Connect well with friends in real life as you also seek to connect well via writing and other media.

As all of life tends to slow down a little for the summer, there’s no better time to equip your readers with content that can move and shape them. Books are the perfect answer to an unplugged vacation, and a focus on summer reading for kids can mean building daily habits that center around reading good books for them, which in turn gives parents time to jump into books as well. As always, our goal with getting more people reading is so that more hearts might be changed by God. A worthy goal for this summer is to make your message discoverable so those readers might pick up a book to find encouragement in their walk with Christ or even discover Him for the first time.

5 Ways to Engage Readers Throughout the Spring and into the Summer:

1. Offer great content to your email list.
   The best content is centered on similar concepts that are found within your book so that you can point to the book as a place to continue to read. Email is the fastest point of contact for readers, and providing them with content they can read on the fly will keep your book top of mind. (If you don’t have an email list and would like us to help set one up, contact your editor. They can point you to the right person.)
2. Be faithful to continue to produce quality content.
   Online traffic tends to wane a bit during the summer, but don’t let that convince you to slow down in the way you share with your readers. Avoid the need to restart the momentum in the fall by continuing to provide great content.
   Don’t let social media be a one-way conversation.
3. Readers love to hear for you personally, and social media is a great way to engage with individuals.
   Don’t view social media as a microphone on a stage in front of thousands of people. Instead, view it as a conversation among friends in a small coffee shop. Engage as you can with replies to your posts, and also reply to posts from others from time to time.
4. Produce quality images for your content.
   Stats show that content with great images get more attention. As readers are traveling, figuring out what to do with kids who are out for summer, and spending more time outside, their time with a phone in their hand surfing the internet will lessen. Make sure you have the best images so that when your readers are on their phones, your content catches their eye.
5. Quick videos with quality content will garner the most engagement on social media.
   By utilizing Facebook Live, Instagram videos, and Twitter’s support of video, those posting videos are getting a bump in the relevancy and ranking algorithms of these social networks, making their content more visible and longer lasting. Test out video messages with teaching content, quick tips, quick life updates, and more to see what might work with your audience.

Spring and summer are the perfect time to experiment with ways to broaden your audience, thereby getting the message God has given you to more people, which is certainly what we want. Most importantly, don’t get caught up in figuring out how to best “market” your content though. Obey God with your content and the way you share it. Be genuine. Be humble. Be content with where God has placed you to serve. Continue your focus on ministering to your readers to the best of your ability through the power of the Lord and you’ll be on track, no matter what outlet you choose.