I have a few authors that I think of as family, almost. Some I feel so fortunate to have seen in person, like Sir Terry Pratchett, Lois McMasters Bujold, and Christopher Moore. And having lost Sir Terry a few years ago, he is even more close to my heart. His Disc World series is an amazing universe, plus there is a good size community on Facebook where we share things that remind us of his stories, or news about new films or series based on his writings, or share life milestones and support each other.
That may be a key part about reader fans, that they easily find others who love the writings they love, and can talk about it and grow a friendship. But I do remember being a Star Trek fan when I was in high school, and except for the three fans I hung out with, I often felt like there were no others around. So finding other fans isn’t the only reason.
Some fans develop a love-hate relationship with their fav authors. To name a few, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who started it all, J.K. Rowling, George R.R. Martin, and a few others. Many fans are also writers, and they know how the story should go and how it should end. Frustrations turn into anger when the author doesn’t see things that way. And these fans definitely find each other to talk things over.
Those above are all big name, big book to movies or series authors that were in the write place, ha ha, at the right time. But there are a lot more books out there that have some impressive fans. Goodreads being one of my favorite places to look into books, they had a decent list of books with the best fandom. I love that Outlander is on there. Can anyone tell me why I am having such a hard time getting into the series when I love the actors? I must be crazy.
A lot of the gathering of fans is all about doing the work on social media, being available to fans for conversations, and sharing writer tips or recipes or photos of pets. I absolutely love Neil Gaiman and would die of happiness if I could hang out with him somewhere and share odd writing stories. Really that would be a bucket list goal if I did bucket lists.
Even the story of being a fan is worth putting on paper and selling. Fans have fans who buy books about the fan life. Who knew? One title is I’m Your Biggest Fan! I always thought I could claim that title no matter who the person was. Few readers outweigh me, but they might be taller than I am.
And of course, everyone and their publisher wants to tell you how to build a fan base on social media. NY Book Editors say you need to define your perfect reader and then define your writing. TaleFlick says be authentic and make friends. Create a blog. Do you have a blog? Do I have a blog! Three blogs, but only one about writing. Which is what they mean here. Finally, Barely Hare Books has boiled it all down to four simple steps to take. I like the one about reach out and connect with your audience.
Connecting with readers and other writers has been the focus of my blog for years now. The odd thing is, I rarely get comments or people wanting to chat. I invite anyone who is reading this to comment and tell me the kind of books you enjoy reading. We might be fans of the same authors! Thanks for reading, I’ll be back on Sunday.
Romance-ology 
I love romance, especially if the story has depth beyond “will they or won’t they?” That said, I also enjoy humor, suspense, magical realism….