I spoke at the SPAN Marketing Conference and Trade Show this weekend in San Francisco. The weather was lovely, the conference was extremely well-organized, the caliber of speakers was highly impressive and so was the level of professionalism among attendees. The majority of authors were open and eager to receive the generous helping of information that was so expertly communicated. There were also people in attendance who closed their minds to the possibilities which lie outside their realm of understanding, who blocked concepts that didn’t fit within their comfort zones, who refused to consider some ideas that might actually increase their opportunity for publishing success.
I frequently meet authors who take this stance. There are usually a few in attendance at the seminars, conferences and book festivals I attend. I occasionally receive phone calls and emails from authors in this category. They come for help and information and then they argue with everything I suggest.
Is this you? Have you developed such a strict agenda that, even though you show up at conferences and seminars and read books by professionals in the field, you aren’t open to new, pertinent information? Do you just want to be validated? Do you want others to say that you have an excellent book that will sell well and that you’re making all of the right decisions, even though:
• you claim that you are writing a book for wide distribution, but refuse to consider your audience?
• your approach to your subject is likely to turn off the very readers you hope to reach?
• your topic is unpopular, outdated or will appeal to only a very small segment of people?
• you don’t have a promotional plan?
• you haven’t bothered to research your publishing options?
• you have entered into publishing with a writer’s heart rather than a business head?
I can only hope that my presentation, my books and my consultations will open minds and save at least a few rigid authors from making these mistakes. If you’re in the process of writing a book or you are just thinking about doing so, here’s what you need to know:
1: Publishing is a business and must be approached as such. Once you decide to publish your book for wide distribution to the masses, you really must stop thinking of it as your baby or as your amazing contribution to the world. Once you decide to publish your book, it becomes a product and you are its business manager.
2: Is there a market for your book? Is it a viable product? Is it a genre that is popular and/or a topic that is current? Before writing that book, make sure that it is needed/desired. If it is a subject that has been overdone, can you come up with a fresh twist, a new angle or a different solution to an old problem? Study the market for books like yours. Check out the competition. And the time to do this is BEFORE you start writing it.
I met Nancy at a writers’ conference earlier this year. She had spent a year writing the book of her dreams and she quickly signed a contract with AuthorHouse to produce it. Her book focused on a rather obscure controversial concept.
When her promotional efforts seemed to fall flat, she began seeking help through publishing/writing organizations. It took Nancy a while to accept the fact that she had made some poor choices along the publishing path. If she had studied the publishing industry, the competition for her book and the potential for a book on her topic before writing it, she might have written a more reader-friendly book. She might have discovered a way to make her point without turning her intended audience off.
3: Who is your audience and how extensive is it? Authors like Nancy hope to change minds with their books. They envision their audience as folks who need to be educated or informed for their own good. These authors believe that smokers will embrace their stop smoking book, that junk food junkies want to learn healthy eating habits, that Christians will eagerly read their book on atheism. But there is a difference between a self-help or how-to approach and cramming an unpopular topic down someone’s throat.
The audience for Nancy’s book, for example, did not include the reader she wanted to target with her message. Her audience was probably comprised of people with the same theories, perspectives and beliefs as hers. So watch out that you have a realistic grasp of your true target audience. Consider, “Who WILL read this book,†not “Who SHOULD read this book?â€
4: How will you locate your audience? As I pointed out in my presentation to SPAN Conference attendees, most first-time authors plan to sell their books by the truckloads through bookstores. I did. This was my expectation the first time I produced a book for distribution to a national audience (as opposed to a regional audience). While bookstores might comprise a small piece of your distribution puzzle, they probably won’t provide your bread and butter—not in the beginning—not until your book has proven itself.
You’ve heard it before—the author must promote his/her book. But this is impossible unless you know who your audience is and where they are. In the case of Nancy’s book, her audience comprises people like herself and she is going to find them at the Web sites she frequents, attending the same lectures and meeting as she does and reading the same magazines, newsletters and books.
I met a man at one conference I attended this year who is planning a series of books on gardening. Where is his audience? At bookstores, of course, but also garden shops, nurseries, flower shops and shows and gardening Web sites. They read gardening magazines and newsletters, watch gardening channels on TV and participate in internet gardening forums and discussion groups. You will also find gardeners attending flea markets, visiting botanical gardens, shopping at grocery stores, picking up supplies in garden centers and so forth. If you have the heart for your topic, you already know exactly where your audience is—so avoid limiting your thinking when it comes to locating them.
5: What is your platform? What can you contribute to making your book a success? Platform means your following—your reach—your way of attracting your audience. What are your credentials, what’s your expertise? Do you have experience in this field?
The gentleman with the gardening books is a professional gardener. He has lived and worked in several areas of the U.S., so he understands the various climates and other gardening challenges in these places. He took master gardening courses to enhance the training he received working for a large nursery in Atlanta. He also teaches gardening techniques at a local college. He has a Web site and a popular newsletter that goes out to 3,000 gardening enthusiasts. Obviously, he already has a following which means he has a pretty good platform.
Nancy, on the other hand, was not affiliated with any organizations that backed her perspective. She had not actually done any public speaking, nor did she have a newsletter or any other way of reaching people. She had always been a rather private person who spent a lot of time being introspective. She wrote this book to make a difference, but had absolutely no interest in making connections. She wanted to remain private and expected her audience to find her book on their own.
6: What promotional opportunities can you build into your book? Here’s another good reason to stop, look and listen before you plan your book. If you just play on through and write it without considering the previous five points, you will miss out on the opportunity to build promotion into your book. What does this mean? How can an author build promotion into his/her book? Here are some examples of how I built promotion into my local history book, “The Ojai Valley, An Illustrated History†(a 360-page comprehensive history of the area where I live in California).
• I interviewed about 100 people for this project and listed them in the book. Don’t you know that most of them bought at least one copy of the book?
• I profiled many early pioneer families and included as much statistical information as I could find—birth and death dates, number of children, when they arrived in the village, etc. This made the book valuable to descendants of these folks as well as genealogists and other researchers.
• I featured interesting sites, annual events and businesses. This made the book appealing to tourists and locals with some connection to or interest in these places and activities.
• I created a massive index and a bibliography. Thus, the book is convenient for librarians and other researchers.
For a novel, you can build promotion into your book by giving a character a disease such as diabetes. Show this character in a positive light and you might be able to get the American Diabetes Association (for example) to finance the publication, to promote your book or to purchase thousands of copies to use as premiums. Widen your audience base by giving your heroine a horse, twins, a motorcycle or lupus, for example.
Go ahead and write a book your way and hold to your outdated, unrealistic belief system and you may soon find yourself stuck with a book that nobody will buy. Or seriously consider the 6 points I’ve outlined here—really do your homework like any professional would do—and you have a much greater chance of experiencing the success that is possible as a published author.
For more detailed information, instructions and resources, please read The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. Even if you have Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual, Bowerman’s Well-Fed series and Jud’s Beyond the Bookstore, reviewers agree with me that you also need this book in your reference library. http://www.matilijapress.com.