Finding Your First Readers
Your first readers won’t come from everywhere. They will come from somewhere in particular, one at a time.
About 8 minutes to read
Writing a book and finding readers for it are different skills, and the second makes many writers uneasy. It helps to think of it not as selling yourself but as introducing a book to the people most likely to be glad of it. That is a smaller, more specific task than reaching everyone, and a more achievable one.
This guide covers the first steps: who the book is for, how to say what it is about, how to present yourself, how to use sample chapters and early readers, how to share a book, and how to build relationships with the readers you find. Nobody can promise numbers, and this guide doesn’t. What it offers is a way to begin that respects both your readers and your book.
Who is the book for?
“Everyone” is not an answer. Picture one particular reader: how old they are, what they read last month, what they hope to feel when they open a book like yours. A memoir about caring for a parent with dementia is for people living through it, people who have lived through it, and perhaps people who work with them. A funny fantasy for ten-year-olds is for ten-year-olds, and for the adults who choose their books.
Then think about where that reader already is: which bookshops, libraries, groups, schools, clubs, websites or newsletters they trust. First readers are usually found through places and people that already have a relationship with them.
A good tool is to find two or three recently published books your imagined reader enjoyed. They tell you what readers will expect, and where readers of such books gather.
Saying what the book is about
You will need to describe your book at several lengths: a single sentence, for conversations and introductions; a short description of a paragraph or two, the kind that appears on a back cover or a book’s page; and now and then a longer synopsis, for publishers or agents.
For fiction, a short description usually follows a simple pattern: who the character is, what situation they are in, what they want or must do, and what makes it hard, ending on the question rather than the answer. For nonfiction, it says who the book is for, what problem or question it addresses, what the reader will gain, and why you are the person to write it.
Don’t summarise the whole plot, and don’t give away the ending. A description is an invitation, not a report.
Your public profile as an author
Readers who enjoy a book often want to know who wrote it. A short author biography works best when it is relevant and human: what connects you to this book, one or two specific details, and nothing that reads like a CV. Write it in the third person if it will appear on a cover, and in the first person if it will appear on your own page.
Choose the name you will publish under and use it consistently. A pen name is entirely legitimate, whether for privacy, to keep different kinds of books apart, or simply because you prefer it.
In Ideoria, the author name you set in your profile is offered whenever you prepare a version of a book. When a book of yours is in the public library, readers can open your author page, which shows that name, a few words about you if you choose to add them, and your picture only if you turn it on.
Sample chapters and early readers
The first chapter, or the first few, is the most effective thing you can share. It lets a reader experience your voice instead of hearing about it. Make sure it is some of the best writing in the book, because it is the only part many people will read before deciding.
Early readers, who read the whole book shortly before or after it comes out, are valuable twice over: they tell you how the book lands, and if they love it, they tell other people. Choose them for fit, not for number. Ten readers who belong to your audience are worth more than a hundred who don’t.
Be clear about what you are asking for: honest reactions, a short review, a word to a friend. Make it easy to say no. And respect your own work: share unpublished drafts only with people you trust.
Sharing a book
Sharing a book privately and putting it in public are different things. A private link lets you decide who receives it, though anyone who has it can pass it on. A public listing lets readers you have never met find it. Many writers begin with the first and move to the second when the book is ready.
In Ideoria you publish a prepared version of a book, never the manuscript you are still writing: either through a link you share, which isn’t listed anywhere, or in the public library, where anyone can find and read it without an account. Signed-in readers can give it a heart, keep it on their reading shelf, comment on the book as a whole and report anything that doesn’t belong. You can take the book down at any time, which ends the link and the listing, though it can’t undo what a reader has already copied.
Writing on after you publish changes nothing your readers see. To show them a revised book, prepare a new version and publish it in place of the old one.
Building relationships with readers
Relationships with readers are built the way any relationship is: slowly, honestly and with attention. Thank people who take the time to read and respond. Answer questions. Share something of how the book was made if readers are curious.
Don’t argue with reviews or comments, even unfair ones. A reader’s experience of your book belongs to them. If a comment on your book is abusive or doesn’t belong, set it aside rather than replying to it.
If you want to stay in touch with readers between books, a simple mailing list or a regular post wherever your readers already are is often worth more than chasing every new platform. Ideoria doesn’t run mailing lists or advertising on your behalf; those choices, and the readers’ trust that comes with them, are yours.
Independent publishing: what to weigh
If you publish on your own, you take on a publisher’s decisions. Some of the most important:
- Editing and design. A professionally edited text and a cover that suits its genre make more difference to readers than almost anything else you can pay for.
- Identifiers and formats. An ISBN for each format you sell through shops, issued by your country’s ISBN agency, and a decision about e-book, print or both.
- Printing. Print on demand saves storing copies but costs more per book; printing a run lowers the cost of each copy but needs money up front and room for the boxes.
- Distribution and price. Where readers will buy the book, what each channel keeps, and what price your genre and length can carry.
- Time. Publishing well takes months of work beyond the writing. Plan for it rather than discovering it.
Be wary of services that promise results: bestseller status, thousands of readers, guaranteed reviews. Nobody can guarantee how a book will be received.
An example: describing a book
Here is a description of the novel from the first guide, about the key cutter, first as many writers draft it and then revised.
Ezra is a seventy-one-year-old key cutter whose wife died last year. When the market where he has worked for forty years is about to be demolished, he finds a key in her coat and starts looking for the door it opens. He meets a rival key cutter, an old neighbour, and his daughter, who wants him to move in with her. In the end he discovers that his wife had a secret flat where she painted, and he decides to…
It summarises everything, ending included, and leaves the reader no question. The revision:
For forty years Ezra has cut keys for strangers. Now the market is about to be torn down, and in his late wife’s coat pocket he finds a key he has never seen. With a month to clear his stall and a daughter urging him to let go, Ezra sets out to find the door it opens, and to learn what kind of stranger he was married to.
The revision gives the character, the situation, the goal, the pressure and the question, and then it stops. A one-sentence version for conversations might be: “A widowed key cutter finds a key he can’t place, and has a month to find its door.”
Common mistakes
- Aiming at everyone. A message for everyone reaches no one in particular. Start with the readers most likely to care.
- Giving away the ending. A description should make people want to read, not spare them the trouble.
- Sharing unfinished work too widely. First impressions last. Share early drafts with a few readers you trust, and the finished book with the world.
- Asking strangers for favours. Readers respond to a book that suits them, not to requests. Offer something worth reading.
- Rewriting for every comment. Listen for patterns, not for every voice.
- Expecting quick numbers. First readers arrive slowly. A handful of real readers is a real beginning.
Exercise: three descriptions
Write three short texts about your book, or about the one you are writing now.
- One sentence of no more than twenty-five words that says who, what, and why it matters.
- A description of about one hundred and twenty words that ends on a question, not an answer.
- An author biography of about fifty words that connects you to this book.
- Show all three to two people who haven’t read the book. Ask what kind of book they think it is, and whether they would read the first page. Revise with their answers in mind.
In short
Readers are found by being specific: about who the book is for, about what it promises, and about where those readers already are. Share your best pages first, ask for honest reactions, treat readers with respect, and be suspicious of anyone who promises results.
From here to the page
When a version of your book is ready, you can share it by link or place it in the public library, and set up the author page readers will find beside it. To see how other writers present their books, browse the library.
You’ll sign in first, and go straight on from there.