5 tips on researching your ideal reader
Starting out in self-publishing I hear this a lot. “Do you know your ideal reader? Are you researching your ideal reader?”
I am still working on this research and I have no idea how I’m getting on – YET. You might want to get in touch with me and tell me that this is bull sh*t? Please do so @pennybestwriter
But before writers like yourself start expensive ad campaigns and market research, here are five tips and tricks I found useful (thus far).
1) Make a real world reader profile.
Researching your ideal reader helps you decide on;
- Gender
- Age range
- Education
- Professions
- Interests past-times
- Do they prefer paperback/e book or audible
- Other fav authors
- Social media hangouts
- Other reading material – newspapers, magazines
- Websites they hang out on or read.
- What do they desire and want in general.
- Pick a real ideal reader and pick their brains (if they let you).
2) Immerse yourself in the genre;
- Attend events of other like-minded authors and say hullo
- Follow other authors and readers on social media – follow their followers.
- Engage with their readers or watch what they post
- Take note of the reviews of similar authors. Take negatives and positives as a guideline
- Join groups, pages and chats and interact.
- Subscribe to other blogs, writers’ newsletters and social media material.
- Follow the Amazon Best-sellers and look at their blurbs, covers and what readers seem to respond to.
- Goodreads has a mountain of information I’ve still to find.
- Read your own reviews and …. *groan ask for reviews from people who mention reading your work.
3) Do your own surveys;
Here are two of mine.
Do you read steamy novels? https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MZ9PMTW
Do you dream of sexy situations? https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/X7RTV8Z
4) Set up a readers’ group and interact with the people who join the fun.
Ask their opinions on things. Here is a link to Penny Best Naughty Readers’ Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/954001138270111/
(You can interact and use a group better than a Facebook page)
5) Use the free analytics tools on your Facebook profile and Twitter feed.
I didn’t know they existed!
On Facebook go into Insights along the top of your profile page and in there go to people or other tabs and learn lots about what posts worked for you and who engaged most with your material. Ignore the bad stats on this images – but this is what it looks like. Kinda cool eh?
On Twitter go to Analytics and see what pops up there. It is all FREE and available on your own audience. No matter how small your figures are, it is a good place to start.
Facebook – 91% of my interactive readers so far are women and the most engaged age-range is 35-44.
Twitter will also give you a breakdown of what tweets performed best, when you tweeted and what they said is clearly available for you to check over. There is so much information that you could spend lots of time analysing and researching your ideal reader.
I have a great deal to learn and would love to connect with readers and writers.
pbestwriter is my Instagram
@pennybestwriter on Twitter
www.pennybestwriter.com subscribe to my newsletter or read and comment on my other blogs.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/954001138270111/ is my Naughty Reader’s Facebook group.
If you’ve read any of my work, please let me know your thoughts by leaving a review on Amazon or Goodreads.
YOU are my ideal reader and I’d love to hear from you. Thank you. x
All for Her. Novella One
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YB4QGRH
https://books2read.com/u/3kpDYW
Both for Her. Novella Two.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YB4P7PB
https://books2read.com/u/bM9nxX
More for Her. Novella Three.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YBBJJGW
https://books2read.com/u/mVr2A6
Boxset of all 3 novellas.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YBCPQGK
https://books2read.com/u/mqDqX1
