Blogger: Rachelle Gardner
I gave a brief little talk on book promotion at our agency retreat yesterday. I was discussing the idea of moving from a “self-promotion” mindset, to thinking about gathering a community of readers. This is an excerpt.
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The only way to effectively build a community of your readers is to truly be interested in who they are. But first, you have to KNOW who they are.
Here’s a question. For whom did Apple create the iPhone. Everybody? I think so.
To whom does Apple market the iPhone? NOT to everybody. They’ve identified a specific buyer who is their ideal customer, and all their marketing has to work for this person. She is an Anglo female, 46 years old, has young children, is an entrepreneur or business person, loves Ted talks, and is a heavy social media user.
Are those the only people who buy iPhones? Of course not—but by being very specific in how they market the product, Apple sends a clear and consistent message—a BRANDED message. Their primary ideal customer is so well-served that they become raving fans. They don’t just buy iPhones, they get iPhones for their whole families. They talk about their iPhones. They endorse that product every chance they get.
By defining the ideal customer and serving that customer well, those customers then spread the word to a much bigger audience.
So what I want YOU to do is define your ideal reader. This is an exercise that feels limiting until you understand the beauty of it. Once you define your ideal reader, everything you write and everything you post is focused on that person, and this is what will crystallize your brand.
How do you define your ideal reader? Determine her demographic profile. Gender. Age. Income level. Lifestyle. Job or profession. Location.
Now answer these questions:
What are her primary values?
What are some characteristics of her personality?
What are her biggest interests? What are her hobbies?
What are her major issues or challenges?
How can you help her with those challenges?
What kinds of products, services and professionals does she use?
Who influences her most?
What does she read?
What social networks does she use most?
Once you’ve answered all these questions, you have a sort of rubric through which you can filter all your writing and all your promotional activities, always asking yourself whether what you’re saying or doing will appeal to that ideal reader. If you are doing that well, the ideal readers will soon become your raving fans—the ones who will always read what you write online, who will always buy your next book, and most importantly, talk about you with their friends.
By knowing your ideal reader, you’ll also have some great ideas for the kinds of content you can post online, whether on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, everywhere. You’re not longer just hyping your books – you have a whole world of ideas – things to talk about – based on knowing who your ideal reader is.
Do you know your ideal reader?
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Oh, this is a GOOD post!
One challenge, I think, is to avoid making the ideal reader a slightly disguised version of oneself.
To some degree this probably can’t be avoided – I like to be able to read what I write, after all. But what follows is not – I hope – me in a dress.
My ideal reader is female, 35-60, college educated. She’s married, with 1-3 kids, and lives in the suburbs.
She is Christian and a regular churchgoer (and participates in ministry), but is no longer happy with pat answers to faith questions. “Just call on Jesus” doesn’t work for her any more, and part of her longs for the simpler time in which it did.
She does not talk about this, and reads to find reassurance through stories that tell of a caring, immanent God.
She reads eclectically. She’s read “The Shack”, and “Dinner With A Perfect Stranger”. She likes Richard Paul Evans, and has read Harry Potter with her children. She’s not a fan of time-management and goal-setting books. She’s read several of them, and thinks they are largely gimmicks.
She has read some dystopian fiction, but is a bit tired of the genre.
She reads apologists, from C.S. Lewis to Philip Yancey. She is not impressed by the “soon return of Christ” authors, feeling that they are dragging in questionable ‘signs’ to make their points.
She uses Facebook to keep up with friends and family, and has rarely-used Twitter and Pinterest accounts.
She watches a lot of PBS, and enjoys talent shows like “The Voice”. She is not a fan of sitcoms or prime-time dramas, and is unhappy with the proliferation of sex on mainstream TV. She’s not a prude, but believes that it’s gone way too far.
She likes movies that challenge her mind and emotions; she enjoyed “Dear John” and “Letters From Juliet”. She likes LOTR.
She is physically fit, mainly through running; she does not make much use of a gym membership, though she may have one. She is concerned about keeping a healthy lifestyle, and does not smoke.
She tends to vote Republican, but is more candidate than party-oriented. She does feel it her duty to vote.
She looks and acts confident, but has lost some of the inner self-assurance that she once had. She’s not depressed, but she’s in transition – to what, she doesn’t quite know.
That is the place where I would like to help her; to tell stories that illustrate God’s love for us, even when horrible things happen, even when endings are not as we would wish.
She’s not looking for a feel-good; she’s looking for a reason to believe.
Anne Love
I think you’ve got a good idea of your reader, Andrew. Except perhaps that she doesn’t love Pinterest. I would say that not all women in your readership don’t love Pinterest, but perhaps it’s more the man-in-the-dress who doesn’t. 🙂 Though I was once dead set against FB and Pinterest, I’m now a convert. Because of Pinterest, I’ve given up magazine subscriptions, who has time to dust magazine stacks anyway, or sort and recycle them? Certainly not the practical woman you describe. 🙂
Great post Rachelle, and you know I love the idea of “a community of readers”! 🙂 But this helps me define it more clearly, as does Andrew’s example of a profile.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Anne, good point about Pinterest. I’ll revisit that – I actually like it, and am enjoying learning my way around it.
Jeanne Takenaka
Wow, Andrew. I love how you have really thought this out! You’ve given me some clarification for answering this question more completely. 🙂
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Thanks, Jeanne!
Shelli Littleton
Wow, Andrew! 🙂
And I love your blog’s new look! 🙂
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Thank you Shelli – and I’m glad you like the New Look.
I do, too. Serendipity is God’s hand, improving things for us.
Shauna Letellier
and her name is…Shauna. (Minus a couple titles I haven’t seen or read and that I did not LOVE LOTR.)
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Wow!
Shauna, I feel honored.
Jane Wells
Wow… guess I need to pick up one of your books!
(Although I do love a good police procedural.)
John Wells
Good subject; food for thought! Your point is well taken—provided you’re restricting writing articles or even fictional short stories for publication in a magazine. Unfortunately “Liberty” and “The Saturday Evening Post” are no longer published (I’m revealing my age), so the typical reader of this sort of fiction no longer exists, meaning that the paradigm for fiction of yesteryear no longer applies. Today’s readers seem to be well informed critics who love controversy and communicate their thoughts by tweeting and other immediate electronic means, so any author who sets out to write for them is chancing having his or her ego handed to him like the head of John the Baptist on a platter, so be prepared to build a stout ego.
Most fiction contains an autobiographical element, so the content (theme, plot, characters, etc.) is predictable, so it’s only the manner in which a story’s sentences are cast that can be controlled. This is self-evident and validates your central point; we don’t submit stories with lewd language or disgusting characters to church magazines that will be read by Aunt Bertha! As for myself, I hope she never reads one of my books or stories, and by this I mean that there are the sorts of readers who I intend to exclude. Within quotation marks, my characters speak like real people in appropriate situations!
Kristen Joy Wilks
This used to be easier…but my ideal reader was a 16 year old girl who has a solid Christian background but is perhaps questioning her faith. She is tired of smiley face Christians who give her fake answers and wants a little honesty. She wants something real she can hold onto and wonders if God is that or just a fairytale.
But then I finally sold a book ms. and it wasn’t for teens. It’s an adult romance…so now I don’t know her as well as I thought…so confused.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
I’d be wondering if the problem isn’t your identification of your 16-year-old reader…but rather the acquisition folks getting tied up in their own preconceptions?
I’m no expert at any of this, but I personally think that teenagers are a LOT more sophisticated in faith than we give them credit for. I still have diaries from when I was that age, and most of the content is theological.
Not only my in own thoughts, but in conversations with friends that I made an effort to record verbatim, as soon as possible after the fact.
It’s interesting that the “here’s a Scripture quote, now go away and be happy” approach seems to work better for adults than it does for teens.
I hope you remain loyal to that 16-year-old. CBA sometimes seems to think that we need happy endings…but your questioning girl…she needs YOU.
Kristen Joy Wilks
Thank you so much Andrew! You are absolutely right. Teens are very sophisticated in their thought processes and longing for reality and honesty, sometimes more than adults. They are sometimes immature in their choices and how they treat others. But as far as looking at the Bible with a seeking questioning heart, teens are awesome. I live and work at a Bible camp and we train a summer staff of teens and early 20’s workers every summer. I love teens and I want to write for them. They are lovably grumpy and thoughtful seekers and they can always be counted on to wrestle my children until they are exhausted! But yeah, I’m still doing some writing for that teen girl. I won’t give up on her. But it is funny that the ms. that finally got picked up was a romance novella that I wrote on a dare from my sister-in-law. I guess I know who my romance audience is too, now that I think about it. I totally wrote this for my sister-in-law. The whole time I was like: “I’ll put in this…and this…and this…Rolana will laugh at that and what if my heroine got a concussion, and fell in the lake…and what if the dog chased her into church…
So my romance turned out to be pretty funny as it was just for fun and I was just trying to make my sister laugh. There is something to be said for laughing when you read. In my efforts to be literary and relevant, I think that I have not valued a good laugh enough. Anyway…all that to say Thanks Andrew. You have encouraged me this morning.
Jenni Brummett
I also have journals from my teen years. Between those pages I was free to wrestle with faith and make it my own. There was power in the promises I learned in youth group.
Shelli Littleton
I need to hide away to pray and think! 🙂
Anne Love
Shelli, you can do it! Praying you hear the right voices of your readers and that you can “see” them. 🙂
Shelli Littleton
Thank you, Anne. Thank you for praying for me.
Kristen Joy Wilks
What age group are you writing for now Shelli? I see you on ACFW YA and ACFW Children’s. I’m curious…Although maybe you are like me and have ideas all over the place.
Shelli Littleton
Kristen, I wrote a middle grade … first fiction. Now, I’m trying to figure out where to go. After hearing that middle grade is a hard way to go, I’m not sure where the Lord is leading.
Wendy Macdonald
Shelli, you have a unique product to market in that you are a homeschooling mom. I’ve heard that they are big book buyers (I am) and I’ve purposely chosen and purchased items over other ones when I found out they were written by homeschooling parents.
The teacher my daughter and I work with was homeschooled for 12 yrs and that’s why we chose her. She understands us, and we love her.
Praying for God to open and close doors for all of us according to His will (this is my sanity prayer too). ❀
Shelli Littleton
Thank you, Wendy! 🙂
Jenni Brummett
Shelli, I’m a bit late to the conversation, but I remember that you’ve written for the encourage.me blog. Do you think the women you minister to in that space are in fact the mother’s of the middle grade girls you’ve been writing for?
Exploring their challenges will also lead you closer to the needs of their young women.
Sara Ella
Hi, Rachelle! Another good post. I really enjoyed this one:)
So my ideal reader is a female ages 14-18, probably living in an urban area and coming from a single parent home. Family is important to her, because she has very little. She may even be an only child.
I guess I imagine my ideal reader as someone similar to my MC. A little unsure of herself, but with an attitude to cover up her insecurities. She’s really into music-it’s her escape. She’s not a fan of preachy stories, but likes to figure things out on her own:)
Mary Kate
My young self, of course. Don’t they always say “write the book you want to read?” She is:
13-18
Unsure of herself
Lonely
Hoping for life to get better
Loves adventure
Is nervous around boys
A dreamer
Smart and bookish
Awkward (in an ugly duckling kind of way)
Since I am unable to travel back in time and hand my WIP to my teenage self, I give it to 2 people as my first readers; my teenage cousin, and my friend my own age (30) who loves YA as much as I do. They are the closest people I can find who 1) fit that description and 2) used to fit that description. I’m so lucky to have them; their feedback is invaluable.
Kristen Joy Wilks
Sounds like I would have loved it too when I was a teen…I probably still would. I love YA books!
Wendy Macdonald
Thank you, Rachelle, for encouraging us to think more strategically about our target audience. I think this post can also apply to helping us decide which agents to query.
I’ve been purposely connecting with others online who are introspective, spiritual, nature loving, and deeply interested in relationship dynamics. The reactions my blog friends have to some of my posts is teaching me who my audience is.
My target is an adult evangelical Christian woman who is not legalistic and deeply cares about others (and probably has or still works/volunteers in helping or teaching settings). She likes a mystery with clean romance, inspiration, and a roller-coaster ride of emotions that lands somewhere satisfying but real. My reader also wants to learn something new and be challenged to grow.
I agree with Andrew–great post!
Blessings ~ Wendy ❀
Shelli Littleton
Love this, Wendy!
Wendy Macdonald
Thank you, dear Shelli. ❀
Shirlee Abbott
A version of me? Yes indeed, Andrew.
I’m working on that. I try to think of someone I know well who falls outside my personal demographic, and mentally read my non-fiction WIP specifically to her, trying to understand her response. I explore this in terms of age, family status, faith experience, income, education, geography, interests. I realize that I follow the medical diagnostic model that “rules out” what doesn’t work–because I work in healthcare it is familiar and comfortable
Because I raised children with reading problems, I get hung up on reading level. I don’t want women who otherwise fall in my demographic to give up on my message because it is too hard to read. Even though my problem readers were sons, I picture them reading my book–do they give up in frustration? That image puts me back in edit mode.
Thank you for the list of specific questions, Rachelle–sends me to the prayer corner with Shelli.
Shelli Littleton
Love it, Shirlee! 🙂 I needed some company! 🙂
Amber Schamel
Thank you for this helpful post, Rachelle. I had thought of my ideal reader, but not in such detail. I will sit down and complete this exercise for sure.
Amber Schamel
Bringing HIStory to Life
http://Www.AmberSchamel.com
Jenny Leo
My ideal reader is a female in her forties, middle-income, college educated, likely lives in a suburb or small town. Her children are grown or nearly grown and her life is changing: empty nest, elderly parents, possible job change, a sense of wondering what’s next for her. The pace of change is making her nostalgic, thinking about the past, even about her own past, what life might have been like if she’d pursued that “other path.” Is it too late now to pursue her painting, her music, her interest in archaeology? Sometimes modern life feels too stressful, pulling her in all directions, and she longs for what she perceives as a simpler time, when families were stronger, gender roles clearer, the pace of life slower. She misses leisurely Sunday dinners and dancing cheek-to-cheek. She loves clever romantic comedies from when the Hays Code was firmly in place and couples had to rely on witty banter and lighthearted flirtation to get their point across. She wonders where men like Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart have gone. Sometimes she feels like a cog in a machine and longs for a reason to wear pretty dresses and curl her hair. Her hobbies involve memory preservation (photography, journaling, scrapbooking) and some of the “fading” feminine arts: needlework, baking, knitting, sketching, watercolors, playing a musical instrument. She loves Victoria magazine. She is well read and well informed but finds much of the news distressing, which is why she escapes into historical novels JUST LIKE MINE.
Jenni Brummett
I love everything about this, Jenny!
Your blog speaks to your audience brilliantly.
Memory preservation…sigh.
donnie & rascal
First off: My ideal reader is a he not a she.
He is twelve and a half, plays only the latest video games, until he beats them – then he trades them in. He will play until Mom pulls the plug on his console, then he voraciously turns to reading comics, anime, MG graphic novels and adventure/fantasy stories.
His favorite food is Mac & Cheese. He binge watches “The Walking Dead” Is into the coming Zombie Apocalalyse (which he knows is all fake but his folks don’t know that and they worry with his infatuation with dead people that come back to life.
His Nerf Gun collection is the biggest in the neighborhood. He has 3 airsoft pistols, the latest assault rifle and a nifty automated target him and his friends built last summer. At the top of his Christmas list is Nerf Darts, (both sizes) you never can have enough ammunition – Huh? Andrew.
He loves his family (secretly) hates getting pecked on his cheek by his two old maid aunts, hides his worn out sneakers (in his old Spider Man backpack) so his mom won’t throw them in the trash.
His bike has been modified so many times, other kids are dying to buy it. (Every kid knows – a new bike is embarrassing to ride)
The only chore he likes doing is feeding his dog – who adores him because he feeds him twice a day and talks to him when no one else is around.
This young man looks up to his older brother, a senior in high school, who still picks on him but the boy knows that’s the way his big bro shows his love.
Dad has a cool tech job and actually knows the difference between the Razer Microconsole and the Xtreamer Multi- from Unicorn Industries. (Both gaming platforms for you adults). His dad can also talk about the latest Occular Rift VR glasses (Version 7.2) with the geeky kid who works down at the local Game Exchange.
His sister, (4 years older) secretly borrows his Japanese Anime comics (which you read from back to front) which she shares with her boyfriend who is really into Magna.
Everything he has ever lost in his life is under his bed but he knows exactly where everything is and can find it in 5 secs. or less.
The posters on his wall he gets free from the only Video Store in town (still open) because he knows the assistant manager.
And finally, and most important, his name is Gabriel and know one knows he is a Christian . . . . not even his parents.
Wanda Rosseland
In reading your post, Rachelle, and the observations of others, I think my reader is someone who wants to be encouraged. Who may think about the deeper things of life, the mysteries like unexplainable happenings that really are miracles but not acknowledged as such. Perhaps I should say a seeking heart.
The ones who want stories of the signs and wonders of God.
I will do your questions, they are excellent. Thank you for giving us a way to make our invisible, silent readers come to life.
Peter DeHaan
I think I have my ideal reader nailed down. He is a lot like me. The one thing that evades me is his age. I’m not if he’s my age or thirty years younger. I hope my writing is for someone 30 years younger than me, but I fear it is not.
Linda Rodante
I understand that, Peter. I feel the same way.
Cynthia Marx
I’m a newbie, wannabe Christian writer…so bear with me, please. This is the first of your posts, Rachel, that I’ve read. Can’t think of a better way to start. At first I thought it would be easy to figure out my target audience. Not so! And I’m still working on it. Thanks to all of your readers who have provided excellent examples.
Here’s a start:
She is 30-60, educated (not necessarily a college grad), a Christian, and works in a support or helping profession such as teacher, therapist, nurse, administrative assistant, etc. She has a sense of adventure, would like to travel more than she does, and enjoys stories that help her understand women and families in other parts of the world. At the same time she appreciates that her life, however normal outwardly, is not any more cookie-cutter than the next person’s life, and because of that she isn’t likely to believe there is only one way to be a Christian.
In fact, her politics are progressive in the sense that Jesus admonished us to look after the “least of these.” She supports local and international projects and programs that help abused, neglected, exploited, or traumatized children and women. She may be an animal activist, too, and possibly vegetarian. But her main motivation is that she wants to and believes that she can make a difference in the lives of others.
She reads widely, has many different friends from different walks of life, likes sports as well as “high-brow” cultural activities like going to the museum, the symphony, etc. She takes good care of her health through regular exercise, particularly anything that is relatively “free” such as walking, jogging, bike riding, or playing tennis at a local community park. She might do yoga with a group of friends. She is a foodie and loves to cook.
She likes family vacations such as camping and hiking, or “staycations” such as building a garden together, or volunteering to do charity work together.
She loves dogs.
Linda Rodante
I have and am still struggling with this. My ideal reader? I want my readers to be those from 15 to 70 who love romantic suspense/mysteries! Not a reality, I guess. However, I remember reading Mary Stewart’s romantic suspense when I was a teenager, and I still reread them occasionally now. Still impressed by them; still enjoy them. How do I hone in better on my ideal reader?
Heather Head
Great post!
I preach exactly this to B2B (business-to-business) marketers as the first step in building their strategic marketing plan. We call the resulting documents “buyer personas” and we build one for every significant stakeholder and influencer in the buying decision process for every product and service we represent. We then target every piece of marketing content to exactly one buyer persona, while aiming to avoid alienating any of the others.
As a new novelist, I was delighted to stumble upon this approach in the world of fiction promotion (and writing) as well.
I absolutely second Andrew Budek-Schmeisser’s point that it’s important not to confuse your reader with yourself. Believe it or not, that is also the #1 mistake B2B marketers make. They know exactly what *they* think is so great about their company’s product or service, and never stop to think about what their buyers care about.
Having said all that, while I have a general idea of the target demographic for my novel (it matches closely the actual children for whom I wrote it–my own two oldest), I have not given my book’s “buyer persona” the depth of thought that I do for our marketing clients… and now I realize that it is time to do so.
Thanks for this great piece!