One thing an author needs is readers. This is true whether you are a one-time author who just wants to get your memoir down on paper or a career author with many books in your future. Readers are your bread and butter, your best support system and your harshest critics. It is important to establish an excellent rapport with your audience, but how? There are many ways.
Maintaining a good connection with your audience isn’t unlike nurturing a friendship, partnership or any other relationship. Through your writing and your actions, you should strive to gain the trust and respect of your readers. However, in order to meet your goals of teaching, informing or entertaining others, you must first get their attention.
You know how to nurture a friendship, right? You communicate—you are present. You let others know that you care. You share. You respond to their difficulties, celebrate their accomplishments and offer constant support.
How do you establish and manage a meaningful relationship with your readership? Here are some suggestions:
• Write the book they want/need.
• Make sure you let them know that the book exists.
• Maintain contact with your readers through an active blog.
• Continue supplying readers with information and resources through articles.
• Be constantly visible through many channels, including social media.
This is probably what most of you authors are already doing. Good! But it is important that you continue posting meaningful material at your blog; communicating through your Facebook, Linkedin, etc. accounts; writing articles of substance; showing up at various events attended by your audience; making yourself available to respond to question and so forth.
Your audience is important to the success of your book. That’s why I join other experts in urging you to start thinking about your readers long before you actually write the book. And continue thinking about them and catering to them for as long as you hope to sell copies of your book.
For more about making all of the right decisions with regard to your book project, read my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book: http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html
For a fun read this summer and/or as a gift, purchase my latest book, Catscapades, True Cat Tales.
http://www.matilijapress.com/catscapades.html