Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Is Your Book Very Marketable?



This may seem like a simple question. But often people don’t know how to answer it.

Let me help you really figure out if your book is truly marketable, and if so, just how promotable.

The first thing to examine is who your reader is likely to be.  Who will buy the book? What demographic traits do they have and how big is that group?  Is it whites or blacks or Hispanics or others?  Is it men and women, teens, or children?  Is it regional in appeal?  Does it ‘target’ a certain age bracket, level of education or household income?

Second, who or what competes with you for the purse of your targeted reader?  Are there other books, products, or services that can be purchased instead of – or in conjunction with – your book?

Third, what’s your marketing plan? How will you reach your intended readership in a cost-effective, timely manner?

Fourth, what will you do to promote your book to the news media?

Lastly, how price-competitive are you and how widespread is your distribution?

Your book is promotable or marketable if:

(a)    You have something that is promotable or marketable.

(b)   You make the effort to promote or market it.

Think about it.

If you have a dud of a book – or a great book but no real hook for fans or media – you won’t get far, no matter how much time and resources you pour into marketing.  Further, if you have a book with lots of interesting angles for the news media and social media but you fail to make a comprehensive, assertive effort to push your book, it will just die.

So if you have a marketable book, be prepared to invest in it.  How do you know if it’s marketable?.  Ask yourself:

1.      Who will buy the book – how many people potentially?  Is it a lot?

2.      How will you reach those people?  Do methods exist to reach them?

3.      Is there something unique, new, different, or unusual about your book?

4.      Is your story, as an author, interesting and worthy of attention?

5.      Does the message of your book spark controversy, solve a problem, comment on history, or actually make news?

6.      Is your book widely available, affordable, packaged nicely, containing good testimonials, showing nicely as a cover, and completed with a catchy title?

Your book will not simply sell itself. Nor can you say you can’t afford to promote it.  If you believe these things to be true, don’t bother publishing your book.  Really.

Word-of-mouth can help a book sell, but you need to create some initial interest to get enough word-of-mouthers reading the book.

No mater your financial situation, you can do something to promote and market your book.  And you should.

Not all books are marketable or promotable and not all books need to be.  Some books exist because they serve purpose and it may only appeal to a small group of people.  That’s fine.  But if you have bigger expectations, your book needs to be both marketable and marketed.

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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog 2017©. Born and raised in Brooklyn, now resides in Westchester. Named one of the best book marketing blogs by Book Baby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs 

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