Know Your Readers

In this day of customized-everything, everyone expects to be able to get their coffee, their pens and notebooks, and everything else just to their liking. To make this happen, they seek out the places that cater to their preferences. 

The reader experience is no different. Readers go to a certain shelf in the bookstore or a certain blog to read reviews of the kind of books that they prefer. They hop on Goodreads to check out one of the site’s many Top Ten genre lists or over to Amazon’s unlimited number of suggestions.   

It is more important than ever to know who your readers are. As the writer, you know your book better than anybody else. Think about who you envision reading your book. Now think about what else that reader would have on his shelf or stocked in their ereader. What genre is it? Horror? Romance? Self-help?

Now dig deeper and really think about what sub-category your book would fall under. So it’s horror – are there ghosts? Zombies? Crazy people? Now think about the reader some more – How old are they? Young adults? Teens? Your average 30-something workaholic? 

By narrowing your book’s genre and envisioning your reader, you give yourself a starting point and focus in your promotion efforts. Now go connect with them.