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Market Research for Authors Who Want to Improve Their Sales
Today, we’re going to take a moment to acknowledge that all of us are not having the book sales that we thought we would. We are not selling as many books as we hoped and dreamed. No matter where you are in the publishing process, it is possible to start fresh and begin promoting and selling more copies of your books. The best part is that you can do this in as little as 24 hours by doing just a few simple things.
We are going to start by doing some very basic marketing exercises. First, we are going to identify the top books in your genre as well as the top authors. That’s because you are going to use that list to go find your target readers. By knowing the bestselling authors in your genre, you’ll also be able to look into what they are doing to sell to their target audience.
If you’ve written a fantastic book that was meant to be read to a five-year-old, I promise you that they have a book basket that’s already stuffed with favorite books. Do you know who wrote those books? Do you know the names of the books that are on the bedside tables of children everywhere? What are the bestselling books in your genre today? How do you find that out? These are the types of topics we will be going over throughout this article.
We’ll be talking about how to research the bestselling books in your genre. Again, you’ll be gathering a long list of comparable and competitive titles so that we know where our readers are and what they are buying. One of the easiest ways to find your readers, once you know what the books are, is to see who lists these books, both on Amazon and Goodreads.
Comp Title Research
I did some research for a student of mine, named Heather, who thought her book was comparable to Goodnight Moon. Let’s say that this was your book. You could begin your research by heading over to Amazon and looking that book up. Now, let’s say that your book is available in both paperback and as a hardcover. You find that the hardcover version of Goodnight Moon is $18.99, and it’s in the “Classics” subcategory. Unfortunately, that’s not a category that will work for your “new” book. So, it’s time to search onward.
Now, let’s say that your book is not only a bedtime book for little kids, it’s also a counting book too. Since that’s the case, you might move on in your research to look up “counting books”. I did this and “counting books for toddlers” came up, which was perfect for the type of book we are researching. Once your search results appear, you should see some search filters over on the left-hand side of the screen, which you may want to use to be more specific in your research.
Upon doing this research myself, I narrowed my search down by choosing the subcategory “Children’s Counting Books” and the filter for hardcovers. The first book to come up was Goodnight Numbers, by Danica McKellar. It had 155 reviews, and the hardcover was priced at $16.99. When I clicked on the book and scrolled down the book’s sales page to the “Product Details” section, I found that it was listed under Children’s Books > Early Learning > Basic Concepts > Counting.
I clicked on the word “counting” in this category list, within the Product Details section, and I was redirected to that category. The page showed me all of the bestseller in that category.
The very top book listed was an Eric Carle book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I would like to take a moment to warn everyone against going after the classics. Trying to compare yourself to Eric Carle as a children’s book writer would be like writing a horror novel and compare yourself to Stephen King. That’s just not an apples to apples comparison. Your book might be comparable to Numbers Colors Shapes by Rodger Priddy, however.
How to Go Further
At this point, Heather felt like we were closing in on books that were much more similar to hers. Another book that came up in my search was Happy Easter Mouse, which is by Laura Numeroff. That’s the same author that wrote If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Doggies, by Sandra Boynton, is another one that came up. This author is very famous. There was also Counting with Frida, by Patty Rodriguez. You might have to go through a number of these books to find a half a dozen or more books that are comparable to your own. One that I thought was a great example was How Do Dinosaurs Count to Ten? This book is written by Jane Yolen.
If you thought that this book would be one which your readers would like to read as well, and it’s not written by an author so famous that you could never keep up, then it would be a good book for you to research. When you reach the listing page, for the book you are researching, be sure to also look at the “Customers who bought this item also bought” section, just to see what else is there.
Now, Jane Yolen is very popular, so a lot of her books were in this section. There were also quite a few other dinosaur books for children. There weren’t any comparable counting books, really. So, I continued looking at the bestsellers in the “counting” subcategory. Next, I looked at Twenty Yawns by Jane Smiley. This book’s description boasts that it is a Huffington Post Best Children’s Book of the Year, and at the time this research was done, it had 796 reviews.
This is a terrific book, and it’s one that the readers of your books would probably have on their bedside table. Again, that’s if you were publishing a children’s counting book that’s meant to be read at bedtime. Of course, if your book is different, you would want to find books that are comparable to your own. They can’t be books that are phenomenally famous, but they should be books that are selling well that you are pretty sure are sitting on the bedside table of those people in your target audience. I recommend finding about 12 different books that fit this description.
Don’t Just Settle for Online Research!!!!!
When you are done with this Amazon research, I recommend that you get in your car and drive to the nearest library and the nearest bookstore. Tell the librarians and bookstore employees about your book, let them know what books you would compare it to, and tell them that you are looking for other books that are checked out a lot, or are bought a lot, that are comparable to yours. Get their opinions as well. Don’t just depend on Amazon.
Librarians are often lovely people, as are bookstore clerks in many cases. Tell them that you are an author doing market research. Let them know about the books you’ve already found and ask them to help you find books to add. They will probably be excited to help you, if they aren’t super-busy, that is. Before you know it, you’ll have a list full of books that you can look at further to help you in your own marketing.
I only chose the picture books that were also counting books because they were the most like Heather’s. Hopefully, I gave her enough ideas to start doing this research on her own, and I would encourage you to do the same. This is the initial research that you should do, but there’s far more to be done. We will continue on in future articles by discussing what you can do once you have gathered a list of the top authors and books in your genre.
Prepare and Budget for the ENTIRE Life of Your Book
Most authors budget their time,money, and energy for the life of their book, but they forget that the book’s life span does not end when the book is printed… that is when it starts. A book’s life starts at it’s birth (the launch) and needs to be budgeted for.
Here is a video of my most recent talk on the Life of Your Book. We will be covering this in more detail on Mentoring Mondays with Judith Briles starting June 3th.
“I want to sell a million copies”
I hear this sentence at least three times a day. A million copies. The magic number. Just thought I’d throw a few more magic numbers out there….
Here is a brief run down of Stephen King’s latest marketing program for his last book from an October 2011 Wall Street Journal Article.
Mr. King and his publisher, Scribner, face an odd challenge as they unleash an elaborate marketing campaign to promote “11/22/63.” How do you rebrand one of the world’s most famous and successful living authors? Scribner is targeting history buffs with book-giveaway promotions on bio.com and history sites. To reach news junkies, the publisher bought ad time on 11 p.m. news programs in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. The 30-second ad, which will also run on the CNN airport network and on the A&E and Syfy networks, shows archival footage of Kennedy’s Dallas motorcade, with a voice-over that says, “What if instead of justwatching history, you could change it?” Mr. King’s book tour will include appearances at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston and at the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas, the site Oswald fired from. The Dallas museum is preparing to host 1,000 people.
So what do we take away from this?
Mr. King has a huge following and decades of New York Times Best Sellers behind him.
He was on the road for weeks doing events in high-profile locations.
His publisher purchased ads on CNN, A&E the 11pm news in major markets.
Scribner also launched a multi-platform online campaign that gave away over 3000 books.
The magic number since the book released last November? According to Bookscan, Mr. King has sold 576,361 copies across all formats.
One of the best-selling authors of all time spent over a hundred thousand dollars on marketing with his publisher and even with eBook sales included, did not reach a million copies.
What is the real magic number?
It starts with the amount of time you spend getting the package of your book right
It is followed by the number of months you spend planning and orchestrating your launch
Right behind that is the number of ads and programs you participate in.
But that last number does not count much unless the ads and programs are in top venues (USA TODAY, PEOPLE, CNN…)
Next up is the number of PR and marketing professionals you are working with.
Then is there are the amount of reviews you get
A BIG number is how many retailers are getting your marketing and PR information to convince the buyers to buy your book.
Finally, there is the elusive “tipping point” number. How many people have to love and recommend your book before it takes on a life of its own?
So what is the answer to the question “what are the right numbers for my book?”.
It is different for everybody, but start with THOSE numbers and THEN tell the world how many you plan on selling. If you are going to spend 20 hours and $4000 on sales and marketing, your book will not “catch fire”. The stories of books that grow from nothing and become huge successes have enormous numbers behind them. Numbers of hours, numbers of dollars, numbers of supporters…. the ratio varies, but the totals are the same. At least a million….
Let’s Make a Deal – Setting Your Price
Just recently, we blogged about the importance of category research when choosing the right cover for your book.
Don’t Judge A Book By It’s Color
Just yesterday, someone posted an interesting question to one of the discussion groups that we follow.
Basically, the question was “Does anyone have any idea what the “ideal color” for a business book should be?”
I was surprised by the number of responses that actually suggested a color! Blue, it seems, is the color people associate with business books. Apparently, content and subcategory doesn’t matter. It should just be blue.
To me, responses such as these are dangerously irresponsible. How can a group of people suggest a “sellable” color without doing the extensive research needed to choose a book’s packaging?
How can something as vitally important as a book’s cover be reduced to the simple question of: “What color should a [insert your own category here] book be?”
Below are some highlights from my response to the “color” discussion. I hope you find them useful:
1. Research the subcategory – leadership, time management, ethics, human resources, business management, management, how-to business, marketing, etc.
2. Purchase (or at least go to the bookstore and look at) the top sellers in your subcategory. Identify the colors, fonts and images used.
3. Find out what’s working and why. Are they all the same color, same title treatment, same image pattern? I’m guessing not. Why not? Which of the books “popped” off the shelf most. Why? (the color could be why)
4. Pull out books in colors that you and your client like that are in your cover design. Put them in the shelf within your category. Can you see them? Why? Why not? Which colors will stand out on the shelf.
It’s important to keep in mind that cover design is ultimately driven by the consumer. We teach people what to expect when they go in to the business category in terms of look, feel, trim size and even price. So, you want to be sure that you’re what they expect. At the same time, it’s important to stand out. If every book in your subcategory is blue, you might want to try red, or green or muted purple. You might want to try something very bright that practically leaps off the shelf.
Most importantly, there is no set formula for choosing “a color” for any category of books. you need to thoroughly research the subcategory and find out how you can match up against the competition and get noticed on the shelf.
Everyone Will Want to Read My Book…
No they won’t.
The first rule in publishing is to know your audience. For authors and publishers, this means know your reader (the end consumer) and your business partners (retailers).
While you may believe that you’ve found the “perfect” book that is uniquely qualified to be all things to all people, it’s important to really know your audience.
Let’s look at this through the eyes of a potential publisher:
The Retailer—While the publishing business is moving more and more to online sales and marketing and finding a solid audience, it’s still important to ensure your book is “shelved” in the right place. While you may have written a novel for 8 year old girls that can have a positive impact on her 12 year old brother with special advice for mom and dad, that particular shelf doesn’t exist in the bookstore. Your book will be shelved in one category. This is important to know before you ever write your book proposal. You need to identify where it goes in the book store so you can determine what editor or publisher to send it to. They know their retail market, do you?
The Consumer—The consumer is the end audience for your book. This is the person that will pick it up, skim a few pages, and ultimately make a purchase. Whether it be for themselves, as a gift, or required reading for their occupation, that consumer is your audience. That means you need to know: Who they are? What they buy? How they shop? What the competition for their business is? Does your book “fit” your consumer? Do you have the right cover design, price, trim size? Are you shelved in the appropriate category?
These are just some of the questions that agents, publishers—and retailers—ask when they are pitched your book alongside thousands of other books. If you want to stand out in a crowded marketplace, it’s important to know your audience.
D5 Creation