The Writers Bridge | Your Ideal Readers with Jessica Berg
October 27 @ 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm EDT
“Everyone will love this book” is not a marketing plan.
Agents ask who your book is for. So do editors, publicists and the algorithms behind every online bookstore. “Readers who love great stories” isn’t enough.
Your ideal reader isn’t a guess or a demographic box you tick on a form. It’s a specific person with a specific inner life: what they worry about, what they wish someone would say out loud, which books are already on their nightstand, and where they spend their time online. Once you know that person, it gets easier to write your query letter, pick your comp titles, decide which platform to show up on first and choose your book’s keywords.
In this special work-along session, we talk with literary agent Jessica Berg about how professionals actually do reader research and the resources you need.
- Read comp-title reviews like data, finding what reviewers reveal about themselves, not just about the book
- Listen in where your readers gather, on Reddit, in Facebook groups and on Goodreads shelves, and turn their language into your pitch
- Tell “also shelved with” from true query comps, and why you need both
- Find the gap in your category that your book fills, stated in a sentence an agent will believe
- Turn reader research into a primary benefit, an emotional promise and purchase triggers you can use in your query, jacket copy and marketing
Everyone who registers gets our free DIY Ideal Reader Research Guide, a section-by-section walkthrough of the same research, with the tools and sources for each step. Fair warning: done thoroughly by hand, it’s a 44–70 hour project. But we’ll also show you how our Ideal Reader Analyzer can build the same persona, comp list and marketing roadmap in about two minutes, for writers who’d rather spend those hours writing–and give you a huge discount to try it out.
Join us TUESDAY October 27 at 1PM EASTERN / 10AM PACIFIC – live and FREE on Zoom, all welcome!
Our special guest
Jessica Berg is a literary agent, author, and the founder of Rosecliff Literary. She loves stories that explore grief, longing, ambition, and survival and the complicated ways they intersect.
She earned her MFA from Spalding University and contributes regularly to Writer’s Digest. Jessica serves on the boards of the Women’s National Book Association and the Historical Novel Society, and teaches nationally on querying, comp titles, and the business of authorship, with a focus on building sustainable, long-term writing careers. Her client list includes Vincent Zandri, Lisa Roe, Arizona Bell, and others..
Join your hosts Allison K Williams (SEVEN DRAFTS), Sharla Yates (CRAFT TALKS) and our special guest for a head start on your proposal, your launch and your marketing plans.
FREE, all welcome! Sign up to receive the Zoom link the day before.
Enjoy past recorded sessions here
Closed captioning is available. ✔
All registrants receive the recording. ✔
ABOUT YOUR PRESENTERS
Allison K Williams has edited and coached authors to publishing deals with Penguin Random House, Knopf, Mantle, St. Martin’s Press, and numerous small presses. An expert in author marketing and community building, her platform includes the Brevity Blog (80k+ followers), Instagram (10k+), a mailing list (12k+), and Facebook (5k+), with publications in the New York Times and appearances on NPR and CBC. Her bestselling writing craft book is Seven Drafts: Self-Edit Like a Pro from Blank Page to Book. She leads the Rebirth Your Book writing retreats and co-hosts The Writers Bridge.
Sharla Yates is the author of the poetry chapbook What I Would Say if We Were to Drown Tonight, published by Stranded Oak Press (2017). She hosts a webinar series, CRAFT TALKS for writers on writing, and co-hosts The Writers Bridge with Allison K Williams. Her nonfiction essay, “Address” was a finalist for the 2015 Columbia Journal writing contest and the 2016 Penelope Niven Creative Nonfiction Award. She is the former Director of Education at the Creative Nonfiction Foundation and teaches creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh.
Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com
