As indie authors, you wear many hats — from writing to publishing to promoting our work.
But before launching flashy campaigns or paid promotions, it’s vital to lay solid groundwork by gathering insights directly from your most important community — readers. Too often, many of us try running before walking. But by taking a ground-up approach and turning market research into a collaborative effort, you can organically build the foundations for long-term marketing success.
And in this blog, we’ll look at how to form your community that goes beyond professional help and actually strike a chord with like-minded authors.
Where Can You Find Your Community?
Online Communities:
- Goodreads: Search genre terms and your book’s keywords to find active Goodreads groups. Follow discussions to get a feel for each group’s tone and level of engagement. Make a note of the top groups to focus on.
- Subreddits: Browse writing and genre-specific subreddits like /r/writing, /r/fantasy, etc. Again, observe discussions for a week before participating to understand the subreddit culture.
- Facebook Groups: Search Facebook for genre-focused author and reader groups. As with other platforms, take time to lurk and evaluate discussion quality within potential groups.
- Writing Blogs & Forums: Sites like Writers.com and Scribophile host writing communities with forums, workshops and feedback threads. Sign up to familiarize yourself.
- AllAuthor: At AllAuthor, you can leverage the Author Pool, explore various authors, and connect with like-minded ones to form your own community.
- Bookstagram: Follow relevant hashtags like #bookstagram to find author and reader accounts discussing your genre. Look for opportunities to engage thoughtfully.
Local Opportunities:
- Libraries: Check your local library’s events calendar for writing workshops, author talks or book clubs you could attend.
- Cafes & Bookstores: Many independent shops host recurring writing groups or book launch events. Contact them to get involved.
- Conferences: Search for upcoming writing and publishing conferences in your region where you can network face-to-face.
How to Connect with Your Community from Ground-Up
Once you have identified a few communities where you’re comfortable participating, here are a few things you can do to genuinely form connections for mutual benefit.
Connect Where Readers Already Gather
Rather than working in a silo, connect with readers where they already congregate online. Goodreads, genre-specific subreddits, and Facebook groups are virtual hubs where your target audience gathers to discuss books, share recommendations, and get questions answered by indie-authors and fellow fans. Start by posing thoughtful, open-ended questions to spark meaningful discussions.
Seek to Understand Through Qualitative Insights
Seek first to understand qualitative perspectives, not just surface stats. Actively listen without pushing sales or promos so early on. Thank each contributor individually for building goodwill.
Nurture one-on-one connections in these foundation-laying phases rather than seeing readers as mere clicks or conquests. Their lived experiences within the genre are invaluable market intelligence from cultivating care, not just curiosity.
Map the Terrain Through Collaboration
Rather than making assumptions in a vacuum, leverage the collective experiences of readers and fellow indie-authors within your niche. Partner with several indie writers crafting similar stories. Collaborate in analyzing the genre’s current landscape through the crowdsourced lens — popular tropes, cover trends, top review sites, or bookstagram hashtags. Note subgenres or themes with the most white space opportunity. By pooling insights, a more straightforward strategic map of the territory emerges.
Lay Foundations with Writing Groups
With foundational understanding established, work with writing accountability groups to strengthen early drafts, flesh out book descriptions, and build author brand identities grounded in community feedback. Provide critique swaps and proofreads, and share promotion tips tailored to your niche. The collaborative editing process sparks fresh ideas that may not surface alone. These roots of mutual support will yield fruits as your community spreads the word once launch day arrives.
Continue nurturing roots by organizing virtual launch parties. On Facebook Live or Instagram, interview fellow indie-authors about their writing journeys. Share industry tips or discuss common struggles to foster an encouraging atmosphere. Take live questions from attendees to further qualitatively understand your readership. Curate thoughtful discussions that generate value first and promotion second. Listen for nuanced perspectives that strengthen future works.
Host Engaging Virtual Events
As much as you benefit from the community, it’s essential to give back and find ways to engage with your readers and gather feedback on your work. One effective strategy is to host online focus groups at regular intervals. You can choose to use platforms like Clubhouse, which provides a supportive space for readers to discuss big themes or topics from your backlist.
Events establish your expertise while fostering connections in a low-pressure space. Maintain transparency about your author brand, but focus on serving others through insightful discussions. Promote events respectfully through community posts and your author newsletter. Encourage members to invite friends. During the event, maintain an interactive dialogue and record discussions for those unable to attend live.
Some event ideas include:
- Live Storytimes: Read excerpts from your work-in-progress and get live feedback to strengthen your draft.
- Writing Sprints: Host collaborative writing sessions on platforms like Discord or Google Docs where members work together.
- Author Interviews: Speak with published indie authors about their journeys and share insights for aspiring writers.
- Book Clubs: Lead virtual discussions of prominent titles in your genre where members can exchange perspectives.
- Q&A Panels: Gather a group of indie-authors/editors and take live questions from the community.
To ensure the conversation stays productive, you should moderate the discussion and keep it focused on the topics at hand. Encourage readers to share their thoughts and ideas, and use note-taking tools to capture key insights from the discussion.
These insights can be incredibly valuable in shaping your future work. They can help you identify areas where you excel, as well as areas where you could improve. By listening to your readers and learning from their feedback, you can create work that resonates even more deeply with your audience.
Maintain an Open Dialogue
As you continue to develop your author platform and grow your following, staying engaged with your readership is important. One way to do this is by periodically sharing chapter samples or cover mockups for additional feedback between releases. This not only helps you maintain an open dialogue with your audience, but it also ensures that your marketing efforts stay aligned with shifting reader interests over the long haul.
By sharing chapter samples, you can also give your readers a taste of what’s to come in your next book release and generate excitement for your work. Additionally, by sharing cover mockups, you can get valuable feedback on the visual representation of your book and ensure that it appeals to your target audience.
The Power of Community-Centered Marketing
In an age of shiny fleeting clicks, grounding efforts in genuine community is the surest path to sustainable growth and loyal readership.
Making community engagement a priority from the ground up through respect, knowledge-sharing and personal investment is key to any indie author’s long-term success. Listen to understand qualitative perspectives before promoting yourself. Provide value through insights, resources and virtual events that serve others. Nourish roots before reaping the rewards by collaborating with readers and fellow travelers.
By prioritizing authentic connections over short-term gains, you transform communities from marketing tools into collaborative creative networks. Nurture these relationships, and they become advocates empowering your career organically for years to come. Most importantly, remain genuine in all interactions and actually form connections that go beyond professional gain, and you’ll notice how naturally it makes a difference.
In an increasingly noisy media landscape, community-centered authors are trusted guides nurturing readers at every step of the creative journey.
