I Feel Creepy...

Writing as a YA author, it can be difficult to reach my target audience. Obviously my books are written for teenagers, but how do I get teens to know my books exist without being creepy?

I had someone suggest recently that I find chat rooms, etc. online that are frequented by teenagers, and hang out there to talk about my books. That bothered me on a couple levels. First of all, places like that aren't really promo venues, and some outright prohibit any type of selling, including authors trying to pimp their books. Second, I'm old. Like, I have teenage kids old. So the idea of hanging out on a site where teenagers gather just seems wrong to me. I'm not a predator, but adults who hang out in teen chat rooms have gained that reputation.

Even just talking to my daughters' friends about my books makes me feel creepy sometimes. After all, they're my *daughters'* friends, not mine. They aren't here to listen to me ramble about the books I've written. They usually reassure me that they like hearing about my books, but they might just be humoring me.

So trying to let teenagers know my books exist isn't as easy as I wish it was, and it especially isn't easy to do without feeling creepy about it. That's something I have to learn, though, because readers aren't going to find my books by magic...