It’s not about the number of friends or fans you have.
It’s not about yelling the loudest.
It’s not about biting your lip and engaging in self-promotion.
Audience development is about finding meaningful ways to find and connect with your readers, over the span of your career.
In my lunch talk at the 2013 Midwest Writers Workshop (20 minutes), I discuss my personal story of growing my readership, then share principles I follow to make it an enjoyable and sustainable process.
A fun place to start is about 4:20, where I show how much traffic my website received after I first launched it. To get straight to some practical tips, start at 13:00.
Jane Friedman (@JaneFriedman) has nearly 25 years of experience in the media & publishing industry. She is the publisher of The Hot Sheet, the essential newsletter on the publishing industry for authors, and was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World in 2019.
In addition to being a professor with The Great Courses (How to Publish Your Book), she is the author of The Business of Being a Writer (University of Chicago Press), which received a starred review from Library Journal.
Jane speaks regularly at conferences and industry events such as Digital Book World and Frankfurt Book Fair, and has served on panels with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Creative Work Fund. Find out more.