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HALLOWEEN, STINGY JACK and the HISTORY OF THE JACK-O'- LANTERN

10/26/2018

Six more days until the big event. To all you humans, ghouls, elves, werewolves, vampires, demons, gods and goddesses, and everyone, whoever and whatever you are, Happy Halloween. You all know the origins of Halloween, right? You do? That’s too bad, because I'm going to tell you again.
◄ Carved by American Artist Ray Villafane; Photo source:
http://designcollector.net/likes/pumpkin-carving-by-ray-villafane

THE ORIGINS OF HALLOWEEN
The ancient Celtic harvest festival Samhain, enriched by the Roman festivals of Feralia [commemorating deceased ancestors], Pomona [Roman goddess of fruit trees, gardens, and orchards], and Lemuria [exorcising malevolent ghosts of the dead and evil spirits -- lemurs -- from their homes], is recognized as the origin of our modern Halloween.

Roman Funeral Photo source: ▲ Danza macabra, detail Clusone, Bergamo, Italy ▲ The Celtic Empire
romae.org/blog/the-roman-origins-of-halloween/ http://romae.org/blog/2008/10/22/the-roman-origins-of-halloween/ Image by Paolo da Reggio via wikimedia commons, used under a CC BY SA 2.5 license.

[Don't forget, at the time of Christ, the Celtic Empire encompassed most of what we know as Europe. So the Celts are not only from the British Isles.]

Samhain (pronounced "sow-in" or "sah-van") is Irish-Gaelic for "the summer's end" and represented the death of Lugh, the summer sun god. It was the third day of a Druid festival and began at dusk on October 31, marking the change of the seasons and the beginning of the Celtic new year.

In the Middle Ages, after Christianity had taken hold, the festival was renamed All Saints Day and All Souls Day when Pope Gregory IV confirmed celebration of All Saints Day on November 1 and All Souls Day on November 2, coinciding with the festival of Samhain.

LET THERE BE LIGHT
One of the practices of the ancient Celtic festival was casting the bones of slaughtered cattle into a large bonfire. Samhain, as the point in the year ushering in the "dark season", was believed to be the night when a kind of door opened to the Otherworld, allowing the dead to return to where they had lived and letting spirits roam the earth. Part of the ceremony of Samhain was providing hospitality for the dead ancestors.

It was also a period of supernatural intensity, when the forces of darkness were thought to be abroad, To combat the threat, ancient Celts often held raging bonfires – fire being the usual means of warding off evil spirits. The practice continued throughout the region even after Christianity became the primary religion in the Middle Ages.

WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH JACK-O'-LANTERNS?
There is a connection, I promise, but I lack the ”pithy gene” and it takes me a while to get to the point.

During the Middle Ages, the festival remained, but the bonfires got smaller and smaller until they were replaced by lanterns carved out of turnips and gourds, which were plentiful and inexpensive. These vegetables were hollowed out and pierced to allow the light of hot embers to shine through. They were still intended to ward off evil spirits.
The practice of carving the gourds grew in Europe, and scary faces carved in the vegetables began to look like the evil spirits they were supposed to scare away.
Turnip photo by Rannphairti Anaithnid
Wikipedia Commons https://www.annieandre.com/

Photo Source: http://www.globeslcc.com/ The National Museum of Ireland- Country life. Photo Source: https://munchies.vice.com

The immigrants from Europe brought their festivals and practices to America with them, along with the tradition of vegetable carving. Irish immigrants had a strong influence on how Halloween developed in America.
But alas, they soon discovered turnips weren't in abundance in the new world, but pumpkins were. Voilá. Here we are today.

STINGY JACK
One of the myths the Irish brought to America was about a man nicknamed "Stingy Jack." The story goes that Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him, then didn't want to pay for the drinks. So he persuaded the Devil to take the form of a coin Jack could use it to buy their drinks.

When the Devil turned himself into a coin, Jack decided to keep the money and put it in his pocket where he kept a silver cross, which supposedly kept the Devil from turning into his original form.

Finally, Jack bargained with the Devil and agreed to free him on the condition he wouldn't bother Jack for one year and that, should Jack die, the Devil wouldn't claim his soul.

After a year, Jack again coerced the Devil into climbing a tree to pick a piece of fruit. While the Devil was in the tree, Jack carved the sign of the cross into the tree's bark, preventing the Devil from coming down. Jack agreed to let him down if the Devil didn't bother him for ten years.

Unfortunately, not long after, Jack died, but God would not allow such an unsavory figure into heaven. The Devil, upset by the trick Jack had played on him, kept his word not to claim Jack's soul, so he couldn't take Jack into hell. Instead, he sent Jack packing on a dark night with only a burning coal to light his way.

Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip and has roamed the Earth with ever since. The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as “Jack of the Lantern,” and then, simply “Jack- O’-Lantern.”
[Reworded slightly from History of the Jack 0' Lantern. http://www.history.com/topics/halloween/jack-olantern-history]

THE FINE ART OF PUMPKIN HUMOR
But we are not finished. Oh, no. Americans may have inherited the art of pumpkin carving from the Europeans, but we have taken it to new heights with our imagination and spirit of adventure.
Minion Halloween Eye on a plate
https://weheartit.com https://www.pinterest.com

Everything you never wanted to know about pumpkins and are going to read anyway.

●Pumpkins are native to the western hemisphere.
●Pumpkins are not a vegetable - they are a fruit! Pumpkins, like gourds, and other varieties of squash are all members of the Cucurbitacae family, which also includes cucumbers, gherkins, and melons. http://www.pumpkincarving101.com/pumpkin_carving_history.html
●The United States' major pumpkin states produce over one billion pounds of the vegetable/ fruit annually, worth over $100 million. Illinois produces more pumpkins than any other American state.
● In 2016 Steve Connolly from Sharon, MA managed to grow a giant pumpkin weighing 2,075.5 pounds, setting a new record in the state of Massachusetts.

HAVE A HAPPY HALLOWEEN.

Sources
http://www.history.com/topics/halloween/jack-olantern-history
http://www.pumpkincarving101.com/pumpkin_carving_history.html
http://www.motherearthliving.com/natural-health/history-of-carving-pumpkins
http://www.pumpkinnook.com/facts.htm
http://www.livescience.com/5831-carve-pumpkins-turnips.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2015/10/31/how-the-ancient-romans-gave-us-bones-of-the-dead-cookies-for-halloween/#49c61a0f438a
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSvb2o5wyEI
https://topsfieldfair.org/giantpumpkins.php
http://romae.org/blog/2008/10/22/the-roman-origins-of-halloween/
https://alphamom.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CreeperPumpkins21.jpg
https://www.instructables.com/id/Spooky-Edible-Eyeballs/
https://www.pinterest.com/1inspiredwoman/fruit-vegetable-carvings/?lp=true
http://www.globeslcc.com/2014/10/30/halloween-facts-origins/
https://www.urbanorganicgardener.com/2015/10/the-halloween-turnip-an-american-history/
https://munchies.vice.com/en_us/article/pgx58g/evil-irish-turnips-were-the-original-jack-o-lanterns
https://www.annieandre.com/carve-scary-turnip-jack-olantern-halloween-not-pumpkin/

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I aTE THE WORM!

10/19/2018

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I did! And not just any old worm. An African Mopane worm.

Oh, yuck!

Actually, the Mopane [or Mopani] is a caterpillar, not a worm, the larvae of the Emperor Moth. It didn't look like the one in the photo, but no matter how you cook, you can still see what it is.

▲ Photo: NY Daily News - Amalinda Ndlovu ▲ Photo: Oxford University Museum of Natural History harvesting mopane worms, Zimbabwe
(Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP)

THE QUESTION IS … WHY?
Why not? I draw inspiration for my novels from my world travels. While I never know what information I'm going to need in the next novel, I've learned to pay better attention to the details that can't be researched. When I travel, I look for unique locations, attitudes, and customs which result in a story that couldn't happen anywhere else and be the same story. And I take advantage of new experiences and strange food.

Besides, Africans eat many types of insects [at least 40 types are traditional foods], but the most widespread and popular is the Mopani worm. It is considered healthy because of the crude protein content of 61% [three times the protein found in beef], plus they have crude fat of 17% and 11% of mineral content, on a dry matter basis. The worms are cheap and the main source of protein for much of the population of southern Africa. In some places they are considered a delicacy; in others, bush food. Still, yuck!

THE BOMA RESTAURANT
The momentous worm-eating event took place in 2008 at the well-know Boma restaurant, a class tourist venue near the Victoria Safari lodge in Zimbabwe. One visitor described it as an "over the top, traditional dining experience that is nothing short of memorable and exciting" and another "an out-of-body experience." The buffet is huge, with such dishes as grilled warthogs [tastes like good pork], kudu and impala stews, vegetarian dishes and, of course, the worm.

These photos courtesy of Trip Advisor ▲▲ ▲Three diners in chitenges

Diners are dressed in chitenges and invited to take part in a hand washing ceremony. The entertainment includes Amakwezi traditional dancers and singers, a local story teller, face painting, a Sangoma (a witchdoctor/fortune teller), and drummers. It's very interactive entertainment.
▼ Some of my photos didn’t come out well because of the lighting in parts of the restaurant.

WHAT DO MOPANI WORMS TASTE LIKE?
Do you really want to know? I remember the one I ate [and I do mean "one"] as being kind of crunchy, but I think I gulped it down without tasting it.

One blogger who ate hers at the Boma in a stew, puts it this way. "The initial taste of the Mopane worm wasn't so bad, hidden by the garlic and onions. But as I continued to chew, the real flavor became unmasked and I detected a blend of earth, salt and drywall. It wasn't very good." Others say they taste like leaves. Still another person described them as having the flavor and texture of gritty prawns. I guess it depends on how you cook them.

These photos courtesy of Trip Advisor Except for MY worm

ONE LAST ANECDOTE
My traveling companion, Shirley Wilder, and I stayed at the Victoria Fall Safari Lodge. Without describing the architecture, our room opened onto an covered but open walkway. Beyond, a landscaped hillside sloped upward.

When we came back from dinner at the Boma, there were live mopanie worms crawling all over the walkway. We danced around them and hurried into the room. When we woke up in the morning, I got out of bed and there, near the bathroom door, was one of the worms against the wall.

We had been invaded. Neither of us wanted to go past it to the bathroom, so we waited for it to move.

Finally, I couldn’t wait any longer and made a mad dash. When I came out, I was within a couple of feet from the creature, actually close enough to see it. I started to laugh and couldn’t stop. It was a black doorstop.

OKAY, PEOPLE. WOULD YOU EAT THE WORM?

Sources
http://vivekananda.hubpages.com/hub/taste_them_once_mopani_worms
http://hughpaxton.wordpress.com/2010/02/12/some-things-taste-like-prawns-mopani-worms/
http://theculinarylinguist.wordpress.com/2011/05/26/mopani-or-mopane-worms-caterpillars-taste-like-dried-leaves/
http://www.thegreenmechanics.com/2013/01/whats-for-dinner-zimbabwes-mopane-worms.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/eats/zimbabwe-favorite-snack-mopane-worms-article-1.1247669
http://www.victoriafalls-guide.net/the-boma.html
http://goafrica.about.com/od/botswana/ss/Mopane-Worm.htm
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/eats/zimbabwe-favorite-snack-mopane-worms-article-1.1247669
http://unvegan.com/strange-eats/strange-meats-mopani-worm/
https://www.edibleinsects.com/entomophagy/edible-mopane-worms/
http://www.africanmoths.com/pages/SATURNIIDAE/SATURNIINAE/gonimbrasia%20zambesina.htm
https://www.tripadvisor.co.za/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g293761-d780177-i115892925-The_Boma_Dinner_Drum_Show-Victoria_Falls_Matabeleland_North_Province.html
https://notesontraveling.com/daily-special-food-and-drink-in-africa-pt-5/
https://tehastravels.com/2018/05/

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THE WINNERS WRITE THE HISTORY BOOKS

10/12/2018

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This blog started out as an update of my article about Columbus Day, but also to debunk the often-taught concept that Christopher Columbus discovered America. But, alas, that was not to be – at least in terms of the total picture.

Since the time I last updated the information, it appears that good old Chris has fallen into disrepute, and there is a major effort to reinvent the holiday as Indigenous Peoples Day.

COLUMBUS DISCOVERED AMERICA ... RIGHT?
Well, not exactly -- even though it may be what you learned in grammar school.

● Point one: It depends on what is meant by the word discover.
Christopher Columbus was not the first of human kind to set foot on the North American Continent. There were already indigenous peoples living there when he arrived, both on the islands where he did set foot, and on the North American continent, upon which he did not set foot.

Columbus wasn't even the first European to set foot there, either. In 1960, undeniable proof of Vikings in North America came to light at L'Anse aux Meadows near Newfoundland, Canada. Islandic-style house foundations gave proof that the Vikings briefly settled there around 1100 (five hundred years before Columbus arrived), and artifacts including a needle whetstone, a soapstone spindle whorl, and bronze ring-pins of the Norsemen were also convincing evidence.
Hall at L'Anse aux Meadows by Eric Titcombe Needle whetstone & soapstone spindal whorl – Photo by: Leif Ericson – Photo:
Source: www.flicker.com R.Chan for Parks Canada https://www.pinterest.com/ http://www.timetoast.com

Leif (The Lucky) Ericson (970-1020) the Norse explorer and first son of Erik the Red, is regarded by many historians as the first European to land in North America. There are a myriad of other claims of others reaching the North American continent before Columbus and even before Ericson.

• 530 AD - St. Brendan
The story of St. Brendan, from Ireland, sailing to America certainly falls within the myth category.

• 1170 AD - Prince Madoc of Wales
Madoc (Madog or Madawg) ap Owain Gwynedd was a Welsh prince who, according to legend, discovered America in 1170. The story is unconfirmed, but there is a growing belief among many Welsh in the US that Wales has a claim on the discovery of the continent.

The first written account of Madoc's story is in George Peckham's A True Report of the late Discoveries of the Newfound Landes (1583). There exists disputed archaeological evidence, three hill fort sites similar to Celtic hill forts, along the river in the area they are supposed to have "colonized". The Mandan Indians are reportedly the descendants of these early Welsh explorers. Unfortunately, there are no Mandan Indians left of pure blood to confirm this through DNA testing.

• 1398 AD - Henry Sinclair
Also in the myth category is Henry I Sinclair (sometimes written St. Clair), Earl of Orkney, Baron of Roslin, and Lord of Shetland (c.1345-c.1400). A Scottish explorer/nobleman and the grandfather of William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness, the builder of Rosslyn Chapel, Henry is also noted for being the subject of legend that he undertook early explorations of Greenland and North America in about the year 1398.

How about the Jewish, the Chinese, the Egyptians, Scott Wolter, and everyone else suggested on the History Channel? Every year there are new discoveries with the potential of rewriting the history we're taught in school, and the ability to DNA test certain ancient finds may eventually be able to put to rest old myths and word of mouth stories and establish real evidence.

● Point two: It depends on what is meant by the word America in this context.
While it’s true that Columbus never set foot on what U.S. citizens consider “America,” he never claimed he had. At that time, explorers who discovered things they didn’t recognize, fell back on the writings of the ancients, assuming they had wider experience than those who came after.

Columbus must have believed the same thing. He is often accused of being confused, of not knowing where he had been or what he had discovered, but the problem then was less a matter of “naming” things as finding the original local names … which no one in Europe would have understood anyway. In all, he made four voyages to the Americas and explored a rather large area, but it wasn’t until the fourth trip that he determined he hadn’t located Asia but another continent heretofore unknown to the Europeans.

Routes of Columbus’ Four Voyages
Source: Wikipedia

The name “America” (bestowed on the New World) was derived from the name of explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci (Florence, 1454-1512), although even this is in contention.

Through another ironic quirk of history, Vespucci didn’t name it, either. In fact, both Columbus and Vespucci believed what they discovered to be parts of Asia that, at that point, had not been explored by Europeans. Historians tell us that neither man had any concept of a new continent.

Amerigo Vespucci and his charts Photo of drawing:
Photos from: https://www.landofthebrave.info/amerigo-vespucci-facts.htm https://www.exploration-and-piracy.org

One source indicates Amerigo Vespucci was a merchant from Venice who owned a business in Spain outfitting ships for mercantile expeditions. Another claims he worked for Lorenzo de' Medici and was sent, in 1492, to work at the Seville, Spain branch of the Medici bank. According to that source, King Manual I of Portugal invited Vespucci to participate as observer in several exploratory voyages to the east coast of South America between 1499 and 1502. And, in fact, both versions might be correct.

However he got there, Vespucci accompanied those expeditions to South America and, as a result, wrote letters with glowing descriptions of the newly discovered countries which he called the lands of a "New World."

Vespucci’s letters were read by Martin Waldseemuller, a noted geographer, and Mathias Ringmann, who were preparing a reproduction of Ptolemy's treatise on geography. They decided to incorporate Vespucci's voyage into the treatise. Ringmann, acting as editor, was apparently unaware of Columbus’ discoveries fifteen years earlier and wrote the following in his introduction: “There is a fourth quarter of the world which Amerigo Vespucci has discovered and which for this reason we can call 'America' or the land of Americo."

Their work (entitled Cosmographiae Introductio) was published in April, 1507, and marked the first time the word America appeared in print.

And this is sooo not what I learned in high school history. Do we really know anything for sure?

According to Toby Lester, a contributing editor to The Atlantic and the author of The Fourth Part of the World, “History hasn’t served poor Matthias Ringmann nearly as well [as Martin Waldseemuller]. That doesn’t seem quite fair. So tonight let’s send up a few of our fireworks in honor of the man who had the audacity to declare, before anybody else, that the world had a fourth part—and to imagine that he might be the one who could give it a name.”
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/07/04/where_america_really_came_from/

Is nothing sacred? There is also a claim that the name America came from Richard Amerike, a Welsh-descended English merchant, Royal customs officer and Sheriff who had sponsored John Cabot's voyage to America in 1497.

DOES COLUMBUS GET THE CREDIT? A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD
Stories have it that Columbus died broke and in jail, but for the most part, the history books still give Christopher Columbus the credit for “discovering” the new world and opening up the Americas to European colonization. They also lay the blame for the negative impacts of his arrival in the Western Hemisphere. A double-edged sword.

He is also blamed for the destruction of the native peoples of the islands he explored, and he is labeled a racist, as were most of the aristocracy of that period. People have expended many words on extolling his successes and virtues and criticizing his faults and failures. There is plenty to read, if you want to explore those avenues.

Photo: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/columbus-confusion-about-the-new-world-140132422/
The Gallery Collection / Corbis

WORLDWIDE CELEBRATIONS
This date is celebrated not only in the United States but also as DÃa de ;a Raza (Day of the Race) in Latin America. In the late twentieth century it became a controversial holiday in some countries and has been re-named in others.

Día de la Raza (Discovery Day) is celebrated in the Bahamas, Spain, Argentina, Belize, and Uruguay using different names. In the United States, many Italian-Americans observe Columbus Day as a celebration of their heritage, rather than the arrival of the Europeans in the Western Hermisphere.

CONTROVERSAY OVER THE HOLIDAY
Although celebrated in some locations since the 1800s, Columbus Day as a national holiday was not declared until in 1937. Over the decades, as civil rights came into focus, it has become more and more controversial.

According to Nadra Kareen Nittle’s article in www.thoughtco.com, March, 2017, “Native American groups argue that the Italian explorer’s arrival in the New World ushered in genocide against indigenous peoples as well as the transatlantic slave trade.” Much like Thanksgiving, it highlights Western imperialism and the conquest of people of color.

The American Indian Movement (AIM) “likened Columbus Day celebrations in the U.S. to the German people establishing a holiday to celebrate Adolf Hitler with parades and festivals in Jewish communities,” and asked the federal government to stop observances on Columbus Day.

According to AIM, “Columbus was the beginning of the American holocaust, ethnic cleansing characterized by murder, torture, raping, pillaging, robbery, slavery, kidnapping, and forced removals of Indian people from their homelands … We say that to celebrate the legacy of this murderer is an affront to all Indian peoples, and others who truly understand this history.”

Indigenous Peoples' Day celebration Seattle 2017 Photo: Elaine Thompson/AP https://me.me/t/columbus-day
Eduardo Muñnos-Reuters Randalls Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch
Island NY 2017

To address this, the idea of substituting an Indigenous People’s Day was born in 1977 to commemorate and respect, instead, the traditions and customs of North America’s great tribes.

THE HOLIDAY CELEBRATES THE EVENT, NOT THE PERSON
First, in my opinion, it’s ridiculous to imagine the US government, or the people of the United States, intend to celebrate or condone murder, torture, slavery, and everything else AIM mentions or to purposely affront native Americans by having Columbus Day as a national holiday.

Second, regardless of who got to the Americas/New World first, until Columbus' voyages, the historical truth is that the two hemispheres of the world lived in isolation, each unaware of the existence of the other. Christopher Columbus' voyages changed that.

Third, Columbus Day marks the first encounter that brought together the original indigenous Americans and the future Americans and changed the history of the world.

Columbus Day does not commemorate the person nor does it celebrate the ultimate outcome of the voyages. It is the historical event Columbus Day honors and is neither a positive or negative comment on the value of the event or what happened subsequently. Remember, nearly all events commemorated by any culture, have their positive and negative impacts.

Personally, I believe an Indigenous People's Day would be a good thing, but not as a substitute for the remembering the event of the two separate parts of the world coming together. Perhaps the name of the holiday should be changes to "Discovery Day", the name given to the event by many other countries which celebrate it.

Sources: 2018
https://www.summitlighthouse.org/master-saint-germain-columbus/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/columbus-confusion-about-the-new-world-140132422/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/columbus-day-2017-indigenous-peoples-day-cities-native-americans-christopher-columbus-a7990211.html
https://thehumanist.com/commentary/dont-celebrate-columbus-honor-native-people
https://www.csmonitor.com/1992/0325/25202.html
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2014/1013/Is-Indigenous-Peoples-Day-a-long-overdue-change-or-political-correctness-run-amok
https://www.thoughtco.com/case-against-celebrating-columbus-day-2834598
https://theamericanscholar.org/what-columbus-day-really-means/#.WvM1kYgvzcc
http://ucbhssp.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/hssplessons/Columbus%20and%20Native%20Peoples%20Lesson.pdf
http://www.aish.com/shraga_blog/Columbus_the_Jew.html
https://www.factretriever.com/christopher-columbus-facts
https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/153569
https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/10/12/354274630/seattle-swaps-columbus-day-for-indigenous-peoples-day
https://thonyc.wordpress.com/2014/09/05/the-naming-of-america/
https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/10/12/354274630/seattle-swaps-columbus-day-for-indigenous-peoples-day

Sources prior to 2018:
http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/1492.exhibit/c-Columbus/columbus.html
http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/bookmarks/americas_name/
http://www.answers.com/topic/columbus-day
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/07/04/where_america_really_came_from/
http://columbus-day.123holiday.net/christopher_columbus.html
http://blogs.tennessean.com/opinion/2010/10/05/why-is-columbus-day-celebrated/
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Amerigo_Vespucci.aspx
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Amerigo_Vespucci
http://www.theholidayzone.com/columbus/history.html
http://aglobalworld.com/holidays-around-the-world/discovery-puerto-rico-day-puerto-rico/
http://aglobalworld.com/holidays-around-the-world/bahamas-discovery-day/
https://www.landofthebrave.info/amerigo-vespucci-facts.html
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Columbus_Day

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FINDING YOUR AUDIENCE

10/5/2018

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Nowadays, most of the marketing of a novel falls to the author, and that consumes a large part of our working time when we should be writing instead.

A crucial part of marketing is assuring your message is being seen and heard by the people most likely to purchase your book -- your Target Audience. Target marketing is one of the important keys to success. By targeting your message, you're more likely to maximize the return on your time and marketing dollar.

RULES OF THUMB

Market yourself as an author and a person, not just your book.

Know the thematic statement of your novel.
Every book needs a thematic statement—the lesson to be learned, the impact on the reader, the reason the author wrote the book. That is the key to who will want to read it. Part of your marketing strategy is connecting your audience with the main theme of the book.

Write to your audience.
Think about who will want to read your book, preferably before you start writing it. Keep your audience in mind while you write it. One of the biggest mistakes authors make, particularly fiction authors, is failing to identify their target audience before writing the book.

Begin marketing well before your book comes out.
That means selling yourself as a person and making your audience aware of you before your book is available. But wait! To whom are you going to market your book?

FINDING YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE
Who is your target audience?

Think about why would someone want to read your book? What segment of the population were you thinking about when you conceived the idea for this book? Who did you want to help, educate, inform or entertain? And most important of all, what does your book offer that others in the same genre do not. How is your book unique?

Regarding the question of who your audience is, Patricia Fry writes "And please do not say, 'Everyone.' Say this to a publisher and you will definitely receive a rejection letter. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all book. Even the world’s best-selling book, the Bible, isn’t embraced by all of humanity. Tell a publisher that your audience is everyone and you’ve just blown your professional cover."
https://www.matilijapress.com/articles/DetermineTargetAudience.htm

Kimberley Grabas writes, "Trying to appeal to the masses instead of understanding the needs, wants and desires of a select few–the ‘right’ few–is the recipe for a book launch flop.
Easier said than done, but it is essential. The article Finding a Target Audience for Your Book in 3 Steps indicates that authors must learn to see things from the perspective of the reader in order to find the 'right' audience and discover the most effective channels for reaching them.

Self-examine yourself and your message
Self-examination is essential first before you can find your audience. In addition to knowing who you are and how to project that to your audience, you must know the thematic statement of your novel and what you want the reader to feel and think about once they have read your book.

Don't Assume you already know your audience
Don’t assume you already know your audience, or that they are just like you. It’s possible, but not always the case that your audience will think like you. So do the work to confirm what your readers actually want; not what you think they need. They are not just a faceless group of people

Find who wants to read your book.
You’re looking for the people who already want to buy your book. It's tied to the thematic statement and the style of book. There are people out there who are interested in the theme, style, what is unique about it.

Author Marcia James’ Ten Tips to Niche Marketing gives excellent advice on how to identify those people who may want to read your book. Think about genre and:
● Who might connect with your characters, your thematic statement, your setting, the circumstances of the novel, etc. Who did you want to help, educate, inform or entertain? You may have several audiences. That’s great. List them.
● Who might connect with you as an author and/or a person and what is important to you.
● What your audience needs? What do they want? What do they value?
● What is most important to them?
● What are they least likely to care about?
● What you have to say that might surprise your audience?
● What you want your audience to think, learn, or assume about you? What impression do you want your writing to convey?

Research The Demographics
Once you have a good handle on why you write, your message, and who needs or wants to hear that message, you need to consider the demographics related to those groups you believe might be your target audiences.

Most businesses depend on market research and demographics to plan their marketing. Writing is a business, and authors should approach finding their audience and marketing in the same manner.

Demographics describe the profile of a particular market segment. Psychographics are the attitudinal traits people exhibit in their approach to life. Because both sets of traits have an impact on buying behavior, both have an impact on how you should package, price, and communicate your book to your target audiences.

There are a number of polls and surveys prepared by others that authors can use. In most cases, those are not necessarily focused on your target audience, and they are not necessarily done every year. However, they’re useful in deducing who is most likely to be interested in what you’re selling—you as an author and your books.

While you may think that there is nothing available on romance readers or any other particular genre, there are actually polls being taken all the time for various reasons. In particular, if you write romance, RWA has polls on readership that are very valuable. Put some faces on that crowd of people.

Think Like Your Reader
Social media is an ideal tool for understanding potential readers and connecting with them. Successful social media marketing takes time and patience, dedication and consistency, and a sincere commitment to making your interactions personal.

You don't want to harass your readers. It is essential to be transparent, friendly and personable. Who knows? You might just find that making friends online is just as fun as meeting people face-to-face!
● One of your strongest strategies should focus on engagement, and being present, with your audience. Trying to plan every last detail of your marketing efforts will only undermine them.
● Most readers aren’t going on social media to buy a book. They’re using social media to engage with other readers, authors, and friends. Don't bombard them with ads and sales pitches.
● Be authentic and real with your followers, and they will be sincere with you. It’s all about being sociable without being annoying, just like in real life.
● Hashtags are your #friend. They categorize the plethora of content being posted, by working as searchable tags and keywords. They assist in developing an online presence and reaching out to your audience. If used correctly, hashtags can connect you with readers all over the internet. If used incorrectly, they just clutter all of your wonderful content. Don't use too many.

Facebook Audience Insights can give you incredibly detailed data on audience demographics and interests. By searching for people whose interests include Stephen King, we know their age and gender split, geographical location, as well as other pages they’ve liked. The same applies to other social networks like Twitter and Google+. If you want to find out who is talking about a book (or an author, an interest, pretty much anything), you can use Twitter Advanced Search.

Know The Competition
Find out which books on the market are closest to your in theme and style. If you were to compare your book to other titles that are already out there, which ones would they be? What kind of readers comprise the readership of these books? A little bitr of analysis will help you further refine your proto-persona.

Studying demographics sounds onerous to those who haven't done it before. There are other ways to find out your audience by comparing the works of other authors in your genre. Find out which books on the market are closest to yours in theme and style. If you were to compare your book to other titles that are already out there, which ones would they be? What kind of people comprises the readership of these books? A little bit of analysis will help you further refine your proto-persona.

Find out which authors are published in the same genre, who writes in a similar style or about the same or similar topics. Find out which authors are successful and popular. Read their books and look for similarities and differences.

In other words, identify your competition. Be able to make the comparison off the top of your head. Always think about what makes your work similar to, but unique from, the best sellers. Use #hashtags to browse your genre community.

Also, you need to follow (and read, read, read) your competition in order to know what makes your work different from theirs and, of course, why those novels are selling. That's something you need to be able to articulate to editors, agents, and to your audience.
● Connect With Your Competition
Follow these authors on FaceBook, Twitter and other Social Media. Engage them and communicate. If you’ve read their work, you can make specific comments. Put reviews on Amazon and GoodReads and other sites. Go to their book signings if you have the opportunity, or meet them at conferences.
●Their Audiences May Be Your Audiences
By following successful authors and reading their works, you also get to know their audiences. See if you can deduce from comments and followers, who their audiences are and what they are interested it.

Are they the same from one author to the next, or different? Can you tell why? Get to know others who follow these authors. What techniques do these authors use to market to this audience? You might even be able to ask the authors questions about their audiences and get some pointers. However you use the various social networking opportunities, you have to give something to those you follow and follow you. And that something needs to be of value to them, something they want. Substance is critical. Since a large part of capturing your audience’s attention depends on how you engage with them, notice how your favorite authors interact with their fans.
● Learn From The Best
The bestselling books and/or bestselling authors dominate a lot of the readers’ market, and your competition is vast (four million books), but don’t see this as a roadblock. Bestsellers will always exist, and there will always mid-list authors. But there will also be new authors moving in alongside the established ones. It takes new blood to keep readers interested in the same genres.
● See How Other Authors Engage Their Audiences
Since a large part of capturing your audience’s attention depends on how you engage with them, notice how your favorite authors interact with their fans. What topics do they Tweet about? What does their audience respond to? Emulate people who are already where you want to be, but do it with your own unique voice. Just don't copy.

PUTTING YOURSELF OUT THERE
Once you've identified your audience, and you know where they hang out and what interests them, use #hashtags to browse your genre community.

● Engage in Social networking and self-promotion
However you use the various social networking opportunities, you have to give something to those you follow and follow you. And that something needs to be of value to them, something they want. Substance is critical. Since a large part of capturing your audience’s attention depends on how you engage with them, notice how your favorite authors interact with their fans. There are many classes and training opportunities to give you good information about using the various social media.

StumbleUpon is one I hadn’t heard of before. http://www.stumbleupon.com/about/. StumbleUpon, a form of web search engine, has actually been around since 2001, but has only become popular in the past several years. A lot of this is due to the site becoming available on mobile platforms as well as on the web outside of a browser extension.

I've never used it, but supposedly it helps businesses market to their ideal audiences through targeted content. I've read what's really amazing is that, despite a membership of about 25 million compared to Facebook's 900 million or Twitter's 140 million, it's already driving more than 50 percent of social media site referral traffic. Who knew?

Narrow your audience
Once you are clear about your audiences, make an effort to find a specific niche. While it seems that getting the word out to as many people as possible, that motion is not entirely correct. For one thing, the narrower the audience, the less competition. You'll get a better return on your efforts. It also helps with:
● Key words
●Tagging on Amazon (and other locations)

Put yourself out there
● Nothing replaces face-to-face marketing and word of mouth
● Speaking Engagements at local book clubs, libraries, service organizations, etc.
● Book signings
● Guest lecturing at local service clubs, women's clubs, etc. They always want speakers.

Successful authors find ways to build a loyal readership which supports the author enthusiastically and raves about his/her novels, instead of just reading the books.

Resources
http://marthaengber.blogspot.com/2011/07/how-authors-find-their-audience.html
http://spiritauthors.com/news/target-audience-knowing-finding-and-reaching-your-readers/
http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/page.cfm?pageid=327
http://paintthistownred.wordpress.com/2012/08/01/finding-your-niche-a-guest-post-from-marilyn-baron-author-of-dead-mix/
http://voices.yahoo.com/how-find-writing-niche-5344877.html
http://freelancefolder.com/7-ways-to-find-your-freelance-writing-niche/
http://www.examiner.com/article/finding-your-creative-niche
http://www.articledestination.com/Article/Finding-Your-Writing-Niche/7524
https://www.matilijapress.com/articles/DetermineTargetAudience.htm
http://www.yourwriterplatform.com/how-to-target-an-audience/
https://blog.reedsy.com/3-steps-reaching-target-audience
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2013/06/13/identify-your-target-audience/
http://www.yourwriterplatform.com/how-to-target-an-audience/
https://monicashaughnessy.wordpress.com/2014/11/06/finding-an-audience-for-your-book-signing/
http://www.janbking.com/2007/05/finding-the-audience-for-your-book/
http://writershelpingwriters./
https://blog.reedsy.com/social-media-tips-for-authors

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