It\u2019s sometimes overwhelming and intimidating to think of finally producing that book you\u2019ve been dreaming about and\/or working on for months or years. You\u2019re afraid of what the response will be. You\u2019re concerned that you won\u2019t find a publisher. That\u2019s why some authors come out with a test copy first. <\/p>\n
For some, the term, \u201ctest product\u201d is just psychological\u2014the author isn\u2019t ready to commit to being an author. He doesn\u2019t want to put himself out there and become vulnerable, so he produces a book and calls it a test product. Others don\u2019t want to spend the money to do it up right, so they have a few copies of their books printed and bound at a business store. Still others self-publish or hire a pay-to-publish company to publish their book in order to test it. <\/p>\n
If their book is well-received, they go forward with their projects. Some authors move ahead even when the test isn\u2019t all that successful. If they do decide not to publish, they aren\u2019t out much. Sure, their ego will be a bit bruised, but not as severely as if they had done a bona fide printing of the book. <\/p>\n
Some authors who do a test product, will actually listen keenly to their audiences\u2014find out what they like\/don\u2019t like about the book\u2014and make appropriate adjustments on the second printing. Others, after test-marketing their books, do more editing (or not) and begin the process of finding a traditional publisher, even if the results weren\u2019t very good. Some authors actually like the idea of self-publishing and, based on feedback from their audience, they establish a serious company around their books and develop a hard-hitting marketing plan.<\/p>\n
Testing the market with your book isn\u2019t a bad idea. But it is important that you enter into this sort of experiment with your eyes and your mind wide open. Leave your expectations behind. Listen keenly to the comments from and the actions of your readers. Make your ultimate business decision based on what you learned during the test period. Did folks love your book? How do you know? What were their words\/actions? Did they buy more than one copy? Did their friends buy a copy? Did they offer any suggestions? Were their words full of encouragement or were they reluctant to comment? Did they go out of their way to comment on your book or did you have to drag the words out of them? Is everyone saying pretty much the same thing? Are you paying attention?<\/p>\n
Through the process of test-marketing your book, you may discover the following:<\/p>\n
\u2022\tYour audience is not who you thought they would be.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tYou have a strong secondary audience you hadn\u2019t expected.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tThe outlets you planned to sell books through did not pan out.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tBook promotion is much harder than you thought. <\/p>\n
\u2022\tYou need to go back to the drawing board with your book.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tYou are right on target with your book and should move forward and seek out a publisher.<\/p>\n
Even experienced traditional publishers sometimes get it wrong and they rarely put any emotion into their projects like you and I tend to do. So I\u2019m a fan of test-marketing your book. It can be an eye-opener for the hopeful author. But it is only useful if you approach the test project from a solid business standpoint and truly look, listen and learn from the process.<\/p>\n
Check out Patricia Fry\u2019s array of books\u2014some of them are discounted!!! Sign up for your FREE ebooklet: \u201c50 Reasons Why I Should Write That Book.\u201d It\u2019s sometimes overwhelming and intimidating to think of finally producing that book you\u2019ve been dreaming about and\/or working on for months or years. You\u2019re afraid of what the response will be. You\u2019re concerned that you won\u2019t find a publisher. That\u2019s why some authors come out with a test copy first. For some, the term, \u201ctest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"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
\n http:\/\/www.matilijapress.com<\/a><\/p>\n
\n http:\/\/www.patriciafry.com<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"