All the advice on this page assumes

A) That you have the luxury of focusing on Acquiring lots of readers, without worrying about also earning a living from books
B) That you want to acquire Readers of Good Intent i.e. readers who will buy your other books if they like the first
C) That you also have the luxury of a reasonable amount of time i.e. 2 years to 5 years

To acquire a large reader base, the key steps and secrets are

1) Figure out Exactly Who you want to write for
1b) Confirm that these readers actually exist, and figure out what Genre/Category they fall into

2) Understand what these readers are looking for, and tailor your writing style and stories for these readers
2b) Basically, you have to give them what they are looking for. Romance readers want a Happy Ending. You can't be writing 'The hero died in a car crash. The heroine spent the next 11 years of her life mourning the love of her life and growing progressively more and more depressed' and expect to do well

3) Set out a clear target for the Exact Number of Readers you want to have in your Reader Base and By When
Also, what defines them as 'part of your Reader Base'? Is it that they must buy each book you release? Some other Criteria?

4) Specify Exactly How you will reach them i.e. via your email list, via your blog, or some other means you control. Note: You cannot believe some myth such as 'randomly the store will help me each time I want to reach these readers'. They are not your readers until and unless you have some means of reaching them when you want/need to reach them

The above four points are critical for success. If you don't know who your readers are, if you don't write books they want to read, and if you don't have clarity about how big you want your reader base to be, then you won't have a reader base. The fourth might be the most critical of all - unless you can reach your readers any time you want, they are not really your readers

After clarifying all these aspects, embrace the five key things that will determine your success (when it comes to acquiring a large customer base)

A) Are you writing what your readers want to read?

B) Are you reaching a TON of the readers you want to reach?

C) Is your book polished enough to convince the majority of these readers to download your book? Is the price compelling enough (low enough) such that the readers are willing to take a chance?

D) Is your writing good enough, and are your stories compelling enough, to convert a good percentage of these readers you reach, into your lifelong readers?

E) Is there a way you can reach these readers on a regular basis, and without paying any taxes i.e. without requiring someone's permission?
Remember, they are not your reader base until and unless you have an easy and cheap/free way to reach them anytime you want

To be quite frank, if you can focus on building a large reader base, without having to worry about money, then you are in a wonderful position. You can build something truly special

With eBooks you can now make your book free or cheap and reach an incredible number of readers. Reader acquisition is so much easier now. The one big caveat is that they are not your readers until and unless you have a direct and free/cheap channel to reach them - you have to have an email list and/or a blog which you own and control 100%. Your reader base is only readers that are on this email list and/or visit your website