Have you heard this?
"There are two types of people--those
who come into a room and say, 'Well, here I am,' and those who come in
and say, 'Ah, there you are.'"*
The first--Type One- is focused on self. Type Two is other-focused.
I suggest that, as we market our books, we are too often TYPE ONE.
Not sure? Put the question this way, "Does my marketing feel like I'm trying to shout and get attention in a busy room? Which type do others perceive me as?"
Having just put out a new release, my tendency is to be the first type. I want to rush into a room and shout, "Look! My new book is out! Look, look, look!!!" All I'm doing is focusing on me and my work. Despite my natural excitement, that method isn't going to sell many books.
A better alternative, according to Rob Eagar, marketing coach, is to cease trying to sell your book altogether.
You read that right.
CEASE.
TRYING.
TO.
SELL.
But then what, you ask, am I to do? How am I to help move copies as my publisher expects me to? And how will my book sell if I don't market it?
Become Type Two. Know what you offer and find the readers who need what you've got. Then, let them know how your book meets their need. This is quite different from "selling" to them. Instead, you're helping them discover your benefit to them.
You've heard it before: "Know Thy Reader." If we don't want to come across as the "Here I am," author, it is vitally important that we do.
Rob
puts it this way: "Ask yourself, 'Who needs my value (the message of my book) the
most?" Conversely, "Who stands to lose the most if they never get (my message)?"**
While these questions are especially important for authors of
non-fiction, even fiction authors can use these parameters to find their
ideal readers.
For example, my newest release, PULSE, is YA fiction. I could focus my marketing by searching out all the places on the web that YA fiction readers hang out and try to show them how my book fits their dream read. However--that's sort of like walking into the room and shouting, "Here I am! Look at my book!" That would make me a Type One marketer.
The solution: By asking who needs my book MOST,
I found that a small niche of YA readers fit the bill. (Those who want suspense, not just teen angst or romance.) Another niche of
readers, preppers, fit the bill. A third niche of readers, patriot
gun-totin' types, also fit the bill. So now I have three niches of
readers who can benefit from my book, because it is a post-apocalyptic
scenario that appeals to all three niches. The YA readers get three teen
protagonists to root for, suffer with, and eventually triumph with. The
preppers get to see how a family that included prepping in their
lifestyle came out way ahead of the general population during a national
disaster. The patriot types get to see the same family defend
themselves successfully. There is soul-searching and God-discussions to make Christian readers who like this sort of stuff happy.
The bottom line is that people in these niches don't just like such books. They LOVE 'em. Using Twitter as an example, I can tiptoe into the room and show my readers that I'm one of them. When I send out a tweet to the first niche, I use the #YA #Suspense #Christian #Fiction hashtags. Same for my posts on Goodreads. When I want to show the second niche what they're missing, I send out tweets with #Prepper #Fiction #Apocalypse #YA in them. For the third niche, I send out #Patriot #Gunrights #Fiction #YA. But using these hashtags alone isn't enough. I wrote out a list of twenty to thirty tweets to use for each individual niche of readers. In each tweet, I show them a benefit to reading the book. A benefit that appeals to THEM.
I'll share three of my tweets, teasers, one for each niche, so you get what I mean.
For YA Suspense fans:
Feeling safe in your apartment building? So did 16 y.o. Sarah--until it happened. #YA #Suspense #Fiction #Christian http://amzn.to/1J7CybR. (Link to the Amazon book page.)
For Preppers:
"Opening a #storage bucket, I got hit with a reality check--if not for these, we'd face hunger." #Prepper #Apocalyptic #Book http://amzn.to/1J7CybR.
For Patriots:
"I'd enjoyed #shooting as a sport--but would we really need our #firearms to save our lives?" #Patriot #gunrights http://amzn.to/1J7CybR
Teasers are only effective if they hit the "tickle" spot for the niche you're trying to reach. Readers of YA Suspense love an element of danger, so I include that in my tweets. (The book oozes with it. Don't make promises in a teaser that your book won't meet.) For the preppers, the book affirms their world-view. (SOMETHING is gonna go down, sooner or later, and you'd better be ready!) For the patriots, the same holds true. (They just KNOW that the proper use of firearms is one day going to save their lives and maybe the lives of their families.) For each of these groups, there is affirmation in store when they read PULSE.
How do I know this? Because I'm a YA reading, hobby prepper, licensed carrier of a gun! (Gasp! Yes, me. It's my alter-ego to the sweet historical romance writer.)
I KNOW my audience. I can walk into a room and say, "Ah, there you are."
Now. Can you do the same?
*Quote by Frederick Collins
**From, Sell Your Book Like Wildfire, by Rob Eagar
Linore Rose Burkard is best known for writing Inspirational Romance. As L.R. Burkard she writes YA Suspense, and is working on the sequel to PULSE, Book One in the PULSE EFFEX SERIES. Find out: Can an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) really happen? Linore talks about it over at the website companion to PULSE. Click menu option: INFO.
"There are two types of people--those
who come into a room and say, 'Well, here I am,' and those who come in
and say, 'Ah, there you are.'"*The first--Type One- is focused on self. Type Two is other-focused.
I suggest that, as we market our books, we are too often TYPE ONE.
Not sure? Put the question this way, "Does my marketing feel like I'm trying to shout and get attention in a busy room? Which type do others perceive me as?"
Having just put out a new release, my tendency is to be the first type. I want to rush into a room and shout, "Look! My new book is out! Look, look, look!!!" All I'm doing is focusing on me and my work. Despite my natural excitement, that method isn't going to sell many books.
A better alternative, according to Rob Eagar, marketing coach, is to cease trying to sell your book altogether.
You read that right.
CEASE.
TRYING.
TO.
SELL.
But then what, you ask, am I to do? How am I to help move copies as my publisher expects me to? And how will my book sell if I don't market it?
Become Type Two. Know what you offer and find the readers who need what you've got. Then, let them know how your book meets their need. This is quite different from "selling" to them. Instead, you're helping them discover your benefit to them.
You've heard it before: "Know Thy Reader." If we don't want to come across as the "Here I am," author, it is vitally important that we do.
For example, my newest release, PULSE, is YA fiction. I could focus my marketing by searching out all the places on the web that YA fiction readers hang out and try to show them how my book fits their dream read. However--that's sort of like walking into the room and shouting, "Here I am! Look at my book!" That would make me a Type One marketer.
 | ||
The bottom line is that people in these niches don't just like such books. They LOVE 'em. Using Twitter as an example, I can tiptoe into the room and show my readers that I'm one of them. When I send out a tweet to the first niche, I use the #YA #Suspense #Christian #Fiction hashtags. Same for my posts on Goodreads. When I want to show the second niche what they're missing, I send out tweets with #Prepper #Fiction #Apocalypse #YA in them. For the third niche, I send out #Patriot #Gunrights #Fiction #YA. But using these hashtags alone isn't enough. I wrote out a list of twenty to thirty tweets to use for each individual niche of readers. In each tweet, I show them a benefit to reading the book. A benefit that appeals to THEM.
I'll share three of my tweets, teasers, one for each niche, so you get what I mean.
For YA Suspense fans:
Feeling safe in your apartment building? So did 16 y.o. Sarah--until it happened. #YA #Suspense #Fiction #Christian http://amzn.to/1J7CybR. (Link to the Amazon book page.)
For Preppers:
"Opening a #storage bucket, I got hit with a reality check--if not for these, we'd face hunger." #Prepper #Apocalyptic #Book http://amzn.to/1J7CybR.
For Patriots:
"I'd enjoyed #shooting as a sport--but would we really need our #firearms to save our lives?" #Patriot #gunrights http://amzn.to/1J7CybR
Teasers are only effective if they hit the "tickle" spot for the niche you're trying to reach. Readers of YA Suspense love an element of danger, so I include that in my tweets. (The book oozes with it. Don't make promises in a teaser that your book won't meet.) For the preppers, the book affirms their world-view. (SOMETHING is gonna go down, sooner or later, and you'd better be ready!) For the patriots, the same holds true. (They just KNOW that the proper use of firearms is one day going to save their lives and maybe the lives of their families.) For each of these groups, there is affirmation in store when they read PULSE.
How do I know this? Because I'm a YA reading, hobby prepper, licensed carrier of a gun! (Gasp! Yes, me. It's my alter-ego to the sweet historical romance writer.)
I KNOW my audience. I can walk into a room and say, "Ah, there you are."
Now. Can you do the same?
*Quote by Frederick Collins
**From, Sell Your Book Like Wildfire, by Rob Eagar
Linore Rose Burkard is best known for writing Inspirational Romance. As L.R. Burkard she writes YA Suspense, and is working on the sequel to PULSE, Book One in the PULSE EFFEX SERIES. Find out: Can an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) really happen? Linore talks about it over at the website companion to PULSE. Click menu option: INFO. 
