Whether you’re an author (or aspiring author), a blogger, or a content creator looking to connect with a wider audience, understanding the importance of cultivating a solid readership is essential.
If you’re ready to sell more books and up your engagement, this is the post for you.
Keep reading to learn some practical strategies and actionable steps that can help you establish, grow, and cultivate your readership.
What is a readership?
A readership is the audience who reads a particular author’s work.
Readership can be measured in different metrics, like a writer’s follower count on socials, number of books sold, or the number of subscribers they have on a mailing list or blog.
However you measure it, a writer’s “readership” is a measure of the popularity of their work.
The importance of having a base of readers
Having a readership is an essential part of being a writer, particularly if you’re self-publishing.
Collecting readers is important for authors, because the more readers you have collected, the more people you have to tell about your books, so the more sales you’re likely to get. Here are some more specific benefits to building a readership:
1. Communication and connection
Writing is a lonely job! Having a base of readers allows you to communicate your thoughts, feed off the energy of an excited audience to keep working on your projects, and share/receive advice and knowledge. It can make writing less lonely and be a source of motivation.
2. Personal growth and development
Feedback and engagement with your audience can help you grow as a writer and a person. Having multiple perspectives can help with problem-solving and idea generation.
3. Professional opportunities
By having an audience of readers, you have an audience of people, and lots of people know other people, and lots of people have jobs! By having the support of a group of readers, you strengthen your social network to throw yourself in the way of potential opportunities like writing guest posts, collaborating on YouTube videos, appearing in podcasts, or even having an “in” to publishers and other book professionals.
Additionally, having a large readership makes you more appealing to publishers. If you have lots of readers on your self-published books, a publisher can be confident that your other books will sell, too, which makes you a safer investment.
4. Alternative income streams
By having any sort of audience, you can monetize their attention. Be that selling ads, doing sponsored posts, creating merchandise, or anything else! Check out this video for some more ideas:
5. Influence and impact
A readership gives you the opportunity to speak to people, which can potentially give you the power to create positive change, both in your community and beyond it. Through your writing (and any other content), you can raise awareness around issues that are important to you, advocate for change, and influence opinions. With a larger audience, you increase the potential for your ideas and message to be heard and acted upon.
The benefits of having an audience are uncountable, and I’m sure you can think of several more that aren’t on this list.
Practical steps you can take to build a readership
Now that we know why having a strong readership can benefit us, let’s talk about how to build one. Keep in mind that building an audience can take time, so above all else, consistency is key.
1. Determine your target demographic
Before making any strategy, it’s important to know what you want to accomplish. The readership version of this is the target demographic. Who do you want to reach? What is their demographic, what are their interests and needs? Knowing who you want to reach can help you tailor your content to resonate with them, as well as help you know where to focus your efforts. Because if your target demographic is tweens, making a Facebook page will get you nowhere.
In regard to writing, we call the target demographic the Ideal Reader. Having a specific (real or made up) person in mind when writing or creating can help you to cater to your target demographic throughout the entire process.
2. Produce quality content
On the internet, content reigns supreme. The kind of content you produce should be at least partially dictated by your demographic—what do they need? What are they interested in? What would they find helpful or entertaining?
Here are some examples of the types of content you can make (not at all a full list):
- eBooks
- Podcasts
- YouTube videos
- Classes and courses
- Helpful IG infographics
- Engaging tweets
- Blog posts
Having a strong presence on social media with quality content there is often enough! Here are some ideas of what writers can post on social media.
When you decide what type of content you’d like to produce, make the highest quality, most informative, or most entertaining content you can. There’s a lot of noise on the internet—be genuine in your efforts, be yourself, and make worthy content to stand out.
It’s important to choose a type of content that you genuinely enjoy making. Just because a particular category looks like a good fiscal opportunity, or seems like the right strategic choice for your target audience, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right for you. When content creation becomes a slog, you won’t enjoy it, and it will be harder to maintain. Consistency is key, so make something that excites you!
It’s also totally okay to experiment with platforms and content types. Try different things, change your mind, and rebrand until you find your little niche that suits you and your readers. It’s great to do the experimenting at the beginning, rather than building an audience based around content that you can’t maintain longer term.
Content creation and writing are both wonderful careers in that they’re a way to kind of break the mold of common work structures. You get to build it! So build something you’ll love to do. If you want to dread work every day, you might as well keep your day job.
3. Optimize your online presence
Establish a website or blog page as your central hub for content. Optimize it for search engines (SEO) by using relevant keywords, meta tags, and just creating good content. Utilize social media to share your content, engage with your audience, and drive traffic to your website.
It’s a good practice to keep your branding (profile pictures, bios, themes) consistent across social platforms to create a stronger, more memorable presence. Be sure to SAY what you do for people in your bio. For example, if you’re a writing coach, instead of using “writing coach” as a term, say what you’re doing for writers, like “helping writers find their authentic voice”.
4. Collaborate
Collaborations are a great way to get your name onto a bigger platform. You might write a guest post for a site (linking to your own content within it), hop onto someone’s podcast or YouTube channel, or do a newsletter cross-promotion with another creator. Collabs are really a no-brainer, especially when you can find a mutually beneficial concept. They’re free, they can put you and your content in front of TONS of new people, and they’re a great way to make new creator connections in your industry.
5. Newsletters
Offering a newsletter provides a way for readers to subscribe to updates! This allows you to maintain regular contact with your readership for special offers, updates, book launches, and new product drops.
6. Collect “social proof”
As you build your platform, it’s good practice to keep things like testimonials, reviews, and endorsements from happy readers or other creators. You can display these on your website to build trust and credibility, which can encourage others to engage with your content.
7. Be consistent
Like I said, it can take quite a while to build up a sizable readership. There are lots of hacks to rush it, like the “follow-unfollow” route, where you mass-follow people, then mass-unfollow them the next day after they’ve followed you back.
This is a disingenuous way to get attention! While you might inflate your follower count this way, those followers don’t do you any good. They don’t know you, they aren’t invested in your content, and they won’t engage.
The only way to build a solid, engaged, and profitable audience is to be consistent, create quality content, and be genuine with your readers. People aren’t dumb! They can tell when you’ve got a really fake persona, and it’s neither fun nor easy to connect with those kinds of creators.
Create content you’re excited about, be kind, and be yourself! Not everyone will like you, and that’s okay! Put the best version of your true self out there, and your people will come.