Finding Book Readers Before Chapter One

Did you know there are about 1.5 million books in print at any one time in the United States alone? Furthermore, there are over 195,000 new titles published each year in this country.

Many aspiring authors feel their book would be lost in the sea of books already in print? May I be honest? That feeling is correct if you don’t target your potential book readers well.

Why would anyone buy your book over another in your category? Will your book stand out in the crowd of non-fiction books on your subject? Does it solve any problems in your field easily? Think about it, most readers are looking for non-fiction books to solve problems.

For example, when I started speaking professionally I bought a couple of books about speaking. Looking in the bookstore, there were lots of books to choose from. I chose Lilyan Wilder’s book “7 Steps to Fearless Speaking.” I read the back cover. I noticed she could help with seven easy steps. I scanned the table of contents, read a few lines and immediately liked her easy style. It went in my buy basket.

Because I wanted to hear from several authorities on the subject, I picked up another book by Nido R. Qubein, “How to Be a Great Communicator: In Person on Paper, and on the Podium.” His cover design was white with clean lines and a personable picture of him on the front. The cover of his book captured my attention, right away. His style of writing was not as easy to read but it still went in my buy basket as well. Which brings us back to my original point; people buy non-fiction books to solve problems. To identify your specific group of people [targeted market], pinpoint a problem they have and the solution of course.

Target and get to know your audience. Let’s face it not everyone will want to read your book. Most uninformed authors write what they feel is a great book; spend tons of time and sometimes money looking for people to buy it. Instead match your expert knowledge with an audience you can serve.

Consider their needs, problems and how you can help solve them. Business people are a hot audience right now. They are hungry and willing to buy what will improve, make profitable their life and business. Right now think of one to three preferred audiences in your area of expertise. Then write the book your customers will be looking for.

CHOOSE A BROAD TOPIC

Before we get started targeting your specific market, I need to talk to you about choosing a topic from a broad category niche. First I say again, choose your topic wisely. Recently, I read Steve Scott’s ebook called Ebook Empire 2011. (This works for the non-fiction print book genre as well.)

He was discussing picking a broad niche. His advice is to start with a broad niche from one of the timeless categories. I agree with that; so much so I’m passing it on to you. You do that (choose a broad category) because people are always going to be searching for information in these categories. Before I forget those four categories are:

•Health
•Wealth
•Relationships
•Passions

Those four broad niches work because they’re related to the basic human needs and desires that will never go away. The question is… “Which category do you want to compete in?” It’s important to take some time answering this one because you’ll spend at least a year or two working on dominating in your selected category.

NARROW TO A NICHE

Secondly, choose a narrow niche. After, you’ve picked a broad niche, it’s time to narrow things down. I discuss this fully in new ebook How To Write A Book Guide And Target Market Research: How To Find Your Audience Before Chapter One. See all How to Write A Book Guides at Books By Earma For a limited time, download a free ebook of the week.

To write your book to stand out in a crowd, you must write it for a target audience [a specific group of people] interested in your book’s topic. Identifying a niche is really hot in the marketing world right now and rightly so.

Simply put, to target a niche market [your audience] in your book’s topic area: Identify a problem/solution and research your competition. Then develop a distinctive approach. With all the books in the world on your topic, it’s not enough to know the solution. You have to present the solution in a different way than existing books do.