smutty, non-dark, non-erotic books, but love stories about regular people?

Recently, I wrote and posted this for a TikTok to try and find my demographic there:

If you’re looking for spicy, dark, romantasy…I’m not your writer.

If you’re looking for gritty, brought and tumble love them and leave them alphamales…I’m not your writer.

If you’re looking for historical, time travel fantasy or paranormal…I’m not your writer.

But…

If you’re looking for rom coms, small towns, and familycentric stories…I may be your writer.

If you like female billionaires who had it all, lost it, then got it back again all on their own, finding love along the way…I may be your writer.

If you like romance books about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can’t live without them…I’m definitely your writer.

And if you like to cry on one page and come out of it with laughter on the next…I am your writer.

So…if you like what you see here, and haven’t read anything by me, then please consider doing so.

And if anyone knows where I can find readers who do like the kinds of stories I write…please let me know.

Thanks, Peg

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Release day for INFLUENCE (The New York Socialites Series) #slowburn #NYCromance

Well, you all knew this day (and blog post) was coming. If you’ve been following me for the past few weeks, I’ve been writing up a storm about my newest New York Socialites book, INFLUENCE.

This story was so much fun to write and research. I had to delve deeply into the influencing sphere and it was eye opening, I have to tell ya. For all the time we as writers have to spend on social media hawking our books, influencers and brand ambassadors have to be on 24/7. That’s exhausting just thinking about. And not everyone can make the kind of money Lizzy Cray makes as an influencer, either. The top tier is small and anyone can be pitched off their perch when a newer, better brand ambassador comes around. Too stressful for me, LOL!

Brand influencer, Lizzy Cray, is killing it.

She’s got a list of high profile clients who pay her handsomely to help their products explode on social media. Everything from cameras to cashmere, shoes to smoothies. One picture of her with a product and the money practically prints itself.

Why does this trust fund-baby need to work so hard to rake in the cash? That’s a question journalist Dominick Templeton wants an answer to, because Lizzy Cray used to be known in the gossip pages as socialite and wild-child Mackenzie Craymore.

Mackenzie disappeared from the public’s eye twelve years ago, right after her fiancé, hotel-heir, Lucky Blumenthal, died in a fiery car crash rumored to be fueled by drugs and alcohol. But now she’s back, still hauntingly beautiful, rebranded, and from everything Dominick’s researched about her, a much different person. When she ignores all his attempts at an interview, Dominick tries a different tactic and soon becomes embroiled in a world he never imagined…with a woman he’s rapidly falling for.

I spotted a lone guy in a tux at one end, leaning an elbow on the counter and facing the room, a tumbler in his hand. I couldn’t make out his face clearly from this distance but he was tall, trim, had a mass of wavy dark hair and a neatly trimmed goatee.

And he was staring straight at me while he lifted his glass to his lips and drank.

His attention never wavered from me while he sipped. There was something so…erotic about that. For a moment I didn’t think he was looking at me, but maybe lost in thought, you know? Looking toward me but not really seeing me? When his lids dropped down to half-mast and he stopped sipping, he held the glass up in a subtle salute aimed right at me, and one side of his mouth lifted.

Every nerve ending in my spine fired and I shuddered like I’d stepped into an ice-cold bath.

But I wasn’t. Cold, that is. Nope, I was about as far from cold as a person could get on a temperature scale.

Hot didn’t even come close to what my insides were experiencing. If you happened to step into a roaring volcano and come in contact with all that molten lava spewing from it, then maybe – maybe – you’d know how I felt with this guy’s piercing gaze glued to mine.

Mesmerized, I couldn’t pull away from it.

You ever have the notion your life is about to change, something big is about to happen, and you can’t figure out what it is but you’re powerless to alter the course? That’s what it felt like with this guy’s focus zeroed in on me.

Excited anticipation zipped through me.

You can get your copy here: INFLUENCE

Read the reviews:
Goodreads (And add it to your WANT TO READ list)

Bookbub

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I’ve joined TikTok! What have I gotten myself into? LOL

I caved.

That’s the only way to explain it.

After saying for months that I didn’t want to add one more thing to my already filled social media experience, I bit the bullet and joined TikTok.

Why, you ask?

Well, I’ll tell ya. I happened to take an online course by the fabulous Shelby Leigh who broke down how to use it as an author and made it seem sosososo easy and relatable that I figured, why not? I had been hesitant before because learning something new again seemed daunting. But Shelby’s step-by-step instructions were so easy to understand for a techNOphobe like me, that I took the plunge.

And I have to tell you, I’ve been having a lot of fun.

Yes, it’s a lot of work, creating content, movies, posts. But it’s also a lot of fun to do! I’ve been making alot of videos of my dog, Maple, that aren’t available anywhere else, plus I’ve been doing live reading of my books. It’s forced me to do my hair and put on makeup every day, something I haven’t done since I retired, LOL!

So if you’re Tiktok-er, please consider adding me to your friend’s list. Here’s my profile link: Peggy Jaeger, TIKTOK

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