In the previous lessons, we focused on looking at yourself objectively to evaluate your strengths, weaknesses, and attributes. 

We also covered your core values and how to imbue your voice with those values to achieve authenticity and connect with your readers on a deeper level. I hope that exercises helped you gain a firmer sense of self.

Now let’s put what you know about yourself as an author to good use!

Who is your ideal reader?

An ideal reader is the person who is looking for and wants to read your work. We shape our marketing and our promo in a way that attracts that reader. But how do we find them?

First, let’s identify who needs to know about our work. 

One common mistake that authors make when they’re first starting out is to think that they need to appeal to everyone. 

Let’s chat about that for a minute. 

Have you ever heard of or played cornhole?

If you haven’t played it, you’ve probably seen the boards at your local brewery or have seen a family playing it at the beach. It’s essentially a slanted board with a hole in it, and the competitors are meant to toss a bean bag in an attempt to get it in that hole…

This example is gonna be relevant at some point, I promise.

The scoring is pretty simple. The player gets a point for each bag that lands on the board and three points for each bag that makes it into the hole. Bags that land on the ground near the board or touch the ground and the board don’t count. So aiming for the corn hole would be your best strategy, right?

Marketing and promotion work in much the same way.

If you’re a romance author and your target is romance readers, you’re bound to land on the board and occasionally sink a bag or two. But if you get specific about the type of romance you write — themes, tropes, etc. — you’re more likely to hit your target.

Basically, I’m saying if every reader is your reader, you don’t have any true fans of your work. 

Almost counts in marketing and cornhole, but the goal should always be to sink the bag. These exercises are how you uncover yours and begin to share them with readers to get them interested in your books!

Practical Exercise:

Using what we learned about ourselves as an author — the parts of writing we like, our talents, strengths, and weaknesses — answer these questions:

1. Who would buy my books?

2. Where should I market and promote them?

If you’re unsure, revisit the answers from Who Are You and remember that you are your first reader. This will come in handy during the next exercise!

If you’re still with me, let’s take a minute to imagine our dream reader…

*magical dream sequence music*

My dream reader would be:

• Someone who appreciates the art of storytelling.

• Someone who will pay full price for my work and isn’t just looking for a sale.

• Someone who enjoys and trusts my authorial voice.

• Someone who leaves thoughtful and critical reviews.

• Someone who is an evangelist for my work and will tell anyone who will listen why and how much they love it. 

Sounds dreamy, right? And it’s probably close to the type of reader y’all want for yourselves. However, this “target reader” avatar represents my audience in its broadest terms. And I’m gonna be honest, I might find an audience using that dream reader avatar. But I want fans, not just one off readers. There are several ways to narrow this search depending on where you are in your author journey. 

But first, I have a message for new & unpublished Authors searching for potential readers…

I’m singling you out because this is arguably the most challenging place to be for many reasons. At this stage, it’s easy to get seduced by your favorite author’s online persona and die-hard fandoms. It’s where we often make the disastrous error of comparing our beginning to their end or attempting to emulate what they’ve done. It’s also a place you will find yourself in again if you’ve previously published without defining your author brand and found your audience after joining a bunch of groups, attending a bunch of conferences, or purchasing courses and consuming more content than you could ever begin to implement.  

If you feel called out, trust and believe that I’ve been there!

Baby Romance Author Tasha has thrown down as much as six hundred hard-earned dollars to learn how to write Facebook ads, only to discover that I hate Facebook as a platform. No amount of ad spend would convince readers who didn’t know me to spend money on my books without dedicating time and energy to that space.

It was a expensive but necessary lesson!

Here are a few takeaways I gleaned from that experience:

• I never excelled at Facebook because that platform is high touch — meaning you’re more successful if you spend a lot of time there. 

• No matter how much time I spent in author and reader groups, I never felt as if I could relax and be myself, which led to …

• Feeling awkward and out of place at virtual and real-life events because so few authors and readers connected with me or my work (no matter how active I was within the communities)

• It often seemed as if there was a pecking order that I (chronic introvert and rebellious non-joiner) didn’t recognize or refused to abide by, which led to…

• being pushed out for any number of reasons but mostly because the “vibe wasn’t right.”

This is not a pitchfork campaign against Facebook!

You can insert any social media platform, and the experience could be the same. I pointed it out because those situations encapsulated moments where I felt I was not part of the in-group and made me wonder why I was trying so hard to fit in! As previously stated, I was not a joiner! Pushing my way into a group that only allowed me to exist on the fringes was not my ministry, so I stopped trying to do that. 

That experience made me step back and evaluate lots of things, but chief among them was finding my ideal reader.

Initially, my target was a really broad, really diverse group labeled “romance,” which was obviously ineffective. The second time around, I started with that broad group and began whittle it down to my ideal reader by a process of elimination. 

1. Genre/subgenre

What genre do you write in? Genre fiction, also known as popular fiction, is a term used for fiction written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with those books. It’s fiction that follows specific genre conventions and reader expectations, using tropes, structures, plot points, and archetypes to tell a story.  The main genres are sci-fi, historical, mystery, thriller, young adult, romance, horror, and fantasy. Subgenres are the places where genres intersect and overlap, ie. Historical romance or sci-fi horror. Knowing where your work falls within these genre definitions will make it easier to find your readers. 

If you believe that you have a special snowflake of a story that doesn’t fit anywhere, choose the one that is as close to your genre as possible. Or maybe consider you’re writing literary fiction, which may have some characteristics of a popular fiction novel but doesn’t strictly adhere to the conventions that would make it fit the definition. 

For example, as a romance author who primarily writes Black and interracial romance, I knew I needed to seek out Black romance readers. Do I consider that a romance subgenre? Absolutely not. A romance is a romance no matter how the central couple identifies. However, this is how it’s classified across distributors and how readers identify themselves, so these are the labels I use. My romances are contemporary (for now!), Black, and interracial.

And once I narrowed my search for my ideal reader in that way, I found authors and readers who looked like me and read the types of books I write!

2. Tropes and Themes

A trope is a repeated theme, pattern, or figure of speech used in literature and other media. These are your Chosen One, Last Girl, Only One Bed stories. Tropes often function as subplots to the larger narrative (or they should). 

Themes are what your book is about — not the characters, the setting, or the literal events, but deeper than that. A theme is the central idea that your novel explores, such as power, family, or identity. Or it could be a state of being like loneliness or hope. Or free will vs. destiny or coming of age. 

Now that you’re in the room with authors who write in the same genre, look deeper for some similarities in tropes and themes. How and where do they sell their books? How do readers respond to them? 

3. Values and Personality

This is where things need to get really specific. Remember that list of core values you made? Of the authors you have zeroed in on, which appear to share your core values? I know this can be difficult to know based on their author branding, but in my experience, authors tend to speak out about the things that are important to them. How do they perform those values? Is it in their books? Do they write content around it? Do they share and discuss issues that test their values?

Next, observe their online personality. Are they informative? Fun? Combative and confrontational? Raunchy? Sweet? Friendly and optimistic? This is probably the most significant decision you need to make because no matter what you do, no matter the platform, this tone will need to be consistent across the board. My advice is not to put on a persona unless you can easily maintain it. I choose to just be me all the times, everywhere, which is informative, fun, sometimes raunchy, and friendly, but not afraid of confrontation when the situation calls for it.  Does my approach win me friends and influence people? Sometimes. 

It also tends to come with a bit of responsibility, so keep that in mind!

Targeting Your Ideal Reader:

Remember that game of cornhole?

This is when we perfect our underhanded toss and our follow-through so we can sink that bean bag.

Okay, maybe I’m riding that metaphor a little too hard. 

But now that we’ve defined what a target reader is, we need to find them and figure out how to craft an author brand they will be drawn to. 

We begin this process by using demographics and psychographics. 

Demographics: statical characteristics like age, gender, race, mobility, disabilities, employment/socioeconomic status.

Psychographics: our reader’s likes, dislikes, interests, and opinions.

Take a moment to think about the person you imagine will read your books. If you’re unsure who they are, use yourself as a template. Are they your age or older? Do they want to read about 20-somethings or “seasoned” characters? Do they have mental health struggles? Are they physically disabled and looking for a story featuring characters who look and live like them? Do they identify as trans, gay, or neurodivergent? Are they obsessed with plants? You’ll know you’ve found the right crowd when both the demographics and psychographics align. It will help you understand and meet the needs of your readership. 

Marketing and promotion are often framed as the author going out to hunt and trap the reader. It’s really the exact opposite. Our job as authors is to be so magnetic and attractive that readers will want to know us, love our work, and trust our authorial voice and any content we create. We do this by finding a commonality between who we are, what we like, and the interests of our ideal readers. 

Create Your Ideal Reader Profile

Using the insights from the previous steps, start crafting a detailed profile of your ideal reader. Consider aspects like age, interests, and reading habits.

TEMPLATE TO FIND YOUR IDEAL READER: romance reader:

Name: [Name your avatar]

Age: [Specify age, e.g., 30-45 years]

Occupation: [Describe the occupation, e.g., "High school English teacher"]

Location: [Mention where they live, e.g., "Suburban area, Midwest USA"]

Marital Status: [Single, Married, In a relationship, etc.]

Reading Preferences:

- Favorite Romance Genres: [E.g., Contemporary, Historical, Paranormal, etc.]

- Favorite Tropes: [E.g., Enemies to lovers, second chance romance, secret baby, etc.]

- Reading Habits: [E.g., Reads every night before bed, prefers eBooks/print books, member of a book club, etc.]

Personality Traits:

- Introverted/Extroverted

- Optimistic/Realistic

- Romantic/Cynical

Challenges and Desires:

- Personal Challenges: [E.g., Balancing work and personal life, looking for meaningful relationships, etc.]

- What They Seek in Romance Novels: [E.g., Escapism, emotional connection, happy endings, etc.]

Engagement with Authors:

- Follows Authors on Social Media: Yes/No

- Attends Book Signings and Events: Yes/No

- Participates in Online Book Communities: Yes/No

Values and Beliefs:

- Purchasing Habits: [E.g., Buys books on release day, waits for reviews, borrows from the library, etc.]

- Influences: [E.g., Book reviews, recommendations from friends, social media influencers, etc.]

Customize each section of this template to fit the specific characteristics of your ideal romance reader. This profile will help you understand their preferences, habits, and motivations, allowing you to create content that resonates with them and effectively target your marketing efforts.

Analyze Your Current Audience (if applicable): If you have published works or have an existing reader base, analyze who is currently drawn to your books. Look for patterns in demographics, feedback, and engagement to refine your understanding of your current and ideal reader.

Consider Where to Find Your Readers: Based on your ideal reader profile, think about where these readers are likely to spend their time, both online and offline. Are they active in certain social media groups, book clubs, or literary communities?

Craft Your Approach: Develop a strategy for how you will connect with these readers. What kind of content, promotions, or interactions might they respond to positively? How can you present your work in a way that aligns with their expectations and preferences?

Write a Detailed Description: Now, write a detailed description of your ideal reader, incorporating all the elements you've identified. This description should include demographic details, reading preferences, and where they can be found.

Reflect and Adjust: Reflect on whether this ideal reader aligns with the authorial self you discovered in the previous exercise. Are there adjustments you can make to better appeal to this reader without compromising your authenticity?

The book world is vast, and interests overlap! Find those spaces and begin to interact.

Observe how they talk and interact with each other. Tease out the things you can use to shape the forward-facing bits of your brand into something the reader would be drawn to. 

For example, I write Black and interracial romance that features characters who struggle with their mental health, everyday struggles related to their Blackness, and the need for intimacy, connection, and a significant other who can provide both with enthusiasm. Those intersections give me a lot of places to look for romance readers. Search for hashtags, communities, and conversations about the tropes, topics, and themes you regularly write about in your work. Use what you see there as a resource and inspiration when you begin to create content.

But before you do any of this… BE SOCIAL!

I know this is difficult for some of us, but you can’t build a solid brand without relationships. Now, remember that dreamy target reader we crafted a bit ago? Rewrite it to fit the info we’ve collected so far! Spend the rest of the week discovering who will buy your books and where you can find them.