FLIRTING WITH READERS

by Kathy Cretsinger

The hardest thing for writers to do is to find readers. We have to constantly find people who will want to read each book we write. We start searching, then think we aren\’t doing something right, and we start over again. Most of us use Facebook to get people interested in us. It\’s almost like dating, and it\’s been a long time since I dated, but we have to flirt with the public.

How do we flirt with the public? We want them to become interested in what we say and do, so we begin to post daily on Facebook. I\’ll admit this does take time, and I\’ve not done it in a while. When I was posting daily, I became more popular with people. I received more comments on my posts. That was good. Now, I need to keep them interested.

After we\’ve flirted, we find someone who is interested in us. We have to keep the marriage going. That\’s where your blog comes in play. With a blog, you can say more than you can in a post of Facebook. You can explain things more than just ask a question. You can engage with people. They engage with you, and hopefully they will find you interesting. We should have a page in each of our books that asks people to go to our website, and we should ask them to write a review on Amazon or Goodreads. This is how we gain readers. If a review is good, we will receive more readers.

As with a marriage, you have to work at making it strong. Write a newsletter. I\’ve learned one thing about newsletters, and it has surprised me more than I ever thought it would. You don\’t have to write a long page and tell everyone what is happening in your life. Write a short page and link one of your blogs to the newsletter. Each time someone goes on your blog, it increases the number of people who read your blog. In the long run, you will gain more readers. Keep it simple. Don\’t bore anyone to death. I\’ve noticed this with newsletters I get. They are simple.

Find blog posts you like and put them in the newsletter. Be engaging to the reader. We never know when someone will want to know more. Make your newsletters light and short. Ask someone to be a guest on your blog and put the link in a newsletter. That helps both of you, and we should be about helping others.

To keep this marriage strong between you and the reader, be creative. Make your writing interesting. Be knowledgeable on the subject you are writing about. Make the reader want to come back for more.