Make a solid reader connection and they’ll spread the word about your books
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I’d like to thank Penny Sansevieri for stepping in this week, while I have spent some exciting time in the hospital having fun medical adventures. It turns out what I have is “just” sciatica, a fiendishly painful thing that happens to aging backs. Our punishment for not dying young and leaving a beautiful corpse. ????
I’m feeling a bit better now, thanks to the pharmaceutical industry, but the meds have sent my brain AWOL, so there’s no way I could have written a useful blogpost for you guys..
But luckily, Penny has a great new marketing book out, and here’s an excerpt.
Create a Reader Connection
by Penny Sansevieri
Readers love getting to know their favorite authors, and this is where you come in. Often authors post on social media and wait for folks to engage with them. Yes, there’s a bit of that too, but it’s also about how connected you are to your posts.
If you’re just posting and ditching, you won’t get good engagement — ever. Posting something and then not checking back on the page to see if anyone responded is posting and ditching. And believe it or not, sometimes it just takes one person responding, and you commenting back, to get the comments going.
The Importance of Likes and Shares
Humans long for social approval, and we love to express our attitudes on social media, hoping to get affirmative feedback. This is why likes and shares give our brains that dopamine rush! We also love contributing in some way and having our opinions heard, even if we’re just posting something funny.
For example, I do a lot of “caption this” type of posts to help spark communication. Some of them do really well, garnering upwards of 150 comments, while others only get twenty or so. But every single comment is at least acknowledged.
Make a Reader Connection with Nostalgia and Humor
People love it when you take the time to get to know them, when you’re really interested and willing to take the time to connect. Like inviting followers to share their hobbies and then responding to every single one, or even just putting a thumbs-up on their content.
Nostalgia is another big driver, but you need to know your audience because nostalgia means different things to different age groups. If you’re speaking to readers who grew up in the 1990s, their definition of nostalgia will be vastly different from someone who grew up in the 1970s.
Humor is another way to make a reader connection, especially now. Posting funny things might be one of your tracks. As I said before, you’re going to want to play around a bit until you find the right mix.
Understanding the Power of Small
When I teach this class in person, I ask attendees if they have any idea how many superfans the author needed to accomplish the example I just cited. Hands pop up and attendees offer their thoughts: 5,000? 10,000? Sometimes participants’ guesses are even higher.
The truth is, street team or superfan numbers are often quite small… in fact, so small that it may surprise you. Most of the authors I mention have lists smaller than 100 people. One author’s list is only 25.
How can such small numbers make such a big difference? Let’s begin by talking about the power of small.
Connecting with Micro-Influencers
Statistically speaking, smaller, empowered groups have more book marketing potential than big, often unfocused, mailing lists. These smaller market segments, often referred to as micro-influencers, can have a bigger impact on sales than you may think, because their followers tend to be more dedicated.
They see all of a micro-influencer’s posts, they’ve engaged with this person, and they often jump to buy anything the influencer recommends. When I talk about micro-influencers, I mean someone with 1,000 or fewer followers. These are tightly engaged communities, and they tend to offer more authentic voices.
Today I’m more inclined to seek out social media people with these small, tight communities. It’s not just because they’re easier to get to, but also because their average response rate is often ten times that of someone with 100,000 or more followers.
When it comes to book marketing, more is not always better. Sometimes it’s just more.
Every Reader Connection Builds Your Fan Base
There are a few ways you can build your fan base.
The first is to put a letter in the back of your book that invites readers to contact you. Make sure there’s a benefit for them in doing so…maybe they get a free chapter of your next book, or perhaps you invite them to participate in a newsletter sign-up drawing.
In either case, I suggest that you put a sign-up form on your website to start capturing fans who may want to be a part of this group! You can see a sample sign-up form here: www.christinageorgeauthor.com/ street-team
Perhaps you need your street team to share book updates and launches on their social media accounts or with their mailing lists.
The first piece of advice is to always be clear about what you need from your groups before you outline what you’ll give them.
In some cases, giveaways might be a free copy of every book you release while they’re a member of the group.
Why Would you Give Away a Book When the Goal is to Sell?
Because each member of your street team has the ability to reach so many more people. Giving them one book will pay off for you in big ways through those potential fan recommendations we talked about earlier.
If giving away a book isn’t what you have in mind, there are other options. You could invite them to become a part of your book marketing or book production strategy team, whose members help you decide on cover designs or character names.
You could also create a private Facebook group that only they have special access to, which readers love!
Anything that makes a reader connection is a potential sale — or many sales.
By Penny Sansevieri (@bookgal) November 21, 2021
What about you, scriveners? Do you have a street team? Do you keep reader connection in mind when you’re on social media? Have you found that leaving a note at the back of your books increases reader connection?
About Penny Sansevieri
Penny C. Sansevieri, Founder and CEO of Author Marketing Experts, Inc., is a bestselling author and internationally recognized book marketing and media relations expert. She is an Adjunct Professor teaching Self-Publishing for NYU. She was named one of the top influencers of 2019 by New York Metropolitan Magazine. Her company is one of the leaders in the publishing industry and has developed some of the most innovative Amazon Optimization programs as well as Social Media/Internet book marketing campaigns.
AME has had dozens of books on top bestseller lists, including those of The New York Times, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal.
BOOK OF THE WEEK
Synopsis:
Want to sell more books but don’t know how to get to that next level? Seasoned book marketing expert Penny C. Sansevieri has created the master class.Imagine having thousands (and thousands) of reader fans clamoring for your next book the minute it comes out.
Do you think this can happen to you?It absolutely can!
It’s easy to get caught up in writing, and the other daily demands of life. But the result is often a rushed and scattered approach to book marketing that simply checks it off your list.Does this sell books?Usually not very well.This book is designed to help you:
- Get laser focused on what matters
- Tighten up and finesse your author brand
- Generate more traction with your author platform
- Reach out to more bloggers and get more reviews
- How to pitch Bookstagrammers
- Easy ways to build your social media
- Build a more consistent reader review funnel
- Easy ways to build your street team
- Develop a return buyer network
- Consistently sell more books
In fact, the goal is to help authors that feel they’ve been at this for a while and have done “all the book marketing things” without really seeing much progress.
Ready to start? Buy FROM BOOK TO BESTSELLER right here.
Fabulous tips, Penny, Thanks heaps. And thanks for jumping in while Anne wrassles her sciatica.
Penny—Thanks for focusing on how to harness the power of small. It’s a great perspective on bringing the marketing beast down to manageable size!
Thanks, too, for subbing in for Anne while she fights another kind of beast!
Good morning, Penny, as well as to Anne & Ruth. Sorry to hear about your medical troubles, Anne. Best wishes for a fast get better.
I’ve been following you and AME for some time now, Penny, and have got a lot of value from your books and website. They’re slowly helping me to overcome my bad case of marketaphobia. You make a great point of valuing many micro-influencers instead of trying to corner one single mega-influencer. Hmmm….
And I didn’t know you had a new release in From Book To Bestseller. I just bucked-up and downloaded it. Looking forward to learning more about this crazy little thing called marketing. Thanks for all you do!
Really interesting ideas, Penny. I’ve been thinking just about “followers” who would “like (kinda)” my posts. But I never had a notion what a street team could be. I need to think about this seriously.
YES, because a street team can really help you with reviews, and marketing – and, as I mentioned, you don’t need a lot of members!
Separate note for Anne- I had no idea you’d suffered a setback and I only hope you can climb up steadily from now on. Your beautiful corpse needs to be far in the future, lady! Hang in there.
Will–Many thanks for the good thoughts. I’m going through a very rough patch, but I’m hoping a new doctor can help.
First of all, I wish you a quick recovery from the “just sciatica” experience, Anne. I’ve heard it’s very painful. And thank you, Penny, for some great ideas which I will pass on to my virtual assistant.
Patricia thanks so much! Best of luck to you!
Anne, really sorry to hear of your medical problems. That’s our reward (?) for living this long. Wishing you quick relief.
Penny, you are so right that it’s better to engage with one truly interested person than a gazillion flybys on social media. One woman I met after I gave a talk to a senior community has become my “chief executive in charge of marketing.” She has arranged numerous appearances for me, scouted locations for future appearances, talked my books up, stocked a community library with all of them, etc., etc. I am forever grateful to her.
That’s such a great example! Thanks for sharing that and thanks for reading!
I do keep reader connection in mind when I’m on social media. In fact, sharing my stories with my readership is one reason why (11 years later) I’m still blogging. Thank you for these helpful tips, Penny.
Yes! Great point, Thanks for reading!
Oh Anne, I too am so sorry to hear of your relapse! Sciatica can be terribly painful – I’ve never had it but members of my family have and I know how dreadful it is, totally debilitating. Hang on in there and be careful with meds – doctors have a way of prescribing too many that is another danger in itself!
All the ver best, my thoughts are with you!
Oh, Anne, sciatica is so painful. {{{hugs}}}
Penny, fantastic advice as always. People want to feel like they matter. It takes no time at all to respond to comments periodically through the day, yet readers look forward to that acknowledgement.
Thank you for the feedback, glad you like the post!
Garry thank you for buying my book! I appreciate it so much! And yes, the power is often in small – because it’s more personal, easier to manage, and can help you really boost your exposure!
Haha! ???? “Our punishment for not dying young and leaving a beautiful corpse.” I actually have sciatica (and other back issues). It is horrific. I’m so sorry, Anne.
Penny, thanks for this fab info. So true with engagement and connection and “the power of small”. As for street teams… I really need to get better at that part of the job. 😉
Sarah–Thanks for the empathy. Yeah, this stuff is not for sissies.
I always thought engaging your reader was a better route than mailing lists.
Traci–I agree. Email newsletters may work for some authors, but I hate getting them. Yesterday it took me nearly all day just to deal with email. It’s overwhelming and unpleasant. I don’t want to add to that. 🙂
Hi all, happy Sunday after Thanksgiving!
I am grateful for informative articles such as this one because I am getting ready to publish Ayeka The Dammed, followed in a very short time by Virgins, the first and second books of On Wings Of Immortals-The Series,
Desr Anne, I pray you get well soon!????????????
Marta. Many thanks! Your prayers are appreciated.
Very helpful information! I’m new to this blog. I wanted to let you know that I asked my library to buy one of Anne’s books and Pennys most recent one. They bought Anne’s ebook but told me that Penny’s wasn’t available from their distributor. I don’t know what this means. They have some of your older books in their collection. Just letting you know. And my emails to my library probably proves a point you’re making in your blog about reader connections.
Karen–Thanks so much for asking your library to buy our books!! That is real “reader engagement”. My books are mostly with a small international press called Kotu Beach, but Penny is indie all the way. That’s probably the difference. My publisher is very pro-library, so they don’t mind jumping through all the hoops to get distribution to libraries.
Hi Anne,
What a great post! You might be able to tell that I am learning a lot from your article. Ever since I started writing, I am looking for resources that can help me get better, and your blog is among the best place. I learned a lot from this article as well. I will be implementing the tips you shared in my writing process, and hopefully, I can connect with the readers better. Thanks for curating such an amazing resource. It helped me a lot.
John–Many thanks! You’ll find lots of useful articles in our archives. This one was written by Penny Sansevieri, CEO of Author Marketing Experts. It’s an excerpt from her new book, From Book to Bestseller, available now from most book retailers. Ruth and I are lucky to have such knowledgeable guests every month. Today (December 12) we have a fun post from Irish humorist Tara Sparling, making fun of the cliches that tend to creep into an authors work when we’re blocked or pressed for time.