Why Book Positioning Is The Secret Ingredient

While ideally you would think about book positioning and your target market before even putting down the first word that is not how it happens in most cases. Instead you get struck by a story idea and if you are a seat-of-the-pants writer like me, you will sit down and let that idea flow into words while it is at its most vivid. Who will ever read them is not your first concern.

However, what to do once you realise that you would actually like to publish the book you wrote?

Don't panic. All is not lost if the idea of book positioning doesn't occur to you until the end. In that case you just have to figure out which target group your book is most suited for, instead of defining which target reader you would have liked to written your book for before you got around to the actual writing.

In this series I will give a run-down of things to consider when positioning your book. Let's start with a definition.

What is positioning?

Positioning means "identifying and attempting to occupy a market niche for a brand, product or service utilizing traditional marketing placement strategies (i.e. price, promotion, distribution, packaging, and competition)." Additionally, "[p]ositioning is also defined as the way by which the marketers attempt to create a distinct impression in the customer's mind." - Wikipedia

With the vast competition in the book market of today, it is essential to identify the correct market niche for your book. The goal is not to reach a mass of readers, but instead to address the right kind of readers for your book. In other words, figuring out the best positioning for your book will assure that your limited time and resources for marketing are employed to the greatest effect with a group of people interested specifically in the content you are offering.

Having said that, I will post the following sections of a simple beginner's guide to positioning over the next few weeks. The first section is available today.

The Beginner's Guide to Book Positioning

1. Market Segmentation: 4 Dimensions to Find Your Target Segment 

Learn how to segment the global book market to identify the target market for your book

2. How to Assign your Book to the Right Genre

Getting the genre right further narrows down your target market and ensures that your book messaging addresses the right audience of readers 

3. An Essential Lesson in Online Book Distribution

An overview over some great online distribution channels and sites

4. Price Positioning: Doing Prices the Right Way

Insights on how to research prices for your target segment and genre

5. Book Cover Design: 4 Corner Stones for Positioning through Book Covers

A few guidelines on how to communicate your book positioning in a glance

6. 6 Quick Notes on Blurb Writing

6 pointers on how to compose a compelling, tailored blurb which will encourage potential readers to give your book a chance

Questions to Go

Have you figured out your positioning strategy for your book yet? 

Has refining your understanding of the treated areas helped you shape your book marketing plan? 

Please share your ideas and thoughts in the comments below.

7 Reasons Why Beta Readers Are A Great Help

As I find myself ear-deep in my xth editing round for my first novel, I keep stumbling upon reasons why beta readers are life- and sanity-savers. If you haven't had the help of betas yet, or maybe not even heard that they exist, here a short intro:

A beta reader is a person who reads a written work, generally fiction, with what has been described as "a critical eye, with the aim of improving grammar, spelling, characterization, and general style of a story prior to its release to the general public." - Wikipedia

What are the advantages of having beta readers?

1. Your beta readers don't expect a finished-for-print product from you.

 

They still go in with an eye towards improving your work, but with a different set of expectations compared to an editor.

2. Your beta readers can help make your manuscript editor-ready.

While betas might not always be able to fully erase the need for an editor (you might be lucky and have an editor as your beta), they can certainly help you get your novel ready for an editor's desk. Having betas to help you iron out plot inconsistencies, characterisation issues or mere grammar mistake will put your work in better shape to be picked up by an agent or editor.

 

3. Your beta readers can read with a focus on a certain aspect of your writing.

While an editor looks for the full package and has several things to tick off his list while skimming your manuscript, you can ask a beta to read your work with an eye for a certain aspect. My sister for example is great at characterisation and character descriptions. She just has a knack for knowing when they fit in and how much information is just right to get a picture across, but not halt the reading flow. Big surprise that she usually is my beta for all things character. This also brings me to my next point.

4. Your beta readers know you and your style.

Often beta readers tend to attach themselves to the authors they have enjoyed reading previous works from. Or they already know you because they are family and friends. Either way, over time you will end up with a core group of betas, that will know you and your quirks. They will be able to not only expect and look out for certain pet peeves of yours (there vs. their is a favourite of mine), but they will further be able to point out inconsistencies across a book series or highlight elements that seem repetitive across different pieces of writing. That is something an editor is usually unlikely to be able to do as a first time reader.

 

5. Your Beta readers are great supporters in the writing, editing and publishing process.

Beyond the fact that beta readers tend to be very familiar with your quirks, they usually also become great supporters and enthusiastic cheerleaders that are invaluable during the process of writing a book. 

 

6. Your Beta readers don't expect money for their time and advice.

Most betas read your manuscript purely for the love of reading or a certain genre. They do not expect money for their time or advice. However, do not forget to thank them for their valuable input. A simple thank you can go a long way.

7. Your beta readers can give a fresh perspective on your writing.

This is probably more true for beta readers you found through their love for the genre rather than friends an family. Not because your friends' and family's views will be naturally inclined in your favour (although they usually are), but more because genre beta readers haven't heard you talk their ear off about plot lines and they are more familiar with what usually works for them in your genre. After all, your family and friends might prefer a different genre or even non-fiction over fiction. 

Any other reason you would have liked to see listed? Any good beta-anecdotes to share?

9 Different Channels for Reaching Readers

As I mentioned in my blog entry on platform management last week, it is important nowadays for authors to be present and approachable for their readers. 

Today, I will give a simple list of the different channels out there. These are a simple selection made based on personal familiarity. I categorised them into Basic, Intermediate and Advanced according to the amount of effort, time and strategy that goes into set-up. Basic and Intermediate channels don't require you to necessarily be a published author. Just pick your starting point and build your platform from there. As you go along, you will find a balance and figure out how to best interact with your fans through your chosen channels. 

Basic:

Basic channels are free, online social platforms that merely require you to sign up for an account before you can get started. Sometimes it is even possible to connect these channels by signing in through a central facebook or google account. A central sign-in allows you to synch posts across platforms, meaning that e.g. your twitter posts will also show up on your facebook wall.

I am sure none of the examples in this category will be a shocking discovery. Your use of basic channels can range from short updates on your writing life, books, characters, general announcements and other interests to more strategic uses including polls, raffles, writing prompts, author encounters through events, etc. 

1. Facebook
2. Google+
3. Twitter
4. Goodreads

Intermediate:

Intermediate channels require a bigger time commitment for set-up and can be a great addition once you have gained an audience through basic channels. Or they can be your starting point and you reach out through basic channels to spread the word about these platforms once you have published some content on them. As mentioned before, there is no real wrong or right way about what comes first. Everyone needs to figure out for themselves what they would like to tackle first. 

1. Blog
   • Blogs should have a theme and be updated in regular intervals. A good starting cadence is once a week.
   • Category labels for different blog posts should be clearly defined to make navigation for readers easy and swift. 
   • If you don't think you can accommodate a weekly post schedule, consider sharing your blog with a fellow writer or blogger.
   1.1 Blog Tours
   
   •  If you are not up to maintaining a full blog you might consider doing a number of guest blog entries for high visibility blogs geared towards addressing your target group.
   • Recommended articles on blog tours and guest posting:
   • How Guest Posting Can Help You Grow Your Blog by Jeff Goins
   • Blog Tours – A Proven Strategy to Sell eBooks and More by Kathleen Gage
2. Videos + Vlogs
   • If you feel comfortable in front of a camera and are familiar with an editing programme, you might want to think about posting your insights in form of a video blog. A vlog can also accompany a blog.
   • Videos are also an opportunity to let your readers learn more about you. You could do an introductory Author Q&A video similar to the ones that are done by publishing houses for debut authors. (Example for Alexandra Adometto) If you plan on posting on a regular basis you might even want to consider establishing a channel on a video hosting platform.
3. Website
   • This is one up from a blog and ideally should function as a gateway to your universe: your blog, background on your books, widgets to connect readers to your other channels, latest news - the more thought-through your architecture on your website, the easier navigation in your universe will be for your readers
   • I think a great time to launch a website is with the launch of your first book. 

Advanced:

These advanced opportunities to interact with your readers have the prerequisite of you actually having published a book. Furthermore, they are usually handled by publishing houses or agents, if you are a signed author. 

Understandable as they require either quite a bit of organisation, sometimes monetary backing and in the case of my last suggestion some expertise. However, by reaching out a hand to other authors, your friends or local writing communities even these can be accomplished independently. It just takes a little faith, enthusiasm and some old-fashioned elbow grease.

1. Book Readings
   • If you don't think that enough people would show up for you, why not get together with several other others and make it a book reading event? Or you might be able to get a local book store chain or library to host you and do some additional advertising to their customers. As with so many schemes attached to being an indie author, "initiative" is the keyword here.
2. Book Fairs
   • Same principle as for book readings above. Think about banding together and renting a stand at a book fair or see if you can collaborate with local writing institutions to get a spot to present your book on fairs.

That's my 2 cents for today. I hope this list and short overview helped you better map out your channel strategy. Of course, I will probably touch on these channels and go into more details on how to utilise them in future entries.

So, got an idea on where to start? Any more channels to recommend? Any wish on what I should write about or elaborate on next?