Post #155 February 4, 2019

“Knowing Your Readers”

Recently I had an opportunity to actually talk with one of my readers.  He’s in the same Sunday School class as me and had just downloaded and read one of my novels (Final Victory).  He liked it and gave it a very favorable review on Goodreads.com.  This got me to thinking about how writers and authors can really know their readers, the consumers of what we do.

1. Blogs like The Word Shed are a great way to get to know your readers.  Managing a blog allows me to enter into a dialogue with people interested in me and my work.  We exchange views on plots and storylines, characters, details of setting and, inevitably, on factual errors that crop up in the story.  Readers love to point out errors to authors.  But authors shouldn’t take these observations the wrong way.  When a reader does this, they’re telling you they’re interested enough in your work to care, interested enough to point out inconsistencies or mistakes.  Writers should take these ‘criticisms’ to heart and be thankful for readers who are willing to take the time to do this.  Keep the dialogue going.
2. Another way to know and connect with your readers is in writers’ groups, conferences and workshops.  I’m in a local workshop for writers.  Writers are readers too.  They often have insights you might never have thought of.  It’s always valuable to have new eyes and perspectives on your work.  They tell me what they like, what I do well and what I don’t.  I don’t have to point out how valuable that can be, in crafting ever-better stories that meet the expectations of your readers.
3. Emails and reviews are a third way to get to know your readers.  Several years ago, a reader of Final Victory in California had posted a very nice review of this novel on Goodreads.  In his review, he communicated to me that he would like to email me on some separate observations.  I did email him (his name was Scott) and we began a very fruitful exchange that went on for some time.  He pointed out some mistakes in the story and allowed as how he was writing something similar for Amazon.  I wound up reviewing and critiquing his story draft (just a few chapters actually), as he did for me.  I don’t have to tell you how useful this exchange was and I wish Scott well in his literary endeavors.  The emails that went back and forth were invaluable in establishing for me what I had done well and what needed work.  This is almost like having your own personal editor.  Readers who will do this for you should be rewarded in some way…maybe excerpts and sneak peeks of upcoming work. 
4. A fourth way to engage readers and get to know their likes and dislikes is to meet them in person.  This can happen in a Sunday School class, as for me, or even better, in conferences.  Generally, I’m not a great fan of writers’ conferences, but they can be an  important source of constructive (or otherwise) criticism.  Conferences are also useful for networking purposes, something not to be ignored in a solitary occupation like writing.  Maybe you could even organize a coffee klatsch or something similar to gather interested readers for an informal discussion, like a book club.  Feedback from readers is money in the bank.
5. The last way to know your readers is a way that is easier for writers who publish their work online.  My publisher/distributor is Smashwords.com.  The website keeps extensive statistics on downloads of titles.  From these statistics, I can easily spot trends.  What’s popular?  What’s flat or not that popular?  For my own work, statistics consistently show that my science fiction is more popular than my alternate history stories or my horror stories (89% of my downloads are science fiction).  Ergo, I should spend most of my time writing science fiction and uploading stories in that genre, because readers download more of those, by a wide margin. 
    
   Not only that, but certain titles consistently show greater download activity than others.  I should investigate why that is.  Is it because the story is particularly well written?  Is it because the story resonates with something in the news or in pop culture?  Maybe I should write more stories like these.   The data available in download statistics is invaluable in spotting trends and it’s really another way that readers are communicating to you what they like and want.  Every successful business studies its sales statistics for trends and indicators as to what they should do.  Writers should do this too.  In fact, Smashwords offers all kinds of analyses for authors as they can aggregate data and trends from hundreds of thousands of titles and authors across their platform.
    
   Getting to know your readers really requires a successful author to do or at least try all these things.  The more you can know and engage with your readers, the better guide you’ll have as to what works, what doesn’t and what they like about your work and want more of. 
    
   The next post to The Word Shed comes on February 11, 2019.
   See you then.
    
   Phil B.