Is It Writers Finding Readers – or – Readers Finding Writers?

If I answered my own question from the title up there, I’d have to say it’s some of both (and, the timing of which comes when is mostly incalculable)...

Image Courtesy of St. Mattox ~ http://www.freeimages.com/photographer/Mattox-60059

I’ve found yet another way for writers to go looking for readers (or, go put themselves in positions where readers can find them); but, first, I’ll share some links to past posts on the topic with a short excerpt from each:

So, How Do Writers Find Readers?

“The typical traditional way of finding readers has writers finding agents who find publishers who find book outlets who attract readers…”

How Can Authors Find Readers?

“…I don’t think any two books (except the pulps in various genres) have the same history of attracting readers.”

Authors Finding Readers

“Since I’ve been serially posting three of my works over at Wattpad, I’ve adopted, finally, one of the key methods for finding readers—reading what they wrote and commenting on it, Sincerely… 

“Of course, not all readers are writers (though, the way things are going, that may not be true in 100 years…).”

How “Should” Writers Find Readers

“One thing is for sure. There are more ways to attract readers than ever before and there could well be yet many more to come…”

That last link has a video about “Audience Development” with Jane Friedman…

And, now, I’ll share a few excerpts from an article that was on the now defunct site BookWorks:

“Lucky for authors, the Pew Research Center regularly produces surveys on social media use in the U.S., which can likely be extrapolated to many other cultures.”

And, working from recent numbers from Pew, the author provides a few potentially useful surmises:

“…where we’ll find young adults (YA) and YA readers. Well, most likely you’ll find them on Instagram, Snapchat, and Tumblr.”

“Women dominate Pinterest so it’s only natural that this would be a good option for romance writers.”

“LinkedIn is where every nonfiction author should have a profile.”

NB: Those ideas are that author’s interpretation of the data on Pew surveys…

One more excerpt that needs comment:

“Once you know the specifics of your readership—and you should—then refer to the research done by the Pew Research Center and you’ll know how to economize your time on social media.”

O.K., knowing the “specifics” of your readership is something many folks talk about.

I doubt very many authors know any specifics about their readership.

Traditional publishers rarely share any data…

Self-published writers can devise various ways to discover certain readership specifics; but, it’s hard work and takes maximum creative application to not drive the readers away…

It seems to me that “know the specifics of your readership” could only rationally be applied, for most writers, to the types of readers the specific writer wants to reach.

And, Pew surveys are a good place to look your “Your” kind of reader.

Pew has many kinds of surveys and the enterprising writer could easily find more than social media stats at Pew…

What are your thoughts on writers and their readership…?

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#Authorship and #Publishing ~ “Tell Me I’m Pretty”

Should authors decide how their book should be promoted?

Image Courtesy of Marinela Prodan ~ http://www.freeimages.com/photographer/Marinela-30103

Are the agents and editors of traditional publishing (and their industry cohorts) the only people on the planet who know what’s best for an author?

To begin to answer those questions, I’ll share excerpts from an article by Gene Doucette—best-selling author, screenwriter, and playwright—but first, I’ll quote from one of my own articles—Are Readers Going To Be The New Gatekeepers?:

“Should more readers demand that authors forget about genre and write what the unique combination of theme, plot, and character demands of their creativity?”

“Is it conceivable that the reading public could select books based on plot characteristics or character interactions or theme arcs?”

“I do believe that, eventually, readers will have an exceedingly easy time in finding exactly what they desire; and, that they will become the primary ‘gatekeepers’ in the Book-World.”

Gene’s article is oh, so appropriately called, Tell Me I’m Pretty.

Here are a few excerpts:

“The argument is that the gatekeepers in the traditional publishing path are important because they know what’s actually of good quality, but the industry they man the gates for is interested in what will actually sell.”

“They’re there to pick books they think will sell, and it turns out ‘quality manuscripts’ and ‘books that will sell’ aren’t always the same thing.  And that means the marketplace itself makes for a better gatekeeper.”

Here comes the part where authors want someone to tell them they’re “pretty”:

“Writing can be terrifyingly feedback-free, and we’re not necessarily the best ones to ask if we have talent.  We want someone else to tell us, and we want that someone to be a person whose opinion actually matters.

“In traditional publishing, the people whose opinions matter are called agent, editor, or publisher, and it wasn’t so long ago that theirs was the only opinion that mattered, because if they didn’t think you were pretty, nobody else got an opportunity to weigh in.

“That’s no longer true, because self-publishing doesn’t require the advance opinion of anyone in the traditional publishing industry.”

Any author who’s agonizing over whether to (very likely) suffer through massive rejection from the traditional gatekeepers or learn what’s necessary to self-publish needs to read Gene’s full article.

Also, you might want to check out the 145 articles on self-publishing that I’ve written—this article will also be at that link since I must tag it with “self-publishing” :-)

I’ll end this post with a powerful statement from Gene:

“What I’m saying is, let the marketplace tell you you’re pretty.  In the end, it’s the only opinion that matters.”

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Social Networking for Mavericks

I’ve done many posts about my experience on Book Island in the virtual world, Second Life.

I’ve even turned away from the shallow “friends” on normal social networks (all except Google Plus) in favor of a deeper relationship potential in Second Life.

For my general opinion on the effort needed to build a Readership, check out Getting Published Is Easy ~ Getting Readers Is Hard Work.

For more on the incredible benefits of making friends in a virtual world, look into The Gifts of Social Networking.

And, to dig deeper into the anxieties of common social networking, read My Cure for Social Networking Anxiety.

Here’s an excerpt from that last post that gives a sense of what it’s like being on Book Island:

“If you’ve never created an avatar for yourself and walked down a street full of shops run by authors, editors, publishers, and artists; never sat your avatar down in a virtual cafe, ordered a cup of espresso, and listened to a poet, then engaged with them in discussion; never stood in front of a group of people from many different countries and shared your written work; never just hung-out on the beach or at the houseboat or up on the mountainside and chatted and laughed with friends; if you’ve never experienced the Reality of a virtual world, you’ll find it hard to understand why Ive made a firm decision to halt my attempts at interaction on the familiar social networks and use that time to visit more places in Second Life, make more real friends, let them discover, naturally, that I have a book they can read, with another to follow…”

Ever been in a virtual world?

Ever done book promotion in a virtual world?

Ever been frustrated with the ritual frenzy imposed on you when trying to make lasting relationships in the common social networks?

Have any other Maverick Methods for book promotion to offer??
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Reading? Writing? Publishing? ~ Results from Our Poll…

There’s a poll I made and you can reach it by clicking here.

It’s been there since the 2nd of January and, just like I wish more folks would comment on individual posts, I wish more folks would take the poll. It can be of great aid in deciding what our readership wants to see here. Multiple answers are accepted :-)

The results, so far, are:

Writing=41.2% ~ Reading and Publishing both=23.5% ~ Other=11.8%

There’s a little link at the bottom of the form to view the results…

Thing is, there have only been 17 votes so far. If I go with the leading result for Writing, at this point in time, I would be ignoring that there’s a sizable count for Other…

The average number of viewers of this blog is somewhere around 45/day.

Wonder what all those other people think? Did they stay around long enough to notice the link to the poll?

I could reason that the people who have voted so far are the ones who are reading the blog and take my cue from them on how to apportion the themes of my posts.

Still, with about four years experience in blogging, I know that there are always more people reading a blog than indicated by actions taken on the blog (polls or comments or links clicked). Of course, there are also always more visitors to a blog than there are people who read it.

This blog is personal to the extent that it fulfills my daily need to write. I fulfill my daily need to read by following the sites in our Blogroll. And, I’ll be fulfilling my need to publish, again, by releasing my book in May…

This blog is social to the extent that I endeavor to create posts of value and interest to my readers…

Did you take the poll yet?

Do you feel a need to tell me more about what you’d like to see here than a poll can capture?

Are you the kind of person who is shy about leaving comments?

Is anyone still reading this post?? :-)
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