I’ve been thinking about readers.  Who are they?  Where are they?  How do they make their book purchases?  What do they want from their books?  Why do they choose one book over another?

If I knew all the answers, I wouldn’t need to write.  I’d just sell those answers to other wannabes and live on the fortune.  Of course, I’d still write.  I can’t seem to stop writing, so perhaps I’d better figure out the answers to the above questions, then apply those principles to my stories, and only tell my secrets after my books/author name is selling so well I don’t need to follow my own advice.

But first I need to answer those questions.

There’s an interesting article and discussion which looks at the male vs. female-ness of readers choices.  I’m not going to jump into that discussion today-my stomach’s feeling a little off.

Locus Magazine did a poll rating the sites readers use regularly and what genres they prefer.  That poll is most helpful, and I’ll soon be lurking at those sites (watch for their appearance on the blogroll) but I can’t know how many of my potential readers take Locus or participated in the poll.

Another thing I’d like to know is how many readers of sf/f speculative fiction spend time online.  If I had to guess I would say the majority, but of course that’s just my humble and uneducated guess. 

So, no answers yet.  I’m sure I’ll be wondering on the Big Reader Questions again, but luckily my stories are interesting to me and worth writing first for me, the reader of one.