Do you think that authors are the only ones who must define and target an audience? Absolutely not. Anyone who contemplates starting a business or coming out with a new product MUST identify their customers\u2014that is, if they want to be successful. <\/p>\n
The thing that causes authors confusion is the fact that they don\u2019t typically look at publishing as a business. <\/p>\n
You\u2019ve heard\/read me say, \u201cPublishing is not an extension of your writing.\u201d You\u2019ve heard\/read me and others say, \u201cWriting is a craft\/an art and publishing is a serious business.\u201d Some of you even accept this and understand it to a point. But you may still not quite get it to the degree that you must in order to create a viable product and sell numbers of it.<\/p>\n
Most authors hope to make money on their book. But they still have trouble viewing their book as a product that must be advertised\u2014promoted. The fact is that over 76 percent of books fail. The average number that pay-to-publish books sell is 100. In most cases, you will not break even at that rate.<\/p>\n
Most of you know something about business. Many of you are in business. You know which brands of clothing, electronics, pet food, laundry detergent, etc. are outselling the others because that\u2019s the one you see promoted with the most gusto. It\u2019s the one that gets the most exposure. <\/p>\n
You may notice promotion going on at events you attend\u2014one brand of water is being given away at the track meet, there are signs around the field advertising various local businesses, a plane flies by with a banner asking you to vote for a certain candidate, people are wearing hats with business logos, a car in the parking lot has a sign on the side depicting a real estate company, someone is handing out business cards or brochures, a sign in the snack bar indicates that a certain brand of hotdog is being served. When you decide to have a yard sale, you hang signs to let people know when and where it is, you might place a free ad in the newspaper and hand out notices to neighbors. It\u2019s all advertising\/exposure. And it\u2019s something you, as a published author, will have to engage in if you want to sell your books. <\/p>\n
Sure, some people will stumble upon the yard sale without having seen the signs. But you can\u2019t rely on that\u2014just as you can\u2019t rely on your book being accepted for sale in bookstores nationwide and it being widely purchased. Not without some effort on your part.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve known a LOT of authors and I can tell you that those with a business sense\u2014those who go into publishing with a business head (no matter their choice of publishing options) always sell more books and become more successful than those who don\u2019t. Write a book from the heart, pay to have the unedited book published and then sit back and wait for it to sell and you will surely fail.<\/p>\n
Learn more about how you can promote your particular book through my online-on-demand book promotion course. http:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/course_bookpromotion.htm<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Do you think that authors are the only ones who must define and target an audience? Absolutely not. Anyone who contemplates starting a business or coming out with a new product MUST identify their customers\u2014that is, if they want to be successful. The thing that causes authors confusion is the fact that they don\u2019t typically […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,5],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t