Re-post: Right on Target

Some writers will start writing because it’s a story that just needs to be told. Some writers will have a goal in mind, a lesson to teach or a message to spread. When it comes to promoting your book though you need to focus on an audience – “In marketing and advertising, a target audience, or target group is the primary group of people that something, usually an advertising campaign, is aimed at appealing to.” (from Wikipedia)

If you have a goal in mind, such as a self-help guide, stay focused on your message. Decide who you want that message to go to and who will be most interested in what you have to say. Most retirees won’t be interested in parenting tips and most college students won’t care about senior communities. Staying focused and understanding who your story will appeal to is important even for fiction writers. If you’ve written a novel in a specific genre or about a specific time period, then you have a focus where to market your book.

Decide where your audience “hangs out”, what publications (magazines and newspapers) they read, what type of music (and radio stations) they listen to. Spend your time and/or money where it makes sense whether you are using advertising dollars or devoting your time to promoting your work. Study the demographics of an audience – some of those studies may have already been done for you and just a slight bit of research will give you direction.

Let’s talk about romance genres and how knowing those demographics would help a romance author to market his/her books. According to results published by Romance Writers of America, “The heart of the U.S. romance novel readership is women aged 31–49 who are currently in a romantic relationship.”

Knowing this information can be useful in writing your novel since you can adjust your storyline to include matters of relevance to a specific age group; certainly you know NOT to insult that age group. If you can’t find the demographics you need, look at magazines that cater to your chosen genre such as Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Asimov's Science Fiction or History Magazine. Notice advertisement-targets in those magazines to see who your audience should be.

Bowker, which provides information on books to publishers, books sellers and libraries, published a report which included the following highlights: 57% of book buyers are women; mystery books are the most popular genre for book club sales; generation X consumers buy more books online than any other demographic group; 21% of book buyers said they became aware of a book through some sort of online promotion; and men accounted for 55% of e-book purchases. (see www.bookconsumer.com to order 2008 U.S. Book Consumer Demographics & Buying Behaviors)

Concentrate your major publicity efforts on social network sites that readers of your genre frequent, or if you are investing in print advertising place ads in magazines read by the same audience (these are just a few examples). No one has the time or money to reach everyone, so be wise and frugal with both your time and your money by directing it intelligently.

Writing exercise: Describe the last meal you ate without using taste. (hint: What color was it? What was the texture? Did it crunch as you bit into it?) Now describe a sunny day without using sight. Finally describe a child’s laughter without using sound.

Writing prompt: Begin with a 4-letter word like STAR. Change just one letter to make new words until you run out of ideas – never use the same word twice.

Challenge assignment: Pick any recent news story. Re-write the story and cater it to (1) the elderly; (2) new parents; (3) a political party [your choice]; (4) the very wealthy; and (5) graduating college students.