Tag Archives: finding readers

WRITE ON!

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WRITE ON!

Natalie Bright

 

We had a great discussion at critique group about the myriad of publishing options for today’s writers. One of the reasons I love our critique group, is we each have so many different projects in the works and we write in various genres. Somebody is always coming up with a new story idea. It’s like an inspirational feeding frenzy of words.

This week, one of our members brought the first draft of a children’s book about a rodeo horse based on one of his published magazine articles. What a great idea! Someone pointed out that kids books have a longevity because there are always new generations of readers waiting to discover your book. You just have to keep telling parents about it. I got to thinking that it’s not just children’s literature. With electronic books, our work will stay out there floating around in eBook land long after we’re gone. Will my kids keep tweeting about my backlist? Will Amazon be around in 10 years? 25 years?

Regardless of the opportunities to choose agented traditional publishing or to be an Indie Author, the decision to become a writer and publish your work is for the long haul. You will be talking about your stories and lugging books around for the rest of your life. This is a marathon, just like any passionate career choice. The bad news, there is a new title published on Amazon every five minutes. It’s getting more and more tedious to get the word out and connect with the readers who care. The good news, authors are finding ways to connect directly with their fans and readers like never before. Crafting an engaging story is hard work. Identifying your target market—the people who will love your book—is an even bigger challenge.

“If you can’t figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For passion will lead you right into your purpose.”

Do Readers Care about Your Rants?

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Do Readers Care about Your Rants?

Natalie Bright

I discovered a new author! To be honest it has been several, but I want to blog about one in particular. I found this author through a $1.99 special eBook promotion. There’s a lot to love about those glorious special promotions on Amazon, BookBub, Kobo, FreeBooksy, even GoodReads. There is no greater joy as a reader than to discover an author, that’s new to me, with an entire blacklist. This particular author writes stories rich with historical detail and senses of the time period, and the characters are deeply developed. And even better, this author has written a how-to book on writing. I’m jumping with joy!

Turning to social media as a reader and new fan, I want to learn more about this writer’s inspiration and process. Of course there is a website, blog and even several podcast interviews. Good stuff. And then there is Twitter. This author’s twitter feed is jammed with political rants and reTweets along with vicious opinions. Personal opinions and observations include numerous comments about how ignorant “ALL of the voters” are who voted for the other candidate. Obviously a person passionate about our political situation, but as a new reader do I really care?

Whether I agree or not, I absolutely respect the right to sound off. However as I new fan, I have to take pause and wonder about posting a book review. I can’t decide if I’ll buy another book from this author. As an Indie author and business owner, I must pass on recommending the how-to book on writing. Th is isn’t mildly stating an opinion. The heated and sometimes vulgar opinions by this particular author permeates their platform. I’m very sad.

On the other hand, will this even reflect back on me? Perhaps I’m over-reacting?

On my personal Facebook, as I’ve blogged about before, I get likes and comments from extreme liberals directly followed by comments from extreme conservatives, and everyone in between. I like that. It makes for an interesting mix of people I call friends. I have over 3,500 followers on Twitter. I’m sure they are not all of like mind.

An indie authors, we have opportunities to reach potential readers on a worldwide scale. If you are active on various platforms or maybe you guest blog on someone’s site, most likely you may connect with readers from all cultural backgrounds, political leanings, and spiritual beliefs.

As a business owner and Indie Author, you want to reach and connect with as many readers as possible, so why would you want to offend them before they’ve even given your work a chance?

These are crazy, crazy times.

Do you stop buying books from authors who expresses views differently from yours?