How to Find Your Target Audience

In a recent LA Times article, “Self-made label is delusional,” Ann Friedman rails against Forbes’ labeling Kylie Jenner of the Kardashian family one of the richest “self-made women.”

I agree with Friedman. Jenner was born into money. Not exactly a bootstrapper. Yes, she initiated her own cosmetics business, but think of all the free publicity generated by the family’s notorious reality show: a ready-made platform, built on the wealth and fame of her family–which evoked for me the writer’s onus: Building a platform. An easily recognizable name. A presence on social media. A blog and website. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. Press packets, bookmarks. The dreaded speaking engagements. Aiiii!

Most—no—make that none of the writers I know has a ready-made platform like Jenner. Or like John Grisham and Carl Hiassan, authors who can get anything published today because of the brand they’ve become.

Pardon my sour grapes, but it aggravates me no end when these well-established, highly successful authors stray into “my” genre, children’s books. Because of their name, they could write an instruction booklet on how to clean the bathroom efficiently, and publishers would snap it up. I could write the new Magna Carta and, trust me, publishers would not fight over it.

I recently read Six Figure Author, Using Data to Sell Books in which author Chris Fox puts little stock in the likes of speaking tours and publicity. He contends that if you can sell several hundred books on Amazon to a targeted audience, you’re on your way. He asserts it isn’t about how many copies you sell. It’s who you sell those copies to.

Amazon uses large amounts of data to discern patterns of book purchases and identify an author’s target audience. All they need are a few hundred sales to see who your readers are. You need to show them by making those first sales—not to family and friends, but to people who are interested in what you write. This will train Amazon’s classifiers/algorithms to put your book in front of those who are interested.

So how do you find the people who will buy your books? You need to find the communities where they hang out.

People who read a lot, share. Where do they share? On forums, FB and other social media, including Twitter, FB, Reddit, Tumblr, Goodreads. These groups talk about what they love and recommend books on the topics of their passions. If you write about Victorian architecture, there are communities out there who love things Victorian. Guess what they’re talking about? Old Victorian buildings! You can join their discussions.

Fox offers great ideas for finding your target audience. His biggest caution, however, is to avoid coming on too strong when joining communities of like-minded people. He recommends that, at first, you just observe. Then, as the opportunity arises, contribute to the conversation. Never, never—let me repeat—never introduce yourself as the author of the best and most comprehensive book on Victorian homes of all times! You will find yourself in a very lonely place.

Instead, build trust. Contribute to the conversation. Respond to posts. Eventually you can post topical info relevant to the conversation. But do not post about your book. Even if its release is imminent. You must first become a genuine part of the target community. Eventually the opportunity will come up for the mention—not a sales pitch—of your book. By this time, you’ve developed friendships with people interested in the topic of your book. And guess what? If you’ve built trust, if you’ve built friendships, you won’t have to sell your book. Your new friends will do it for you!