How to get readers to care about your writing
Become a student of the (very human) process of engaging readers
How do you get a new reader to become aware of your writing, buy your book, subscribe to your Substack — or otherwise take a meaningful action to support your work? That is what I want to discuss today, exploring the multi-step process involved, including a critical difference in doing this effectively that reduces frustration and disappointment.
To understand this in a nuanced way, I will discuss two primary themes:
The concept of the marketing funnel, how it can help you truly understand what Human-Centered Marketing is, and how to harness it.
The importance of craft, and becoming a student of the process of engaging your ideal readers.
Today’s post is a part of my fall curriculum, which I’m calling the Joy & Connection Marketing Plan. This month’s posts are all focused on identifying your ideal reader. For my paid subscribers, these are the posts in the exclusive series I have shared so far:
Define your creative identity: What beliefs drive your writing and creative work?
Write your mission statement or short bio! Defining who you are as a creator is not easy! Let's demystify it...
The art of great headshots or profile photos for writers & creators: Why allowing yourself to be seen forges a human connection with readers
How to identify your ideal readers: The step-by-step research process
Listen to the voice of your ideal reader: Your readers are real people. If you want to reach them, listen to what they say.
You can access these posts and others coming out, and join us in my private community Chat here:
Okay, let’s dig into today’s topic…
“Please just tell me what works…”
So often, a writer or creator simply wants to know “what works” when it comes to reaching their audience. And that sounds great, right? Their goal:
Do a thing. (e.g. Take out an ad, be a guest on a podcast, post to social media, pitch an essay, host an event.)
Look to see if it sold books, and if so, how many? (Or look to see if it lead to new Substack subscribers, and if so, how many?)
In this scenario, what one feels is missing is this: information. (e.g., “What is the right information to get to the result I want?”) They may feel that if they had this missing piece of information, a highly complex set of actions would happen automatically, as if they are just tipping over the first domino in a long chain of dominoes that falls effortlessly. This is the hope:
Domino #1: I do a thing.
Domino #2: a potential reader becomes aware of my writing.
Domino #3: they get interested and begin exploring it.
Domino #4: they consider if it is exactly what they want more of.
Domino #5: they buy my book (or subscribe to my Substack, or whatever result I wanted.)
Domino #6: they tell others about my work and how much they like it.
Domino #7: they keep tabs on my work, looking for more ways to support it, or buy more of it.
In this case, the “thing” that you did would be measured by proving it lead to this chain of events, if this sequence can be repeated often and on command, and if you get enough people to do these actions to make it worthwhile to you financially or otherwise.
For example, “Wow, I ______, and it lead to 10 more book sales! Plus, it only cost me $___, which means I still earned a profit. I’m going to do that again and again.”
Now, I love this, and this does happen. But something I recognize is that it can be a pretty big expectation for taking out a simple ad, for a single pitch, for an individual social media post. This is why so many writers may end up frustrated with the idea of marketing. They do a thing. It doesn’t work. They do a different thing. That doesn’t work. They do yet another different thing. That doesn’t work.
They keep knocking over single dominoes, frustrated that more don’t automatically fall behind them.
What is a Marketing Funnel and How Does it Work?
Below is a pretty standard marketing funnel, which is meant to illustrate the many steps involved in getting someone to become aware of what you offer, then actually buy it (or subscribe, or show up, etc.), and become an advocate. The idea is that someone enters the funnel from the top, and moves downward through the phases:
This aligns with the domino analogy above. Let me give another example to illustrate this as a human-centered process, not just some weird marketing theory:
Step #1, Awareness: “Oooh, I saw another friend mention this book, and that’s the third time I heard about it in a week. Hmmm, I wonder why they are all raving about it?”
Step #2, Interest : “Let me check it out on Amazon. Okay, that kinda sounds up my alley, but not exactly what I normally read. Let me see what reviewers said about the book…”
Step #3, Consideration: “Okay, I can totally see myself getting into this book. But do I have time for another book right now? How many pages is it? Hmmm, what can I move off of my TBR pile to make room for it?”
Step #4, Conversion: “Okay, I worry I don’t have time to read, but then I saw it on sale, so I’m buying it. Can’t wait to start reading!”
Step #5, Loyalty: “That book wrecked me in the best possible way — my friends were right. Who the heck is this author and what else has she written? Wait — is she on Insta?”
Step #6, Advocacy: “I’m making a Reel about the book that made me cry the most this autumn, and it’s this one! I can totally see why my friends were posting about it, I know so many others who should read it too…”
To me, the primary thing that the marketing funnel illustrates is the very human process of how we take action. It takes time for someone to be aware of something, consider if it aligns to their goals or identity, and to feel a sense of trust to move forward. This trust takes time! As does the confidence needed for an action.
The Myth of the One-Step Marketing Funnel
Is it reasonable for a writer or artist to want to compress the time it takes for someone to move from awareness to conversion? Of course! And that is sometimes where marketing strategies come in, something I work with writers on every day.
Now, when someone asks that question I mentioned above: “Please just tell me what works…,” they are not looking for a traditional marketing funnel. Instead, what they want is what I call the “one-step marketing funnel.” This is a compression of the top and bottom, where the person hopes that a simple action will lead to immediate and meaningful results:
An example here would be, “Oh I took out a Facebook ad promoting my book, and I was pleasantly surprised that it lead to 30 sales in the first week! It only cost me $30, so that is totally worth it. I’m going to actually increase the spend so I sell 50 books a week for $50. That’ll be 200 sales each month, and I can consider increasing from there. Also, I want to see how many of these sales translate to book reviews on Amazon and Substack subscribers.”
The expectation is that the whole marketing funnel — all the human-centered communication and trust — will happen quickly via one simple tactic, and for it to be easily repeatable. While there are examples of this happening, it is not the norm. It is not to be expected. “Easy and repeatable” is what we want in life, but not simple to find.
Trust and Conversion Rates
That’s right, I’m using more sales terminology! But I want to use it to help focus on the real people involved in this process. Because this helps you to not have outsized expectations for very common marketing practices. And it helps you understand what doesn’t work and why, as well as what may work for helping you find more readers for your writing.
A conversion rate can be described as the percentage of people who move from one step of the funnel to the next. Again, let me give you an example:
Awareness: You create a Reel on Instagram and Facebook to promote your book, which 1,000 people view.
Interest: Of those 1,000 views, 200 people (a 20% conversion rate) actually click on the link you provided, which offered a compelling giveaway. Of those people, 40 actually enter the giveaway (again, a 20% conversion rate).
Consideration: Those 40 people are then automatically added to your newsletter list as part of the giveaway entry, and they receive an automated email from you offering a discount code for your book.
Conversion: 2 of those people actually buy your book using that discount code, a 5% conversion rate.
Something to keep in mind here:
Low awareness and trust may lead to a lower conversion rate.
High awareness and trust may lead to a higher conversion rate.
What does that mean? Someone who has followed your work for two years and really likes you and your writing is more likely to take a direct action to support your work than someone who discovered you a minute ago from an ad in their Instagram feed.
It’s reasonable that 100 people who know you really well could lead to 60 book sales, whereas 100 strangers walking past you at a table with your books at a Barnes & Noble may lead to one book sale.
What seasoned business owners and managers know is that conversion rates tend to be lower than you expect. This works on both ends of the spectrum: a 2% conversion rate on a social media ad can be considered really good! And if you invite 100 friends to buy your book, you may be surprised that only 20% actually do.
I’ve spoken to writers who are shocked by this, and even a little hurt. “I sent an email to my friends — people who say they always have my back — and barely anyone bought the book when I asked!”
Knowing this helps you better plan for meaningful ways to share about your work, and it underscores the importance of developing a platform around your writing and creative work. One that increases communication and trust with your ideal readers. It also points to the value of repetition — that people need to hear things multiple times before they understand it or take action. I know, it would be nice if you could send one email to everyone you know, and they all immediately came out to support your writing. But sometimes they need to hear things again and again, or with different emotional cues.
So if you are inviting people to join you at a local launch for your book at a bookstore, one Facebook post may not be enough. They also may need to know why this matters, not just to you, but to their identity (e.g., “By coming out to my author reading, you are shouting to the world that indie bookstores matter — you are part of the solution, not the problem. Plus: there will be wine and cake!”).
The wine and cake is meant to increase your conversion rate. As is the appeal to their identity and inner needs of being good people by supporting a local bookstore. Another post may include a prompt such as: “Remember when we all used to gather with friends and just chat about books and movies we loved? This event is your chance to do that again. Please join me and make sure I’m not sad sitting at my author reading all by myself.” (I have written before about amazing and successful writers who hold events that no one shows up to. It happens all the time.)
Become a Student of the Process of Understanding Your Ideal Readers
When I work with a writer, we tend to get very specific about their ideal reader. So if we continue looking at the marketing funnel, we may consider things such as what attracts your ideal readers, what objections keep them from being open to work like yours, what inner narratives would likely get them to take action to support your work, etc.
My post this past Tuesday focused on listening to the voice of your ideal reader, and something to consider is how you can slowly learn about your readers one meaningful experience at a time. Some steps to consider as you do this work:
Take small actions each day or week to focus on the craft of communication and connection.
Challenge yourself to make improvements in how you try to engage your readers. For instance: consider 10 different ways to write a newsletter subject line, 10 different ways to write a podcast pitch, and 10 ways to ask a question that might get replies on social media.
Experiment. I have often found that what works are the ideas you least expect to.
Track what you do. It’s common to get to the end of a week and feel as though you didn’t do as much as you hoped. I have had so many writers say to me, “Ugh, I didn’t do anything this week.” Then when I explore this further, I find out that they took 20 distinct actions to share their work, but they simply didn’t recognize that they did so.
Track what you learn. When you take action, there are often little lessons along the way. Write these things down. You will quickly learn what feels right to you, what works, and most importantly, you will pull valuable lessons from what didn’t work as you hoped they would.
Celebrate milestones! The process of sharing, connecting, and growing one’s audience is in the service of something important. You should honor that work.
What I find is that people who are experienced in their field embrace this idea of becoming a student of the process. They know that the learning never stops and that you often need to try new things, and become very comfortable with risk and failure.
Every week for years, I have had a long conversation with my friend
, who writes here on Substack. She’s a writer and book coach with more than a decade of running a successful business. She has launched hundreds of programs, run (by my estimate) thousands of live calls and presentations, and published again and again. She is ridiculously smart and experienced — it is an honor and joy that I know her.Yet, the learning never ends, and Jennie is a student of the process. Even though she is a very experienced coach, she recently signed up for a $15,000 coaching program. The other day she was taking me through what she has been learning, showing me the actual screens of her business dashboards — real numbers, real promotions, real conversion rates — and telling me what experiments were working, and how she keeps honing this day by day.
I will say this: it is work!
But in the process, she is demystifying that distance between herself and her ideal audience. If you are concerned that you don’t have the time or energy for this, I totally understand. That is why I encourage you to think of this as a craft. One where you attend to it through small habits each week. Where you focus on taking clear actions and consider what you learn. If you are able to have even one small moment with an ideal reader each week, that is a huge win. I mean, that is 52 times per year that you learn about your ideal readers.
This process is meant to reduce overwhelm, give you a sense of clarity, and connect you with real people who will resonate with your writing.
Jennie and I were texting about this earlier in the week, and she said this:
“The big thing is being willing to get things wrong. That’s what learning has to be about. You have to be willing to take action that doesn’t result in exactly what you are hoping for. [People] want to know the straight and sure path to [their goals] — getting a book deal, getting thousands of raving fans, building a business. There is no straight and sure path! So you have to be willing to embrace those risks while learning.”
Please let me know in the comments: What is one teeny tiny thing you can do this week to learn one thing about your ideal readers, to try to connect with an ideal reader?
To get access my exclusive series and all the Joy & Connection Marketing Plan content, become a paid subscriber here:
Thank you for being here with me.
-Dan
Kids of the Week: The little fella made a robot costume out of an empty box. You should see how excited he gets when a large box arrives at our house.
I repeatedly need to remind myself not to stress about finding new readers but rather to nurture the wonderful ones I already have.
Love the robot costume!
I publish a Substack newsletter each week and always ask questions and ask for comments. Sometimes readers reply and sometimes they don’t. I’m happy for any comment or engagement I get. I also experiment with sharing more of myself with each newsletter. Daily I read Substack newsletters I signed up for and take the time to thoughtfully reply. I focus on saying something positive whenever possible. I often get likes for my comments and sometimes get new readers to my email newsletter. Mostly I try to just be out there everyday. It’s reassuring to hear not only you but others to remind me to find my voice, be myself, and not worry about numbers. I just focus on putting myself out there and engaging positively. It’s slow but works over the long haul. Best of all, it feels good vs icky. I don’t look for shortcuts or magic so I’m not disappointed. My stubbornness and tenacity serves me well.