I often ask self-publishers who they think would like their book. Some people have a very clear idea of who would probably pick up their book, but a lot of authors I talk to haven't really thought about it. And their answer is something along the lines of, "Everyone."
Everyone in the world is not your target market. Everyone in the United States is not your target market.
Global sales of the blockbuster 50 Shades trilogy were about 40 million copies, and combined sales of the epic Harry Potter series are around 450 million. Sales numbers for the biggest books in modern history sell a fraction of the number of people on Facebook (1 billion), which is, in turn, a fraction of the number of potential readers on Earth (~6.9 billion).
I've read that the average self-published book will sell 100-150 copies, and I've also read that we can't trust that number. What I know is that authors I work with are selling hundreds of copies when they work hard, thousands when they hit a sweet spot, and very few if they don't do any marketing.
Thinking about target readers
If your goal is to sell books, it pays to think deeply about your target market, both in general and in specific.
1. First, think about general demographics of the people you think will be interested in your book. To do this, I took my own thoughts about it and then asked my editors and early readers what they thought. We based it on themes, characters and settings in the novel. We came up with a male, 25-40 or so, who lives in an urban area. It's pretty general, but it is a good starting point.
2. From there, I looked at where 25-40 year old males in urban areas spend their leisure time, both online and off, thinking I would promote my book there. I found coffee shops, bars and art events along with Facebook, about 10 blogs and some other sites.
3. Once I got a general idea of the locations, I created "personas." These are more detailed descriptions of who my target readers are, what they like, etc. You can get a decent idea about peronas here.
4. Finally, I used these personas to think about how my marketing messages and tactics would work. It helped a lot, letting me steer my energy and time toward what seemed like it would appeal to those folks.
Have any of you used personas as part of a marketing campaign?
Image courtesy of Ed Yourdon via flickr
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