The lifeblood of any author is of course their readers.
In days gone by readers could only interact with their favorite author by meeting them at book signing tours or perhaps sending their agent a letter that they hoped would somehow reach the author.
Those days are gone.
Readers now expect to be able to interact with their authors, quickly and with ease.
With the ability to e.
mail their author direct in most cases or with the huge phenomenon that is the social media platform, the option to contact their author is few clicks away.
Your job as an author is to utilize these methods and realize that reader interaction is now a part of book promotion that is crucial to success.
Below we will look at several methods of interaction and techniques on how you can use them to build rapport with your readers.
Blog posts and comments The information you write in your blog posts about your work will most likely draw comments from your readers and your reaction to these comments will be essential to you building rapport with your fans.
If your fans post positive comments about your work then you know you are on the right path with regards to keeping your readers happy and can look forward to future purchases from them.
Be sure to thank any positive comments and to answer any questions they may.
If you receive negative comments, don't worry or react angrily.
Take note of your readers concerns and be ready to answer them and if need be address them in your future work.
You cannot please all the people all the time and you will encounter people who post comments just to be an annoyance, but reader feedback will keep you on the path to writing books that people want to read and therefore purchase.
Keep your blog posts current and interesting.
Be sure to pay attention to the comment section.
Social media.
Building rapport with your readers using social media is actually quite easy compared to some mediums.
With platforms such as Facebook and twitter it is very easy to interact with your readers by posting information and waiting for any feedback that may arise.
Just about everyone is on Facebook these days and with the apps that are usually pre-installed on cellphones people are in constant contact with their Facebook page or twitter account.
As with the blog section above it is a simple to begin building rapport using this technique by simply answering any comments to your posts.
E.
mail.
Building rapport using e.
mail is a whole different sport to the above techniques.
E.
mail rapport building is divided into two main categories.
The e.
mail list.
As an author with an online presence you really should be building an e.
mail list.
An e.
mail list allows you to send out new information of book release dates or articles to your readers.
It is a fantastic technique for building rapport because it allows you to contact your readers on a regular basis and draw attention to your work in mass groups with ease.
The personal e.
mail.
On your website or social media platform you will have the option for your readers to contact you direct and at some stage or another you will most likely receive a personal e.
mail.
Be sure to answer personal e.
mails with a friendly and professional response.
If the e.
mail is positive, then be sure to thank the sender and answer any question or comments they may have.
If the e.
mail is negative do not get into a battle with the sender, simply address their concerns professionally and calmly.
Interacting with your readers is not as hard as you may think and I have written a page on building rapport that goes into detail about each of these topics.
In days gone by readers could only interact with their favorite author by meeting them at book signing tours or perhaps sending their agent a letter that they hoped would somehow reach the author.
Those days are gone.
Readers now expect to be able to interact with their authors, quickly and with ease.
With the ability to e.
mail their author direct in most cases or with the huge phenomenon that is the social media platform, the option to contact their author is few clicks away.
Your job as an author is to utilize these methods and realize that reader interaction is now a part of book promotion that is crucial to success.
Below we will look at several methods of interaction and techniques on how you can use them to build rapport with your readers.
Blog posts and comments The information you write in your blog posts about your work will most likely draw comments from your readers and your reaction to these comments will be essential to you building rapport with your fans.
If your fans post positive comments about your work then you know you are on the right path with regards to keeping your readers happy and can look forward to future purchases from them.
Be sure to thank any positive comments and to answer any questions they may.
If you receive negative comments, don't worry or react angrily.
Take note of your readers concerns and be ready to answer them and if need be address them in your future work.
You cannot please all the people all the time and you will encounter people who post comments just to be an annoyance, but reader feedback will keep you on the path to writing books that people want to read and therefore purchase.
Keep your blog posts current and interesting.
Be sure to pay attention to the comment section.
Social media.
Building rapport with your readers using social media is actually quite easy compared to some mediums.
With platforms such as Facebook and twitter it is very easy to interact with your readers by posting information and waiting for any feedback that may arise.
Just about everyone is on Facebook these days and with the apps that are usually pre-installed on cellphones people are in constant contact with their Facebook page or twitter account.
As with the blog section above it is a simple to begin building rapport using this technique by simply answering any comments to your posts.
E.
mail.
Building rapport using e.
mail is a whole different sport to the above techniques.
E.
mail rapport building is divided into two main categories.
The e.
mail list.
As an author with an online presence you really should be building an e.
mail list.
An e.
mail list allows you to send out new information of book release dates or articles to your readers.
It is a fantastic technique for building rapport because it allows you to contact your readers on a regular basis and draw attention to your work in mass groups with ease.
The personal e.
mail.
On your website or social media platform you will have the option for your readers to contact you direct and at some stage or another you will most likely receive a personal e.
mail.
Be sure to answer personal e.
mails with a friendly and professional response.
If the e.
mail is positive, then be sure to thank the sender and answer any question or comments they may have.
If the e.
mail is negative do not get into a battle with the sender, simply address their concerns professionally and calmly.
Interacting with your readers is not as hard as you may think and I have written a page on building rapport that goes into detail about each of these topics.
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