Studying the Market

Last month I subscribed to Reader Service to receive monthly editions of Harlequin Blaze novels.

Why?

I wanted to study the market. Ideally, I'd like to write novels that fit into this genre and needed to find out what the publisher was publishing. Likewise, I subscribed to Harlequin's Kimani line, their African-American genre, months ago. The stories I'm working would definitely fit that market. Call it market research!

Do you study the target market for your manuscripts? If so, how and how often?

It's been a month....

It's been exactly a month since I posted on my blog ( a friend of mine suggested I do less posting and more writing) so I wanted to jump on and let everyone know I'm still alive and kickin'.

Life has a way of derailing plans and slowing progress and that's just what happened to me. My dad was in a horrible truck accident three weeks ago. Thankfully, he's on the mend!

My baby niece is turning three months old this week and boy, is she getting big. She even got her ears pierced last weekend. I got my ears pierced at aged ten on the front stoop with a potato and a hot needle and walked around with broom straw in each hole for a week. Times have changed!

My writing? Lazy, lazy, lazy! I don't even want to talk about how I feel about my progress right now. All of my friends (Jennifer, Bella, Chicki, Chelle, Erin, LaConnie, and Zaynah) are so prolific I can't even keep up with the critiques. But I will get back on track, slowly but surely.