Getting noticed by readers

May 26, 9:40 AMWriting ExaminerTiffany Colter

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Get noticed by your readers. It starts by standing out in some way.

As part of our ongoing series on ways to get readers to pick you, we will look at getting noticed by reader. The is the third in a series of articles. If you’ve missed the others you will find them here:

Getting readers to pick you 

 How readers decide 

Presenting yourself well 

     The key to getting noticed by potential readers is effective marketing.  When many writers hear the word ‘Marketing’ they immediately get images of cold calling, hard selling and spending money. However, this is not necessary for many of the kinds of marketing that will best help you reach readers.  The best way to get noticed by a reader is to fill a need, not scream a slogan.

     Jay Conrad Levinson puts it this way, “Marketing is only marketing. It doesn’t propel a business from a non-entity to a money machine in the wink of an eye.” [From Guerilla Marketing for Free, pg 28]

     So, how do you begin to meet the needs of a writer? What are their needs? Answering these questions will be crucial to help you build a marketing strategy that will develop you in to a successful writer.

     Think about your readers, what interests them? What is it about your books and stories that will set them apart from other books in your genre? Maybe you focus on a certain area of the country. If so, why not write an article or two for a small local paper in that area. Encourage locals to write in and share their own stories. These kinds of “human interest” pieces can be quite interesting.

     Maybe you like to focus on characters in a particular profession. Feature someone in that profession on your blog or website. Then let others know about it. Post information about it on blog carnivals.

     Try to integrate local flavor and real people as much as possible in the creation of your stories so that you can use them as you build your marketing platform. This will make richer, more interesting stories and can lead to possible media attention or other forms of publicity.

     Marketing begins when you start to write the book, but even more than that it begins before you begin to create your story. This is a very large topic so if you’d like to have me give you pointers on your specific topic leave the question in the comments and I’ll respond.