Writing a book is one of the most daunting processes. It demands a lot of dedication, motivation, and commitment to develop a great book in a certain genre. Of course, the market is very competitive, and the stakes are high.
In an ideal world, your well-crafted words would be enough to engage a potential reader. However, the reality is far from it. An author must take many additional steps to ensure their book reaches the right readers and gets the acclamation it deserves.
Yes, the whole process can be intimidating and exhausting at several steps. All you need is consistency and dedication because seeing your hard work being adored and acknowledged by your readers can be a rewarding experience for any author.
Here are a few steps that can help you increase your book’s engagement for the readers.
1. Know Your Audience
Every author works in a certain genre to engage people with similar interests. These interests can help you mold your book according to the reader’s preferences. Hence, you are likely to engage more readers if you keep your audience in consideration while reading a book.
For example, you already know a lot about your audience if you write a self-help book. You can figure out that your audience is young, optimistic, and ready for change through research and observation. It may not seem like a lot, but this information can help you nudge your book in the right direction.
On the contrary, a lack of knowledge about your audience will restrict you from reaching out to the right people. You may keep shooting arrows in the dark in hopes of something good, and it’s not the best idea to leave your hard work on luck.
Calculated steps can define your work’s success. Of course, knowing your audience is one of the big steps on this journey. So, it’s best to start your work here.
2. Edit Thoroughly
One of the worst fears of every author is getting to know that their work has been published without any mistakes. These mistakes can be as minor as grammatical errors and may even be as major as factual inconsistency. They can lead to a bad image for you as an author.
Of course, you do not want to seem careless to your readers. Therefore, it is important to edit your work ruthlessly to avoid any mistakes. It is best to ensure that you revise your work several times to minimize mistakes and inconsistencies in your work.
Yes, it can be hard for a creator to see an error in their own creation. That is why you can also consider hiring the services of an editor. Professional editors have years of experience in the field and can help you increase the readability of your book.
3. Pick a Cover Design Wisely
Someone may have told you not to judge a book by its cover at least once in your lifetime. Yet, it is one of the hardest things to do. After all, appearances matter at the end of the day, and you cannot deny this fact at any cost.
That is why authors worldwide focus on a good book cover design in addition to putting effort into their words. After all, a good book cover design can attract anyone from aisles away and is your key to attracting potential readers.
You can also share a synopsis of your work with a few professional book cover designers. Once you hear back from these book cover designers, you can go on to weigh the pros and cons and further reduce to list to find your right match.
4. Focus on the Opening Line
An author cannot rely on the book cover alone to do the trick. After a potential reader gets impressed by your book cover, they will flip open your book to see what is inside. Of course, they cannot read the book in one go, but they will surely want to see how your book starts.
If your opening line is unable to engage the reader, they may put your book back on the shelf and move on. Therefore, you need to pay special attention to your opening line to ensure that the reader is unable to leave without your book.
Remember that your book’s first lines do not have to begin with long descriptions. Instead, you can start in the middle of the story to spark curiosity in the reader’s mind. This part of your book is ideal for describing the tone and theme of your book.
5. Avoid Predictability
The predictability and monotony of life are already too much to handle for people. It is one of the main reasons that people turn to books to break this monotony. Of course, they will not enjoy your work if it continues the same monotony.
Every reader can agree that they hate monotony in their books. They prefer spending their time and energy in a book that is filled with surprises, twists, and unexpected turns. Otherwise, your work can never gain recognition.
Therefore, it must be every author’s best effort to make their work unique and interesting for the reader. Give your characters a strong story, add layers to your plot, and you can also ask your editor for help in this endeavor.
6. Translate Your Work
Every author dreams of their work to reach out to as many readers as possible. They want their word to transcend all boundaries. Unfortunately, language is one of the biggest boundaries that can limit your work from being pursued worldwide.
As a reader, you can understand that every reader matters regardless of the boundaries of language and culture. All of them are an important part of your fan base. Therefore, it is important to get your work translated into other famous languages.
Translated works increase your chances of getting in touch with a global audience. Translating your works also tells your audience that you care about them. You can also connect with your audience worldwide throughout the world through your author website.
