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The Five Readers You Meet in Publishing
Posted by Cynthia on June 19, 2017
As an author, you will encounter many different types of readers over the course of your career. Some will turn into adoring fans; others might remain a mystery. Here are five types of readers you’ll probably come across:
This kind of reader takes pride in reading books many months before they are published, reading books by authors you’ve never heard of, and leaving thoughtful book reviews most likely including quotes from the book.
On their bookshelf: Titles without final covers; debut authors.
Where you’ll find the Early Buzzer: Browsing giveaways. Read our tips for giveaways here.
Considering that the typical American reads about 5 books a year (source), you’ll most likely encounter the Casual Reader. This person leans towards popular bestsellers or classics.
On their bookshelf: The Girl on the Train, Catcher in the Rye, and something by Stephen King.
Where you’ll find the Casual Reader: Looking through listopia lists.
This person has every intention of reading your book, has heard so many great things about it and definitely will eventually read your book. There are just 300 books on the WTR shelf before it... (So many books, so little time!)
On their bookshelf: A lot of books in all kinds of genres.
Where find the Want-to-Reader: Hanging out in large, general book groups.
This reader will be meticulous in writing down every last detail of their reading experience, including where they purchased the book, how long it took them to read the book, where they read the book and what they were wearing that day. Most likely to point out any factual errors or inconsistencies your editor might have missed.
On their bookshelf: You’ll likely find multiple bookshelves organized by date, season, or challenge.
Where to find the Dedicated Reader: In the Goodreads Librarian Group, answering your questions about metadata.
This is the best kind of reader. Once they read your book, they fall in love with your writing and want to hear about everything you do. They’ll likely follow you on Goodreads and ask when you’ll be coming to their town on book tour. Expect lots of notifications of ‘likes’ on your content.
On their bookshelf: Other books in your genre. Books you’ve read and loved yourself.
Where to find the Follower: Asking thoughtful questions via Ask the Author (and in your list of followers!). You’ll want to engage with this reader since they’re the best advocates for spreading the word about your book! Find out here how to best engage on Goodreads using Ask the Author.
Have you encountered any of these types of readers in your publishing career? Tell us your experience in the comments below!
Next: Best of the Blog: Mid-Year Round Up
You might also like: Planning a Marketing Timeline: Infographic
Goodreads Authors can subscribe to the Monthly Author Newsletter by editing their account settings.
1. The Early Buzzer
This kind of reader takes pride in reading books many months before they are published, reading books by authors you’ve never heard of, and leaving thoughtful book reviews most likely including quotes from the book.
On their bookshelf: Titles without final covers; debut authors.
Where you’ll find the Early Buzzer: Browsing giveaways. Read our tips for giveaways here.
2. The Casual Reader
Considering that the typical American reads about 5 books a year (source), you’ll most likely encounter the Casual Reader. This person leans towards popular bestsellers or classics.
On their bookshelf: The Girl on the Train, Catcher in the Rye, and something by Stephen King.
Where you’ll find the Casual Reader: Looking through listopia lists.
3. The Want-to-Reader
This person has every intention of reading your book, has heard so many great things about it and definitely will eventually read your book. There are just 300 books on the WTR shelf before it... (So many books, so little time!)
On their bookshelf: A lot of books in all kinds of genres.
Where find the Want-to-Reader: Hanging out in large, general book groups.
4. The Dedicated Reader
This reader will be meticulous in writing down every last detail of their reading experience, including where they purchased the book, how long it took them to read the book, where they read the book and what they were wearing that day. Most likely to point out any factual errors or inconsistencies your editor might have missed.
On their bookshelf: You’ll likely find multiple bookshelves organized by date, season, or challenge.
Where to find the Dedicated Reader: In the Goodreads Librarian Group, answering your questions about metadata.
5. The Follower
This is the best kind of reader. Once they read your book, they fall in love with your writing and want to hear about everything you do. They’ll likely follow you on Goodreads and ask when you’ll be coming to their town on book tour. Expect lots of notifications of ‘likes’ on your content.
On their bookshelf: Other books in your genre. Books you’ve read and loved yourself.
Where to find the Follower: Asking thoughtful questions via Ask the Author (and in your list of followers!). You’ll want to engage with this reader since they’re the best advocates for spreading the word about your book! Find out here how to best engage on Goodreads using Ask the Author.
Have you encountered any of these types of readers in your publishing career? Tell us your experience in the comments below!
Next: Best of the Blog: Mid-Year Round Up
You might also like: Planning a Marketing Timeline: Infographic
Goodreads Authors can subscribe to the Monthly Author Newsletter by editing their account settings.
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This is a great article for a good laugh. :)
Liliane wrote: "How about a challenge? Pick your favourite genre. Find an indie author and book you haven't read and who has no reviews. Buy their book, read then post the first review for them. Find positive thi..."
Nice one :)
Personally I am readers 1,3,4,5. Publishers always forget that writers are readers.
When publishers treat writers badly, or rudely, they are losing a reader and reviewer.
Note re friends; they will not read your book, or if they do, they will not review. Don't even bother asking. If a friend keeps asking you how your book is coming on that is the exception!
You, on the other hand, can be a good friend by reading and reviewing a book by your friend. You can be the exception. What goes around comes around.
Prakash wrote: "Really interesting to read Peter and Jeff's comment.Views and counter-views, both are excellent.
May I put these on my blog if you guys allow me to do so?"
Thank you, Prakash. Absolutely, you have my permission to quote me in your blog. It's very thoughtful of you to ask!
Ufuomaee wrote: "I hope you will pardon me for sharing this here, but I think we call all relate to the experience I shared it. It was also inspired by our conversation over the last couple of days... especially Je..."That was a very amusing read over this morning's coffee, and I agree with pretty much everything you said there. (It's hard not to agree, since we're living in it--day by day.) I appreciate the link, and thank you for sharing.
My findings are that some are freeloaders who sell the book on Amazon or eBay, There are others who always enter Giveaways, whatever is on offer, and some who claim to be unable to get their heads around what is written, but feel compelled to write a bad review to counter the good one. The problem with Goodreads is: they are all amateurs and it is the low end of the reviewing marketplace. Results are random and not worth the effort and outlay. Ebooks would be better and cheap, but even those on Amazon have a bad, almost non-existent response rate. Goodreads is also exploited by the big publishers, whose vast response to a book like The Martian is clearly manipulated. Bookbub itself lies about the number of reviews on Goodreads for books it is advertising.
What a lot of people don't seem to understand is that - despite the fact that you may really LOVE writing - you do need a little money to live on. And what also annoys me are people who you know are quite wealthy and yet they say: "I'd love to read your book, accept it and don't offer a penny piece in return..." OOOOooo. Joy Lennick
Funny, I'm a hybrid of No. 3 and No. 5, with a touch of No. 1 if I'm bananas about the author (only two or three would qualify).I could think of others, though: The Impulsive Reader--they see something in a store or online and even though they were not thinking about that subject or have never read that genre or came looking for something completely different, just grab it on a whim, why even they do not know. I can also be this way. The problem with The Impulsive Reader--and I try hard not to do this anymore--is that they are often impulsive again before they finish their book, so they end up with many partially-read titles on their shelves.
Pick your favourite genre. Find an indie author and book you haven't read and who has no reviews. Buy their book, read then post the first review for them. Find positive things to say. You may be the first to discover a new bestseller.
Happy reading.