Buyers v. Readers And Why They May Be Different People

Are you marketing to the wrong audience?

As authors, we often find ourselves inadvertently targeting the wrong demographic, because while the reader may be obvious, they're not always the individuals buying or recommending (or gifting) your book. 

Join us as we unravel the complexities of audience targeting, uncover common pitfalls and offer practical strategies to ensure you're reaching the right audience for your work. From identifying your true buyers to navigating less obvious markets, we provide actionable insights to help you refine your marketing approach and connect with those who matter most.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello and welcome back to the Book Marketing Tips and Author Success Podcast. I'm really excited for this show. This has this idea has been on our idea list for a while. Um and it's really, it really kind of flips the script a little bit on your marketing. And I hope for many of you this is gonna be a real eye-opener because that's always the purpose of our shows. Is your buyer your reader? And many times authors don't really stand still by this. They don't really think about, well, of course, my reader is my buyer. And that's not always the case. And we're gonna cite some examples and some solutions and things like that. But the origin story of this podcast actually started 23 years ago when I was first in business. And I had an author who wrote a book. Basically, the premise of the book was why good men fall for bad women, right? And so I told this author at the time, I said, well, first off, men don't, with all due respect to all the guys out there listening, men don't generally buy self-help. That's not the primary self-help market. But um, because this author had or was originally like they were trying to go after the male market, like, oh, we want to get to men's magazines, we want to do all this other stuff. And sure, you could potentially get some play there, but the low-hanging fruit for a book like this is going to be the moms, the sisters, the girlfriends, even maybe the neighbor who has seen the guy sleep on the porch for the third night in a row or whatever. I mean, right? You know, so so that's that was kind of how we um that's how we came on this idea. And I thought, you know what would probably be a really good idea to address this, because I think it's not just an example of the self-help book written for for men, but there's a lot more out there, in particular children's books. Amy, do you wanna do you wanna speak to that? Because we just, I know we just got done with kind of a heated debate about um, not heated in a bad way, but about how children's books are often positioned.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Yes. And you know, this is it's it's good. I love that we're doing this, Penny, too, because this is something that we regularly put ourselves through, this kind of like workshopping when we do media for clients and sort of pitching, because you have to really make sure you uncover all the opportunities. And a lot of times that's when we come to the realization that, like, okay, they've got potential buyers here that are not the reader. How are we going to reach those people too? So that's what we're trying to kind of let y'all in on. But yes, when it comes to children's books, I was telling Penny, I have kids. I was not telling Penny that. Sorry. Surprise, Penny. I have kids. But no, I have kids. And I was telling Penny that it drives me nuts when I see children's books that I'm potentially shopping for that have overly vague and cutesy descriptions that don't really tell me anything about the book because it's like if I'm going to buy it for my kid, I want to know what I'm getting into. And especially there are plenty of books out there, and I see this even more with children's books, um, where the look inside feature is not available as well, Penny. So if they're not, you know, published through Amazon, you can't always look, check out what the inside looks like or a sample page or anything. Right. It happens a lot with children's books. And so if the description is also vague or silly or written as if my eight-year-old is shopping, I usually move on, you know, because it's like I don't know what it's about. I don't know what they're gonna learn. I don't know what the cool catches or what the unique, you know what I mean, aspects of this book that make it different than, you know, a bunch of other books we already have on the shelf. But in that case, you know, so that's a perfect example also of tell the parent why your book makes sense, even if it's for silly reasons. That's, you know, something uniquely silly is a hundred percent worthy of my money and my kids' time, but make it a big deal. Let me know what it is about your book that makes it different, you know.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

Right, right, right, exactly. And I think that books that are um that a person that you might think about. So you really have to, so we did a show on how readers find books. And I think you really have to think about what's the path of discoverability to getting your book in, and is your reader actually on that path? So the children's book is a great example, the book about, you know, the the guys choosing bad women who make them sleep out on the porch or whatever. Um, that's another example. But the other another one is, you know, grief, coping, loss, books about loss. Um, a lot of times you'll find that people who are in entrenched in something like that aren't necessarily um shopping for a book on grief or coping or whatever that is, right? So that's another, that's another piece of it that you might, and to be fair, you may get there, maybe a buyer market for you that you where you go direct to the reader. But I think the real purpose of this is not just to get you to stop marketing to your reader, because that's not the goal, but to consider who all of your buyers really are, right? Because in the case of the children's book, I mean, that's kind of obvious, but then like you gave the example when we're in the green room about new adult, nonfiction specifically. Do you want to talk about that for a minute?

SPEAKER_00 5:37

Yeah, new adult, getting started, setting up your first home, even going off to college. Like there's a lot of big firsts that happen in life, even buying your first home. And again, I think Penny, you made a very good point that when you are the person that's in the thick of all that, be it good, bad, exciting, otherwise, a lot of times, you know, it's not people's first thing on the list to be also shopping for books. So a lot of times these are things that, you know, are gifted to someone. So any big burst in life topics, you know, even starting your own first, like you're starting your own business. Yes, you should be doing your research, but anybody that has started their own business and has been successful in their own business sees the value potentially in what your book has to offer. So they may buy it, they may recommend it when they see it. You know what I mean? So to your point, think outside the box in terms of who all could potentially be recommending and or buying my book. And what are the different ways I can anchor my promotions, my marketing to all of those people. So you're not leaving really strong potential buyers on the table.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

Well, and I think that if you have, you know, to your point about starting a business. So when I started my business, I wasn't buying books on how to start your business because I just assumed that I knew all the things, which I know sounds really common. But I was, because anybody that's listened to the show for a while knows that, you know, self-help is my like positive thinking. That's totally my jam. Like I love that stuff. So that's what I was kind of immersing myself in. And had somebody come to me and say, you know, this is a really good book about just some basics about starting your business, like I probably could have avoided, you know, early business, the early business mistakes, which now are probably too embarrassing to share on the podcast. But, you know, so just some of this stuff, you know what I mean? So, so I think that it's not necessarily that you have to in some cases you want to realign your marketing. So just to go back, I don't mean to belabor the children's books, but that's an example of don't write for the child, write for the parent. You know what I mean? That's that's really your target. But you know, in some cases, like when I first, you know, when I switched over from a PC to a Mac to an all Apple platform, which I'm really, really glad that I did. I was, I was kind of the same way where I was like, I can do all the things, I can figure out all the things. And then at some point you really realize you're like, oh, I can't really do all the things. And somebody gave me or recommended to me a book on, you know, making the switch from the PC to Apple, which surprisingly, there's actually a book for that. And um those are kind of the kinds of things that you sort of want to think about, which doesn't necessarily, I mean, and you could also say that, like, for example, housewarming books might be white fall into this, but housewarming books, I mean, even though I know I put that in the show notes, that's also a little bit broad, right? So, you know, a cookbook could be a housewarming book.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

Um though, you know what I mean? Um like a lifestyle, like a lifestyle book, so hobbies, you know, anything having to do with, you know, certain lifestyle interests and things like that.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

Yeah. So I mean, you're gonna definitely have a dual reader, but I mean, I think that, and Amy, I'm gonna let you speak to the book description. Um, to me, if I had a book, so let's say we were marketing a book for, you know, big firsts in life. So setting up your first home or, you know, leaving for college and, you know, all this other stuff. I mean, I would do, I would, I would do a dual market, right? I would go after the parents, and then I would also go after, you know, um the kid going off to college, because not really kid, but you know, I would go so I would do a dual market. And so that's another thing to think about too, is that um the obvious market may not necessarily be you maybe you want to invest invest some time there, but it may not necessarily be your best market, right? So yeah. So in some cases, like the grief, coping, and loss, somebody going through that might buy your book. So you definitely don't want to overlook that and getting your book mentioned on platforms about loss or coping or life changes, things like that would be great. Um, but then considering, you know, going after places where people are going to see the book as potentially to help somebody out, because any of the any of the grief books that we've ever worked on, that's one of that's one of the top things that the authors always tell us is that they really want to go after the people who can gift the book because that's their that's their primary market, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:31

Right. Um yeah. Go ahead, go ahead. Well, and you mentioned, you know, book description. I think that has a lot to do with what you're saying too, is and why. And we did an episode on book description specifically for nonfiction recently, and gave a lot of tips for things that are often overlooked, the importance. And I think this is another one where when you have dual markets, make sure that that's represented in your book description. And I think it's really important to get a second set of eyes, have other people read it. You know what I mean? You get too close to your own work, but you want to make sure that it's making sense for your different potential buyers, readers, dual markets, things like that. I'm a big fan. If you feel very strongly that your book will be a gift or purchased by someone else for someone else, you know, for another individual, lay it all out there. You know, put that in your book description. There's no reason to be subtle about that. So whether it's a gift for like a happy occasion or a gift because you think it will help somebody, put that in your description. Yeah, and that's also a really great opportunity, opportunity to reiterate who this book was designed for, not who's gonna buy it, but who it's designed for. This makes an excellent gift for X, Y, and Z. Give people examples because Penny, you and I talk about it all the time. The less thinking people have to do, the more likely they are to click by. Yeah. You know, so if you if you connect all those dots for them in your description, if you let them know what the benefits are, if you let them know who you wrote the book for, you know, and put that in your description, then you are much more likely to actually make that sale because they will see themselves or they will see that other individual represented in your description, and you're good to go. And you're much more likely to get the oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

So I'm so sorry I'm breaking in here. We had to pause the show because Amy is having a uh some pretty bad weather and some big tornado warnings in your area. So is everything okay there?

SPEAKER_00 12:51

Uh seems to be just fine, but yeah, I'm getting texts from the school system. My my one of my dogs was trying to break in to the room I'm in because she wants to sleep under my desk. The other dog, for what it's worth, in case anybody's really concerned, is perfectly content laying in his bed. So it's it's been a day of weather, but it's fine. And this is this is part of living in the south, you know.

SPEAKER_01 13:16

I love how, because I was, you know, because when we paused recording, because Amy basically just she she cut out because I think her the weather there, whatever, or the system. And I was like, Are you sure you don't want to hop off? Because I would be, I'm in Southern California, we don't do weather, I would be hiding in a bathtub right now. Literally.

SPEAKER_00 13:35

I know it's one of those like all in a day things.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Oh my gosh, you're you're you're just you're such a brave weather person. Anyway, all right, so let's let's finish, let's finish up with your thought on this.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Yes. So basically, my point being when it comes to the descriptions, if if y'all didn't pick up on it already, connect the dots. I think that's a really good thing to remember. Connect the dots. And a reader that is not at all confused or unsure, a shopper, I should say, is much more likely to buy. So if it's a good gift, if you'd want somebody referring another person to this book, whether it's a colleague or something like that, call it out in your description. Don't be subtle about it. Throw it right out there and say, this would be an excellent book for X, Y, and Z. People will see that and they'll think, you're right, this would be, and I know somebody that would be, this would be the perfect book for this individual in my life.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

I think that's really great. I think that's smart. And I hope that we have, um, other than you know, giving you the tornado warning update, I hope that we have inspired you to really dig in and figure out, because you know, let's face it, selling books is hard. I was listening. Um, actually, Amy, you sent me an update, this blog post that this guy wrote, that there's a book published every eight seconds in this country. So the majority of them, unfortunately, are not listening to this podcast. But if you forward the podcast to your friends, we will get that many listeners. But the majority of authors are not looking for multiple buyer markets. And that's really the purpose of this show. And frankly, you know, the inspiration for a lot of the shows that we do. Thank you so much for tuning in. This is Penny Sansbury and Amy Cornell, and we'll see you next time. Bye bye.