Leave a Comment:
(56) comments
Great article! I definitely have to learn more about the reader avatar. I’ve been learning over the last month or so how to narrow down my perfect match in my readers. Though my topic is broad, not everyone likes to read or discuss domestic violence. Once again, great article!
Reply
It can be a challenge when your topic is something painful for some readers. Then again, many people have domestic violence touch their families or loved ones… so whether it’s comfort, education, or courage you are sharing, I hope it will help you in planning your marketing!
Congrats on learning about avatars this month!
Reply
If I can address this one: I write about difficult topics as well as Rachel Thompson (aka @RachelintheOC) — as a childhood sexual abuse survivor, with two memoir/poetry books out (so far) on the topic, and my author platform focuses on those topics. I connect with other survivors, share articles and blog posts about those topics, started #SexAbuseChat (every Tuesday 6pm pst/9pm est) as well as several other initiatives (fund-raising Joyful Heart Foundation, etc).
Social media is a wonderful way to connect with readers and other survivors. It’s not only about finding readers, I’ve found — it’s so much bigger than that. It’s about forming community and knowing we’re not alone. <3
Reply Beautifully stated, Rachel.
I suppose marketing may have sounded more commercial than I meant above… but in terms of “what should I do to engage with the reader who loves/needs my work?” I think all of that is important.
I have a domestic violence scene in one of my series books, and it’s been surprising how many people loved that I wrote the ending we all wished we could have…. and I can’t reveal the who (it wasn’t me) but I was able to share that it was something I needed in my life because I had loved ones in bad, cyclical situations they couldn’t get out of.
That led to a blog post when the book released about the horrors of violence against wives in Jane Austen’s time, the lack of any police order, and sharing modern day resources we have for victims and loved ones.
I woudn’t have written that blog post though if I didn’t think about what my readers needed and would resonate with. I could have just as easily written a blog post about travel in those days since there’s lots of travel in the book too, but thinking reader first, it made sense to do something that connected the past to today on that topic.
Reply
I was VERY lucky to get to kick it off! Rachel is the best! Thanks for reading!
Reply
Elizabeth, thanks for an awesome article. I’ve never heard of NaNoProMo before, so I’m excited to see more informative posts like this!
Reply Glad you made it Dana! There’s going to be a TON of great stuff right here all month long!
Reply Thanks for visiting, Dana! This is the first day or the inaugural year, so welcome!
Reply
Thank you, EAW, for an informative post! I’d never heard of NaNoProMo before, but I’m glad I did. I’ll definitely be following this month.
Reply WOOT WOOT! I couldn’t BELIEVE the lineup when I read it!!! It’s going to be a Marvelous May!
Reply Thank you for visiting and commenting, Michelle! So excited to have Elizabeth here to kick it off, too!
Reply
I love your calm, reasoned approach to book marketing. Thanks for all the great info.
Reply Keep calm and keep selling books? Could work as a T-shirt! 🙂
It was liberating for me the day I realized I didn’t have to chase after readers who marginally like my book subject and could just worry about those who love it.
Reply
YES!!!! I have had serendipitous tips and tricks fall into my lap before and I love the universe when that happens!
Reply
I was in a similar position to Elizabeth when I wrote my first novel: I wasn’t quite in need of a Mr. Darcy fix but I was homesick for England and much of the content was what *I* wanted to read. Rather to my surprise, it really resonated with others and certainly made it easier for me to connect with my “tribe” of readers.
Reply 
“When you try to reach everyone, you reach no one.” *Ding* *Ding* SO true. I see a lot of new authors try this approach and then become discouraged as they wonder why it isn’t working for them. OTOH when we’re in tune to who our target niche really is, it makes all the difference. The scales fall off. We’re excited to give our readers what they want and what they will love.
Thanks so much, Elizabeth Ann ~ Lots of insight here!
And thanks, Rachel, for everything you do for others. Appreciate you!
Reply I argue that just about every author is a niche… even if they write in a very big, popular genre, what SHE writes is unique to HER voice. And that in turn means figuring out what differentiates the author’s books and products from others even within the same genre.
Even though I write in a small niche, I still have decisions I make thinking about how other authors serve readers in my genre and what I can or cannot do to serve a different sliver. It’s also easier to go serve the readers no one is serving. 🙂
Reply Love seeing you here, Cynthia! I love that advice, too. Everyone is not our reader, that’s what I learned long ago — it’s a great first lesson (and reality).
Elizabeth breaks it down so well here.
Reply
Thank you for the article! Now I need to figure out who my reader avatar is 🙂 Will be coming back to check for more nanopromo posts!
Reply You cannot beat the guest posts and other great stuff Rachel has planned right here!
Reply
Hah! I got into writing fanfic mostly because I wanted more stories about favorite characters as well. And I confess to being a total addict for Jane Austen-based stories. 🙂
I’ve been saying for a while now I write for the person who’s having a crappy day and needs to escape from it for a few hours. Not high literature. Won’t change lives. Just provide a little escapism and stress relief.
But I haven’t given the demographics of that much thought. So excellent, thought-provoking post–thank you!
Reply Just zeroing in on “Stress relief” gives a whole lens to put marketing through…. what does a reader seeking stress relief respond to image wise? Cozy reading spaces? Beverages?
I have a pumpkin spice graphic I used in that season to push a boxed set. Has NOTHING to do with book and reading but makes my perfect customer stop everytime in her feed…..
Reply Gracious, I hadn’t thought of that but now I can picture a bunch of “Calgon, take me away!” type graphics. 🙂
Reply
I’m so glad I read this and had the chance to watch Elizabeth’s lecture on it. It has helped me so much in pinpointing who my reader is so I can connect better with my audience.
Reply Absolutely! Connection can’t happen if you have no idea where the wires match! Well done, Karen!
Reply
Thank you Elizabeth and Rachel for highlighting how important it os to market toward your ideal readers and narrowing down your audience helps a lot when you are first starting.
Reply I had to bootstrap from day one. Didn’t have NO MONEY for a big expensive ad campaign, so I had to literally read the MIT white paper on how to best get a Tweet RT’d back in 2012 and rock that! 🙂 I used to have tweets go out around the clock with a ratio of chatty tweets to book links.
Reply
Between Elizabeth’s Publishing Like POW conference and this, I’m super excited to create my reader avatars! I’m looking forward to incorporating all of the poll data I’ve been collecting. (I post polls and questions in my FB reader group to help me better understand my readers.)
Reply Just make sure you analyze the data. Sometimes people answer polls with responses they think are good vs. what they really want.
So poll away, then make some offers and watch the clicks and responses. If they line up, you’re on fire! If there’s a disconnect, it might not be that you did anything wrong, just that the poll questions got filtered responses.
Reply
I responded but it ate it…
I was going to say Broad = expensive. Targeted makes your audience think “oh, this is for me!”
I love it when an ad gets me to the point I don’t even realize really it’s an ad. It’s just OOOH ME! ME! I want that!
This week was a twirly Dress, I didn’t buy it, but I know the brand now and know I will get one for my daughter in the fall when there’s less outside twirling to rip fabric and more inside twirling. 🙂
Reply
What I enjoyed about this article is how eloquently she describes “reader avatar.” I had never heard it termed like this before, but it describes what I am trying to do right now with my writing. I am in the same category as Elizabeth, trying to write the type of book I would want to read. I haven’t completely defined my target audience, even though I have completed four books. I am still using my blog and my journals to figure out exactly who would like to read what I have written.
Reply It sounds like you are on the right track though! When I first starting blogging chapters, I FORCED myself to just think about the handful of people who came traffic-wise. I may have named and like fully fleshed out the first handful… and then was like “Oh, look, I bet Debbie came back again today…”
It’s what got me over many humps that derail my writing and marketing, not the least of which is the voice in my head that loves to scream on repeat that I suck and everyone’s going to hate it. 🙂
My positive thinking is louder than her.
Reply
Thanks for a great article EAW! And for introducing me to this blog and NaNoProMo.
Reply 
Great information thank you Elizabeth! And a great start to NANOPROMO this month Rachel, look forward to checking in each day to see what is featured!
Reply I’m beginning to feel thankful May has 31 days… it’s DAY ONE this month and I already know I’m going to need that extra day!
Reply
Interesting article! I’ll definitely give some thought to my reader avatar(s). You are absolutely right-there’s no such thing as a book for everyone. The trick, it seems to me, is writing your passion but never losing sight of others who share it.
Reply This came up a lot in our conference we just did… what do you do if you DON’T write in your passion area? And I think it still works…. get to know/imagine the reader who DOES love the books you write. Why are they reading them?
If you get even just a few insights from your brainstorming session it can make your marketing efforts that much more effective. 🙂
Reply
Great way to start NaNoProMo by providing information on finding our Reader Avatars. Lots of good info here to consider. Thanks!
Reply
I’ve read lots of blog posts on creating a reader avatar or writing with a target reader in mind (I’ve also read lots saying “everyone” is not a target reader).
But I’d never thought of the possibility of two target reader groups. I’ll have to think about that, and how it might apply to both my fiction and non-fiction. Thank you!
Reply
Although I have a few NF and my third Fiction is with the editor I still haven’t taken any steps to pin down m target audience/s. This provides me with a good foundation to start. Thanks!
Reply
I’m just starting out, although have been writing for myself for over 15 years. I just had the most massive light bulb moment reading this! There are bound to be people out there who also want to read what I want to read (and write for that matter) and the more niche it is the more likely they are as desperate as I am for this sort of literature. Market it how I would purchase it, instead of stressing out and furrowing down on what “they want” Ahhh genius! Thank you!
I second everyone’s comments above thank you both for doing this. Such needed, welcomed and appreciated advice. We are lucky to have you 🙂
Interesting point about follow-up emails. I have a hard time embracing using email as a marketing tool bc I resent the huge pile of emails I have to sort through and trash on a daily basis. My rational mind knows it’s the way to go, but I really resist using it as well as I should.
Reply
Wow. Never thought of a reader Avatar, but I just wrote down four after reading this article. Thanks for helping others.
Reply ***Our winner has been chosen for Day One — though please feel free to keep this conversation going!***
Reply
Gosh, it’s so smart of you to know the variations in your ideal readers! And even smarter to know you can market to them in different ways according to their needs. Thanks for much for this post. Now I need to figure out how to apply it to literary thrillers about plants and plant people!
Reply
OK, this just makes a whole lot of sense. Something new for me to work on, but I can see how having these reader avatars in mind will be helpful. Thanks!
Reply