Writing to Market

We think of writing a book as an act of creative inspiration. The muse strikes and we strive to get the story down, get it right, and out to an audience.

If only it was that easy. Writing a good book is challenging. Most successful writers will tell you that selling a good book is even harder. 

On-line bookstores have opened the doors. The market is filled with diverse books from unique voices, offering a cornucopia of great writing to readers. The time has never been better to get your work out.

Getting your book out there requires know-how. While self-publishing authors have boundless opportunities, they undertake the journey alone. Back in traditional publishing days, it was a guided tour, aided by an agent and publisher. Without professionals in your corner, what is a self-publishing author to do? The answer is deceptively simple. The savvy self-publishing author gets informed and uses that knowledge to navigate the strange seas of on-line publishing.

“Writing to market” is a concept self-publishing authors need to understand. What does it mean? Finding out what books readers want to read and focusing on writing those. 

The idea might restrain an author’s freedom. It sounds like focusing on writing books that sell. Writing to market translates to increased sales. But there is more to it than that. 

These are five writing to market realities you need to understand before embarking on your self-publishing journey.

Do Your Homework

Have you been on Amazon lately? 

Do you know what book covers in your genre look like? Do you know how to price a novel? Have you read the book descriptions? This is a baseline of writing to market. You have to know the genre your books are competing in.

If you write science-fiction, you probably read a lot of that genre. The conventions should be familiar. Most authors don’t scrutinize deep enough. Just because you read in a genre doesn’t mean you understand what readers are looking for. Your reading habits can be deceptive. Perhaps you read more classic science-fiction. Perhaps your taste focuses primarily in one sub-genre.

Sampling a range of books in your genre is critical. Don’t rely on your reading habits. Discover the nuanced reading habits of your readers.

It’s About Reaching Readers

Forget sales or a moment. Translate a sale and positive review into what they really mean: signs of a satisfied reader.

I had a hard time understanding this. I believed a sale was the end goal. It’s not though. A sale and a positive review tells you the complete story. It says that the reader liked your cover and description enough to buy it. The review says they were happy. 

Authors need fans. I don’t just mean to boost ego, either. Authors need fans because when you do your job right, they go to bat for you. They like your posts, talk about your books to their friends. 

You want that.

Wait… I stand corrected. You need that. 

Ignoring Market Signals Leads To Frustration

Jumping into a publishing market that you know little about leads to a cycle of frustration. 

I thought of my first series, The Strange Air, as “paranormal mystery”. I liked to say it was a small town X-Files with a little horror thrown in for good measure.

But as I began marketing, I realized something. While “paranormal” and “mystery” were the accurate descriptions in my head they were ar from what the market thought. I ended up marketing my books with others that were not similar in any way. I promoted mine with books resembling Twilight with covers featuring naughty witches. 

While these are great books, they were nothing like mine. It took me a year (and a gigantic dent in my advertising budget) to figure out two things I could have learned earlier: my genre was limited and I didn’t know what to call it.

Writing To Market Saves Authors Money and Time

Marketing a book is expensive. If an author isn’t careful, they can spend thousands of dollars on the wrong cover, counter-intuitive marketing, and worthless reviews.

Once your book is out, you have crossed the first sea. Congratulations. Now comes the second, more dangerous stretch of water. Selling it. 

In today’s book market, in order to make money you need to spend money. These require investments of time and, of course, capital. Yes, you can sell books without a huge advertising budget. If that’s the case, however, you need a lot of time.

Advertising without knowing your book’s market like throwing darts… blindfolded… on the deck of a ship… in a storm. Your odds of hitting your target are slim.

The savvy self-publisher knows their market. They possess key data like who their readers are, where they gather, and how to give them what they want. 

Translation: they have a shortcut to effective book marketing.

Writing To Market Can Be Easy

Looking back on my first foray into self-publishing, I can see the forest for the trees. Success in any market will be as easy (or as difficult) as you choose to make it.

Spend time in the Kindle Store. Consider a wide range of successful, recently published books that look like yours. Look at what those authors did and emulate it. Yes, it’s OK. Really. Especially when it comes to marketing. Save breaking new ground for the page. Otherwise, do what works.

Read blogs and articles. Network with writers. Keep up with your genre on social media. Readers gather in tribes. They love talking about what they love. Meet them where they are.

Writing is hard enough on its own. Don’t make the business of writing any more frustrating or expensive than necessary. Before writing your book, or perhaps before publishing it, look at the market. Find out what readers want in your genre and be sure your book gives it to them.

Erick Mertz is a ghostwriter and editor from Portland, Oregon. You can read more of his thoughts about the craft and business of writing at www.erickmertzwriting.com/. In addition to his role as a professional ghostwriter, he is also an author, self-publishing The Strange Air series of paranormal mysteries, a story world that blends elements of the X-Files and Unsolved Mysteries. When he is not writing, he enjoys a nice cold craft beer and a baseball game, a bit of travel, dungeon crawling with his board game group, and spending quality time with his wife and son.