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The 7 Principles of Reader-Centered Marketing (and the One Rule You *Must* Remember) [Lesson 2]

Yes, that’s a Duolit onesie on Olivia. Designed by Shannon, of course. Because I *cannot* draw!

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To prepare for our daughter’s arrival earlier this year, my husband and I cut our cable television service to save money.

We still get about 13 basic channels, but our television diet is pretty limited, consisting mostly of local news, game shows (Price is Right) and lots and LOTS of reruns.

To celebrate Olivia’s 12-week birthday (when she started going to sleep at 7pm!!), Michael and I watched a rerun of The Simpsons (glamorous, I know).

Now, I’ve watched a bajillion Simpsons episodes over the years, but this was one I hadn’t seen. It revealed that Comic Book Guy, who distributed comics and disdainful catchprases for years, was secretly writing his OWN comic book.

When Bart and Millhouse discover his comic, Everyman, they encourage him to get it printed. The answer? Self-publishing!

The next scene depicts his comic book being delivered to stores all over the country — and even an astronaut reading it in space!

Man, that would rock, wouldn’t it? Sadly, that isn’t quite how self-publishing works out for most of us.

Benefits of Reader-Centered Marketing

But, as you’ll remember from lesson one, there’s another way to earn that crazy-dedicated fanbase without resorting to TV magic: reader-centered marketing! To recap, the benefits of this awesomeness include:

  • Breaking through the noise of a crowded market.
  • Spending less time promoting and more time working on your next book.
  • Having a blast sharing your work.

I know what you’re thinking: those benefits sound great, but how do I get there?

The 7 Principles of Reader-Centered Marketing (and the One Rule That Binds Them All Together)

If you only remember one thing from this course, let it be this.

Seriously, stop the multitasking for a minute and take note of  the golden rule of reader-centered marketing:

Treat your reader as you’d like to be treated.

Simply allowing that one simple rule guide all of your promotion-based decisions puts you on the right path more often than not.

But…it’s still a little esoteric, huh? Let’s break it down into 7 bite-sized principles:

Have the marathon mindset.

While sprinters are super-exciting to watch, they fade quickly. After 30 seconds, their race is over. Marathoners, however, know to build up momentum. After 30 seconds, their race is just beginning!

You want to be that marathoner: the ideal growth curve for your fanbase is a ramp, not a spike.

Spikes are fickle and plummet just as quickly as they rose. For sprinters, sales of 100 one day drop to zero the next. We marathoners, however, enjoy steady growth. While it’s a bit slower in the beginning, it’ll get to those highs — and stay there!

The bottom line is this: over time, small actions add up to big results.

If you’re serious about your career as an indie author and want to be writing for years to come, focus on slow, steady growth.

Make your work the best it can possibly be.

This means investing in, at the very least, professional editing and cover design for your book. Regardless of whether you pay, barter, trade, or find some other way to procure these services, do it!

Taken further, making your work the best it can possibly be means taking time and care on all aspects of your career. Every single thing you produce — from books to tweets and blog posts to email responses — should be calculated, not rushed.

Each piece of communication reflects on not only your talent, but also your dedication to your career (and to your fans). They work together to show your readers who you really are!

Encourage two-way communication with readers.

Remember when we were growing up and the television just talked to you? Now, from Blue’s Clues to Dora, children’s programs encourage two-way communication, asking questions and waiting for responses. The kids can actually participate instead of simply watching — it’s one of the reasons those shows are so popular!

In similar fashion, communicating with your readers builds relationship and trust. Remember what we said in the last lesson about sketchy salesmen versus good friends? Strive to be that good friend!

In practice, this means making it easy for readers to keep in touch with you. Have your email address, a contact form, Twitter username, Facebook page (whatever you use to communicate) easily accessible.

Even more importantly: answer every (non-spam) piece of communication you receive genuinely and promptly. Address the reader by name and make it clear you’ve read their message!

Give more than you take.

Generosity builds attachment from your readers.

Give 80% of the time. Then, when you eventually ask for a little something back, your readers will be happy to oblige. For every10 pieces of broadcast communication (emails to your list, tweets, blog posts, Facebook updates), 8 should be purely for your readers’ benefit, providing value without asking for anything in return.

Not sure what to give away? Consider:

  • Writing guest posts on blogs your readers frequent
  • Recommending other books you’ve enjoyed
  • Providing free excerpts of your work
  • Sharing a new short story, novella or collection
  • Giving away free copies or other goodies

Streamline your promotional efforts.

As we go through the reader-centered marketing process, we’ll help you narrow down your focus to only those promotional tasks that net results and that you actually enjoy.

if you don’t enjoy something, the odds are you won’t keep it up long-term (new year’s exercise resolution, anyone?) and that doesn’t work for us: we’re in this for the long haul, remember?

Cooperate with other authors.

What’s more fun: teaming up to take down Loki (a la The Avengers) or backstabbing on a desert island (okay, Survivor)? Indie authors have enough challenges without beating up on each other!

It can feel strange to cooperate with someone you’ve traditionally been competing against, but, let’s face it: most readers don’t only read books by a single author. Teaming up with an author friend gives both of you double the fanbase with half the effort!

Going back to our golden rule, wouldn’t you listen to book recommendations from a favorite author? Regardless of whether you and your pal share a genre or not, teaming up will net mega results both authors, provided each geniunely likes each other’s work!

Sell to the right crowd.

News flash: there is no way everyone in the world will read your book (*tear*). We all have different tastes and, honestly, that’s awesome!

Narrowing down your focus is essential to making your promotional effort a success. After all, you can’t be reader-centered until you find some readers, right?

This is where I try to tell you how awesome target markets are, right? Wrong! I know lots of marketing peeps (us included) are all about target markets. But…what if I told you there is an even more effective, powerful tool for you to use to focus your marketing attention?

Sounds even better than Magic Mike, huh? Well, Shannon’s going to tell you all about that next week. I know, I’m such a tease! 😉

Discussion Time! Reward: That Lovely Photo Of Matthew McConaughey —>

Maybe I should add one of an attractive woman to balance things out? Any suggestions?

In the meantime, let’s get this reader-centered marketing train rolling! If you’re ready to put this stuff into use, no worries, you have some homework coming soon (in a couple of days, in fact).

But first, let’s chillax with a bit of discussion: what’s one thing you can do, today, to show your readers a little bit of love? Share your idea in the comments!

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  • On Becca’s Inspirational Book Blog (www.BeccaChopra.com), I shared my review of LIFE TWEETS, a book I’m sure my target audience will enjoy. It also helped solidify my relationship with a wonderful author who has already reviewed my first book, and is now reading my next manuscript to give me a pre-publication review. Definitely agree with you on working with other authors, especially those in your genre. You make fabulous friends and help promote each other at the same time.

    • Excellent, Becca! In this age of super-crowded markets, the more friends with whom you can cross-promote, the better.

  • Um, first of all–I love you for the Avengers/Loki comment! :) But back to the discussion. I simply ask how they’re doing–specifically, I’ll tweet just to them asking how their day is. 9 times out of 10, I get responses as well as gratitude. I genuinely like asking how they’re doing as well as the honesty that comes out of it! I think it’s a great way to build relationships by actually caring about even the small, day-to-day activities in a reader’s life.

    • That’s an awesome idea, Liz! I know when we were starting out on Twitter (and, heck, still now), getting a personal response from *anyone* made me want to befriend them :-)

  • Steena Holmes

    Great idea Liz on just asking how they are doing! Toni – good post – great reminder to put our readers first. Joining forces as indies should be one of our strengths. We have to think differently than what use to work.

    • Exactly, Steena. Indie authors (especially those with quality work) are a relatively small group, so when you find someone with whom you connect, take advantage of it!

  • Liz, I really like the idea of just that basic “How’s it going?” question. I’ve made some great friends with readers just by chatting with them on Twitter. Toni, great point on working together with other authors. I’ve done some great cross-promotion that way, and posting interviews I’ve done with successful indie authors has helped them, too, based on what they’ve said.
    One thing I try to do – though it’s been on hiatus lately because of work insanity – is post small short stories (generally flash-fic length) in the same universe as my series on my blog, freebies they can read to get more snippets of the various characters and what they’re up to in between books.

    • I love that idea, Jennie! Posting short stories sounds like a great way to keep fans engaged — those would be great to send out to your email list, too!

  • perilouspauline

    One thing I do on my blog is have a commenting love drawing at the end of each month. The drawing is for an AnaBanana Gift card. People seem to like that a lot.

    • Giveaways are an excellent way to reward readers for sticking with you. Drawing for a gift card instead of your books is also smart, because it really feels completely generous to your fans. The value feels much greater, because they know it’s something you had to provide yourself!

    • perilouspauline

      Thanks! :-) AnaBanana’s stuff is quite yummy, too. I’m a fan, so its fun to share that love forward. She has these hilarious zombie soaps. She also did some customs stuff for me when my steampunk novella released. That was a lot of fun. :-)

  • Before I was finished with my book, even before I realized that writing was the ‘work’ that made me happy, I started my blog purely to promote books I’d read that I wanted to acknowledge (with the occasional random blab of course). This is something I will continue to do while I go through the process of learning the ways of self-publishing and getting the first one out there. I plan on listening carefully to advice and taking those things that make the most sense and I am willing to do happily and get those applied. Ears and eyes open…thank you for everything you’re doing!

    • The fact that you genuinely love blogging is perfect, Lisa. That’s something we really want to focus on with the course — only do the promotional activities you actually enjoy. It’ll make you happier and more engaging; your fans will certainly notice. Hate Facebook? Don’t use it! The particular “channel” (Twitter, FB, Blog, GoodReads, etc) is far less important than *how* you use it. And it sounds like you’re totally using your “channel” in the right way!

  • Janice Lane Palko

    I’ve read that Tweets should primarily be entertaining or informative to attract followers rather than nagging BUY MY BOOK all the time, which annoys me when others do it. I’ve been highlighting the birthdays of famous authors and then tweeting some of their quotes–many of the quotes are about the writing life or offer inspiration. I’ve found that the humorous quotes are very popular.

    • I totally agree, Janice. You definitely want to mainly tweet about things that would interest your readers, and it’s great that you’ve found something that’s popular!

  • Good post. Twitter is a frustrating place, especially since Triberr. So many tweets, it’s hard to see the forest for the trees. I’m finding it hard and harder to have real conversations. I do tweet interesting facts and ask how people are doing, and I use hashtags. One thing I wanted to say is that it’s hard for me to find plain old readers on Twitter, even when I go through the followers of my favorite authors. So many are authors, and that’s great, but I’d love to branch out to regular readers, too.

    • Hi Stacy! I totally agree that finding regular non-writer folks can be difficult on Twitter. We’ll discuss this further in a future lesson, but one idea is to find blogs that your reader might frequent and check out the blogger’s followers. Then see who those bloggers’ followers follow…and down into the rabbit hole 😉

    • Yes, I was thinking the same thing as Stacy today … I can tweet all I want with other writers, but it doesn’t necessarily get me readers. But going to blogs, finding blogger’s followers, it’s the way. But as you mentioned in this post, you have to find what you like. I’m not a Twitter convert yet, I still think it’s a little silly. Stacy — have you tried Tweet Deck? It’s an app that allows you to sort throught the trees a little bit …

  • I think it’s much easier to market to readers after they’ve read your book and seek you out on social media. I love and remember authors that treat readers well as in offering one of their book of the reader’s choice for free if they’d like to leave a review of the one they’re reading. I did that and received a free book from the author. Loved it. So I see many ways to treat readers well, once you have them. How to actually target them? Eh, not sure.

    • Aren’t authors who love their readers great? That’s definitely something we want to promote, because acts of kindness like that do stand out to people, even if it’s something very simple. As for how to find those readers — stay tuned! :-)

  • rcmimms

    Love the Magic Mike picture, lol. I’m definitely adhering to the “take the small actions over time” approach. I’ve also been thinking about offering some specials when I’m finished with my second book, maybe offer some signed print copies along with a free digital version of the book. I think I might do something similar for the POD version of “The Lost King.” I’ve made a few connections with some indie writers on FB but not many.

    • Haha, I’m glad someone noticed the Magic Mike pic!

      Offering packages like that, especially if they’re exclusive to readers who follow you in a particular place (Twitter, email subscribers, etc) is a great way to reward them. If they can get the special deal for the same price as the regular book — even better!

    • rcmimms

      I hadn’t thought about the exclusivity part. I’ll have to remember that!

  • I recently asked several of my author friends to guest post on my blog or give me a blurb/cover image/buy links for their own books. It’s a win-win-win … hopefully, some good promotion for my friends, lovely new books for my blog followers, and a mini-breather for me (while I work on all of the posts and interviews that I owe other bloggers).

    • This is an awesome idea, Lauren. You’re one smart cookie!

  • John Betcher

    Sorry I’m so late to comment. It’s been a busy week. Another fine post. I like where this is headed. Keep up the great work!

  • kate papas

    I enjoyed every single word of your article. Today I’ll send an e-mail to all of my readers I know. For the rest I’ll try to write something on my FB page.

    • Thank you, Kate! Good luck reaching out to your readers — let us know how it goes :-)

  • Kristie Cook

    I’m doing a “Share the <3" campaign right now to support The National Domestic Violence Hotline. Part of it is sending swag to readers who donate to The Hotline and hosting giveaways for everyone who sends me a receipt of purchase of one of my books – they can win signed books from other indie authors. I also share excerpts, host Writer Wednesday on my blog where I feature another indie/small press author, and offer a signed bookmark in exchange for a picture of a reader with my book (or cover on their ereader). I priced two of my books as free the week of the 4th to celebrate INDIEpendence…I offer a lot of giveaways. LOL I think, most of all, though, readers just appreciate interaction with authors on Facebook, Twitter and in replies to emails. I like your Golden Rule and it plays right into my philosophy to always respond to every post, comment, tweet and email. It may not be immediate, but I WILL respond, just as I hope other authors would respond to me (and no, not all do).

    • You nailed it, Kristie! Those are all amazing ideas and, you’re right, I think the main thing readers enjoy is access. That’s not something they have with mainstream authors and part of what makes indies so special!

  • Liz Carmichael

    A while back I used to ask friends what was the best thing that happened to them that day. The question surprised them, but they loved looking over their day and remembering what was good about it. I think I’ll ask that one of my readers/followers a few times and see what that stirs up.

    • That’s a great idea, Liz — in general, posing questions to your readers which allow them to share a story work very well. Folks love talking about themselves (and I mean that in the best way)!

  • I’ve started to engage my readers to tell me what they’d like to see, to give them a chance to craft their own experience. They wanted a FB page to discuss the themes in my book and share their thoughts along with mine. I figure let’s build it together. As I’m working on the next book in the series, I can take their thoughts and see what would resonate with them

    • Yes! Chris, this is a genius thing you discovered. In the marketing world, I’ve seen it referred to as co-creation — letting your readers help you craft the exact experience they want. It’s better for you AND them; a real win-win!

  • monica4567

    Great stuff, both in the post and in the comments! I’m learning so much already. Invaluable info for when I’m ready to market my book. Now, back to writing, so I’ll have something to market! 😉 (Oh, and lovely pic of McConaughey. Maybe I should have seen that movie…)

    • Thanks, Monica (I do enjoy the McConaughey pic, too)! No need to wait to market your book — you can start building your fanbase now! Share excerpts of what you’re working on, other short stories, your progress, whatever. The earlier you can bring readers on board, the better!

    • monica4567

      Thanks Toni. I recently realized I needed to start doing things like this. I plan on joining Six Sentence Sunday, just as a start to get my feet wet with sharing my WIP. And I’ve also decided to try to get down some short stories, which I don’t normally write. So I guess I’m on the right track.
      Your course should help me more! Thanks!

  • Matt

    Just spent a good 30 seconds or more of this marathon posting questions along those lines — what’s the best thing that’s happened to you today — in my various spaces, including a reading-related one via my blog’s FB page. I like that idea a lot: Simple, straight forward, and all about engaging your readers.

    • Exactly, Matt. Sometimes the simplest questions and methods of engagement work best. Even a “what are you doing this weekend?” can spark a nice discussion!

  • I like to do book reviews, especially for indie author’s. I figure it’s win-win-win because I get to read a new book, potential readers get someone’s opinion on said book and the author gets another review posted on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads and, if the book is really great, a picture of the cover on my 5 Star Books on Pinterest.

    • What an awesome idea, Virginia! If you ever want to put together a guest post on how you use Pinterest, I know your fellow indies would love to hear about it. :-)

  • This is a great discussion. I’ve been at a writer’s retreat and am just catching up with this program. It’s wonderful to read all the ideas Toni has sparked. My book was published as an ebook in May, and will be coming out in print this fall. I’m a little behind the 8 Ball in the marketing aspect. Thanks to everyone for your contributions!

    • These ideas are amazing! I’m so overwhelmed (and elated) at the wonderfully creative ideas everyone is sharing.

  • I love the comments, awesome ideas!

    I’m coming at this course backwards…I don’t even have a writer website up yet, but I can only do so much at a time financially. I’ve thought about doing a free WP blog but that feels off to me so I’ll get to that and, when I do, I’ll rock ’em sock ’em. lol I think I’d like to do indie author interviews and giveaways, maybe with a little twist like a contest where commenters answer a question posed by the author about their latest book.

    • And I answered your comments backwards, Wulf! Whoops! Sorry about that.

      Anyway, I encourage you to go ahead and put up that free site — you can always switch over to something fancier later but, in the meantime, it gives you a “home base” to send potential readers to. The earlier you can start adding fans (we recommend adding an email optin box in the sidebar), the better!

  • I have actually been wrestling with this one, because I can’t decide whether it’s actually showing reader love or just annoying everyone else: giving shout-outs to new Twitter followers. Some of the people I’ve followed do this in blocks of 3 or 4 with a message like “Welcome to new followers @cheerleader, @soandso, @whatsherface and @theuglyone!” (Strongbad reference, for those who still remember it.) To me, this doesn’t seem like a very genuine thing to do, because I know that a LOT of people are just adding others in the hopes of being added back, but maybe I’m reading this move wrong. Do you ladies like this strategy? Would you say it’s a good thing for authors to do, even if it does seem kind of fake to say hi to @marketingdildo3? (Not a real Twitter name, but an example of some of the bots I have gotten.)

    • Hi Laura! To be honest, I’m not a fan of that mass-helloing strategy at all. If someone new catches your eye, however, and you want to say “hi,” I’m all for that! Just make it genuine and authentic: “Hey there @coolnewbie! I love Pop Rocks and Oreos, too — which types are your faves?” If you can squeeze in a question like that, even better — you’re much more likely to end up with a response! Bonus points if you can naturally make it book-related: “What book is on your nightstand?” “What’s on your essential desert island reading list?” etc.

      PS: I’m pretty sure I’ve seen @marketingdildo3 out there somewhere, LOL — love that example! 😉

    • I’m not a huge fan of the mass hello, either, and I tend to gloss over them when I see them, even if my name has been mentioned. I like when people have obviously taken the time to check out my profile or website and comment on that, though, like what Toni said. :)

  • It’s not quite today, but when my book comes out, I’m going to have a short excerpt and link so readers can check out another super awesome indie author who writes in the same genre as me. She’s let me read a bit of her new novel, and it’s absolutely stunning. :) So that’ll be something neat for them to do when they finish my book.

    • I love that idea, Adriana! What a perfect example of indies helping indies :-)

  • Prudence MacLeod

    I’ve been trying to give back a bit. I’ve offered two of my books for free on my blog as well as a drawing for gift certificates for such things as editing or bling. Not very many people took advantage. Guess I’m still missing something.

    • That’s a great start, Prudence, and as you earn more fans, promos like that will become more effective. I would caution, however, against giving TOO much stuff away for free all the time — it can kind of take away some of the specialness/value of the offer, you know? Thanks for your response! :-)

  • I’ve been giving away a few copies of my latest kids’ book – to libraries and a couple of young readers who enjoyed the ebook version. I’ll also be giving one away on a writer’s blog here in a couple of weeks. As others have mentioned, I also don’t like the mass hello thing on Twitter, but if someone sends me a DM and I know it’s not automated I try to respond.

    • What a wonderful way to give back, Will! I’m curious: did the library have any qualms about accepting an indie-published book?

      To be honest, the DM-spam has gotten so bad that we rarely check our box — which is sad, because every so often we miss a lovely, genuine message! Good for you for hanging in there :-)

    • I gave one to my hometown library and one to my old high school library. Neither had any issue with the book being self-pubbed and they seemed happy to a get book by a local author.

    • That’s awesome to hear, Will! I’ll have to contact our local library and find out their opinion on this; I know some can be a bit hesitant about such things, but it probably depends on the particular librarian in charge!

  • Ke-Yana Drake

    I’m creating a massive puzzle game for my website… that’s free. To solve a reader needs to have read my free companion novel, Rise of Hawk, and have a basic understanding of where things are on the website… and some of the puzzles give readers access to extra content as a reward for doing the puzzle game, one of the prizes will be to get first access to the hidden Epilogue for Rise of Hawk, as well! I’m continuing to build the puzzle game as my work project for today. It’s going to be so much fun to watch readers enjoy this thing! X3

    • Woah, Ke-Yana, you rock! It says so much to your readers that you’re willing to put in the time and effort to create something so massive. I’d love to see it when you finish it up! :-)

    • Ke-Yana Drake

      My present and future readers have always been my focus… oh.. and of course having fun and doing what I love XD
      Once it’s done I’ll send a link your way. :)

  • Carol Carr

    I’ve done giveaways, which are mildly successful. I am intrigued at the idea of creating synergy with other indie authors in my genre (which is the thriller category, or will be when the book is finished). I’ll be working on that by reading some new writers and reviewing their books on my blog and posting reviews at Amazon and Goodreads. What goes around, comes around.

    • Exactly, Carol: “what goes around, comes around,” indeed. Sharing reviews is HUGE; we could all use more honest, quality reviews!

  • I read their pages to find out what they are interested in and comment, if I can find out who they are. I also prpmote every writer who cntacts me and some that don’t. I’ve started a group blog with other writers. And I reccomend other author’s books.

    • That’s really nice of you, Cherley! Especially taking the time to find out their interests — so few people are willing to put in that amount of effort. Just one note of caution: only promote other writers when you genuinely enjoy their work (you probably do that, but I want to note it for others, just in case). Some authors feel obligated to promote everyone who comes their way and it can end up diluting the value of their opinion if all of those other authors aren’t of comparable quality. Thanks for sharing! :-)

  • I gave a copy of my first book to the library. The library administrator posed wirh me for the news release and put it up front for 60 days. To answer a question you had for someone else.

    • That’s too cool, Cherley. You guys have awesome libraries! I’d love to see that news release :-)

  • I got a comment today from someone who bought my book, but can’t see the maps very well on his older Kindle. So I’m going to be putting up free large versions of the maps on my website.

    • I love that idea, Rob! Designing eBooks that work across all devices is so tricky, and this is a great way to help out your readers without having to obsess over cross-device compatibility. Rock on!

    • Pauline Wiles

      Great idea! I think I might need a map in my book, too.

  • Stacy S. Jensen

    Since I don’t have a book, I plan to spend time hearing (reading) what others are talking about in my networks and respond.

    • That’s a great idea, Stacy. Building up relationships is a wonderful way to spend your time while writing. Perhaps even try a few guest posts when you have something (an excerpt, short story, etc.) for them to check out!

  • Guest

    You guys all make it seem so easy. I’m having trouble being happy with my own posts; the thought of posting on another person’s blog scares me to death. I do plan on doing the research to locate my target market’s hangouts, but … well, I’ve been working to master Twitter and Facebook. Maybe one of these days I’ll feel ready for that. It’s like staring at the next frontier.

    • One of the hardest things for any writer, I think, is to simply ‘let go’ and be happy with a piece, even if it’s not perfect. I know I certainly struggle with that! When I write a guest post, I’m so tempted to spend days reading and re-reading it to make it pristine. What I often forget is that the web is much more forgiving of mistakes than a novel. The truth is that very few pieces you see on the web are perfect — heck, I see typos and errors on websites from huge companies!

      When guest posting, my advice is that, if you try for a mix of average-to-good writing, an entertaining format and actionable advice, you’ve done quite well — even if the piece could technically be improved more. Speaking as a blogger who receives a heavy volume of guest post inquiries, if every post we received had those three characteristics, I’d be one happy lady!

      In other words, don’t overthink blogging. Relax, and let the words flow. Relish the opportunity to express yourself without fear of that editor looming over your shoulder 😉 We notice our own mistakes far more often than others! For more on guest posting, check out this post as well. I hope this helps — thanks for your comment!

  • I’ve been sharing interesting and relevant links, quotes and articles, as well as promoting indie authors who have ‘free’ days on Amazon, which helps both the author and the reader. It seems to be working for me now, and building my online reputation.

    • Exactly, Linda — I like how you put that: “building [your] online reputation.” Those are all wonderful ideas!

  • Hi guys! Having a blast so far! After reading this, ideas are buzzing in my head already. Haven’t taken full form yet though. Showing a bit of love to your readers? I’ll recommend introducing your characters (preferably one at a time) on your blog/website through excerpts of an upcoming book weeks before it is released. If non-fiction, juicy excerpts that would make them ache for when it finally arrives.

    • That’s an awesome idea, Miranda! Thank you for sharing :-)

    • misha.

      I really love this idea. It’s something straightforward that I could do as soon as the novel is finished,or even as it’s in final edit maybe.

  • I collected all my NF blog posts, guest posts and essays related to my novel’s historical characters and location and put out a free companion ebook. It also had the first chapter of my novel at the end. I’ve had nearly two-thousand downloads at Smashwords and BN. The problem with “free” is that lots of folks download tons of free stuff and never get around to reading it. I’m thinking about putting a price on it for general consumption and offering 100% off coupons for folks from my website, so it really is a gift with some “value” to my readers.

    • AnnabelSmith

      I think that’s a fantastic idea

    • What a great idea, Faith! You could also offer it as a freebie for signing up for your mailing list — then you can get in touch with the folks who are interested enough in your writing to sign up :-) I think I would keep some sort of freebie at Smashwords and BN, though, as those are great ways to grab new readers. Even if only 5-10% get around to reading it, that’s still 100-200 folks out of 2000!

    • Jarrett Rush

      I have a freebie at Smashwords and B&N also. It’s a story set in the main universe I write in. Gives you a feel for the world. It’s been downloaded a few thousand times. I don’t know if it’s led to many sales of my novella, but I’d like to think it has. It’s a nice introduction to the world either way.

      I’ve considered writing a few more stories to make it more of a collection and offeringing it free as a PDF on my site.

  • Heidi

    I am still at the begging stages but I started to make boards on pintrist for each one of my characters I post things they would eat, places they would go, ect. I also plan on doing fun contest on my blog with my readers, and giveaways.

    • I love the idea of using Pinterest, Heidi! I’m a wee bit addicted to it, so that would certainly interest me 😉

    • Pauline Wiles

      Love this idea… I’ve been trying to stay away from Pinterest, but I can see how much fun this would be, both to compile and to view.

  • Greg Baldwin

    I had the idea of giving copies of my book to the first five readers who could give me the name of the main character which they could find in the sample chapters. When i sent the book i would politely ask if they would leave a review. it seems like a good bit of give and receive

    • Great idea, Greg! Did you get a good response rate with that?

    • Greg Baldwin

      I have to shamefully admit that I got busy putting some final work on my book and did not get around to posting it. I will be doing so tomorrow and will let you know the results

  • I’m toying with the idea of offering the first chapter of my comming book for free. If I knew a good German word for this, I would have done it before, but I cannot find an equivalent to sneak read or sneak peak … There is still time, so I’m searching for a word. A bit stupid, eh?

    • Oh no, Martina! I never thought about there being a language barrier with that concept — I wish I knew some German, so I could help!

    • The dictionaries are no help, but I’ve considered what amazon does with “look inside”. You can read it either as a noun or a verb. The German version works on the same line, phonetically at least. Now I’m playing with synonyms for “look”.

  • I’m actually excited and looking forward to the homework! These lessons
    are very informative. Thanks! I’m drafting a guest post and thinking of
    expanding on a few blog posts to create a short ebook for free. I
    thought it would encourage my readers to purchase my memoir.

    • Awesome, Andrea! Those are both great ideas. Be sure to let us know how it goes! :-)

  • I have this weird problem… my “readers” (Y.A. fiction) aren’t the readers of my blog. My blog is a more serious look at “how fiction works”. So before I can “love” my readers, I need to locate them. Okay… here’s what I’ll do today: I’ll clean up my manuscript with one last pass… tweak it one more time. That’ll be rewrite #17. I hope that eventually makes someone happy.

    • Don’t worry, PJ — help with finding your reader hangouts is coming! I love your mindset though: just do something every day, even if you’re not sure how it fits into the bigger picture.

  • When you were ready to make your point, I think it was funny that you wrote; ‘Stop the multitasking for a minute and take note.’
    What; do you think we do that? Nobody does that do they?

  • I gave my county library 10 copies of my book. They were thrilled to have it and people see that it circulates in the public library “like a real book” (which, of course, it is!) Most readers don’t know that it’s self published. I respond to everyone who follows me on twitter with a link to a free excerpt of my book on freado.

    • Awesome, Marcie, I’m so glad the library was excited to have your book. It’s definitely as “real” as they come, haha!

  • i recently invited readers to respond to my blogpost, 5 Things You Don’t Know About Me with a 5 things post of their own…and then i went to the trouble of adding a Linky tool in the post so they could easily showcase their post to the rest of us. It went over quite well for my little corner of the blogosphere and def resulted in strengthening connections and creating new ones.

    • That’s a great idea, Pam. I bet it was a super way to find out more about your readers, too!

  • If you are on Twitter and you spot something that is of interest or use to them, tweet it to them, It shows you realise life is two-way tweet ; ).

  • Lindsey Gray

    I did a giveaway on GoodReads that had over 800 responses and I now have one of my books on over 300 TBR lists. Unfortunately, putting it on their TBR list and buying it is a whole different story. I write Paranormal mostly and it’s hard to define who would like my books. I’ve had 65 year old retired men and 16 year old cheerleaders read it. I have been doing a series on my blog, Author on Author Book Reviews, where I review other books and do blog tours. It helps connect with other authors and sometimes I even get a chance to do an interview. I’m trying and I hope this course will give me even more ideas to reach the readers I know will love my stories.

    • Every little bit helps, though, right, Lindsey Even if that giveaway doesn’t translate directly into sales, it gets your name and book into each of those reader’s brains, which is definitely a good thing!

      Good for you, too, for helping out other authors. Doing book reviews is a great way to build those connections! Thanks for sharing your ideas :-)

  • Hmm, not sure what I can do today! I don’t have a book for sale yet, but when I do I plan to give away related freebies on my blog, like maps, a short story set in the same small town, and once I have three books in the series out I’ll do a free novella.

    For now, most of my blog readers are writers. I try to post interesting writing opportunities, and also when I design useful writing tools like character sheets or I modify someone else’s writing tools for my genre, I put them up on my blog. The one thing I’ll post today is a call for submissions for a fab new small press started by an online friend of mine.

  • William

    I can’t wait to get into the specifics, but so far this looks like the kind of marketing help I need. It’s good to see other Indie writers here and a big hello to all of you.