Before pitching that next idea to your agent or editor, answer this question about your book: Who needs/wants your message? If it’s middle-aged women, you’d better be connected to a few. If it’s teen girls, you’d better have access to hundreds of them. Otherwise, the publishing house might just wonder how you’re going to help them get the word out about your book.
Remember, you’ve got to establish trust with your reader.
How do you go about doing that? As you are able, connect with your fans in social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter. If someone takes the time to write to you, do your best to write back. If you receive a nasty review (particularly online) don’t lash out or respond out of anger. Take a deep breath. Again, the goal here is to establish trust with the reader.
You will find, particularly after you’ve had several books released, that a handful of fans will want to maintain a closer relationship than most. In my case, I took advantage of this situation. Folks who routinely showed up on my Facebook page to rave about my latest book became my tribe.
What’s a tribe you ask?
It’s a group of close-knit readers who maintain relationship with you. Here’s how I work with my tribe. Each tribe member gets a free copy of my book when it comes out. They agree to post a review on amazon.com or elsewhere on the web. They chat about my book on their Facebook page or on Twitter.
Best of all, they stay in touch with me, talking me through the rough times and encouraging me to keep going. They know they can trust me to keep putting out fun, quirky comedies, and I know I can trust them to be my support team.
Remember, this is all about relationship. I’m not talking about “faux” relationships, as in, “I’ll pretend to be nice to you so you’ll buy my book,” but real/genuine connections, as we’re able to make them.
That's it for this lesson. Keep reading for more great tips and tricks!
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