On this Saturday morning I have the pleasure of introducing a guest writer, Dave Chesson! Who is Dave Chesson? Well, he’s the founder of Kindlepreneur.com… but – let him tell you for himself!

“Hi, I’m Dave Chesson

…and with that, take it away, Dave!

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5 Ways to Increase Reader Engagement

As an author, you have a lot of things on your plate. You’re writing the next bestseller, or maybe just finishing up that blog post for work. 

But do you ever think about the readers who are eagerly awaiting your next release? After all, without them, there’s no point in even bothering to write anything. 

Engaging with readers is important if you want to keep them coming back for more books! 

To that end, here are five ways authors can better engage with their readers online: 

1. Create Social Media Groups

Social media groups are unique when compared to email lists or pages on your website because they allow readers to not only interact with you, but also to interact with each other.

This is a great place to share memes about books and reading, fun updates on your progress, asking readers about their favorite characters, etc.

When readers are given the chance to interact with one another, they will be more likely to remain engaged in your community. Additionally, it gives them an opportunity to meet new people who share similar interests.

2. Try Giveaways

It may seem like a cheap trick, but almost nothing gets the kind of reader engagement that a giveaway does. You can give away copies of your own books, fancy swag, and if you really want to go hardcore, get a Kindle or other Ereader.

When your readers have a chance to win something that they want, it encourages them to engage with you on social media. They will also be able increase their chances by encouraging other people in their friend list or reader community to join as well.

In fact, the increased engagement from giveaways is so huge that there are entire companies dedicated specifically to hosting contests and sweepstakes for authors!

If you’re having trouble thinking of what kinds of gifts would make good prizes, try asking fellow authors, look through bestseller charts, or even participate in a few similar giveaways to get a sense of how it’s done.

3. Respond to Every Email You Get

This is something that is very important to me: responding fast and responding last to every email that I get.

When you take the time to respond to every email, even if it’s just a quick “thank you for your message” or “I’m sorry, I can’t answer that question,” it helps increase reader engagement.

It makes readers feel like they are important to you and that their voice is heard. Additionally, when they have a question or concern, they know that they can reach out to you and that you will be responsive.

This also goes for comments on social media–be sure to respond as quickly as possible!

By responding to emails and comments, you are letting readers know that you care about them and their opinion. It also encourages them to keep talking with you and sharing their thoughts. And it should go without saying that the thoughts of readers are exactly the kind of thing that you want to know about.

4. Start a YouTube Channel

YouTube is a great place to increase reader engagement.

It allows you to connect with readers in an entirely new way, and it helps increase your visibility as well by allowing other people who are interested in you or your books the chance to find them!

You might be surprised how many authors have YouTube channels with subscribers numbering into the thousands. 

Plus, this is a great way for you to show your expertise in any particular subject. This can be writing, but can easily be something tangentially related to your fiction. Creating a platform that supports your writing can be important, even if it’s not a YouTube channel. For example these two websites focus on specific niches that are of interest to fiction readers. The more you can grow platforms like that (YouTube is a great place to do this), the more you will attract the right readers to your books.

YouTube is also great because it gives you the chance to speak directly to your readers, to let them see your face. This personalizes you and your work in a way that is difficult to replicate any other way.

5. Use Calls to Action

A call to action (or a CTA) is something you do when you ask your reader to do something. I’m not just talking about asking them to buy your book.

In my opinion, everything you write, every piece of content that you put out, should have some kind of call to action involved.

This can be as simple as asking people to share your social media post, share a blog post or YouTube video, respond to a specific question that you have, and the list goes on.

The more actions you can get your readers to take, the more engaged they will be.

When it comes to increasing reader engagement, calls to action are one of the most important tools in an author’s toolbox.

Conclusion

So there you have it! Five different ways to increase reader engagement. I hope that these ideas help you connect with your readers in a deeper way and keep them coming back for more.

If you found this post informative, please consider sharing it with a friend, or letting me know what you thought (notice that I’m including a call to action here). I can promise that by using these techniques, you will find bigger and better ways to not just increase reader engagement, but to make them your friends.

Thanks for reading!

Bio: “Dave Chesson is the creator of Kindlepreneur.com, a website devoted to teaching advanced book Marketing which even Amazon KDP acknowledge as one of the best by telling users to “Gain insight from Kindlepreneur on how you can optimize marketing for your books.” Having worked with such authors as Orson Scott Card, Ted Dekker and more, his tactics help both Fiction and Nonfiction authors of all levels get their books discovered by the right readers.”

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