Just like the publishing business insists, you probably focus on a certain type of book. A specific genre or author and someone you know and trust. And it’s totally understandable and much easier for them to slot you into a category and make predictions.
But what about situations when books have broken out across barriers – male/female, young/old, crime/romance, fiction/nonfiction, etc.? This happens often! Just look at the Harry Potter franchise appealing to all ages and sexes when the publishers insisted Joanne use her initials, even adding a K, since they knew teenager boys would never read a book written by woman. How wrong that turned out to be.
My Current Off Beat Read About a Teenage Boy Cozied Up with Aquavit
And the funny thing is – my book’s target audience, as I’ve been told I must identify, has breached the walls. Yeah! Some of my male friends surprised me by reading it and asking for book two and the continuation. But they’ve been about my age.
The huge surprise was when a good friend told me her teenage son read AQUAVIT and wrote a book report on it for school. I was really surprised since I have it pegged for the 18+ age group on Goodreads because of some adult topics, more of a PG nature, with much worse on network TV, and for women 30+.
According to my new male teenage fan, “If you like stories of crazy adventures and overcoming adversity, then you will probably love this book. The novel Aquavit, by Karen Stensgaard, has all of this and more. It is a fast-paced book with lots of action and a big or exciting event happening in almost every chapter.”
His book report also mentions, “The theme of the novel is to never give up on your dreams and do whatever you can to achieve them. Throughout the book, Kat is relentless on trying to find a boat that she wants to travel on for this exciting adventure. Even when she meets an expert, who says that there aren’t any boats that meet her criteria, she continues to pursue her dream and finds one against all odds.”
Against all the odds, I’ve published a book, my dream, and continue to grow my small readership blog by blog. If there is one thing I learned as an internal auditor for so many years, rules should be re-evaluated, especially those in the publishing business. And next time, just to prove my point, consider reading something unexpected!
PS Aquavit (the novel) is here along with a zillion other books: Link to Amazon
KAREN STENSGAARD 