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Connect to Your Readers and Create Raving Book Fans

Guest post by: Melinda Copp

Article Overview: Imagine a crowd of people--your ideal clients and readers--reading your book and loving every word of it. Imagine them devouring every page, reading it again, telling everyone they know about how fabulous and life-changing it is, and then passing your book on to their friends and colleagues. This is what every author wants--a crowd of dedicated, raving fans who can't wait to work with them. And, believe it or not, every author can have it.

Connect to Your Readers and Create Raving Book Fans

Imagine a crowd of people--your ideal clients and readers--reading your book and loving every word of it. Imagine them devouring every page, reading it again, telling everyone they know about how fabulous and life-changing it is, and then passing your book on to their friends and colleagues. Sounds great, doesn't it? This is what every author wants--a crowd of dedicated, raving fans who can't wait to work with them. And, believe it or not, every author can have it. Connection is the key.

As a writer, the most important person in your work life is your readers--the people who pick up your book, buy it, and take the time to read it. Your readers are your audience, the people you are trying to reach, educate, and persuade. Therefore, you should always keep your readers in mind as you write.

Some writers feel this stifles the creative process-believing that if they just write what's in their mind, the audience will follow. And I can see how profiling your ideal reader for a creative type of book, like fiction or memoir, might not be as important. But even then, a writer needs to understand where every sentence they put on the page leads their reader. For self-help, business, and how-to books, though, knowing your reader is a critical piece of creating a book they love.

So what does that mean? Well, first you have to know your ideal reading audience. These are the people who need the information you can provide. Who are they? What are they struggling with? What's keeping them up at night? What do they need? What can you really do for them? Did they struggle with a problem that you overcame in your past? Regardless of what you're writing about and who you're writing for, you can ask yourself these questions about your audience and write in a way that speaks directly to their needs and wants.

If you don't know the answers to these questions, get out there and talk to the people you want to serve. Go to places they gather and hang out, and ask them about their biggest challenges. Do your homework and profile them. You may find you know more about them than you think.

Then as you write, you have to step into their shoes and look at the information you're presenting from their perspective. Keep their biggest, most stressful problems in mind, and write about how your ideas and strategies can ease their pain. Make sure everything you write about in your book relates to solving their most important problem. Communicating well with your audience will make your information resonate with readers. They'll feel like you truly understand what they're going through and you wrote your book just for them, which is exactly what attracts a crowd of dedicated fans who are dying to work with you and can't stop talking about your book.

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Article Tags: book coaching, nonfiction book coach, write business book, write nonfiction book, write self help book



Related Forum Posts
a legacy - sounds like your grandfather left a real legacy. It reminds me of Dale Carnegies famous quote, 'people dont care how much you know, until they know how much you care' An interesting side bar is the idea of customer loyalty. I recently worked with a large bank on their new 'loyalty' program. I called it like I saw it, they didnt have loyal customers....they had hostages. If anyone reading wants to learn more about delivering great customer service, they should read "Raving Fans' by Ken Blanchard and "how to win friends and influence people' by Dale Carnegie Two of my favourite resources... The third resource I can always count on was my dad. Although he died almost 18 years ago, he raised me and my 5 brothers and sisters with a strong work ethic, a respect for people of all backgrounds and a healthy respect for time. In fact, I am often teased for always being early or at least very punctual and I find it sad that in today's world, we seem to have lost a lot of the basic tenets of common sense and courtesy.
standing out - Hi Sara, I have always felt that just being a capable women in business automatically helps us stand out and have an advantage in a male dominated industry. If you want to impress a man in his business you must exude confidence about your ability to meet his company's needs. As far as standing out, I would seek as much media attention as possible to the fact that you succeeding in a male dominated business and highlight why your uniqueness is special. How your perspective for handling clients is fresh and competitive. I would walk into functions full of men and make sure I got to know everyone. Connect yourself with something identifiable that relates to the industry. Create a personal brand with a theme that resonates with the organization and the men in it. A theme of power, efficiency, attention to detail etc.
Re: a legacy - [quote="TheRainmaker":36ce5c3z]sounds like your grandfather left a real legacy. It reminds me of Dale Carnegies famous quote, 'people dont care how much you know, until they know how much you care' An interesting side bar is the idea of customer loyalty. I recently worked with a large bank on their new 'loyalty' program. I called it like I saw it, they didnt have loyal customers....they had hostages. If anyone reading wants to learn more about delivering great customer service, they should read "Raving Fans' by Ken Blanchard and "how to win friends and influence people' by Dale Carnegie Two of my favourite resources... The third resource I can always count on was my dad. Although he died almost 18 years ago, he raised me and my 5 brothers and sisters with a strong work ethic, a respect for people of all backgrounds and a healthy respect for time. In fact, I am often teased for always being early or at least very punctual and I find it sad that in today's world, we seem to have lost a lot of the basic tenets of common sense and courtesy.[/quote:36ce5c3z] Very true - its important to create loyal customers and I've always felt that great customer service is a great way to start that process. If I deal with a company and its clear they don't care about my business and they don't support me, I look around for someone who does. Why support a business that won't support me? Chris
My reading log - Hi OmnivoreInk, Before starting my business, I read the following books as research: -"The Art of the Start" by Guy Kawasaki -"The AdSense Code" by Joel Comm -"Don't Think Pink" and "Mind Your X's and Y's" by Lisa Johnson And since then I've continued my "research" by reading (in this order): -"Technical Tennis" by Rod Cross -"For One More Day" by Mitch Albom -"The Twits" by Roald Dahl -"Little Black Book of Connections" by Jeffrey Gitomer -"The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne -"The Profitable Retailer" by Doug Fleener -"Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell -"Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude" by Jeffrey Gitomer -"The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" by C.S. Lewis -"Little Green Book of Getting Your Way" by Jeffrey Gitomer -"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling And I'm currently reading and am in the process of finishing the following: -"There's No Such Thing as Public Speaking" by Jeanette and Roy Henderson -"The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell -"The Book of Tells" by Peter Collett -"Little Red Book of Sales Answers" by Jeffrey Gitomer -"Chocolates on the Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing The Customer Experience" by Jonathan M. Tisch -"The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity" by Julia Cameron -"The Inner Game of Tennis" by Timothy Gallwey
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.


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