Finding my readers…

in the age of Tiktok.

It’s no secret as writers we need to be our own brand ambassadors and publicists. Most of us who write – either independently or who have traditional publishing contracts – are now responsible for all or most of our own marketing, for tooting our own writing horns, and for pushing our names, faces, and books in front of the reading world with the goal of finding new readers who will turn into loyal ones for future book releases.

This is just a fact of a writer’s life in the world of book promotion.

It’s also no secret that being on top of the social media world can help with the goal of finding new readers, sites like TikTok and Instagram, perfect examples of this.

I love Tiktok and the reading/writing/author part of it, Booktok. I’ve found so many new-to-me-authors and readers through my association with the platform these past two years. But there is one large drawback to being a writing creative on it. It’s a young platform.

And I don’t mean it’s only-been-around-for-a-few-years-young.

I mean it in the purest sense of the word young – the age group posting/creating/influencing is waaaaaay younger than me. Like, 40 years younger.

Let that sink in for a moment, because I had to. When I realized most of the influencers who are pushing authors into the Booktok stratosphere and making these authors household names are in their twenties and early thirties, it gave me a moment of pause.

Okay. A few moments. Like, a lot of moments.

If you know me and have read my books, you’re aware I write characters typically in their late thirties and early forties as the main protagonists. I write all heat levels, from sweet to steamy, and I typically write small town, although I do have a female billionaire series. I write contemporary, romcoms, and books that don’t delve into fantasy or deal with morally gray men, explicit sexual situations or have age gaps of 400 years.

But the majority of what comes by my BookTok feed daily…does.

Romantasy, dark romance, Mafia romance, and polyamorous characters in books flood my feed daily, in addition to the categories readers now refer to as high spice and smut. Teenaged girls who are involved with vampires. Mystical creatures having relations with humans. Mobsters ready to kill in a breath if someone touches a woman they consider their own property.

None of which I write.

Not one word.

And also none of which I read.

Not that there’s anything wrong with any of this – let me be clear on that. It’s just not my cup of tea; not what I write or read or want to.

Which has made it difficult for me to get any real traction on BookTok with finding new-to-me readers.

Trying to find new readers who read what I write and having to compete with these young creatives who are blasting out their love for the types of romance I don’t write, has been challenging.

My stories are light, fluffy, and what one of my besties – also a writer – calls Palette cleansers, meaning when you’ve had enough of the dark and dangerous, one of my books is just what you need to reorient your mood back to the happy side of the reading world from the dark. It cleanses your mind of all the deep darkness and refreshes you back to the norm.

I am conflicted about whether or not I like that description of my writing. It’s a total compliment, but in a way it kind of negates the whole real world romance aspect I’m going for in my books.

In the age of high fantasy, I write about the here and now real world.

In a time when teenage girls are being deified and getting involved with adult men of morally indistinct character or imagined creatures who disrupt their lives in unimaginable ways, I write about strong, age-appropriate women with real jobs, bills that need to be paid, families in crisis, and the emotional angst that comes with relationships.

In a book sphere where the imagined world is painted with dark and dreary and fantastical colors, I write about a world filled with the light of what love brings to the table.

So I need a favor. If you’re on Booktok and you like to read my type of romance – real world romance stories about strong women, the families who love and support them, and the men who can’t live without them, do you think you could follow me? Interact with my content? Spread the word about my books?

There are a few “sides” of Booktok that I’ve tried to gain traction with – the #over40booktok and the #fiftyplusbooktokreaders groups. But it’s been difficult to find them, though, so if you’re in one of those groups or any groups where the typical age is above 30, please give me a follow!!

And if you like the categories I write, maybe you’ll even read a book or two of mine.

I’ve gotta tell ya, kids: this self promotion stuff is HARD!!!!

~ Peg