Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Which Demographic Do You Promote Your Book To?



When promoting – and writing – a book, one must always think about the readership demographics.  Which types of media will you pursue?  What kind of fan do you hope to create?  

The writer who answers “my book is for everyone and anyone” actually writes for no one.

Just as advertisers, politicians, and major corporations look to serve and target key demographics, so should writers and publishers.

Is your target mainstream or alternative, pop culture or intellectual, young or old, male, or female,  Democrat or Republican, atheist or devout Christian, pet-lover or animal avoider, unregulated gun owner or anti-violence advocate, pro-choice or pro-life, and on and on?  Know your target.

Of course, groups can overlap.  You can be an ethnic minority and be a soccer mom and be a green environmentalist or you can be some or all of those things and be gay or be for the legalization of pot or be a senior citizen.  There are just so many groups and segments out there.

Does you reader have:

A phobia?
An addiction?
A criminal record?
A college degree?
A disability?

Is he or she of a certain:

Age
Gender
Physical build
Sexual preference/past
Religion
Regional connection
Relationship status

Is your reader:

     An immigrant?
     A hobbyist?
     A jock?
     A nerd?
     A parent, child, sibling?
    Recovering from a loss or injury?
    A manager or unemployed?
    Part of the 1% or is homeless?
    A socialist, capitalist, or Communist?
     Liberal, libertarian, or anarchist?

Do you appeal to those for or against:

Capitol Hill
Hollywood
Wall Street
Corporate America
Big Pharma
Madison Avenue
Main Street
Silicon Valley
Ivy League
Terrorism
NRA, Planned Parenthood
Pentagon
Small Business
Unions
Charities
News Media

You almost need to consult a psychology test, a dating profile, or the U.S. Census in order to identify the different types of people that are out there – mentally, physically, spiritually, financial, educationally, sexually, etc.  Now think about for whom you write and how you can pitch the media and use social media to appeal to targeted segments of the population.

Something people choose one side or another when there are two extreme, polar-opposite choices – and sometimes people learn a certain way but are not exclusive and one even oscillates between which camp they fall under.  People’s circumstance and thus, their views, could change over time as they age, and the world evolves. 

To write or promote a book wildly successfully, you only have to reach a small percentage of your targeted readership.  Define whom you write for – and for whom you want to promote to – and narrow your pitches and efforts to fulfill their needs.  Sometimes, by going after fewer people, you sell more books.

Reading
“Through the eyes of the writer, readers examine life – history, the present, and the future. The best writers let us see through binoculars that magnify and enrich experience; they allow us to see with broader, deeper insight. Through the careful choice of books, through the vision of writers that we trust, we as readers can better understand our own lives as well as the lives of others.  Reading can also help us understand our hardships, build our aspirations, live in someone else’s shoes, learn to make a knot or plant a garden or construct a sentence. By building a broader context around our thinking – one that allows absolute answers and beliefs to give way to a much subtler understanding of life’s mysteries – reading becomes an essential life tool, a dynamic process that continues to engage and challenge us.”-- Helena Hjalmarsson

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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog 2016 ©.
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