Who reads this smut?

Me with Kristina McMorris and
Elisabeth Naughton (in the background
trying desperately to warm her ears)

Saturday afternoon, I had the pleasure of taking part in the 2011 NW Author Fair in Lincoln City, Oregon.

The Sourcebooks publicist arranged for me to be there, and I was giddy at the prospect of hanging out on the Oregon coast with 60+ authors who are much cooler than me.

Besides, nearly every reviewer has called Making Waves a “beach read.” What better place to sign it than at the beach?

OK, so the Oregon Coast isn’t exactly Barbados. I might have lost a few toes to frostbite. It was totally worth it to huddle up with fellow romance authors Kristina McMorris and Elisabeth Naughton and gush to strangers about each other’s books.

Within the first hour of the event, something became pretty obvious. If a customer over the age of sixty strolled past our little romance writer threesome, she was most likely to make a beeline for Kristina’s World War II love story.

I’ve read Letters from Home myself and adored it in spite of the fact that I’m not currently a member of AARP. Still, it’s not tough to see why older readers would be drawn to it.

Pretty soon, I began watching for my stereotypical reader. It took awhile to figure out what she looked like, but I soon found myself perking up at the sight of a woman in her late 30s or early 40s. She was often accompanied by another woman joining her for a girlfriends’ getaway at the coast, or maybe a teenage daughter in tow.

Either way, she had that hungry look in her eye. The look that said, “I need a good, fluffy beach read or a strong cocktail. Maybe both.”

As for Elisabeth – who writes dark, steamy paranormals – I noticed she seemed to catch the attention of anyone with a cool, edgy haircut or more than one piercing. Double bonus points if the piercing was someplace besides the earlobe.

But you know what? We often guessed wrong.

There was the woman in her late 60s with an appliquéd sweatshirt who buzzed right past Kristina and snapped up all of Elisabeth’s titles. There was the middle-aged gentleman who talked to me for a good ten minutes about the evolution of romantic comedy before snagging a copy of Making Waves. There was the woman who made a disparaging comment about “bodice rippers” before buying a book from each of us.

All that to say, you can’t judge a book by its cover – not the books themselves, nor the people who read them.

Well, OK, I might be a little judgmental of the woman who brusquely asked to take a picture of me, “in case you’re famous someday."

Still, since the release of Making Waves, I’ve been endlessly surprised at who’s buying it. Did I expect male readers to love the story, or grandmothers to giggle over the giant purple vibrator, or teen readers to relate to my 37-year-old heroine and 42-year-old hero?

Not really, but I’ll take ‘em. It’s a good reminder to me that even if I have a “target audience,” I’m wise to keep an open mind and remember that readers can come in all shapes and sizes.

Do you have a stereotype in mind when you picture readers of a certain genre? How does a sci-fi reader differ from a memoir fan? Who’d win in a cage fight between a YA reader and one who loves thrillers? Please share your stereotypes.

Then tell me about a time you got it wrong. It doesn't have to be with readers – it can be any stereotype. Surely I'm not the only one?