An Essential Lesson in Online Book Distribution

While online book distribution is not directly related to book positioning, it is an essential pre-requisite in order to be able even to act upon your positioning. The essential lesson here is that:

• Addressing your identified target segment without having your distribution plan mapped out can make your communication less effective.

Firstly, if you can inform your target readers from the beginning on where and when they will be able to get your new ebook, you can save yourself the hassle of having to retouch communications and save your future customers time in having to search for the information in later launch news bulletins. 

Secondly, your online distribution plan will determine how much of your targeted reader community has the potential to be activated. After all, if an ebook I am interested is not available in the format I need, it is unlikely that I will purchase a copy.

Thirdly, knowledge of which distribution channels you will focus on and their individual policies should in turn inform your pricing and marketing strategy. Will you price the book evenly across channels? Will you discount in all channels at the same time or at different points in time?

 However, before we dive too deep into pricing strategy, let's take a look at different distribution options for your ebook.

Direct Sale Vendors

 

Three of the biggest ebook distributors currently in the market are Kindle Direct Publishing, Nook Press and iTunes Connect. They are the e-punlishing arm of Amazon, Barnes&Nobles and Apple, respectively. All three of these Direct Sale Vendors have a device platform (tablets, e-readers) attached, through which you can easily offer ebooks to millions of readers around the world. Publishing through their platforms also assures that readers owning any of these companies' devices will have easy access to your ebook. 

• Kindle Direct Publishing
• Nook Press
• iTunes Connect

Beside these three big players there is another major player that has made a name for themselves in indie publishing industry: Smashwords. Smashwords will round out your distribution portfolio of direct sale vendors nicely making publishing to further device platforms like Kobo, Sony, etc. a one-stop task through their platform.

Direct sale vendors offer their services and platforms in exchange for a portion of your book's list price. This system allows authors more control over their book distribution and marketing than ever before, while at the same time keeping it in the best interest of the direct sale vendor to facilitate you in turning your book into a marketing success. 

Free online book distribution

 

If your goal is to make your book available for free the best address currently is Wattpad. This social writing platform allows you to publish your work chapter by chapter and your readers to subscribe to your individual publications or you as an author. Some established authors like Marian Keyes have actually started to use Wattpad for reader engagement by making free samples or companion pieces to their full-length works available. 

Self-distribution through your author website

 

Another great option to distribute your own book is to make it available directly through your author website. A personal website is essential and should ideally serve as a one-stop-shop for readers concerning everything related to your publications and author brand. It allows you to reach readers that don't have access to the platforms above or who would have to pay additional fees because they do not reside in the main markets where Apple, Barnes&Noble, etc are operating. On top of that, your personal store takes out the middlemen and leaves you with higher royalities. 

When you feel ready to take this steps here are some useful articles and resources on the topic:

• Selling Ebooks Direct: How To Set Up A Simple eBook Store by David Gaughran at davidgaughran.wordpress.com
• How To Set Up Your Own Online Store by Melanie Pinola at lifehacker.com

Online Store Builders:

• Top 10 Online Store Builders
• flickrocket.com

Bonus: Recommended Print-On-Demand Services

 

If you are already a successful online author with an ebook bestseller, you might be interested in making your book available for readers who continue to prefer paperback formats. 

Platforms like CreateSpace and LuLu.com allow authors to print their works while also hooking them up with a network of booksellers as well as online shoppers.

I personally prefer CreateSpace as it is more flexible and does not ask for an upfront investment. Instead your books are printed according to number of orders coming in. Additionally, CreateSpace provides free distribution in return for part of your book's list price similar to the ebook publishing model. Finally, there is an option to use a customisable CreateSpace eStore on your own website to even let readers coming through your website benefit from the distribution services of Amazon. 

Last piece of advice...

 

If you are a new author, I recommend that you take your time to build your distribution network. Don't feel like you need to be everywhere at once and on the very first day. Put together a plan and communicate the roll-out schedule clearly to your target readers. People are usually understanding if you let them know that you are working hard on making your works as easily accessible as possible.

You can even use a staggered distribution roll-out as a way to let readers celebrate several "mini-book launches" with you: simple turn the addition of a new distribution channel into an  event by e.g. engaging your readers through social media or offering initial, short-term discounts on newly launched platforms.

Do you know where you will distribute your book first?

 

Have you figured out your distribution plan?
Share your experience, troubles and tribulations with different distributors in the comments. What is your publishing story?

Good luck with the distribution of your ebooks :)

Recommended Articles

 

• 20 Websites To Sell Your Ebooks by Kay Tan at kongkiat.com 
• How to Publish with KDP by Joleene Naylor at selfpubauthors.com
• Why My E-Book Release Had Greater Success Without Amazon by Stephanie Chandler at openforum.com
• How to Publish Your Book in the iBookstore by Shane Ketterman at copyblogger.com
• How to Publish on Smashwords by Joleene Naylor at selfpubauthors.com
• Self-Publishing and Maximizing Distribution and Revenue by Tiffany White at contentshelf.net

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 

Figuring out which genre and in particular which subgroup of that genre your book fits into is another way to further narrow down your target market. Assigning your book to the right genre type means you can finetune your choice of channel for reader interaction and engagement.

With the book market rapidly expanding traditional genre terms like romance, suspense, adventure etc. have turned into umbrellas spanning a host of sub-categories. Sci-fi is not just sci-fi anymore, but contains adventure, apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic and alternate reality works with off-planet settings. The list could go on, but I think you catch my drift. 

So how do you figure out which genre your book really belongs to?

1. Get a good overview of what genre types are out there

If you already have a distributor in mind you might just want to have a look at their book section. Take a look at how they segment and label their genres. Otherwise, start out with a simple list of genres from Wikipedia and work from there by matching descriptions for different genres. 

 

Genre lists:

• Wikipedia
• Guardian Book Genre List
• Bookwhirl Genre List

2. Ask your beta-readers and friends to categorise your book

Sometimes gauging where your book fits best can be hard. You might have started out wanting to address readers of a certain genre, but as your story developped you might have landed somewhere else. More than once I have found myself in denial of which genre my book fits best into, just because I stubbornly wanted to cling to my first idea. 

Luckily beta readers and family can help give you a reality check there. While at times hard to take, your change in perspective will be rewarded when it results in you actually approaching the right group of potential readers. On top of that, the right group of readers will be happy that you make their book available to them, while the readers in the initially mis-assigned genre will thank you for reducing thrash in their preferred channels. In the end, it is a win-win for all sides. 

3. Search for similar books to match your own work to

If you have a hunch where your book might fit best, surf the books already assigned to the genre. The goal is to find similar books to your own. Goodreads, Amazon or Smashwords are greats place to get an overview of which type of novels are assigned to certain genres.  Don't forget to take notes of the ones that do match up closely to your own book in plot or storytelling style. That information will come in handy later, when you sit down to write your blurb.

Tip: Check out the list of ebook vendors featured for titles on Goodreads. A full list of possible vendors right there.

I have my genre. What now?

Genre Channel-Tuning and Positioning Lodestones

Now that you have decided on a genre, you can look into what you can learn from other authors and readers already active in the associated channels. 

1. Learn from genre success stories

Make sure to take a look at bestseller lists for the genre you've chosen and see if you can get some ideas for pricing, book cover, blurb style, author bio, etc. Try to find elements that work for the bestselling titles in the genre. Also keep track of information that you would like to have as a reader, but can't find in the book information you are browsing. You will surely find some good lodestones for your own book presentation and positioning within that genre. 

2. Identify genre-specific communities

Goodreads and Wattpad are good starting points to get an idea of readers favourite haunts. Look at reader comments for books in the genre you are interested in, try reaching out to other readers for advise. If you are active on Twitter or Facebook see what a simple search of the genre name will bring up. 

3. Get active in genre-specific communities

I believe this one is pretty self-explanatory. Once you have completed your research into genre channels get active. Try and get involved in discussions, comment threads and activities within the communities that you would like to address later in your marketing. You will learn a lot about what your future readers are looking for. 

This, in turn, can:

• help refine your reader profile, 
• give you an idea on how to best present your book (title, cover, format),
• build early credibility with potential readers by showing interest in a certain genre,
• inform you which channels are the most frequented by your target segment.

It might even help you decide when the best time for your book launch is. Maybe it is not the best idea to launch your suspense novel on the weekend the next Dan Brown hits the shelves?

For more on genre and book marketing...

How To Choose The Right Genre For Your Book at savvybookwriters.wordpress.com

Cross-Genre Books: Book Marketing that Crosses Genre & Target Audience Boundaries by Eric Dontigney at asmsg.weebly.com

Do You Know The Genre of Your Book? by Keidi Keating at thewordqueen.com

Figured it out?

Which genre does your book fit into? Have you discovered any great communities and their favourite channels? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Good Luck!

 

 

Market Segmentation: 4 Dimensions to Find Your Target Segment

Would a 43-year-old, single investment banker from Brazil be interested in a German children's book?

Do you think he is the reader you should address with "Barnie's Adventures in Playschool"?

Hardly likely. That's were market segmentation for your book comes in.

The benefit of segmenting the book market and identifying your target segment/audience is to ultimately address the right readers. In order to make your final target market more tangible, you can formulate your target segment description in the form of a reader profile. 

Since our time and resources for marketing are limited as a writer, we should invest them into reaching out to the readers that best fit our writer's profile. After all, we would rather be writing than chasing after readers that won't even be interested in what we have to offer. 

On that note, are you ready to figure out the target segment for your book and formulate a reader profile for your book? Let's get to it. :)

How do I segment the market to identify my target group?

Marketers generally use 4 dimensions (demographic, geographic, behavioural and psycho-demographic) to identify the people most likely to buy their products. 

I put together the following matrix of questions to make it easier for you to identify the correct reading audience for your book. Please, pick out the questions you find most relevant (at least 3 out of each) and start taking notes.

Demographic	Geographic
What age, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity of your readers? What is their job? Are they employed or independent? Which generation do they belong to? Baby boomers? Gen X? Millenials/Gen Y? What is their education level? High school diploma? Apprenticeship? College degree? What is their relationship status? Single? Married? Divorced?  Do they have kids? How old are the kids? What is their religion? What are their political affiliations? What is their income? Based on their income how much are they likely to spend on books?	In which country do your readers live? Are there regional differences within the country? Are their cultural differences?  What language do they speak? What is the climate like? Equatorial? Mediterranean? Do they have seasons? Northern vs. Southern hemisphere?
Behavioural	Psycho-demographic
How many books do your readers read in a month? Are they familiar the genre of your book? When, where and how do they read your books? In the evening? On their way to work? On vacation? In one sitting? In several installments? As paperback? Hardcover? eBook? On a tablet, e-reader or on their mobile? Do they buy books based on content or based on price? How willing are they to buy your book? Do they already know your authorbrand? Did they purchase any of your previous books/ the first book in a series or trilogy of yours?	What emotional and attitudional affiliations do your readers have? (e.g.: nerds, emo, scifiers) What lifestyle do they lead? What social class do your readers belong to? Lower, middle, upper? What are your readers’ sctivitie, interest, opinions (AIOs)? What are their goals, beliefs, habits and values?

How to create a reader profile

 

Once you have gathered your answers on a host of the questions above summarise them in a single paragraph. The trick is to use you answers like attributes you would normally attach to a character description. This paragraph on a character will become the reader profile for your book and should guide any future marketing decisions.

I wrote an example reader profile for a guide on self-development for professional women (no clue where that came from, but I don't question my muse in these things):

My target readers are single, middle to upper class female professionals, aged 24-35. They are ambitious, fashionable, career-oriented and health conscious. They look for challenges also in their personal life and are eclectic in their reading habits, enjoying a light chick lit novel as a time-out, planning their fitness programme with a HowTo Guide and but futhering their knowledge with non-fiction books focused on business, historical and political topics. Being mobile, they prefer the ebook format and mostly read in smaller installments on the go. Online they are most active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linked In. They are price conscious when it comes to leisure reading, but willing to spend a buck on a non-fiction book.

If you feel like you reader profile is still too vague after the first round of answers, just go back and try to incorporate the answers to a few more questions.

Voila, by formulating your reader profile you now know your target market segment and can let that knowledge inform the next steps in your book position plan. 

Other Useful Articles and Texts on Reader Profiles and Segmentation

Before You Ever Write A Single Word: Develop A Reader Profile by Shannandoah Diaz on WritersDigest.com

Write a Better Book by Targeting Your Audience by Jan Bear on marketyourbookblog.com 

6 Steps to Finding Your Target Market by Shannon on selfpublishingteam.com

Examples of Reader Profiles by Katarina Brookes on SlideShare

Consumer Behaviour - Buying, Having, and Being - Eight Edition by Michael R. Solomon

For a thorough introduction to consumer behaviour and segmentation

Did you figure out your target segment?

What is your reader profile? How did your reader profile help you with your book marketing plan?

Please share your thoughts below in the comments