October’s Affirmation: I Know My Industry.

This is a continuation of the business plan and is a very important aspect.
In addition to knowing what I am doing in my writing business, it is important that I know how my business relates to other people within my business.

Target Audience

I think that even more important than me and those who work with me are the people who actually are likely to buy my book. These people are called my target audience. These people not only include fans, they also include reviewers.
I had recently started taking paperback copies of my books that cater to my specific books. For instance, though my novels are currently being sold in bookstores, I went out on a limb and decided to try to sell my nonfiction paperbacks at feed and lawn and garden stores as well as health food stores. I take in small numbers of books to these locations so that it is not a big risk for the store and sell the books at whole sale prices. They in turn get nearly a forty percent commission. Because I know my target audience for that specific title, I can make book sales easily and almost painlessly.

Industry Review

Understanding where the publishing industry is in general is important so that I as a writer and self-publisher know where the publishing business is heading.
A few years ago the only way to sell books was through a major publishing company, but since the advent of e-books, the internet, and e-readers, things have changed. For a few years, e-book sales exploded, but the market has settled somewhat since then and even though it is harder to sell e-books than it was five years ago, it still is a working model, but it is no longer the slam dunk that it was in the beginning of the e-book movement.

Peer Review

A group of people that I need to study are other writers and publishers who write and publish books like I write. I need to understand not only those who are doing well, but also those who are doing poorly. The difference would indicate what I need to focus on doing to improve my own writing business.
Another word for this is spying on the competition. Its where you read stuff that other people put out, you look at their websites, you find out about their book sales. When you’re looking at best selling authors, you’re looking at what they are doing differently than you are and emulating their success tactics. We will look more indepth into these three topics as they relate to my specific genres over the next month.

 

Donna Brown is an ordained minister. As Author Cygnet Brown, she  has recently published her first nonfiction book: Simply Vegetable Gardening: Simple Organic Gardening Tips for the Beginning Gardener

She is also the author of historical fiction series The Locket Saga. which includes When God Turned His Head and Soldiers Don’t Cry, the Locket Saga Continues, and most recently, A Coward’s Solace, Book III of the Locket Saga.For more information about Cygnet Brown and her book, check out her website at http://www.cygnetbrow.com .