Reaching Your Target Audience Online:
A Guest Post by Greg Pincus...
Happy New Year readers! I've been away from my office for weeks, I've trudged through the snow, I'm back at my desk, and I'm starting off 2010 with a guest post by Greg Pincus.
Greg's guest post was sparked by a comment he left on Jane Friedman's There are No Rules blog which I asked him to expand on. (Click here to read the post and the comments.)
Read on–and please leave comments yourself if you can offer advice about reaching an audience of young readers online...
If you’re an author or illustrator who’s blogging, Tweeting, Facebooking or using other social networks to build your platform, you need to think strategically about who you’re going to reach online and how you’re going to do it.
Some choices are easy–you’re not likely to use LinkedIn to appeal to the kids who read your picture books. But if you write YA, in particular, you often have to make some more complex choices since your potential readership is actually online…and in large numbers.
Teens, however, don’t use the web the way adults do. As a result, most author/illustrator blogs and websites don’t attract teenage readers unless the author is already known to them. Twitter connections follow a similar pattern.
This means that if you’re offering up a “this is my journey” or writing advice or book review blog or just tweeting as as yourself, you should focus on appealing to the gatekeepers rather than teen readers. If you want to reach your core readership, you need to consider building a community around a central idea or offering up interactivity that your potential readers want and can’t replicate elsewhere. Some examples:
- Author P.J. Haarsma built a game which attracted a huge audience that became the core supporters of his books. The game community helped test storylines and championed the books to their friends, too.
- The women behind Readergirlz have built a community around authors, books, and reading. The site is a destination offering interactivity, changing content, and projects that involve offline participation, as well. While the site is not directly about the Readergirlz “divas” themselves, the connection to the readers still exists for them individually as well as collectively.
- Finding underserved, pre-existing communities can be an effective path to having a teen readership, as Lee Wind has done with his blog I’m Here. I’m Qu
So, if you're looking for someone to speak at your organization about not only the power of social media, but also the right way to use that power? And how we don't have "luck" but we make "luck," through work and awareness and putting yourself out there?
Ask Gregory K of Gotta Book & The Happy Accident to speak.
Wow, wow, wow. Once again, I did such a good job of listening and absorbing that I didn't really take a lot of notes. But overall, I'll say this: Greg is brilliant.
Really.
Because he shows that things just don't happen; we make them happen. We create our own luck by putting ourselves out there, networking, knowing our priorities and keeping to them, being smart and mindful, having a goal and working towards it. And that one can be that assertive and positive and dedicated and do it in a graceful way that is not all "me me me." And that things take time and understanding and work. Work, work, work. But smart work.
Anyway, back to topic. Have I mentioned Greg's brilliant? Cause he is also a terrific speaker.
Greg used his personal story to illustrate the power of social media; but also lifted the curtain to show that it didn't "just happen." He wasn't just sitting at the drugstore soda fountain.
So, anyway, can I do any justice to Greg's presentation?
Social media is about celebrating -- ourselves and others. We all want to celebrate good news.
Listen to the wisdom of your network.
There is no one key to using social media because we all use it differently; what do we have in common? Connection.
The name may go away -- but social media itself will not. So don't worry about "will twitter last" -- social media will last.
How to be successful? Prepare; find your home; filter; and travel.
Online: trust and your reputation is EVERYTHING. (my aside: so, so true! And what those who don't understand the Internet don't get; they think it's a way to hide and pretend when it's just the opposite.) You are what you say and do; we are what we say and do. Best way to build trust online? Transparency.
Also: manners! Bring your manners. There is a difference between promotion and celebration.
Supporting your friends and your industry is important; being supportive does not mean that you never criticize or say anything negative.
Amazon Affiliate. If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.
© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
In case you haven't heard, April is National Poetry Month and over in the kidlitosphere the celebration has already kicked off…
For starters, Gregory K. of Gotta Book announced the first annual 30 Poets/30 Days for children's poetry. What does... Read the rest of this post
I have no idea what Flashquake is, but they're holding a Fibs contest. As I am certain you all know, Gregory K. of Gotta Book invented this form of poetry. The first line of a Fib is one syllable and each line after that combines the total syllables of the previous two lines. As a result, the six-line syllable count is 1-1-2-3-5-8. You get the picture. At any rate, there's a contest out there using the poems.
Our Less Is More contest will open on January 1. We're accepting entries for micro-fiction of 100 words or less and mini-poems called "Fibs." And to acknowledge flashquake's long commitment to the visual arts, we'll showcase "micro" photographs taken with cell phone or PDA cameras.
First prize? Seventy-five big ones. Hey, man. When you're a librarian, $75 is nothing to sneeze at. Rules are on
the site.
Thanks to Gotta Book for the link.
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Love the advice; it's a cut above the usual "start a blog" words of wisdom.
I know a few would-be writers who fuss and refuse to work on a platform. "That's for my agent," they say.
And they fail to get an agent. And they wonder why. Hmm...
Thank you for the practical tips!
Yay Greg!!
So let's get practical...if you aren't published yet (me, hi!) then is it best for your blog to appeal to other writers...but then when you DO get published (me, someday?) shift the focus to a teen readership?? Or perhaps have TWO blogs? One for fellow writers and one for readers? This has always perplexed me.
But lots of things do.
:-)
Thanks, Alice, for having me over to your place. It's much appreciated. And jmartin - you're welcome!
Robin - most likely, even after you're published, your blog will attract some fans but won't likely grow that fandom... unless you're offering something that your target audience wants. So instead of worrying about that, ask yourself a series of questions: why am I online? who am I hoping to appeal to...and why? Can I offer something unique... and how will that help me?
There is no "best" group to appeal to by default. Who will help you accomplish your goals? That's the best group for you. Sometimes it's just a number. Sometimes it's writers or teens or librarians or agents or or or. The key is to spend your time productively, and for that you need to have clear goals that are reachable based on what you're going to do... and who that could possibly appeal to.
Does that make sense? (And I look forward to when you drop the "someday?"!)
Here is a sneaky question. What would you think about deliberately preplacing key words, or phrases, into a text, as part of the story line. These could then be drawn to as part of the marketing strategy for a specific market segment. Ever tried anything like this?
Terrific post, Greg! You've given me much to think about as I work on my YA novel.
Thanks, Carmela. I'd tell you the time to start establishing a presence is "NOW!" but I know you're already doing that!
And writingisdevine - I'm not exactly sure what you're driving at. Putting keywords in a manuscript won't help if it's not online... and "keywords" are only effective if the people looking for them are gonna be happy when they find you. Strong, well-targeted keywords on a site can certainly help, but in a text, I don't see what they'd do. Besides, if you've written a strong text, there will naturally be the right-for-you keywords in it already, without sneakiness!
Happy new year!
Knowing your audience is so important. I am feel much more connected to blogs and forums in which the blogger(s) or leader(s) have a genuine interest in viewer/reader feedback and creating a community.
Thanks for supporting readergirlz!
Thanks for the shoutout, Greg! This is an awesome article.