Connecting
Authors with
their Readers

A few weeks ago I wrapped up the latest round of calls with authors for our one-on-one coaching services, and one of the topics that we cover in the program is creating and sharing valuable content on social media. A question that continued to pop up was, “What kind of content do I share on Instagram?” 

Like most social media outlets, many authors are using Instagram just to promote or talk about their book. And let’s face it, your posts can get pretty boring if your pictures and conversations only focus on one thing. You don’t want readers to blow past your pictures in their feed or unfollow you - you want those images to catch their eye, read your caption, click on your profile and get to know you more. 

But how do you do that? Well, we are going to answer that today with 10 types of content that authors can share on Instagram. This will help you curate and create content that will activate conversations, grow your audience and give your feed a cohesive and polished look. 

Inspiration is a good thing. Especially when you’re struggling to figure out how to do something really well. I’m sure that you can recall times where you’ve seen an image or heard a story that sparked a new idea in your mind and you ran with it. 

A few weeks ago I was chatting with an author about her struggles in trying to figure out what to post on her social media outlets. I shared with her some examples and it was like I could see the lightbulb light up over her head - she got it! Just a few examples were what she needed to get the ball rolling and create her own posts and images that spoke directly to her ideal reader. 

If you haven’t tapped into Pinterest to connect with readers, you might be missing out on a huge opportunity! Granted, Pinterest isn’t for everyone and you need to determine if your ideal reader is on Pinterest. But if your readers do fall into the Pinterest category, hold on to your hats! 

There is a right and a wrong way to use Pinterest for book marketing. Today we are going to focus on how you can take your Pinterest account to the next level and create genuine and authentic connections with your readers and grow your audience. 

It is absolutely doable for fiction writers to find their unique audience and connect with them, so they can have a thriving career. 

This year I started my first garden - it’s something that I’ve always wanted to do. I was excited! I went to the nursery to pick out flowers, vegetable plants, herbs, soil and anything else I thought I might need. When I got home, I dug on in and started planting. 

Well, come to find out I should have done a little more research. Little did I know there was a lot of prep work that I overlooked because I wanted to get those plants growing. How hard can it be? You did a hole, plant it and you’er done, right?

Sadly, I found out I was wrong - very wrong. There was a process, a timeframe that worked best for each plant, locations that needed to be taken into consideration and much more. What could have been an amazing garden turned out to be a bit of a mess. 

The same can be said about building an audience. So many times we jump in without laying the groundwork or making sure that we have all of our ducks in a row.