How is your relationship? I want to hear all about it.
Creepy, right?
Today, I would like to discuss your relationship – with your readers. Relationships are all about communication and the reader-writer relationship is no different. Bloggers and writers, I’d love to know how you feel about the people who read your stuff. Readers, tell me if you form a picture in your mind of an author while you read their books.
For me as a blogger, it can feel one-sided and pretty lonely, at times. For writers, it is even worse. We craft a piece for months or years, poring over each word and sentence, examining each character’s tics and foibles, putting some of our deepest thoughts into the book. Perhaps, in return, we will be offered a few reviews (generally only from the lovers and the haters). If we are really lucky, we will get a few words from a reader at a book signing.
We all want to know how to get engaged readers, who hang on our every word. In this article, I’m looking at how the science of communication can help us do this.
Communication (n) The imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing or using some other medium.
Effective communication involves the sender giving a clear message, the receiver understanding the message and the feedback from the receiver to the sender. As it applies to writers, communication and marketing involves the writer, the content and the readers.
Everything we send out into the world is communication – not just our articles or short stories but every holiday snap, tweet or opinion we share with the other parents at school pick-up. Writers seem to instinctively run from marketing and self-promotion, citing the art will speak for itself. But even though we may not like it, these days we are our own personal brand.
The Writer’s Promise
A brand is a consistent message about your company (your blog or your author identity). It is a promise of what your content will offer to the market. It is the personality or the essence of your blog.
Aim: A writer or blogger should aim to give a consistent, clear message to their readers.
The market is, of course, your readers. Readers need to know what to expect with your blog or written works. Every article and social media account should project a consistent message, of course. But what about the other messages readers might pick up? For example, your attitudes to the environment, political leanings and even website design, grammar mistakes and personal appearance all give cues to the reader about what sort of person you are.
Research Your Readers
It is important to know who is reading your content. Some simple ways to do this:
- Look at your blog statistics – most importantly, the referrer channels. I get most of my traffic from Search Engines. Also check out which blog page they are searching for (entry point). This will tell you the main problem they are trying to solve.
- Check out your Pinterest analytics – Pinterest is my second largest source of traffic (check out my tips for turning written content into Visual pins here). Analytics gives information such as the sex, country, age and likes of people viewing your pins.
- Twitter for business and Facebook Pages Manager also have analytics. Have a look at them periodically. Perhaps, you thought you were writing for twenty year olds but your audience is mostly 45 – 54. I write snippets of my historical fiction on Twitter, so the people who are engaging with those tweets are my target audience.
Then, knowing your prime audience, you can tailor your content. For example, if my readers are mainly married mothers, there is no point writing articles about dating.
Readers Receive the Message
Communication takes two parties: the sender and the receiver. Once the author or blogger gives a consistent, clear message, it is the reader’s turn. The reader must understand the content and also give it meaning.
An oft-touted figure is fifteen seconds: the time it takes for a reader to decide if a website is useful to them. So the blog post headlines had better be clickable. The first paragraph needs to have a hook for the reader. A cluttered design is also off-putting.
Readers do not simply see the words in their mind. McKee, in this article, reviews the research that shows readers construct meaning from text in a very complex process, involving comprehension, memory and the reader’s own background knowledge. A reader is constantly inferring, linking words to their own experience. The gaps in the text are filled by the reader’s thoughts, fears and dreams. Two people might read the same novel; one might find it supremely uplifting but the other may find it a depressing story. It depends on the experiences and attitudes of the reader.
Feedback
Writers love feedback from their readers. One way to get audience feedback during the writing process is to send your manuscript out to beta readers. This way, you can get opinions on whether the plot makes sense, readers are sympathetic to the main character and sections where the reader loses attention. Whether the author makes changes following this feedback is up to them. I have just started beta reading for some writer friends and, as well as helping the author, it helps me know what to look for in my own writing.
Other ways to engage readers:
- Ask for feedback on book titles
- Have a competition for a fan to name a character
- Share snippets
- Have a Q & A
- Behind the scenes pictures
- Discussion/facts about the book setting
- Talk about what you like reading
Reviews are another form of reader feedback. These days, writers need book reviews in order to rank. This research survey from Podium suggests 93% of online shoppers rely on reviews when making purchasing decisions. Independent and new authors need good reviews to be able to promote their books in certain channels, or get them sold in book shops.
What can writers learn from readers?
It is all about the art. I don’t want to be a sell-out. This is true, but the readers are also the ones paying a writer’s bills.Â
I am not advocating content machines with ghostwritten novels, nor endorsing an author sticking to only one genre if that’s what the readers want.Â
But, taking feedback on board could be beneficial in certain situations. For example, writers can perhaps listen to readers’ opinions about how much erotic or violent scenes they want to read. These may cause some readers to put the book down.Â
Readers and Writers Need Each Other
The reader/writer relationship is mutually beneficial. Anyone who writes would benefit from knowing how to get engaged readers. Writers, you better believe you need those readers – otherwise you might as well be writing a journal, alone in your room. Readers, you need writers too, or we’ll all be reading recycled content. So, effective communication is key between both parties, whether it involves maintaining a consistent brand or giving reviews on books.
I can’t write without a reader. It’s precisely like a kiss—you can’t do it alone.
-John Cheever
Learn more:
- Quick guide to building your brand identity as an author
- 7 Ways to Build an Authentic Author Brand
- ‘Know Your Audience’ is a Lie, But it still Matters
- Branding – more than a logo
Â
How’s your relationship? What promise are you making to your readers?
Lots of good things to think about here! Thank you.
Thought-provoking post. Thank you. I’ve done some research on who the readers of my books are and it’s helpful in targeting marketing, etc. You’re quite right that everything you write projects an image of you. I’m careful not to express political opinions on social media, since that can lead you into some real dog fights. I can’t help sounding off about Brexit sometimes, though!
When it comes to blogging, I’ve noticed some new developments, and other bloggers say the same. The stats on page hits and so on don’t go down, but the number of comments and interactions directly on the blog have decreased. It seems that people prefer to comment on FB or Twitter, where I share my posts. This, of course, increases the reach, but it makes the blog feel a bit lonely!
Thanks for the comments. I still think we should have meaningful conversations, since we, as writers, have the platform to do so. I think it is just being aware that these are the details our audiences use to build up a picture about us. Yes, I too have noticed blog comments going down, but especially on FB, people like to comment on the post. I wonder what the future of writing will be, as readers demand more interaction – chapter by chapter releases?
Thanks for reading, Eilene.
As an introvert who started a book blog and writing a novel, it is hard to start conversations. I even ask questions on my blogs and Twitter and FB, hardly get any responses. When you have social anxiety, that makes it even more depressing to the point you want to give up. Now, I’m thinking of just reviewing the books and promoting them. I know my twitter followers view my blogs sometimes even tho they never answer my questions. But I want to help as many authors as I can, cause I love books. But you made some good points, and I didn’t know about the analyctics on pinterest, I’ll have to check that out. Thanks and good luck to you.
You’re right. Sometimes, it can be disheartening when we put in all the time blogging for hardly any engagement. I know a lot of people are reading my stuff though, 4k a month. It’s a strange relationship. I guess people are bombarded with so much content on social media.
Oh yes, totally agree. I’m just careful about the topics I broach on social media. Anything involving politics usually gets nasty. Some authors do chapter by chapter releases already, I think, although I don’t know how popular they are yet. An interesting thought, though, as to how publishing might change.
A thoroughly excellent and engaging post Kim on a great topic.
I don’t tend to look at my stats in a specificallt obsessional manner, l know they are there – but that is not saying l don’t set myself targets on statistics because l do and l reach them, be those daily, weekly or monthly. But l am not hyperfocused on them, if that makes sense.
I write principally for myself, but l also write for an audience. I am one of these writers that wouldn’t write in a blog if no one was reading the content as that seems defeatist, and there are other formats to utilise and use which can deliver more effect when writing for yourself.
I try and cover a wide range of diversity, but even l don’t cover all genres, l am not specifically a fiction writer or a specialised topical writer, or even a reviewer – l write mostly about my life and the lives around me that make an impact on me. But l am followed by a very diverse range of readership and l do try very hard to ensure that l cover all bases so that there is something for each of my readers.
Of course blogging l have come to learn is a very different market with regards liking and commenting – one of the biggest disadvantages we have is the tendency for many readers to simply hit like when we know full well they haven’t read the content, but do so to show and display support or in many cases because they seemingly think it awards them brownie point kudos from the blog owner.
I do study my readerships as best as l can, l am trying to become amore rounded blogger and with my morning call out, do as much as l can for the community as l am able. Every day l try to get to as many bloggers as l can to read what they have produced themselves, but find any more than a dozen and l am unable to maintain that as a strategy for too long so usually l visit 6 – 9 bloggers independently from any interaction bloggers might engage with my own blog.
I only use WP, l used to use Fb and Twitter but found no true joys with either of those because they are very specific markets and l think the main difference is that if you are a writer promoting written work that requires huge readership leading to potential sales of books then all social media avenues need to be harnessed, but if you are merely a blogger then personally for me l find that WP as the one platform can work wonders if you nurture it properly. of course if you are a writer blogger looking to make a name for your writing then using all platforms could be very useful indeed, but the management of that is enormous.
Currently with the content l am producing l am not overly worried about harnessing the strengths or weaknesses of the other platforms just yet, although this may change somewhere in the future – it is of course reflective upon the content at the time.
Nessafrance made reference to politics and religions and not touching base with those, l agree on that, l tend to steer very clear of those topics, but will discuss other topics quite easy – l don’t mind a little bit of controversy, but l don’t wish to be engaged in all out war!
Great post, thoroughly enjoyed it – thank you 🙂
I can totally relate to this. You write and write sometimes with no feedback at all and it sure can get lonely. Definitely some food for thought! Thank you
Thanks for this informative post! Often I forget that the goal of writing is to communicate information that is useful to the readers… A silly thing to forget but sometimes my writing is just for me and not my actual audience. Good stuff to keep in mind!
I’m so glad that you touched on the reciprocal relationships between writers and readers. It’s so true — and that is such an important relationship to grow. Thanks for this.
Thanks for stopping by the blog!
Yes, definitely – especially starting out as a writer, a little positive feedback goes so far. I’d love to be able to encourage beginner or mid-level writers somehow. I get a lot of people saying they would love to write a book, have an amazing idea etc.
You’re welcome and thanks for reading. Appreciate the feedback 😉
This is a really great post!
It is true, blogging and writing without receiving feedback can be very lonely and at times, discouraging. Not being able to get that instant feedback of how you’re doing, what others think, it’s nerve wracking! Isn’t it? 🙂
You’ve shared some great ideas here. Your writing is very enjoyable to read.
Thanks for the lovely comments, Holly. Worst of all is when you write a short story you think is good, and it gets rejected by the lit mags!
Some great points! I’ve found Facebook groups a great way to drive readers to my blog.
Great tip, thanks.
Rory, I’ve just seen this. It has been stuck in the spam comment black hole for over a week! My apologies, don’t think I was ignoring your insightful and considered response.
You do a great job of engaging with your blog audience and I think that is one of your strengths.
I tend to disagree that you are only a blogger – you are a writer if you write content that people read. You clearly have the followers to prove that people read your stuff!
Hey Kim, panic not – WP is doing all sorts of things of late in readiness for the new editor going live, and many people have honest comments either ending up in pending two days after they left it, or comments getting lost or indeed as you have found genuine comments ending up in spam – it happens, plus l know you were busy with other projects.
Hope all is well 🙂
Excellent post.
A well written post. Developing healthy communication is really important. And I agree, being a blogger can feel lonely
Thanks for stopping by!
Thank you, Jo 🙂