Go ahead, make my day!

I recently got a lovely email from a reader telling me how much she loved my book, SEX, LIES & WEDDING BELLS. She mentioned details about the storyline and the characters and how following their relationship had been so enjoyable. It gave me such a great feeling that I felt an immediate boost in not only my mood but my enthusiasm to get back to work on one of my current writing projects. I have gotten similar comments about my writing before, including a number of readers who said they stayed up all night reading because they couldn't put the book down, even if they'd be tired at work. One reader told me she left work early one day to get home and finish the book! I cannot even put into words how flattered I felt that readers were re-organizing their schedules around reading my work! These uplifting comments made me wonder about how often other authors receive direct feedback from readers, and how they feel about the experience. I also wanted to discover if readers knew just how much we love getting those emails or letters!

To that end, I did an informal poll on my LiveJournal, asking both readers and writers about their "fan mail" experiences and found the results very interesting.

100% of writers told me they had received a letter from a reader telling them how much they enjoyed either a specific book, or that they loved the writer's work in general. The result? Every single author felt increased motivation and enthusiasm for their writing as well as the gratification of hearing directly from a reader. A couple of them got ideas for new stories and one found it an important way to find out what readers didn't like and take some constructive criticism.

Here are some of the writers' comments:
"Energized to write more. Grateful to be published. Humbled to be appreciated"
"Made my day/week/month."
"Fabulous. I love to hear from readers. I want to know what they like. Makes me very happy."
"It made me thrilled and pushed me to work even harder."

Look how easy that was to get your favorite writer to sit down at the keyboard and work even harder at their next release!

I also asked readers about their experiences with contacting authors. Only about 70% of readers said they'd ever directly contacted an author about a book. They mainly wrote to mention a specific book (76%) or general appreciation of a writers' body of work (54%), though several wrote to clarify something about a book or character, which means that even when readers are finished with a book, they are still thinking about the storyline and the characters. That's a great feeling for an author to realize that. We've lived and breathed along with our characters while we're writing, and the biggest compliment a reader can give us is to let us know that when you closed the book, you didn't just forget about the story we've told.

The age of the Internet and social networking has made it extremely easy for readers to get in touch with authors. Most readers found it easy enough to get a contact address/email address (85%), and most visited their favorite authors' websites (77%). About two-thirds of readers were more likely to contact e-pubbed authors than print authors, probably because more e-pubbed authors have an online presence and plenty of ways for someone to find them: websites, blogs, social networking, Twitter.

However, writers, it's a two-way street!One reader mentioned that some of the authors she contacted did not reply to her email. While that didn't put anyone on her "no-buy" list, she said that the ones who did respond had a fan for life and that the personal contact made her even more likely to read and recommend their future work.

Many of us get feedback and a certain degree of validation from reviews or royalty checks, but I know I'm not alone in the pleasure I get when discovering a reader's comments on sites like Goodreads.com or on Amazon. It's not quite the same as getting a letter, but it's the time when readers are telling others just why they liked a particular book, and they're also making a recommendation to anyone who might read their comments.

In sum, I'd just like to let readers know that for a writer, few things can beat a letter or email from their readers. I'd like to encourage everyone to take five minutes next time you read a book that you enjoyed, and jot down a couple of lines to let the author know, especially if you thought about the story long after you'd finished it. Feel free to find your favorite authors on Twitter or Facebook and leave a comment for them. You are guaranteed to make someone's day/week/month!

--EM Lynley

(If you'd like to add your own experiences, you can visit my LiveJournal page and take the poll. You can also contact me by email: em AT emlynley.com, or visit my website.)