5 Ways to Connect With Readers for Successful Writers

by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen @ Quips and Tips

Successful writers have to connect with their readers “in person” (as well as in print) if they want to create and maintain an upwards momentum. I’ve found that some wildly popular published authors – Jodi Picoult, for instance – are open to actually connecting with readers – and others are completely inaccessible. Guess which ones will be popular longer?

Learning how to connect with readers isn’t just something that published authors need to do to sell more books…it’s something all writers must do if they want to be successful. Connecting is a habit for successful writers!

“A writer should say to himself, not, ‘How can I get more money?’ but ‘How can I reach more readers (without lowering standards)?’” said Brian Aldiss.

Connecting with your readers is an effective way to spread your reach, which will translate to more book and article sales, and more money. Let’s face it, writers have to eat — and they long to be read. So, here are five ways to connect with readers for successful writers – based on my recent experience with Jennifer Weiner, Jodi Picoult, and RL. Stine.

5 Ways to Connect With Readers for Successful Writers

The idea for this blog post came to me at my last book club meeting (if you don’t belong to or know of a book club, read 8 Tips for Starting a Book Club for Writers). And today – as I gather info for my new book idea, which involves the participation of successful writers – I realized that even wildly popular published authors are shooting themselves in the foot if they aren’t “connectable.”

Here’s what I learned about being connectable from famous authors…

1. Respond to requests

I know how busy some published authors are – we’re all busy, thank you very much – and I was pleasantly surprised to get an email from the wildly popular Jodi Picoult! She doesn’t really need to connect with readers or writers to market her books, and yet there she was. In my in-box. And, now I’m featuring her book. Even though she declined my request, she’s made a friend.

2. Be willing to talk about your work

Introverted writers, you have to open up to people – because everyone is a potential reader! I met a writer at a dinner the other night, and eventually learned that she was the author of four books. She didn’t want to talk about them at all, which disappointed me as both a reader and a writer. If you want to connect with readers, you have to talk about your writing.

3. Have an authentic yet professional website

Jennifer Weiner has a great website, which includes information for writers (including how she found her agent), an easy “Contact me” page, her blog, and her FAQs. It’s so friendly, authentic, and professional – and it made me feel connected to her, even though I’ve never met her.

4. Consider an autoreply

When I emailed “Jen” (Jennifer Weiner), I received an autoreply. It assured me she would read the email and respond if she could – either her website or this autoreply said something about reading all emails, but not being able to respond to every one. Again, this made me feel connected because I felt “heard” – and this makes me more likely to read her novels and praise her to others.

5. Ditch the website contact form

I hate those things! R.L. Stine has one; after I wrote, formatted, and perfect my request in the contact form (it took a whole 3 minutes), I hit “submit”, and it just disappeared. I have no idea if it went through, or if I have to re-send it.

Granted, the authors I’ve mentioned are already successful writers – but the sooner we newbie writers learn to connect with readers, the more successful we’ll be in the long run.

What are your tips for connecting with readers? And, if you’ve reached out to a well-known published author, what was the response?