Discovering Readers: Hiring and Firing

October 2, 2011

Do you hire and fire your readers? I do.

One of the reasons that I've been able to make a living from my writing, is making the decision to hire and fire my readers. I'm not going to explain here HOW I hire and fire my readers, but I will say why I'm doing it.

Why hire readers:

1. I get more appropriate readers for the work that I'm doing.
2. They can pay me.
3. We're more likely to be on the same page on the topic.
4. They're capable of doing the work.

Why fire readers:

1. They're not paying customers.
2. They're taking up a lot of social energy (which takes away from my work.)
3. They want something more intensive from me (like coaching or consulting) but aren't able to pay for it.
4. They're being combative, trolling, or continually negative in the public spaces around my writing.

Viewing my readers like freelancers fits well for me. When I was a photo editor at New York Magazine, I hired photographers to shoot for Nymag.com's blogs. I'd always check out their portfolios before they went on the shoot. I'd make note if they were able to deliver good photos to me after the shoot.

If a photographer came back from a shoot with no good photos, chances are I wouldn't bring them on for the next shoot.

If I'm recruiting readers who aren't good fit for my work, then how can I expect to get paid to write for them?