Engage your audience.

Sounds like a simple concept, doesn’t it?

Actually, it’s more simple than you realize. All writers seek to engage the readers and enmesh them in the stories we write. From the simplest short-stories to epic tales told over several volumes, we all seek to entertain and enthrall our audiences. There simply isn’t a greater hope for authors. If your stories don’t grab the reader’s attention, then you failed to deliver the images that you intended to convey.

But that’s an issue that concerns the products of our imaginations…our stories. What this article is intended to be about is after the story has been written. Engaging your audience as an author to both connect to them and to promote your work. Engaging means more than reading your work and sales. Actually, that’s only the beginning.

What I’m talking about is just as important. It’s how you engage your fans and future fans after the books are on the market. Be it through social media, printed articles, TV/Radio interviews, public appearances or book signings, how you present yourself and the things you say.

Content is the name of the game. Whether it be on social media (most likely) or whatever source you use to reach your readers, they like to hear from you. Try to share something, each day if you can. Now, I’m not saying to SPAM your feed with shameless plugs for your work or advertisements. That will turn people away from you just as fast as saying nothing. It’s a balancing act, to be sure.

I am certainly no expert on this subject. Heck, I’m still learning as I go. That’s the real challenge in life, isn’t it? To always keep learning. If you’re always learning, you’re always growing. That translates into every aspect of our lives. Live and learn. I’ll never allow myself to become convinced that I’m the foremost expert on anything. There’s always something new to learn.

Posts on Facebook are a great way to engage your audience. Be humorous, be silly, be truthful…but above all, be yourself. People can see right through you when you’re trying to be something you’re not. I post things that I find funny, write little informational posts about things featured in my books and feature links to other authors. Yeah, that’s what I said…OTHER authors.

Just because you read Stephen King doesn’t mean you can’t read my books, also. Too many authors seem to think that they can only succeed if others fail. That’s just not the case. Quite the opposite, actually. Encouraging people to read only helps all of us, in the end.

Writing is a journey that we all take together.

DA Roberts

The End is Only the Beginning