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Who is an author’s most important audience?

Who is an author’s most important audience?

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Are we writing to please booksellers and libraries, bloggers, or readers?

Which of these audiences is going to have the most impact to the sales of your book?

These are valid questions, but the answer may not be quite so simple. Naturally, our first thought would be that the reader is the most important, but how do we reach them? How do we ensure that their awareness is drawn to the message we want to convey?

It has undoubtedly taken a huge amount of work to get your book to this stage. Your time and energy have gone into transforming an idea or dream into physical form. Do you now have the energy, knowledge, and resources to bring it to the attention of the rest of the world on your own?

This is where forming a network comes into play. Just like it took a team to transform your book into that physical form, having a system of connections available to increase the visibility and reputation of your creation is vital. Along the lines of the African proverb ‘It takes a village to raise a child’, it takes a community of resources and providers to unshroud your book-baby and reach your readers.

Contents

1. Booksellers and libraries
2. Bloggers and bookstagrammers
3. Readers
4. To summarise

 

1. Booksellers and libraries 

These audiences are extremely important because they could potentially purchase multiple copies of your book which is great for your reach and, in a reduced capacity, your pocket.

Who doesn’t want to see their book on the shelves of a bookstore or library? If you can see it there, so can thousands of potential readers. Establish connections with bookstores before your book is ready for market then discuss options with them for selling your book there on a consignment basis. This could be highly beneficial to both you and the bookstore. You get the exposure, and they don’t have to commit to purchasing stock that may not sell.

As a self-published author, you are responsible for either having stock on hand to sell directly to the bookstore or library or having online print on demand (POD) and distribution options such as Amazon KDP and IngramSpark set up for them to order from. While you receive less in royalties when your book is purchased from a POD platform, you won’t have boxes all around your house, and purchasing will be easier for the bookstore or library.

2. Bloggers and bookstagrammers

Again, these audiences can have a huge impact on increasing your reach, even if you don’t plan to have a social media presence of your own. If a blogger mentions or reviews your book, the potential is there for many more readers to hear about it and possibly purchase it.

Authors can send copies of their book to bloggers and bookstagrammers to ask for reviews. It could be considered bad manners to approach directly with no previous contact though. If you are active on social media, follow and engage with the influencers who may be interested in your work, then perhaps ask them if they would be willing to provide a review if you send them a copy.

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3. Readers

The description ‘reader’ can apply to members of the above groups, as well as every other individual who pick up or view your book.

Imagine someone walking into a bookstore or library, picking up your book because of the beautifully designed cover, and being told what a wonderful read it is by a staff member!

While a library patron gets to read the book for free, they may love it so much that they buy a copy for themselves or as a gift for someone else. Also, if a library is being asked for a particular title, they are more likely to stock it or increase their stocks of it. Libraries can assist authors with Public Lending Rights to ensure if the book is borrowed, the author can still make a royalty per borrow. This royalty is marginal but beneficial if the book is well requested.

Whatever your thoughts are on social media, it can be a powerful tool to increase awareness of your book and you, if that is what you desire. Bloggers and bookstagrammers can have a great influence on the breadth of audience for your work. Take a look at our blog on Social Media Marketing for Authors for more information.

4. To summarise

Your potential readers are everywhere; in brick-and-mortar establishments and on the internet. They may even walk past you in the shopping centre.

They are all important, whether as a doorway to actual purchasers, advocates for your work, or as the people who will read and connect with your message.

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So, You Want to Write? Let’s Get Started!

So, You Want to Write? Let’s Get Started!

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Beginning the journey of writing a book can be daunting, and it all starts with you: your message, your intentions, and your commitment. Therefore, setting yourself up for success at the very beginning will make the journey much more enjoyable.

Success doesn’t have to be in the form of a best seller. Success may simply be finding a way to articulate your feelings or ideas and forming them into something readable, whether it be for family and friends only, or for a wider audience.

Contents

1. Determining your intentions
2. Prepare a conducive environment for creativity
3. Schedule writing time
4. Allow yourself to write
5. Planning out your content
6. Let’s get philosophical

1. Determining your intentions 

Why have you decided to write a book? What is it that you want to write about? Why have you chosen that subject or content? What are you hoping to achieve? The ‘why’s’ and ‘what’s’ are especially important as they set the tone for everything else you do; they are the crucial first steps of the journey.

Being realistic about the possible outcomes and the amount of work you will need to do are also very important. If your main goal is to become wealthy in a short space of time, the bar is already set way too high and consequently, you will end up disappointed and disillusioned.

However, if you set realistic expectations and goals, and are prepared to put effort into making them happen, the experience can feel rewarding, and you will produce a book you are proud to have your name on.

2. Prepare a conducive environment for creativity

If you have the space, create an area where you enjoy spending time and can work in relative peace (if that is your jam of course; some people prefer to work in noisy environments). Gather around you the tools you need to get the work done, and the accessories to spark up that creative fire. This could look like your favourite pen, stuffed toy, crystals, or even beverages—if it gets you into the writing mood, make sure it’s in that area with you.

If you don’t have the space for a dedicated writing area, visit the local library, a quiet café, or wherever you can carve out a niche in your home, even if it is only for your allotted period of writing time. One or two of those accessories might help get you into the zone, wherever you are.

Make sure you’re not too comfortable though, unless you can write in your sleep.

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3. Schedule writing time

Setting scheduled writing time may not be for everyone but can be very helpful if you struggle to commit or tend to procrastinate. Sometimes nothing will be achieved in these sessions, and that’s okay. Try writing whatever comes into your head: write the same word repeatedly, or even complete nonsense. Perhaps it will spark something in that moment or be inspiration the next time you sit down with it.

Reading something else out loud or simply observing life around you for a time may also ignite an idea.

If you have the flexibility to write whenever the desire hits you, go for it!

4. Allow yourself to write

This may seem like a moot point, but you’d be amazed at how many excuses can be thought of not to write. There are jobs to do around the house or other people to please or who you feel may judge. As a result, you may not feel good enough.

The list of reasons we can invent to not write is endless, but the list of reasons why you should write is much more meaningful. You know that yearning you feel, and if you can understand why you feel it and act upon it, nothing can stop you.

If you can’t feel the motivation by yourself, you may find encouragement and validation by developing a support network. This could consist of finding a trusted friend/s who will provide a beta read and honest feedback, or joining groups for writers, bloggers, or social media communities.

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5. Planning out your content

It can help to have a clear picture of what you are aiming to achieve, however, there are a number of ways to assemble that picture:

  • Perhaps you are someone who benefits from visuals and may have sketches of characters, scenery, architecture etc.
  • Some of us are list-makers and find structure in dot points or carefully laid out sticky notes.
  • You might use mind-maps, timelines, an entire wall of a room, or any number of notebooks each devoted to a particular character, scene, mood, or chapter.
  • Perhaps you simply have it all floating around in your head and can pull from it whenever you need.

Whichever method you use, make sure you have all your research and facts in perfect shape. Character, world, and plot development can all improve as you go along, but it is vital to have real-life information correct and created-world foundations intact.

6. Let’s get philosophical

The first principle of René Descartes’ philosophy is “I think, therefore I am.” The same principle could be applied to you. You are writing; therefore, you are a writer.

Comparison has two very different sides. Analysing your writing against that of others is unhealthy and unproductive, whereas the measure of your own work progression and growth can be extremely useful and inspiring. Everything you write has value, perhaps not immediately or obviously, but at some stage, its benefit will become clear. It is like a map of your creative journey, so don’t throw anything away.

How you see yourself and what you create can subsequently impact on your work and your motivation. If we think that we are not worthy, that may be reflected in what we produce. Be wary of that negative voice inside. If rubbish goes in, rubbish could well come out.

Keep hold of your dreams, have faith in yourself, and just keep on writing!

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The Little Book of
Big Publishing Tips.

 

In just a quick 8,000 words, this little book will equip you with the knowledge you need to successfully publish your book.

The Little Book of Big Publishing tips goes into the essentials of self-publishing a book, outlining the business and financial side of publishing, legal issues, design, editing, sales and marketing. There's even a section on how to identify a vanity-publishing scam.

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Tips for writing your history book

Tips for writing your history book

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Here’s some invaluable tips for writing that history book you’ve been planning, from Green Hill’s own Richard Maerschel.

Contents

1. Preserve and value private photo albums and document collections
2. Don’t rely too much on public records
3. Other information sources
4. Quality of Photos
5. Juggling writing with staying alive

1. Preserve and value private photo albums and document collections 

When you decide to write, don’t expect that background information will be on the internet in more than superficial depth. Even basic information on the net is often wrong, not deliberately but because, unlike you, the writer might be too quick to get a story out, often using documents perhaps a century old which might have been wrong in the first place. My own family records have examples of such errors.

I feel lucky that I have always kept books and a lots of notes on things important to me. I also feel lucky that forty years ago I asked my old aunty to sit down with me and her numerous photo albums – she told me names and I wrote them on the backs of photos. My main my point is Don’t rely on memory which inevitably loses accuracy and completion over time.

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​2. Don’t rely too much on public records 

Trove is very good at preserving old newspapers and making them freely available on line, but they stop at 1954, and that is now more than seventy years ago and receding further every day. State libraries and archives hold a vast amount of material, but the funding of our State Library is being squeezed so that expertise to help you and me find what’s there is diminishing, and quite rapidly.

Newspapers are shadows of what they used to be, so the little things going on in daily life are no longer in the papers but on our phones and tablets. Those records may be a 100 times larger than what we used to read in the papers, but they are too fragile. When a phone is lost or is thrown out when someone dies, the photos and text messages are usually lost too. The same happens with emails when we change computers or even update software that took charge of everything that we wrote on our keyboards and received on our screens.

Marriage isn’t what it used to be, and neither is our old way of children taking their father’s surname, so your descendants will probably have a hard time doing family histories because the line of names will be hard to find and decipher.

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​3. Other information sources 

When you are writing about history, your work gains its main value after you get inside the minds of people living in those times. Their ideas about society might be a world away from your ideas, but unless you can see their world from their times, your critical evaluation will be defective. Old books are invaluable. If you haven’t got your own, go a library and ask questions, and be prepared to go down roads less travelled to find answers to what you want to know.

O’Connells, Old and Rare Books, and Michael Treloar are mines of old books and photos, but they are more focussed on collectors rather than writers. If you want information rather than an expensive rare book, I suggest suggest that you think about the relevant locality. If your story is based in Adelaide suburbs, go to the local library for relevant records, maps, photos and the like. In recent time I’ve turned up sources valuable to me from Aldinga and Mount Gambier libraries. The custodians there love to think that people from Adelaide want their help, and those same people are usually involved in local museums run by the National Trust and district councils, so there is a good chance you’ll get more than you are expecting. Also, when you travel, drop into any place that advertises old books.

Three of my most valued books I bought interstate, one from Maryborough in Victoria, and two from Berrima and Uralla in NSW. It is essential that you keep your eyes and mind open to finding information in unexpected places

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4. Quality of photos 

The digital technology which drives our screens – cinemas, computers and phones – is now so good that it often makes any photo more than five years old look below par, even miserable. Wonders of enhancement and removal have now descended out of the realm of touchup artists into the hands of you and me or, more particularly, our kids and their children. This is bad news for us who write history books because the old pictures we are forced to use look bad and worse against the expectations of what anyone can get, even out of a cheap mobile phone.

The good thing is that the technical advances which present us each day with high quality images we might have just taken also enable us to improve old pictures, even though they may be the third or fourth in a series of copies out of a book. Light and shade, clarity, and blemishes can all be made to look better using software which keeps coming out of the same smart minds as the imagery on our screens.

But improving old photos can take a lot of time and money, and there is the risk that the final image looks too good, lacking the warmth and charm of an old defective photo. AI will never match what the old camera tried to do but missed, but the compromise available now and into the future should enable us to present impressive pictures.

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5. Juggling writing with staying alive 

For too long I put off writing a whole lot of stuff which had been running around in my brain for decades. I had jobs which kept me too busy to give time to writing. Writers like actors, musicians and sports people, are countless in number, but very few get to the point of fame and riches, so don’t wait for that to give you lots of leisure time. Get on with your writing, make enough money to keep body and soul together, and your writings will bring you satisfaction whether the world values them or not.

Richard Maerschel ~ richard@greenhillpublishing.com.au

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SUBMIT YOUR BOOK DETAILS
CALL US 1300 810 131

Featured Blog Posts:

Featured Blog Posts

Interested in publishing your book but unsure where to start or what is even involved? Tell us about your project and we will post you a copy of our:

 

The Little Book of
Big Publishing Tips.

 

In just a quick 8,000 words, this little book will equip you with the knowledge you need to successfully publish your book.

The Little Book of Big Publishing tips goes into the essentials of self-publishing a book, outlining the business and financial side of publishing, legal issues, design, editing, sales and marketing. There's even a section on how to identify a vanity-publishing scam.

submit your project details