Narelle here. Back in July we set up a Reader Engagement Survey to learn more about how you’d like to connect with us. The poll results can be viewed here.
According to the poll results, our typical Inspy Romance blog reader most likely discovered us via Facebook. They have been visiting Inspy Romance for more than one year, and they read the blog posts most days via a daily blog post email or a Facebook link. If they use social media, Facebook is their favorite platform and they probably follow us on Facebook and have joined, or are thinking about joining, our Christian Romance Reader Gathering Facebook Group. They prefer to chat and connect with us via the blog post comments or on Facebook in either Christian Romance Reader Gathering or our Facebook Page posts.
Does this snapshot of our typical reader sound like you?
Today we’re going to talk about the content of our Inspy Romance blog posts. We encourage our Inspy Romance authors to share posts that fit into a range of categories. The post categories can be searched on our blog page.
We all have different tastes and preferences, and it’s not easy to cater for everyone. Authors will talk about connecting with their ‘target audience of readers’ precisely because everyone is not going to like every book. What’s my reading pleasure could be your reading poison, or vice versa.
I personally love reading and writing book recommendations. Give me a review/recommendation over a book excerpt any day because I’m interested in knowing how the reader felt while reading the book. Was it a positive or negative reading experience? Did the book inspire and encourage them in their faith journey? Was it a light and entertaining escapist read or an emotionally-charged and heartfelt heavier read?
I also enjoy character interviews and behind the scenes peeks into the story. Those bonus extras can be intriguing and may inspire me to check out the book.
Real life posts from our Inspy Romance authors, where we gain an insight into both their triumphs and struggles, are posts I always like to read. I like seeing the wedding anniversary and family and vacation photos.
I like reading posts that transport me to a different part of the world where I can learn and experience new things. I also like discussion posts where relevant issues related to reading or writing inspy romance are raised by the author of the post. I enjoy the occasional guest blog post where we have an opportunity to discover and meet new authors and reconnect with visiting author friends.
My questions for you, our valued reader friends, are below. Please feel free to pick and choose which questions you’d prefer to answer in a blog post comment. Or, you can answer all of the questions. We value and appreciate your feedback.
- Ignoring giveaways in posts (which we all love!), what are your favorite types of posts?
- What type or style of posts would you like to see more of on our blog?
- Are there any particular types of posts that you don’t care for as a reader? Do you skim these posts, or ignore the posts, or set them aside to read later?
- If you answered yes to Question 3, is it because they’re not your favorite type of posts, or you’ve read too many of these posts lately, or is there another reason?
- Which types of posts are your favorite to comment on? Does the type or style of post influence your willingness to chat in the comments with both the author of the post and other readers?
- Our goal at Inspy Romance is to build a community of authors and readers who share a love for contemporary Christian romance books. Do you have any thoughts on how we are doing? Are there ways we could improve your experience and make you feel more like a valued member of our Inspy Romance community?
A fun loving Aussie girl at heart, Narelle Atkins was born and raised on the beautiful northern beaches in Sydney, Australia. She has settled in Canberra with her husband and children. A lifelong romance reader, she found the perfect genre to write when she discovered inspirational romance. Narelle's contemporary stories of faith and romance are set in Australia and international locations.
Hi Narelle, hope you are getting some rain your way:) I thoroughly enjoy reading the blog posts here- and I try to read each evening, so get to read a variety of posts. I enjoy reviews, learning more about the authors and their inspiration, character interviews…I guess I just like to read!!:) The thing I most appreciate is that you all take the time to respond to our comments- that is pretty amazing given how busy everyone gets. I also really appreciate reading comments from others who respond and love learning more about different parts of the world. Keep it up:)
Blessings:)
Good morning, Narelle! Thank you for your questions and interest in what we all want to see! I am pretty much like you, I love the reviews much more than the excerpts (scroll past a lot of them) and adore learning about all of you authors and your personal lives! I feel as though I have been on vacation with Valerie Comer and able to enjoy it all without the camping part…hahaha! This blog makes the readers feel like we become friends with you amazing authors!!
Thank you ALL for your time and effort in making this blog my first read every morning!!
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Forgot to mention, I also enjoy reading the comments from everyone else….!!
Hi Narelle! Inspy Romance is my favorite blog and I enjoy the variety of posts. My favorite posts are those that ASK a QUESTION of the reader, whether about reading preferences or life; because as a reader it is interesting to read the various responses. I enjoy reading about new books and series, the writing process, travelogs with pictures, and learning more about our authors’ lives. I agree with Wemble, I enjoy that the authors take time to respond to the readers’ comments. My least favorite posts are book excerpts and lengthy posts. As an Oma, I have about 30 minutes in the morning before the brood of grandkids start arriving. The 21 month old does not time to read, not alone write a coherent response. Looking forward to reading responses. Best wishes.
Morning! I’m not sure I have a favorite type of posts. I do enjoy cover reveals and character interviews. I’ll read an author interview if it is different than the usual Q&A or if the questions are out of the box. Hope that helps!
Hi Wemble, Unfortunately it’s still very dry here. We had a little bit of rain, but not as much as they’re getting further north. Have you had much rain?
It’s nice how the blog posts arrive in the evening for those of us who live downunder. I agree, our authors do an amazing job of checking in and replying to all the comments, and I love seeing our readers chatting with each other, too. Thanks for your feedback. Blessings :)
Hi Paula, Yes, I love seeing Valerie’s vacation photos, too. One day I’ll visit Canada (the closest I’ve gotten is visiting the Peace Arch in WA and waving at Canada across the road, lol). The friendships that we have here are special. I’m so glad you read our posts first each morning! Thanks for your feedback. :)
Agreed! The conversations are fun! :)
Hi Renate, Yes, asking a question for our readers to answer in each post is very important. I enjoy reading everyone’s responses, and I’ll often gain a different perspective on the discussion topic. I will confess I do tend to skim or skip excerpts, especially the long ones. The exception is when the author has shared something special and intriguing about the story first that inspires me to learn more about the story. Your mornings would be busy once your grandkids arrive. Thanks for your feedback. :)
Hi Toni, The cover reveals are fun, especially if they include teasers and little snippets about the story. I like to read the Q&A’s that have a unique spin on the stock standard author interview questions. They can be hard to find. Thanks for your feedback. :)
I think my favorite kind of post is the background on why a story got written. I also enjoy the character interviews (and have saved some of the links to go back and read again later). I like reading about the author’s personal life and activities. I’ll read some excerpts if I’m thinking about possibly purchasing a book. I do enjoy it when an author comments on my comments :-) Overall, I think you all do a great job!
I’ve loved getting to know many of our regular commenters a bit, too. Everyone’s lives are different, and I find it both fun and fascinating!
Hahaha, and our camping is pretty luxurious these days with a camping trailer instead of tents! The trip I’m chronicling in Sunday Editions this month was more of a “haul your own café and hotel room” adventure than camping. ;)
The background or inspiration posts are my favorite too! These tidbits bring such richness into the stories.
I don’t know that I have a favorite type of post, though I do love cover reveals, book snippets. Questions asked sometimes I don’t remember anything in particular, so don’t answer those.
It is very hard to please everyone, I’m sure! My favorites are the ones where an author shares something about their life – as in a funny happening, candid moment or cool thing they saw. I like shorter ones because with homeschooling 4 minions I don’t have time to read long posts. I do save some for later (weekends when I get some quiet time). I’m never quick to comment, but do a lot of reading. Other ones that interest me are the reasons behind a scene or setting in a book – like if an author visited that place and gives us the inside scoop or details about what it really was like. An author’s fun stories of growing up or a certain moment in childhood are fun. I guess I like to know an author is a real person and has a life like me! :)
Okay, here’s my mini-blog post in response: ;)
My favorite types of posts are discussion questions. Like this one. Something that requires me to take action and respond. I also like cover reveals and behind-the-scenes into the author’s decisions.
I would like to see more polls and asking opinions.
I don’t care for posts that describe what the author did last weekend or where they got to travel to (if it doesn’t have a direct bearing on their book) or what they did with their grandchildren. There are so many authors on here that I can’t keep track of each one.
I just ignore these kinds of posts now. I delete the email and never click, because I’m not interested. It’s not a good use of my valuable time.
Ways you could improve my experience and make me feel more like a valued member of the community include 1-responding to comments individually somehow (in an email would be preferable) and 2-focusing on one author at a time. 1- There are so many comments (and many are just, “Thanks for the giveaway!”) that I don’t ever click to notify me by email, or else my inbox overflows and stresses me out. Maybe you could send everybody to a survey by Survey Monkey or a poll in a Facebook group so that you can reply to thoughtful comments without blowing up every commenter’s inbox. 2- I know this might be feasible for every author, but I would like to focus on one author for a week at a time. They could work ahead and schedule something (so they never run out of things to say) for each day of the week so I can feel like I get to know them better. Half the time when I get a new email about another post, I’m wondering, “Okay, which author was this again?”
Hope this is helpful.
Hi Margaret, The character interviews are fun to reread when the book finally reaches the top of my tbr list. The story inspiration posts are fascinating, and I like hearing the special behind the scenes insights into the story. Thanks for your feedback. :)
I love how we all live in different parts of the world and share a common interest in loving to read and talk about contemporary Christian romance. :)
Hi Andrea, I know what you mean about the questions. Sometimes when I post I’ll ask a couple of questions connected to different aspects of my post to provide more scope for discussion. The reader then has an opportunity to answer the question that’s most relevant to them and their situation. An example is when I’m posting on Australia. I know many of our US readers don’t travel overseas for various reasons. Therefore, asking a question like ‘Where would you like to vacation in Australia?’ is not relevant to them. But if I asked ‘Where would you like to armchair visit in Australia in a contemporary Christian romance?’ I’m more likely to connect with the majority of our blog readers. There are also likely to be readers who don’t care for books set in Australia, and a second question in the post gives them an opportunity to comment on a slightly different topic.
Hi Susan, yes, shorter posts tend to be better. There are a few popular blogs that I rarely read because the posts are so long. I’d rather an author split their long post into 2 or 3 posts, labelled part 1 etc. I can reread their older posts later to refresh my memory. The real life posts can be fun to read. Thanks for your feedback. :)
Hi Lila, Yes, I agree, the discussion posts are fun. We tend to do more polls in our Christian Romance Reader Gathering Facebook Group than on the blog – one reason being that’s it’s logistically easier to run polls in the Facebook Group environment. We can definitely look into doing more Polls here – and an advantage of the blog polls is the poll feedback from readers is anonymous.
I will get back to you later today (it’s morning here in Australia) on your other comments. I personally don’t follow blogs via email and I’ll check in with the Admin Team on how that works with receiving comments via email etc.
If you click on our Author Profiles in the ‘Authors’ website page, it will take you to a list of our most recent posts. That may be the easiest way to learn more about the author who’s posting each day. We work on a rotating schedule of 1 post per month by each author, Monday-Saturday, in the group.
Thanks for your feedback. :)
This has been very interesting! I want to chime in as well and thank the readers. Other bloggers struggle for comments and Inspy Romance has faithful readers and commenters. I will never take that for granted.
First of all, I want to thank all of the authors who post here for all the time and effort that you put into this blog. I love that you ladies are always working to make this blog the best that it can be. I enjoy reading posts about the author’s process and ones giving a look behind-the-scenes. I also enjoy reading life updates from the authors. On the flip side, my least favorite are character interviews which I am more apt to read later or skim. As for commenting, I really when the author asks a specific question(s) or gives a direction for the comments to go.
Hi Lila! Thanks for your well-thought-out reply. Sounds like some of your favorite types of posts are also some of mine!
Logistically, some of your suggestions don’t work for us. We’re about 25 authors (the number varies slightly from time to time, but that’s average), so for each to go a week at a time would also mean they wouldn’t have another chance to post for six months! That really doesn’t work for any of us. We’ve got things to say!
Likewise, replying individually by email isn’t a viable option for our authors. Most of us do take the time to acknowledge every comment when life allows, and yes, sometimes it is as simple as “thanks for stopping by!” We feel it’s polite to respond to everyone (again, sometimes life happens… to all of us), even if it is just an acknowledgment.
If you’d like an individual reply by email, at least for an occasional, specific question, maybe ask for it in your comment? Because you sign in to leave a comment with your email address, we do have it on file. But for each author to reply by email to a dozen or more comments on their posts isn’t practical on a daily basis.
Website plugins for being notified of comment replies are not really customizable (unless you have a big budget, I guess), so I can’t do much about the influx of emails you might receive if you click the “notify” button. I always click it on days I post so I can see replies without having to refresh the website constantly!
Like Narelle mentioned, we do have a Facebook group, so if you’re looking for that kind of personal interaction, we do have a place for it already set up :) Of course, some authors are more active there than others. That’s always going to be the case, as there is definitely not a one-size-fits-all type of author!
As for remembering who’s who… I get it. It takes time to get to know all of us, and I can see it might be overwhelming, especially at first. I suggest that when you find a post (author) you resonate with, click on their Facebook link in their profile (bottom of each post), like their page, and interact with them. We know we won’t all be your very favorite! That’s not even possible. But pick two or three that seem to be real people you’d like to get to know, and reach out.
Like you, we’re very busy and are trying to use our time wisely, so I hope my response makes sense to you. Again, I really appreciate the time you took to write out your thoughts. If you want to discuss them further, feel free to go to the contact tab at the top of this page. If you write a message there, it goes to my personal email as chief admin of Inspy Romance. That way I’ll be sure to see your response. Thanks again!
Hi Narelle, I really enjoy reading your post. I hadn’t seen the pool before, so it was nice to check the results and see how well I fit the rest of the group. As for your questions, I’m probably going to answer too much, but that’s the kind of post I like: ask me a question about anything, send me a pool, survey, whatever. The researcher in me is glued to find the answer.
1/2- I really enjoy reading about new books, definitely a big on relevant issues raised by the authors, occasionally when they are related to their lives too, but mostly feeling a deeper connection that I also feel when reading many of the stories that touch me in a deeper way. I also enjoy answering questions you guys have. I’m a picky reader though, so I probably write too much and share too much, but hope it’s a useful insight.
3- I rarely read character interviews, excerpts (they tend to be long), and interviews with other authors (I want to know more about their books first, then if I like the book, I’d want to know more about then after). Sometimes if the post starts too general or superficial, I’d just skim or give up.
4- I don’t have time anymore to read daily (I used to when I started following) or in depth (I actually am sorry I missed the reader poll in the first place)
5 – I like to comment when there are questions about likes and dislikes. I have no problem letting you know what I want to read about, even though I’m only one person in the midst of many readers. I hope different opinions will work to broaden the horizon of the author.
Since I no longer have time to read daily like I used to, I’m more selective with the little time that I have to comment on posts from authors whose previous posts I’ve enjoyed reading, in which the topic is something that interests me (regardless of having a giveaway—I’d probably be frustrated if that was a thing because I have a feeling that the audience has increased in the last year and I don’t think I got anything during that time, which might also be related with me no longer having time to read daily).
Sometimes I also read several days after the post and if I really enjoy it, I’d comment hoping that the author would take a chance to read and reply. I also am aware of which authors don’t reply or tend to take a day or two to reply, which in turn I just don’t even bother to comment.
I don’t read excerpts of books. I find them boring and long and just don’t have the energy to read this sort of post. I don’t mind a blurb and book review as it tells me more about the book.
I also don’t like hard sell posts where its all about buy my book but not much other info.
I do like character interviews and author interviews.
Another pet dislike is when a blogger asks us questions and we answer but then the blogger never replies or takes a week or more to reply. I understand life happens but when it happens regularly it makes me not want to respond to that particular blogger.
Also when a blogger will pick and choose who they respond to. Even just a thanks for commenting or good to see you here or something simple at least makes you feel your time is appreciated.
Yes! I truly appreciate our community here!!!
Oops! My next blog post will be a character interview. Maybe I should rethink that!!!
Thanks so much for all this information, Priscila! You (and the others) have definitely given the IR bloggers some things to think about.
Hey Jenny! I agree – frustrating when there’s no communication back, especially after a question! Very occasionally life happens, but as a general rule, the bloggers should be checking back throughout the day (often, if their day job allows it!) and for a few days afterward.
As a frequent responder, I am with Jenny about when a question is ask and there is no author response to the reader’s answers. Even in retirement life happens and when that is the case, even one response at the end of the day would satisfy this reader.
I do agree that bloggers should respond! Like this ;)
Great poll, Narelle. I think it will help me with future posts. I so appreciate all our readers that keep coming back for more and their thoughtful insights on this post.
Appreciate this post. Knowing what our readers like helps so much in developing posts that will entertain and interest those who frequent here.
There were some great responses. Thanks.
Great post Narelle!
This is exactly why I enjoy Inspy Romance so much, because all the posts are so different…some are informative, others are inspiring-and we all need different encouragement! Thank you to all contributing authors-you are amazing! Blessings!
Food for thought here. Thanks for the post, Narelle, and to all the readers’ input.
Valerie, Thank you for answering Lila’s other questions. Lila, we really appreciate your detailed and constructive feedback. Thanks again for commenting and contributing to our discussion. :)
So interesting reading all the replies!
Thank you Narelle for asking, and thank you to all our much-loved regular readers for taking the time to reply. One thing I love about this blog is the way that over time we feel we know so many of you from your replies on our posts.
As an author (and a reader too!) that contact with other readers and especially readers who have read my posts and my books, is something precious and special to me. I always value thoughtful reader responses to my writing, whether positive or negative.
Hi Julie, yes, and I totally agree. We are fortunate to have an active blog community and we don’t take that for granted. Many long term writing and reader group blogs that used to be super-popular have shut down in recent years. When we started the blog, I’m glad we had the vision to choose the self-hosted WordPress platform and invest in the backend infrastructure of running the blog. That decision has set us up for a bright future in terms of having a platform that’s easy for readers to use and comment on our blog posts.
Hi Jessica, I also enjoy the behind the scenes posts on how and why a story was written. The questions at the end of the post are important. I love reading a blog post and feeling compelled to comment because the question/s asked in the post are begging to be answered. There’s an art to writing blog posts that naturally draw readers into a conversation in the comments. On the other hand, on a different blog I have intentionally written a post as a statement rather than inviting a discussion (due to the nature of the content in the post). That’s not the type of post I’d share here on Inspy Romance.
Hi Priscila, The poll results on reader engagement were very interesting. The results have been helpful in terms of the Admin Team making decisions on where to invest our time and influenced our decision making in how we promoted our last big ‘Back to School’ giveaway.
It’s mid-morning on Saturday here in Australia, and family commitments are calling me. I will be back online in a few hours to answer your other questions (and the other blog comments I haven’t had a chance to comment on) in more detail. Your feedback is very appreciated. :)
Priscila, I was interested to read your thoughts on author interviews. Authors are taught the importance of sharing author interviews in multiple places to reach new readers, and it’s interesting to hear that those posts are less likely to engage you if you haven’t already read the author’s books.
I agree, a blog post needs an opening hook that defines the content of the post. The first fifty words, in particular, need to be concise and introduce the purpose of the blog post.
I will confess that I read a number of group blogs regularly, and I’m less inclined to comment on blog posts when I know the author of the post rarely replies to comments. Or, rarely comments on posts written by other authors who participate in the group blog. Why invest time in writing something that may not be read? Thanks again for your detailed feedback. :)
Hi Jenny, yes, I’m not a fan of long excerpts, either. If I want to read an excerpt, I’ll download the Kindle sample. Hard sell blog posts are the posts I always ignore. In a blog post I’m looking for something special and definitely looking for more information on the book than I could find by looking up the book on Amazon.
I agree with your thoughts on blog comments. It’s not a nice feeling to have your comment ignored by the blog post author. Yes, life happens and sometimes it can take us a day or two to get back online to comment. Being in Australia, the time differences can be tricky. I always work on a ‘Rule of 3’ – the first time is likely a ‘life happens’ situation, the second time will catch my attention, especially if it’s the same pattern as the previous month’s post, and the third time in a row confirms the pattern. Overall, I think the Inspy authors are pretty good at regularly replying to comments, or alternatively letting our readers know if they can’t comment until later. Thanks for your feedback. :)
I find the WordPress App is helpful in keeping track of comments and replies. The notifications are reliable and it’s easier to reply to comments within the App than going to the web page.
Renate, you’ve raised a good point. Unless it’s an internet access issue, a quick comment from the author to say they’ll be back later to check the comments is a good idea.
Hi Shannon, I agree, and I’m glad our readers feel comfortable to share their thoughts and opinions with us. :)
Hi Jackie, yes, it’s very helpful to know what our blog readers prefer to read in our posts. It’s also encouraging to read that we’re mostly getting it right. :)
Hi Natalya, I agree, and I enjoy the variety of posts that are shared by our authors each day. :)
Hi Marion, you’re very welcome. :) I’ve enjoyed the conversations and the helpful feedback we’ve received.
Hi Autumn, I agree, the author-reader relationship is a special relationship. As an author, I really enjoy getting to know readers and building those relationships. I love our community here at Inspy Romance. :)
I guess I didn’t comment on being more involved o posts from authors that actually participate and comment even when it’s not their day to post — I for once don’t really care about character interviews, but that being said, I’ve read probably most of Valerie’s characters interviews and sometimes even enjoy they more than I thought I would (I had a blast in the last one I remember reading).
That brings a second important issues I didn’t comment on: since I no longer have time to daily follow the blog, I often try to focus on reading and comment on posts from authors whose work I really enjoy (I connect more to their characters and their writing style) even if they are not my favorite type of post. I also try to keep those windows open in my computer to check for their reply, which I really enjoy and tend to reply back as often as I can.
Oh, and we’ve had recurring author’s interviews. That’s a good thing too. If I get to read about someone more than once, and from a different perspective, different book.. I might have been likely to try out the book in the first (or second) interview and then be more likely to get engaged in the next post (such as today’s post.. I’ve never heard of Kara Isaac before reading about the work on blog posts.. and now I’ve got a few books and even though not in my top 10 list, I’ll still skim the post if I find the time for it just because I’ve become familiar with the author’s presence in the blog). I’d be happy to read about regular authors who left the blog too, we haven’t had many of those coming back for guest posts. I’d really have appreciated those (some I recall–in no particular order–are Debra Lynn Collins, JoAnn Durgin, Sally Bradley, Heidi McCahan, Jill Weatherholt, Carolyne Aarsen)
Excellent suggestions, Priscila. :)
Thanks, Priscila! I appreciate your vote of confidence for my character interviews and stories! Good point on seeing someone’s name (or their book title) multiple times before becoming interested. Definitely true for me, too. I’m more likely to check something out if “everyone’s talking about it.”
Good thought on inviting former members back for a visit occasionally. I’ll have to think about how to do that. Some of them haven’t been writing, but some of them definitely still have been!
Hi Priscila, Thanks for adding your additional thoughts. I hadn’t really thought about whether or not authors who have previously blogged with us have come back to guest blog. Hallee has blogged with us previously and recently returned as a regular blogger. Sometimes authors leave because their main writing focus is no longer contemporary Christian Romance and their new releases are outside the scope of what we focus on here. Definitely food for thought, and I hope our readers continue following the authors who have previously blogged with us. :)