Building A Social Hive
3. Learn About Readers
Often, when I work with an author, we spend a lot of time on audience research—truly understanding who his readers are, gathering qualitative and quantitative info/data on them, and then ensuring that we judge success like this: not how many more followers did we get each week on Twitter, but what one new thing did we learn about the author’s ideal readers this week. When you know this, suddenly, marketing has a clearer strategy. For example: how to engage on social media, and who with; whether to do live events, what type, and where; expectations around book sales; and so much else.
Ellen Harvey is a freelance writer and editor who covers the latest technologies and strategies reshaping the publishing landscape. She previously served as the Senior Editor at Publishing Executive and Book Business.