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Thursday, March 23, 2017

Building Relationships with Your Readers with Amanda Tero

Hello! I have Amanda Tero here to talk about building relationships with your readers. This is one of the best parts of "marketing" out there. It is my favorite thing when my readers become my friends, and - almost even better - when they become friends with each other.

So a note as me, as an author, to you readers - don't be afraid to approach me. I love talking to you.

I met Amanda through a blog party last year, and got to know her in the Black Friday sale, as I had stepped up to help run that. I've, unfortunately, not read any of her books yet, but I have Journey to Love on my computer, and I really want to read "Befriending the Beast." (This is coming from someone who is typically indifferent to B&B retellings - but I love the twist in her version and want to see how it plays out.)

Find her on the interwebs: 



Marketing
and I have a serious love-hate relationship. It is likely that any other writer in this e-con could give you way better marketing tips than I could dream of (I’ll probably be taking notes and applying things to myself). So I’m not going to write about marketing (whew! Huge sigh of relief). I honestly can’t even tell you which promos I’ve done that have helped, and which ones have not. But I can
tell you a list of friends I’ve made while writing.



One thing that my parents have ingrained in me throughout the years is that life is not about money, but about relationships. This has been priceless when it comes to being an author. In just two years, I have met so many authors who are a "step ahead" of me that have been willing to answer my 1,001
questions and give me pointers. One author has basically become my "writing mentor" (I didn’t have to sign up anywhere to find one; she volunteered some information about the Civil War and next thing I knew, she was giving me sound advice for my non-Civil War novella). But then, I’ve met other authors: those who are stand-offish and short (Now, before I judge these people, I know that some of this is because of personality [most authors are shy introverts] or caution [the web isn’t the safest place; not everyone is who they say they are, so I do advise young writers to be cautious with who they friend and talk with—and I highly encourage you to get your parents involved]) or they are in-your-face, “Don’t you want to read/buy/help my book?”


When it comes down to it, what kind of author am I? Friendly? “Don’t-talk-to-me?” Business-only? I don’t know about you, but I want to be a friendly author.

Being a friendly author just might encourage someone to buy my books, but that’s not the main reason I want to be friendly. I have discovered that if I’m willing to take the time and answer questions of upcoming authors (believe it or not, now I’m a “step-ahead” of some writers!), it then opens doors to a friendship and conversations other writing. I cannot assume that every person who contacts me has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I not only want to help authors in their
writing craft, but more importantly, with their relationship with Christ. To me, that is worth far more than selling a few thousand words.

So, now that you (hopefully) want to be a friendly writer, maybe you’re wondering where to connect. I grin, because I kind of “fell” into the whole author-connect thing (actually, I really believe that God just pushed me in). I have found a few main places that help meet my goal of being a friendly writer:

·  Goodreads (First, I “friended” a mutual friend of someone I knew, started reading their reviews, realized we shared similar reading convictions, next thing you know, we’re emailing regularly)

·   FaceBook (there are several great author groups on FB, and several times, I have gone from asking a question to private messaging an author and then becoming friends)

·   Blogs (by writers, readers, etc.; like Goodreads and FaceBook, it’s possible to go from commenting to personal messaging)

And then, there is the whole interacting side. This part has been fun:

·   Doing book reviews (not by big publishing houses, but by individual authors, interviewing them, and replying with, "I found we're similar here.")

·  Asking interactive questions (on my blog and on Instagram—with both places, I have gotten to know many lovely young ladies)

·   Being available (this to me is the hardest, as I do live a busy life; but when someone emails me, do I ignore it or do I reply? And when I reply, do I use condescending tones like I'm talking to a 6-year old, or do I write to them on my level, warmly, and with that Southern hospitality I've been raised with?)



Now that you’ve read about all that interaction, here are some questions to ponder…and answer—no pressure, really ;) …

How have you treated your writing journey as a way to build relationships? What things have worked for you? What hasn’t worked?




~*~*~*~

Amanda Tero is a
homeschool graduate who desires to provide God-honoring, family-friendly reading material. She has enjoyed writing since before ten years old, but it has only been since 2013 that she began seriously pursuing writing again – starting with some short stories that she wrote for her sisters as a gift. Her mom encouraged her to try selling the stories she published, and since then, she has begun actively writing short stories, novellas, and novels. If something she has written draws an individual into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ, it is worth it!



“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5)



14 comments:

  1. Building relationships is very time consuming, but very important, like you said :)

    My mom always cringes at the thought because the big medium for that today is social media! Thankfully I'm beginning to get the hang of it. I'm content as long as I give a genuine reply to the people who take time to interact with me. Reaching out and discovering new people (especially consistently commenting on blogs) is really hard for me :P I should probably get better at it!

    Thanks for sharing, Amanda :)

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    1. Thanks for commenting, Abigayle. SO sorry I neglected to look on here sooner. Life got busy the week of the eCon. :P

      Yes... social media is a touchy place, but if used wisely, can be very beneficial! Genuine interaction is great. :) Best wishes on your reaching out!!

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  2. I started blogging as a way to build relationships with my future readers (I'm not published yet, but I'm hoping to be sometime in the next couple years), and it's been SO much fun so far, I've made a lot of friends that I wouldn't have without the blog. Thanks for sharing this with us, Amanda!

    ~ Savannah
    scattered-scribblings.blogspot.com

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    1. Yes, blogging has been a great tool for me as well. And yes... tons of fun! :) :)

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  3. Building relationships with fellow authors and readers is one of the BEST things about social media! I've met so many wonderful people in the last 5 years, I feel like I have a bunch of new friends. Thank you for these great reminders, Amanda!

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    1. I'm there with you on the new and wonderful friends I now have that I never would have had, were I not a writer. :)

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  4. Marketing is the real work of writing. I had a similar experience to you. It really wasn't until I got on Goodreads and reviewed a book by an indie author and then had her friend me and I started participating in promoting her books that my connections really started happening. She was one of those friendly authors that was willing to help out a newbie and introduced me to a lot of people (including Kendra!!). So because of that I've tried to be the friendly author and help out writers and authors wherever and whenever I can. Now the hard part has become saying no because I don't have time to do everything. :P

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    1. I'm there with you on knowing how to manage everything and everyone. :) I could spend a full business day just interacting with people and building relationships. Balance is the key for everything. :)

      Goodreads is where I met you too, I believe. ;)

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  5. What you described here- that's what I want to be once I get published. A friendly author who's happy to help other aspiring authors, like Jill Williamson or Anne Elisabeth Stengl or Stephanie Morill.

    Thanks for sharing this post!

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    1. I hope it works for you, Sarah!! :) :) Be that bright light. :D

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  6. Amanda - Thanks so much for your post. My husband is writing his first book which is a non-fiction, educational, motivational book for middle-graders. We don't have a blog or a website yet, but he definitely wants to be a friendly author and it is our hope that he will be able to help others someday in his journey. It seems like most of the writers that are posting are fiction authors. Do you know of any groups for non-fiction authors so that we can build a relationship in that area?

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    1. Fiction is the biggest "rave" of Indie authors, so it appears. Are you on FaceBook? Clean Indie Reads has a group on there and you could ask them for their suggestions. I am only part of one non-fiction group on Goodreads, but I'm sure there are more out there. Here's a link: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/210628-short-nonfiction-reviews-and-editing

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  7. Thanks for sharing. Relationships are so important!

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Hi! Now that you've read my post, hast thou any opinions that thou wouldst like to share? I'd love to hear them!