Think Like A Reader
Do you know how your readers habits?
Unless you are writing purely for yourself, in which case there is no point in publishing your work anyway, there comes a point when you need to think like a reader. So when where and how is your ideal reader reading?
Toilet Reads
My grandfather used to disappear into the toilet with a newspaper and a packet of cigarettes and was not seen again until an irate and desperate member of the family banged on the door shouting “How much longer are you going to be in there?” This was before broadsheet newspapers realised that they needed to adapt to their readers’ habits and shrunk to tabloid size. Shorter, snappier stories with more pictures that could be read in the time it takes to have a shit have always been the format of traditional tabloid newspapers in the UK.
Now we all read on phones but the same principle applies. Are your stories toilet reads or do they require a longer commitment and which do your readers want?
I find reading longer stories on a phone daunting. Small screens contain fewer words so the reading mountain I have to climb appears larger. I often read longer stories on my laptop but will only read books on a Kindle or similar and if given a choice have a preference for a ‘proper’ hard copy.
Stats for my website tell me that around two-thirds of my readers are using a desktop. Factors such as layout, search engines and demographics will influence this but I also write mid-length stories so many of my readers may have similar preferences to me.
I grew up reading books, there was no digital option so, to me, there is something comforting about a physical, paper book. It is not just that its batteries never go flat, there is that feeling of knowing exactly where you are in the reading process and, with the aid of a bookmark, you can open it up in the same place.
E-books will return you to the point you stopped reading and show you a percentage read but it is not quite the same as looking at the wad of pages still to read.
Is Length Important?
Chapters in modern books are often a lot shorter than they were in Dickens’ time. They are designed by many authors to accommodate our disjointed lives.
When reading longer stories on Substack or Medium it can be very difficult to stop and come back to the same place. The author has to strike a bargain with me; they have to convince me in the first paragraph or so that this story is going to be interesting enough for me to set aside time to read it.
Read more about story length.
Alternatively, they can spit the story into short sections or chapters and publish them as a series. Each of these needs to end with a question. In the past I have referred to these endings as ‘a cliff-hanger’ but it does not need to be that dramatic; a simple, what will the character do next, how will they react, what is around the corner, will keep the reader engaged?
If you put a question in the reader’s mind they will continue reading or bookmark your story to come back to it.
More about writing serial stories.
How Often Do I Do It?
Reading is like sex - some people like to do it every day, sometimes a quickie several times a day, others like to spend a bit longer doing it but only get the chance once or twice a week. Some couples plan date nights. The sense of anticipation becomes part of the enjoyment. This is what your readers need to feel about your stories.
When I settle down with a good book I do not want it to end. I want to know how the story ends, what is the resolution to the problems or questions the author has imposed on their characters, but if I am enjoying the experience I find my reading slows as I approach those final pages.
When the book is finished the natural thing to do, if I enjoyed the experience, would be to pick up another by the same author but I am fickle, promiscuous even. My mood changes Maybe now I want something rougher, more pacey or something new and challenging or slow and languid to sink into like a soft duvet.
Stellar authors publishing physical books have the advantage. Writing 50,000+ words, editing, compiling and producing each book takes time - around a year. Their legions of fans are slavering with expectation by the time it hits the shelves.
The rest of us, down here in the engine room feel the need to keep shovelling coal on the fire. The ship is going flat out. Many writers I follow produce so much content that I cannot keep up. When I look at their back catalogue of stories there are hundreds, sometimes even a thousand to choose from. My brain tells me that any writer who has knocked out several hundred stories in the space of a year cannot have put the same care and craft into every one. Yes, there will be gems in there somewhere but can I be bothered to sort through them (the answer is no).
Platforms like Medium and Substack do not help. They promote the latest new shiny thing and bury yesterday’s gold nuggets. If an author does not publish something regularly they drop off a reader’s radar.
This is probably influenced by search engine algorithms that are continually searching for the new and updated. New stuff equals hits, traffic and money flowing into the platform’s coffers - great for them, not so good for writers or readers looking for something published a few years ago.
Shakespeare last published 400 years ago and Dickens 150 years ago and neither has updated since then but we still read them.
Less well known authors can quickly vanish; even finding a list of who I subscribe to on Substack has taken a bit of searching and is non-existent on Medium (there is a list of the 700 I follow but it is not in alphabetical order - I know I can search but that requires me to remember the writers name and any quirky spellings they may have used).
Creating An Itch
Dianne Herbert is an example of an author who matches my reading tastes.
Dianne’s stories are always slightly wacky, slightly edgy and always erotic even though they do not always feature sex. Her back catalogue is about a hundred stories and they are often 15 - 20+ minute reads so they are not toilet reads. I have to make a commitment to read them.
She has not published anything on Medium for a while so the platform has blanked her and I have to search for her profile. Since I have read most of her existing stories the gap in her publishing is actually creating an itch in me to read something new of hers.
If you want to read an erotic series that creates a desire in the reader for the next episode or story that almost becomes a physical itch try Awakening The Innocent by H. Zilfiger. This series does this perfectly. Every episode is deliciously stimulating and then ends with a gasp, leaving the reader on a high and craving more.
Scratching the Itch
I get immersed in the stories I am writing just as if I was reading them. I find it very difficult to hop from story to story or subject to subject. I always have several projects bubbling away. When I get to the point where one of those stories grabs me and sucks me in then that is the one I concentrate on.
I aim to publish fairly regularly, usually an episode of a pre-written serial story once a week and a couple of other stories or articles every two weeks or so. I tend to read pieces by writers whose emails drop into my inbox once or twice a week or less. I also pick those who have created that itch to read their next story.
We are all different so examine your own reading habits and try and imagine those of your readers and work towards them.
A great instructional piece, Simone. I've profited from your advice on story length with my serialization efforts, at least as far as keeping the reader's attention at the front of my mind when I'm writing. It's something which comes with practice--the more you write and of course--read--the more you pick up in the way of how to economize on verbiage, how to police use of the passive, catch filter words, and other standard writing pitfalls, which sometimes can't be avoided, but only minimized. My difficulty has always been keeping the irrelevant out of the story--sometimes known as "info dumping" or just getting distracted or generating useless filler (I've found that I've cut out PAGES of this stuff). Sometimes the stuff you generate is useful later on--another writer's primary maxim should be "never throw out ANYTHING you write down." But it's hard staying focused sometimes on the matter at hand, again dependent largely on the genre and context probably--and again, your level of experience.
As for reading, it's a must for a writer--another prime maxim--I read often inside my genre--pulp detective stuff, action, action-adventure graphic novels, erotica, and of course, craft books. But I've been a lifelong voracious reader, so I mix the "writing" reading in with about 4 or 5 other books I've usually got going during any given week. Sometimes I'll put a book down and pick it up weeks or months later (for instance, I picked up "The Brothers Karamazov" for the umpteenth time--big Dostoevsky fan--a couple of months back and got to the part where Fyodor is murdered, then for some reason moved off to something else--this week I picked it up and I'm almost finished), or an issue I get fascinated with will attract my attention and I'll read a few books on that. Whatever I read, it's always profitable, whatever it is.