Know Your Market Before You Write Your Book.
Sounds simple, doesn't it? Yet it's amazing how many writers don't follow this principle.
Unless you're writing a family history book or are simply writing just for your own enjoyment, you need to have some idea as to:
- Who is your intended audience?
- What do they need to know?
- What problems do they have?
- What types of stories do they like?
It is much easier to find a group of people who are looking for an answer to a problem and provide it for them than it is to provide an answer and then look to see if someone actually has the problem.
Take some time before you write to do some hard research. Not research you'll use for your book, but research on finding your market.
All marketing, in fact the whole economy, revolves around creating ways to solve people's problems or to improve their quality of life.
In his book Multiple Steams of Internet Income, Robert Allen breaks down marketing of any kind to the following three steps:
- Find a Pool of Hungry Fish – People who want the information you possess.
- Discover the Bait They're Biting On – What is it that will catch their interest?
- Super Charge your Bait with your own Unique Selling Proposition – What makes your product better than anybody else's? What makes you different?
In other words, do some diligent research to find out who may be interested in your book's topic. Start online by finding out what websites your potential customers visit, what ezines they read and what chat rooms and newsgroups they visit.
For instance, let's say your book is about home schooling. You're a firm believer in the power of home schooling. You believe a book on the topic of home schooling can be a best seller.
First, let's see if there is a market. Is there a group of people online interested in home schooling? Let's go to a site like Word Tracker (www.wordtracker.com). This site allows you to enter a keyword and determine how often that term has been searched for. If you see hundreds or thousands of people using the keywords of the topic you have in mind, it's a good bet you have a market.
Now let's find out what the market wants to know. Visit various websites about your topic. In this case, go to a search engine like Google or Yahoo and enter the term "home schooling". Visit the sites that pop up. Subscribe to their newsletters. Try to get a handle on any themes that continuously pop up as concerns for home schooling parents. Possible themes may include:
- Do the parents have difficulty choosing the right home schooling tools?
- Are there difficulties dealing with State Departments of Education? Difficulty obtaining standardized tests?
- Do the parents have trouble finding enough new creative gym or art or music resources to satisfy their kids' educational needs?
- Are there issues regarding the social development of the kids?
Look for recurrent themes. Note – it would be helpful if your subject is one you have some knowledge about ahead of time. If not, make it something you're passionate about. Best of all, choose a topic you know and are passionate about. It will make the research time in this area fun and productive.
Have you uncovered any recurrent themes – any problems that keep popping up? Excellent – you may have found your hungry fish!
One other technique involves visiting Usenet groups on your topic such as those found at Google or chat rooms like those at Yahoo Groups. Read through some of the postings. Once again, see if you can confirm your suspicions regarding a recurrent theme. Also, don't be afraid to post some helpful advice if you'd like. Ultimately, using these groups can be an excellent marketing technique. By posting friendly advice and including your signature file which will feature your book's name and website is a terrific, non-spamming way to promote. Other group members will respect your opinion as an expert and many may visit your site if they desire to learn more.
Once you've found your hungry fish and what they want, then write your book – give ’em what they want!
If your topic is currently hot, consider self-publishing your book. Being able to quickly provide information that people need is one of the strongest advantages of self-publishing. An advantage that can make you extremely rich if you keep your finger on the pulse of society (or at least your corner of it) and are ready to jump into action when the opportunity presents.
Bill O'Shea is the author of the best-selling novel A Christmas Present and founder of Pembroke Press, a provider of professional quality publishing services. To learn more about how Pembroke Press can help you create your own self-publishing success, visit: http://www.pembrokepress.com
