DO YOU KNOW WHO YOUR READERS ARE?
I suppose it seems like a simple enough question. You’re a writer. You take a long time to write and edit a book, work with your publisher, and get the book to market. Then, it is incumbent upon you to promote it, in essence, carry the burden of selling it. Your publisher may have some of their own tools (website, blog, etc.), but for the most part it’s all on you.
Ok, so you know your genre and that is one aspect. You find groups of other writers for that genre and network. Except they, too, are looking for their readers, their own market. There are cons you can attend as long as they fall within the scope of your genre. Organizations of historians are less likely to be interested in fiction than in unearthing true tales of times past. Accordingly, there are really no cons a writer of historical crime fiction attends.
If there is not a built-in market or one that is accessible, you go back to the original question: Who are my readers? (Or, if you run a podcast: Who are my listeners?) The surprising thing is they are literally all around you. Your co-workers, your neighbors, the people who come to your home for maintenance, the new people you meet at social gatherings.
Now, the quickest way to turn someone off is to come out declare “HEY, I’M A WRITER. ISN’T THAT INTERESTING?” As I have discussed before (and reiterated with co-host Brian Johnson on Tikiman and The Viking Podcast) you sell yourself before you sell your books.
A former co-worker whose name was perfect for a hard-boiled femme fatale was one of my earliest advocates. I then started using the names (or variation thereof) of other co-workers rather than, for example, go through the phone book. This method of engagement revealed new readers.
My wife was at a small birthday celebration in early June. The honored guest and his wife were friends but others attending were mostly their neighbors. I found a way to “let it slip” I was a writer and then the conversations took off from there, with some people making sure they knew how to spell my name.
The two young guys who did the renovation on our kitchen were intrigued by the podcast and actually looked it up right in front of me. The young man from Roto Rooter who helped clear a basement floor drain was also a musician and intrigued by the subject matter of my books.
We assume a certain demographic for our creative projects and actively pursue those avenues. However, there are countless people all around you in everyday life who read and don’t post their opinions or listen to podcasts while commuting or on business trips. The almost lost art of conversation has put many people behind the eight ball, to quote a phrase, by not allowing normal human interaction to reveal further possibilities.
