Editor's Note: Listen Up!

The writer/reader relationship certainly has changed. A few weeks ago, I had an op-ed published in The Philadelphia Daily News. The subject (beside the point) was a pretty hot topic in the City of Brotherly Love.

By 10 a.m. on the morning the piece appeared, there were 30-something comments on the paper's Web site and nearly as many e-mails in my inbox. The numbers grew as the week wore on. I responded to as many messages as I could and got into some extended conversations with strangers who read what I had written and cared enough to respond — whether they were incensed or inspired. It was a concrete and immediate reminder that people (readers or supporters) want to be heard. They want to be acknowledged. They want to be engaged. If you aren't doing that, you risk losing them.