Indie authors can learn a thing or two about book promotion from the profilers we watch in movies and TV shows like The Silence of the Lambs, Criminal Minds, and Mindhunter.
Wait. What?
Well, while the stakes are very different, indie authors should be as passionate about identifying their potential reader pool as Clarice Starling, Spencer Reid, or Holden Ford are on narrowing the pool of potential suspects. This kind of background work, whatever your field, is always going to pay off.
Reader profiles are an author’s version of market research, and what develops from the work you do creating one will help you decide on the optimal book promotions to implement in order to sell more books.
That may sound a little technical and perhaps easier said than done, but if you haven’t developed a reader profile yet, it’s time to identify and then go deep into the world of your readers.
I can’t tell you how many authors I chat with who say their book “is for everyone,” or that they imagine its potential buyers are “all women between 18 and 80 with hopes and dreams.” The worst answer? “I’m not sure.”
Unless you have endless hours to market your book and hope some of it eventually works, read on to better understand the primary benefits of creating reader profiles.
People are complex
Our free time is limited and there aren’t enough hours in the day. Same goes for your potential buyers. The reality is that most people don’t venture outside of their preferred reading genres, and for those of you who write in genres that have more sub-genres than Elizabeth Taylor’s had marriages, you really need to up your game.
Reading is personal, so book discovery needs to be personal as well.
Reader profiles can help you sell more books by really personalizing the experience a potential buyer has with your brand – and this is what makes you stand out from the 4,500+ other books being published every single day.
People are social
I’m a big proponent of you don’t have to be everywhere, you just have to be everywhere that matters. If you’ve been a bit perplexed about which social media platforms to use, or whether or not you’re reaching the right people, reader profiles can help with that.
Social media, news media, and pretty much anywhere that caters to consumers and brands alike have demographics available for the public. Compare your reader profiles with the demographics for the most popular channels for book promotion and book discovery to see where you should really bother spending your time, and where you might be able to cut loose some wasted effort.
People like a sure thing
Reader profiles can help you sell more books by mimicking what seems to be working for other, more successful authors in your genre. Part of learning about your potential buyers includes understanding their current reading preferences. This is huge.
Success leaves clues. So if you start tracking the book promotion and branding activities of other authors who are already selling books to your target market, you’ll pick up a lot of solid techniques that you know resonate with the right people.
People like special
Detailed reader profiles also push you to examine your own work, not just those who are most likely to buy it. If you want to sell more books, you’ll have to get better at convincing potential buyers that you have something special to offer them.
And while for non-fiction authors that usually means your book itself has to have a unique take and perspective on your topic, it gets a bit more complicated for genre fiction authors to find things in their story line that makes them unique – because let’s face it, your readers often choose books because they pretty much know what to expect, and they like it that way.
So if you’re writing fiction and struggling to find ways to stand out, look more toward your brand and your online persona to carry that weight. Properly done reader profiles also help you brainstorm ways you can be different, not just your books.
Prep for people
Building off what makes you and your book unique is the ability to fine-tune your author platform. Reader profiles are like a sneak peek at who’s going to show up to a party you’re attending, and for argument’s sake, let’s say they need to like you in order to buy your book – well, with reader profiles you should have no problem wowing the crowd.
And don’t let it end with how reader profiles affect what you put on social media, use this valuable information to optimize your Amazon presence, your website, and certainly future book releases.
Profile!
Because I’ve done all this preaching on the importance of developing reader profiles, I figured I should develop one to help you hit the ground running!
The version I’ve designed can be used by fiction and non-fiction authors alike.
Please understand: you don’t have to fill out every single section in order to make some headway on figuring out how to sell more books, but the more of it you complete, the better understanding you’ll have of your buyer market and your competition.
Releasing a book is like starting a business, and realistically none of us would start a business without the proper market research. If you’re committed to your long-term success and you want your platform and brand to continue to grow, put the time in now so you feel ahead of the curve, not constantly chasing it.
So put on your amateur sleuth cap, take a deep breath, and CLICK HERE to get started – you’ve got this!
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Penny Sansevieri, CEO and founder of Author Marketing Experts, Inc. (AME) and Adjunct Professor at NYU, is a best-selling author and internationally recognized book marketing and media relations expert. Her company is one of the leaders in the publishing industry and has developed some of the most cutting-edge book marketing campaigns. To learn more about Penny and AME, visit www.amarketingexpert.com.