How do you pull in your readers?
How many writers have sat in the very spot you find yourself in right now is unknown. To feel as if you have hit a wall when it comes to finding your audience, to finding readers. It's easy to become lost in the revolving door of new books in each genre, pushing your precious book further and further down the list.
This is the time to buckle down and determine where you start. Often times this means getting creative when it comes to catching the eye of potential readers.
The Basic's:
Genre: Many authors don't actually know what genre their book falls under and understandably, it can be difficult to determine it to begin with. There are so many aspects to consider when it comes to where your book falls. Do some research on the topics your book covers and be sure it fits the genre you think it does. This could mean the difference between selling a book and not selling one.
Target Audience: Just as Genre is important to determine, so is your target audience. Without knowing who your book is going to resonate the best with, you are literally shouting into the void. Knowing the target audience's age, gender, and main social media platform is going to be crucial. For example, if you wrote a book about the civil war, a sixty-year-old man isn't going to find it on TikTok (although I could be proven wrong.) Know who you are looking for and how to reach them. Check here for more information on Finding Your Target Audience.
Standing Out:
Research: Many authors forget this step. Researching other authors and books in your genre is going to tell you a lot about what readers are looking for in terms of promotion. This means looking through social media such as TikTock, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. What book trailers are they posting? What call's to action are they presenting to readers? How are they talking about their book to pull readers in?
Selling Yourself: Perhaps one of the most overlooked aspects is this one in particular. If you are pushing for people to simply purchase your book, most readers will think that you only want a sale and possibly don't value your readers. One of the best ways to grow your reader base is to be personable and relatable. Talk about why you created characters and why they mean so much to you. Talk about parts you hated writing and why! This is exactly how you connect with the readers and draw them in. Be yourself.
Connecting with Readers: This goes hand in hand with selling yourself. If you see that readers and followers on social media are responding to your posts, you need to be responding to them. By doing so, you are showing them you are paying attention and value your readers and their input. Simple as that. For more, check my post on Connecting with Readers.
The reality of it is, readers are swamped with the mass of writers that both Independent Authors and Traditional Publishers are putting in their hands. Every single day, hundreds of books are being published which makes it difficult to stay in the spotlight. This can force even the best of books to go unseen because the right audience wasn't found or the best marketing wasn't used. The internet is a powerful tool and it's there for you to use. The question remains, how are you going to stand out and help your audience find you?