When I talked about my work supporting authors with Build Book Buzz, I offered advice to those hoping to do something similar. I stressed how important it is to know as much as possible about your audience so you can give them what they need and want.

As I talked about how I learn as much as I can about what interests you, it occurred to me that my author research compares to your reader research.

Knowing what your readers want makes a difference

Just as I need to know what you want in blog and training content from me, you need to know what your readers want in the types of books that you write.

If you write fiction, you must understand what readers expect and look for in your genre.

Nonfiction authors need to know what knowledge gaps they can fill.

Knowing what your readers want, and delivering it in a high-quality package, is what generates the good word-of-mouth marketing that’s so essential to author and book success.

Here are three ways you can learn more about what your readers want.

1. Online group conversations

Start by joining as many online groups related to your genre or topic as possible. (You can also start your own group.)

You can find a Facebook group for many book genres and categories. Write steampunk? Here’s your group. Are you a poet? The Facebook Poetry Society group has more than 83,000 members. Mystery readers and writers have The Mystery Readers Book Club.

To find the groups for your genre, type “[genre] readers group” into the Facebook search box.

If you write nonfiction, search for your topic plus the word “group.”

Let’s say you’re a time management expert, so that’s what you write about. You’ll want to join the Habits, Productivity, And Time Management group. Do you write about parenting toddlers? Check out the Moms and Dads of Toddlers group with its 24,000 members.

There are also groups for certain nonfiction topics on LinkedIn; many professional associations host groups, as well.

Is your audience using Clubhouse? Look for groups there, too.

How to use groups

Set aside time every day to scroll through discussions to learn what people are talking about.

You don’t even need to contribute. Just read and learn. And do it some more.

With fiction, pay attention to what readers say about what they do and don’t like in a book or author. Not enough of “this?” Too much of “that?” Use this input to help refine your book’s content.

Nonfiction authors, note what your audience is asking questions about. What do they need to learn? What confuses them? The more you know about where they’re at with a topic, the better able you will be to give them what they need in your books and other content you create.

2. Survey readers

Surveying your audience works best if you already have a way to reach them. That might be through your email list and newsletter, the email lists of author friends who write for the same audience as you, the online groups you belong to, and your social network connections.

Before posting a link to a survey in a group, though, check the group’s rules or contact the moderator to make sure it’s allowed.

Free survey tools include:

• Survey Monkey
• Google Forms
• Typeform

What to ask

What you’ll ask will depend on what you want to know.

Here’s an approach to consider for fiction:

• What’s the most recent [genre] book you’ve read?
• On a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being the least and 5 being the most, how much did you like that book?
• What did you like about it the most?
• What did you like the least?

That’s just one idea. Ask the questions that will get you the information you need.

When it comes to nonfiction, consider crafting questions that will help you better understand what your target audience needs in content from someone with your expertise.

You might want to know, for example, how they consume information on your topic outside of books. Would they rather watch a video than read a blog post, for example? Do they prefer to learn from a podcast? Again, it all depends on what you need to know to give them what they want to learn.

3. Talk to readers

Whenever you get the chance, talk to readers. Then listen. And listen some more.

via GIPHY

Learn what types of books they read, why, what they do and don’t like in books, what format they prefer, where they buy them, and so on.

If you send your manuscript to beta readers, ask questions that will not only help you improve technical aspects of the manuscript, but will help you understand them as readers, too.

When a readers emails you about your book, whether it’s to tell you how much they liked it or to ask a question, engage with them. Provide what they need, but use your response to help gather information, too.

When online group members are discussing a specific book that might be similar to or appeal to the same audience as yours, ask questions that can help you learn what you need at that moment.

When you talk to reader groups in book clubs, libraries, or virtually, make your presentation interactive by asking questions that engage them and inform you. (And, make note of the questions they ask, too, because those inquiries offer insights for you.)

Keep learning

Being an author means you’re always learning. Sometimes, when you think you have things figured out, the rules change.

If you incorporate author input into your growth as a writer, though, you’ll continue to improve.

What do you to stay in touch with readers? What do you do to make sure you’re delivering what they want, need, and expect? Please tell us in a comment. 

I wanted to help her reach more potential fans while providing my readers with something useful that they’d appreciate.

When the WordPress system notified her of my link to her site, she promptly hopped over to my post and left a comment.

After thanking me for the mention, she gently chastised me for encouraging people to download her gift. She wanted people to either pin it to a Pinterest board or join her membership program to receive a printable version.

My approach to this is to contact the person privately with the feedback. But here’s the key question about this situation: Am I now a superfan?

What do you think? Should I be?

I AM a big fan of Pat Flynn!

On the other hand, I’ve been a Pat Flynn fan for a long time, so I was pretty sure I’d discover a few new-to-me gems in his new book, Superfans:The Easy Way to Stand Out, Grow Your Tribe, And Build a Successful Business.

I discovered early on through Flynn’s Smart Passive Income podcast that we have the same business values. That keeps me listening. Over the years, I’ve learned a great deal from him and his podcast guests. They often take listeners behind the scenes, sharing what has and hasn’t worked for their online businesses.

Superfans isn’t Flynn’s first book, but it’s the first he’s written that’s relevant to my business and yours. I was pretty sure I could pull some wisdom out of it for authors like you seeking a community of loyal readers waiting for your next book.

On the surface, it’s more relevant to entrepreneurs than to authors, especially those who don’t yet accept that they’re actually small business owners.

But when you replace the term “fan” with “readers,” you’ll soon see that there’s lots to learn as an author. With authors, it’s all about finding and connecting with people you want to become loyal readers.

What can you learn from this book?

When I read a prescriptive nonfiction book like this, I’m looking at it from a few different perspectives:

• Is there content that’s helpful to authors?
• What, if anything, can I apply to my business?
• How is it written, structured, and organized? I do this as a nonfiction writer and author, not as a reader. Other people’s books often provide insights I can use in my own books.

What follows is my breakdown of these three points. What you take away from this book as a reader will be different, of course, because we’re coming at it with different backgrounds. My goal with this review, though, is to help you decide if this book is a “must read” for you, or a “good to know about, but not what I need right now” kind of book.

Specific nuggets for authors

Regarding that first point about relevance to authors, I think novelists will have to work a little harder to see the takeaways in it for them. They’re there, but they will probably be more obvious to nonfiction authors.

For example, in Chapter 1, we learn the importance of using your fan’s/reader’s language when writing promotional text — which can include your book description and website copy. Novelists need to do this as much as anyone else. That first chapter helps you see how you can uncover the phrases and terms your audience uses.

In Chapter 3, you’ll discover how to use an online community such as a Facebook or LinkedIn group to learn more about how you can help or serve your readers.

The advice in Chapter 6 to invite your readers into your writer’s room, so to speak, “where they can share their opinions on where the story should go” is 100 percent relevant to all authors.

Much of Part 3 will be more interesting to nonfiction authors who use books as part of a larger business. It’s worth reading, but it will be harder for novelists to determine how to leverage the concepts.

Part 4 is about protecting yourself from the dark side of this new world of superfandom. It’s something most of us won’t need to worry about, but it’s a good reminder about why and how you want to protect your privacy and stay safe.

As for my own business working with authors, I was happy to see he recommends certain steps that I already do instinctively. I took plenty of notes, too.

This book’s bones

My third bullet point above relates to how I read books like this as a writer more than a knowledge-seeker. Several things about how the book is written and structured stood out for me.

Superfans is organized logically. The author uses an inverted pyramid graphic to explain the structure in the introduction. Like the book, the pyramid is divided into four parts. Each part moves readers through the fan-building process.

As a writer, three other features stand out for me.

1. The stories. Flynn draws from his experience, and those of the many entrepreneurs he has interviewed on his podcast, to bring the concepts to life. Every time I thought, “What would this look like in action?”, he showed me.
2. Exercises at the end of each chapter. They encourage readers to take action on what they’ve just learned.
3. A helpful bonus online course with worksheets and other tools related to each chapter’s exercises. I always encourage authors to create bonus content that readers can access after providing their name and email address. It’s an excellent way to help you continue the conversation with that reader — and turn that person into a fan, and, eventually a superfan.

I think you’ll appreciate these features, too.

Connecting with your readers

Because I’m a long-time listener to Flynn’s podcast, I was familiar with much of the content already. Still, it didn’t bother me to have it presented in a new format, and in one that allowed me to take notes as I read. (I can’t do that when listening to a podcast while exercising or driving.)

If you’re new to Pat Flynn’s world, you won’t be slowed down by that “Ohhhh, I’ve heard this before” issue. And, if your goal is to better connect with and understand your readers, I think you’ll be satisfied with what you learn.

What are you doing now to better connect with the people who love your books? Please tell us in a comment! 

*I’m protecting the creator’s identity by not sharing the file name

I clicked on the link, expecting to see a motivational nonfiction book because that’s his thing.

What I saw, though, was a business book title superimposed over an image of a man in a suit. Underneath the title were two words: “A Novel.”

Huh?

I’ll admit that I’m easily confused, but I think this might have confused you, too.

I read the description, hoping it would offer some clarity.

It didn’t.

The book description assured me that the book’s story was infused with thousands of hours of executive coaching and years of leadership experience. This didn’t reassure me that the book really was a novel. In fact, it sure sounded like a nonfiction business book.

I looked for a table of contents. Yup. There it was.

When’s the last time you saw a table of contents in a novel? (Maybe never?)

I closed the window. I was tired of trying to understand what was going on. The book is  probably a parable, not a novel. Because the author doesn’t know about parables, he is confusing people by applying the wrong label.

More confused readers

I’d like to say this was the first time I’ve asked, “Is this fiction or nonfiction?” after reading a book description, but honestly, it happens way more often than you might think.

An author in my network sent me a link to the sales page for his new book. It, too, had a business book title — complete with subtitle — and a cover image of a suited male. Absolutely no question it was a business book.

Then I read the description. It described a novel.

If I didn’t know the author, I would have closed the window. Again, it takes too much effort to figure out the book!

Instead, I scrolled down the page to see what else I might learn — maybe in the author’s bio? — about the book and saw text from the back cover. It was a list of bullet points that detailed what I would learn about business leadership from the book.

News flash: People don’t read novels to learn leadership strategies. They read novels to be entertained. They want stories that are so compelling and well-written that they have to keep turning the pages to find out what happens next.

Signs you’re confusing readers

How do you know if you’re confusing readers and therefore forcing them to move on without buying your book? Here are a few clues:

1. You categorize your book as a novel, but instead of describing a story readers won’t be able to put down, you tell them what the book will teach them.
2. You tell readers the book is a novel, but your marketing copy uses bullet points that tell them what they’ll learn from the book.
3. Your “novel’s” description uses “I,” “me,” and “my” — “My novel is about what I did and what happened to me. You won’t be able to put it down because it’s true.”
4. You’ve written a parable — a story that uses fiction to teach a moral or lesson — and you’re calling it nonfiction or a novel rather than what it is. It’s a parable. Call it a parable.
5. You’ve categorized your memoir as “fiction” because you’ve had to create imagined dialogue that you can’t support with documentation. It’s still a memoir.

The problems created by these and other mistakes go beyond confusing readers. When your book is incorrectly categorized, it won’t be discovered by the people you wrote it for. That doesn’t help you, it doesn’t help your book sales, and it doesn’t help potential readers.

Sure, your friends, family, and some in your network might buy your book because you asked them to. But will your book change the world in the way that you think it will?

No — because you haven’t packaged and positioned it in the accepted, understood way.

Follow the rules

Here’s the thing. Self-publishing might feel like the new frontier, but there are rules. If you don’t follow them, you end up confusing the very people you want to help. So learn and follow the rules.

That means that before writing your book and its description, you must read traditionally published books that are similar to yours. Then study how they are packaged, marketed, and categorized.

Don’t wing it. You can learn a lot from others, especially those who have succeeded.

And, to learn how to write a book description that convinces readers to buy your book, read this Build Book Buzz blog post, “Are you making these mistakes with your Amazon book description?”

Want to learn more about how to sell on Amazon the right way? Purchase our “Sell More Books on Amazon” video training program and learn what works (and what doesn’t) on the most popular marketplace for books.

Let’s flip this and discuss what you’re seeing that is working on Amazon. What’s your best “how to do it right” tip for selling books on Amazon? Please share it in a comment. 

The secret to enticing readers

By Neil Ostroff

I recently had my first sit down interview with a magazine reporter and she asked me the question, “Once an author indie publishes a book, how do they get that book noticed?” I told the reporter the standard replies of using social networking and placing sponsorship ads on reader websites, but then I thought about what has helped me sell the most books. And I replied, “Communication with my readers.”

It is well known among the indie writer community that the best way to sell books is through word of mouth. No paid advertisement can beat a real live human being praising your book to another reader. So, how do you create word of mouth?

Make the time

I spend a minimum of two hours a day personally answering every e-mail, comment, or fan question that comes my way. I’ve joined dozens of Facebook writers groups and Google+ groups and actually interact with real readers and people who love books.

I’ve watched my sales grow steadily as I discuss my books with readers and see my fan base grow. There’s nothing more personally and artistically satisfying than someone telling me they are buying one of my books and then writing me later telling me how much they enjoyed it. This is how you build readership! This is how you sell books!

Yes, it does take away a tremendous amount of my writing time to personally answer each and every inquiry, but I wouldn’t trade interacting with my readers for anything in the world. Go ahead, drop me a note or pick up one of my books and let me know what you think. I will get back to you.

What’s your best tip for connecting with readers?