Building a Reader Following
I believe the days of the yahoo loops for readers is saturated. Frequently, even on the huge loops we get ZERO participation.
The thing to do really is to determine a few things about your work:
1. Determine the niche your work fits into (hint: it should fit more than one). It could be subject matter, setting, theme, and / or genre.
2. See how popular your niche is by doing some research at the library…check for the number of “general” books on your theme or your core niche (say like ménage relationships); check the periodicals for articles, check the electronic databases and ask your librarian (if possible) if he/she has seen any interest/demand for this type of story/work.
3. Go to Google and search key words http://www.google.com/sktool/ Type in your keywords and see how they do..this will tell you if you have the right keywords on your site and what people are searching for.
4. Get Google alert. There is a real basic version that is free. This will help you find the blogs and online articles that use your keywords and/or topic so you might find a way to connect with another site and/or blog. If you find it of any value you might want to pay for a basic service.
5. Join associations/groups/conferences…things that might have to do with your subject matter. For instance, I like to write about police officers and I’m a part of a police support group in my town. Don’t want to sign up for a face to face conference, get on the newsletter list…most are available electronically now so the postman doesn’t even have to know what short of thing you are interested in.
6. Join groups on YOUR TOPIC. Loops, Facebook, LinkedIn…find like-minded people. Ask and answer questions and build your reputation as an expert. Gang, these are not review sites. As lovely as Fallen Angels is, as big as some of those sites are, not many new readers come from there. Same is true of chats. New social media are replacing the loops and chats. In these
media you can hone in on a true potential market. Don’t spread across a large portion of the population. Mine deeply the population that is interested in what you write.
7. Ask questions on twitter. Make warm prospects.
8. Write short (250 words) articles on your topic. Post even shorter responses on other blogs that have a similar content to what you are interested in and write.
9. Support some of the issues you write about. A $5 donation to AIDS or cancer research or the Daughters of the Confederacy (whatever!) will help get your name out there. Especially if you include a kind note introducing yourself and why you are making your donation.
10. Look in the bookstores and see who is writing something similar to what you do. Check out their site, their blogs, the groups they associate with. Emulate what they do. There is no sense in reinventing the wheel.
Doing these things will help you find new readers. The loops are pretty much filled with the same people who are looking for freebies over and over again. You want readers who will buy! You want NEW readers.
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Great post, Lucynda. I agree about promo posts on loops - they don’t attract the attention they did a few years ago. I know I hit delete quite often.
August 6th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Especially the ones that bombard you telling you how great they are? I don’t think my writing is bad, but I know there are better authors than I and that keeps me humble. Sure, I’ll post the occassional excerpt, but it’s the readers and/or reviewers who have to determine if my characters are unforgettable, funny, touching etc. *I* don’t feel *I* have the right to make that determination…after all, I am rather close to the characters I create.
I hate to say how many times I hit delete because the author is coming across as the next best thing to sliced bread!
Lucynda
www.LucyndaStorey.com