Wait! What?

An author without readers is nothing more than an aspiring writer. We all are, really, but the story here is about finding readers. Even more specifically: readers who want to read what we write. There are so many options out there, which makes it even harder for readers to find our books. The tide has turned; nowadays, we authors have to find the readers. That means we need to learn who our potential audience is, where they gather, and what kind of books they are reading. Then, we produce what they want. Hard! Different times need fresh strategies.

Where to Find the Readers

In the social media era, you’d think it would be easier to find readers. In theory, it should be. But no. The algorithms play against us. You would think the idea is to gather people who think alike or share the same ideas, but unfortunately, algorithms work based on how much interaction the content gets. I don’t know about you, but I’m toasted. How do you convince people to hit the “like” button? Not even your friends and family do it.

Old Fashioned

Back in the day—just a few years ago, before Covid—people would use business cards, and they used to work. If you have luck with business cards, let me know. I think I get one sale for every hundred cards. But, needless to say, having a digital product, like my website, has become my new business card. I have a QR code people can scan to access my book, bio, blog, and social media. It might not be “trendy,” but it works.

Time and Consistency

After these examples, my conclusion is that posting consistently and writing on my blog at least once a week will pay off one day. The lesson here: the people who have been on this path for a long time tell me it took them five years of constant work to get visibility. If you are trying to get things moving too quickly and get fast sales, you will be targeted by scammers and opportunistic people promising sky-rocket sales that do not exist.

Today’s Strategies will Pay Tomorrow

• Bowker.com will sell you a QR code for twenty-five dollars. You can assign whichever link you want and change it as many times as you need. It’s yours.
• Get yourself an account on every social media platform out there. If you don’t, when your product goes viral, a scammer might impersonate you to target other people, and this will affect you. Also, this helps you reach different audiences. You never know where your readers are.
• Posting regularly is important. Use an automated program to post to all your socials at once. You write and comment from one place, which saves a lot of time. The ones I have researched are SocialBee, Buffer, and Hootsuite. Some offer trial periods, others have free limited services, and some are expensive. There are options for all types of budgets.
• Read everything you can about market trends: Youtube Video
• Research where the audience for your genre is. Read what they are reading. Connect with other authors on IG, FB, TikTok, Substack, etc. Ask other writers for advice. Offer a free book in exchange for reviews or to ARC readers. Follow and support authors like you. Oftentimes, people will follow you back, comment, and support you too.

Starting from Zero

Let’s say you are working on your book now and will be ready to publish in six months or a year. Should you wait until your book is live to start promoting? The answer, my friend, is no. The ideal thing is to attract your audience before your book goes to the editors. Create content for your social media every day. Nothing big—just a phrase from your book with a picture and a lot of hashtags. Be creative, use your imagination. Your tea, your cat, bird, dog, or anything that inspires your day. Even the mess on your desk.

Ideal Moment

Imagine that the day you launch your book, your audience has been so worked up by your posts that they are counting the minutes to hit the “buy” button. That’s what we want. As a bonus, I am leaving you with a link to a resource that has helped me a lot. I wish I had known these things before I published my first book: Book Launch Plan

Au revoir

If you made it to my French “bye-bye,” I’m impressed and thankful. I know these subjects can be intense and boring, but they are so necessary. Kindly leave a comment and share this with other authors. If you feel stuck, reach out to author@anechypadron.com or leave a comment. Also, if you are looking for authors to market, I’m not accepting solicitations. Thank you for understanding!

Anechy Padron

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