How to Build Your Author Platform - Part 2 - Your Avatar

Find and Engage Your Ideal Audience

We work with many authors and we have seen this so many times. It is painful to watch, and truth be told, is heartbreaking.

The book the author wrote is excellent.  So good in fact, that there is a tendency to think that EVERBODY should read this book. Often it is where we start when we sit down with an author.  Our VIP day is designed to hone in on just WHO this book is for.  

"Your book is NOT for everybody!  Decide on the "one person" you are writing for, speaking to, and gear your marketing around that ideal client."

Knowing who your audience is when you begin the writing process, will greatly influence whether you will reach your target audience, and book marketing plan must be planned exclusively with that audience in mind. 

Do you know why a reader would want to read your book in the first place? What message does your book communicate? What potential impact might it have? Who is the message for?  How will the reader benefit from reading your book?

(Be sure to see our first blog in this series).

So many authors, new or not, when asked who their target reader is, many authors reply, “I don't know,” or “everybody who likes (insert topic here).” 

Either of those answers will reduce your book sales and profits. If your book is for “everybody,” how much would it cost you to reach them frequently enough to make an impact (if you could even find a way to do so)? And how do you wrap your brain around the vastness that is “everyone”.

Your book is not for everyone, and the sooner you accept this, the more successful you’ll be. If your goal is to sell books, a lot of books, that’s great! But no writer who has sold books in large quantities has done so by thinking, “My audience is everyone.” It’s hard to build a strategy on “everyone” and much easier and fruitful to narrow your focus.

Successful authors know who their book was written for and they go after those people in particular with very targeted book marketing. Maybe you’ve written a mystery and you’re thinking to yourself that your audience is people who like mysteries. That’s a start, but do you know how old your average reader is? Are they:

• Male or Female?
• Where do they live?
• How old are they?
• What do they do for entertainment?
• What do they like to read?
• Where do they shop?
• What is their occupation?
• Are they married or single?
• What makes them laugh?
• Do they have children?
• What is their level of education?
• How do they consume books, ie.: Do they purchase print books and read from cover to cover?  Do they mark key points in the book? Do they prefer audio books over print? Do they only read Kindle/eBooks?  Do they like long books or short, quick reads?

This is just a small list of items. You get the point. 

If you can narrow down your audience and pinpoint the details behind who they are and what their likes and dislikes are, you will be able to fine-tune the way you communicate in your marketing, so that you CAN reach them. It is the best way to make the best use of your marketing dollars, and the time you invest in communicating with that perfect audience.  

Below are tips that will help you not only determine who your ideal audience is and how to reach them:

 1. Take a look at Your Book's Basic Information 

These items include:

• Your writing style
• Images you use inside the book
• The book cover design
• The number of pages in the book
• The age range of your audience
• The book's format
• The size of the font you use
• The title and subtitle
• The book description
• The keywords you use
• The BISAC subject codes and/or categories you choose

The basic components of a book will be items you consider as you keep the ideal audience in mind. Some people may only read ebooks or only print books. Some may only read romance novels, thrillers, or strictly educational. Some readers may only pick up books with people on the cover, or don’t like long books, or books over a certain price.

"Your book’s basic makeup will determine some of  the audience for you, but that doesn’t mean these aren’t conscious, strategic choices you should make from the outset."

Consider these aspects of your readers when you’re setting up your basic book information so that you’re not missing out on your main audience by publishing it in the wrong format or some other misguided specification.

 2. Do Your Research

Google is a major search engine and there is a wealth of information you can glean from searching for the subject of your book. A few simple Google searches will direct you to:

• Online communities 
• Blogs that are within your genre
• Websites of established authors
• Articles written by top-selling authors in your niche.
• Networks where your target audience is already engaging in information sharing and promotion activities. 

Engage in guest posting and guest hosting activities to gain exposure to other’s audiences within your target audience.

3. Find Books That Have the Same Subject Matter as Yours 

The wealth of valuable information you glean by researching other books on your subject matter will be priceless. Search Amazon for example. It has become a major search engine in and of itself. Search for best-selling’ books within your category and make a list of the titles and authors. Once you recognize who your competition is, it may be easier for you to pinpoint your potential readers because chances are, you share the same target audience.  

"Take a look at the reviews for the books you are researching. Target the 3 or 4-star reviews and see what they are saying. You can glean an amazing amount of information from reviews as often people will tell what they would have liked to see in that book."

4. Check out Social Media 

Social media can give you a tremendous amount of information as to what your ideal reader is looking for. When you have identified the established and top-selling books within your genre, look at who is following them on social media. You will be surprised how much information can be gained by looking at the interactions and posts. Keep an eye out for the demographics, trends, and other habits that might not be obvious, but can provide a tremendous amount of useful information.

There are several free and paid tools to help you determine your audience. The most obvious places to start, however, are social networks—namely Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.  This search should also help you determine where your readers hang out.

"Carve out some time each day to connect with groups in online communities who have either a shared interest or who attracts the same kind of audience you are seeking to engage."

Search Facebook for groups who are interested in your subject matter. Look for followers for your book’s genre on Twitter by searching for tweets that contain related hashtags. Check out LinkedIn for groups that are specifically geared to your ideal audience. 

 5. Use Technology in Your Favor

You can also research current trends to formulate new ideas or refine existing ones. To do that, use tools like Google Trends and Google Adwords. Both platforms will show you how popular a given keyword or subject is. Keep in mind that too much popularity is not a good thing, as there will likely already be hundreds of books on the subject and make it harder to be found or stand out. Drill down deeper to find keywords or phrases that have a decent search history, but is not overly used.

This should help you see where there are gaps in the marketplace. For example, you may be great with dog training, but the marketplace is already flooded with books on dog training. Perhaps instead you want to focus on a particular area, like working with a specific breed, or even a specific issue involved in dog training. The trick is to pick a general subject that pertains to your subject matter and drill down into something that doesn't have an overwhelming amount of competition. You will be doing this when you begin your BISAC and category research as well. 

 6. Think of Your Readers Like They are Real People

While we touched on this at the beginning of this blog post, it bears repeating. Who would be interested in the content of your book? Visualize who they are, and what they look like. Remember that you are marketing your book to real people. Who is the typical person who would actually purchase your book? If you can describe those individuals and the problems that consume them, you can communicate the ways in which the content of your book can help them.

What if “dads” were singled out as a target segment for your book? Defining the “typical dad” for your book and creating a composite of the person to whom you will promote your book, you might seek answers to the following questions:

About how old is he? This will help you specify your target based on where women in this age group typically spend their time and what concerns affect them in particular.

How much money does he make? This could influence your book distribution choices. Should your book be available on Amazon or should you try to get it into Neiman Marcus?

To what ethnic or religious groups does he belong? Could you sell your book to churches as a possible target?

In what leisure activities does he participate or watch? Could a home goods or sporting website be a potential advertising opportunity?

What magazines and newspapers does he read in print or online? Try to get a book review, or submit articles for publications in the media she would be looking at. It's important to pick the right media for your audience, so take a look at a magazine or newspaper’s media kit. 

They’ll tell you exactly who their audience is and they’ll know more about defining their audience than you will for your brand new book. Their media kits may even give you ideas.

In what current events or issues is he most interested? Use examples in your articles and releases to increase your relevance and potential search volume by utilizing specific keywords that are popular at any given time.

To what radio and television shows does he listen/watch? Choose these to send media pitches to hopefully land airtime.

Is there a particular life event that he is facing, such as marriage, divorce, starting a family, career changes, increasing his income, wise investments, health issues, etc.

What makes his heart happy, what bugs the heck out of him? 

What organizations or associations does he belong to?

Where does he live and are they many others in his location that are facing similar issues?

How can you reach him? 

 "Answering the questions above will help you think about not only WHO buys books on your subject matter but also WHY (as we discussed in our previous blog), they buy.  This will help you market more effective as well as position your branding as an author in a manner that will make you memorable to your customers."

 7. Grow or Expand on Your Target Audience

It’s also important to consider secondary markets. Secondary markets are those that are not the most obvious, but that would also be interested in your book. 

For example, a children’s book written to help kids with heart conditions would have a primary audience of children and a secondary audience of parents, physicians, educators, therapists, or others working with these children. 

As tempting as it might be to think the parent would be your primary book audience (children don't usually buy their own books), avoid overthinking this process and focus in on who will be reading the book.

We have a recent author who published her book called "Bear Gets His Heart Checked" by Renee M. Langstaff.  This book was written for children who have heart conditions and are scared of the doctor's examination with all those machines and noises. While it is meant for parents to read to their children, (it also helps scared and worried parents understand the process), but cardiologists, nurses, and hospital gift shops also purchase the book. 

Try to come up with at least five markets for your book—a primary market and four secondary markets. To help you discover other secondary markets, you can start in reverse with a broad audience and then narrow it down.

8. Don't Be Hesitant to Ask for Help

If you’re having trouble identifying your target audience, ask other authors or industry professionals for help. There are plenty of experts in the publishing industry that can help you define your audience. 

Book marketing professionals know how to reach certain types of people and where. Book publicists know what kinds of media (newspapers, magazines, radio shows, etc.) certain audiences subscribe to. Social media professionals know how to pinpoint specific audiences where they spend most of their time, on social platforms.

Even with the tips shared in this blog series, if the thought of finding your audience and effectively growing your author platform is too overwhelming for you, seek help. The necessity of finding, understanding, and building your audience as an author can’t be over-exaggerated. With no audience, you’ll have no book sales. You need to lay this foundation and then you’ll need to cultivate it.

9. Engage Your Audience Audience

Once you have narrowed down your target market, it is time to shift your focus to building a following. At Spotlight Publishing, we always say that marketing, (which includes building a following), must begin from the moment you put pen to paper, or tap, tap, tapping the keys on your keyboard. 

Here are a couple of ways to do this:

1. Begin by creating and sharing well thought-out content that will catch your audiences attention. The content from your book can serve many purposes as content for blog posts, podcasts, videos, articles, social media posts and more. Cut into small bite size consumable pieces will help keep your audience wanting more and beginning to feel connected to you. They will be excited to follow you, support you, and share with others. 
2. Figure out the best times and platforms to post content. 
3. Use software to automate and track your posting schedule
4. Be generous with your time, and thoughtful about promoting others. 

Promoting your message and book to your audience should include a generous amount of time promoting others along with complimentary tips, quotes, and content relevant to your message. 

Once you are consistent in posting, whether that is on your website or blog or in social media, reach out to connect with or follow others aligned well with your target audience. 

The word here is consistency. When you are consistent, connecting with like-minded people and promoting each other, you will see amazing results.

Congratulations to the world of an...

 Authorpreneur!