I don’t know many authors who are 100% satisfied with the number of books they sell.

In most cases, it’s because they don’t know the simple formula for more book sales

When you understand the formula and put it to work, you’ll hit your sales goals sooner because you’ll be reaching the right people where they are with the right messages.

You’ll be wasting less time and become far more effective with your marketing.

Your audience isn’t “everybody”

The formula for more book sales starts with understanding that the audience for your book isn’t “everybody.”

There are few books available that appeal to all readers. A how-to book on healthy eating probably should appeal to “everyone,” but doesn’t. And how many 15-year-old boys do you know reading hen lit?

It’s super important to determine the small subset of “everybody” that will want to read your book. While it’s counterintuitive, fact is, the smaller your audience, the more successful you’ll be.

That’s because of how the formula for more book sales works.

Formula for more book sales

Here’s your formula for more book sales:

Narrow target audience + discoverability = book sales

Why does it work this way? It starts with really, truly knowing who will buy your book.

Narrow target audience

Success starts with a narrow target audience. I realize that sounds limiting. You’re probably thinking that if your audience is smaller, you’ll sell fewer copies than if the audience is “everybody,” right?

Nope.

This idea of “less is more” really does make sense when you think about it.

If you wrote a handbook on accounting for small businesses, would you try to sell it to “everybody,” or would you focus your marketing efforts on small business owners with no in-house accounting staff?

Of course you’d focus on the people who are most likely to buy it – small business owners without that capability in-house. Welders, human resource executives, or engineers who aren’t self-employed don’t need or want it, so why waste your time trying to get your book in front of them?

Some books appeal to more people than others do. Still, even when you dig into a popular category like thrillers, you’ll be able to narrow down your audience. Some thriller readers want domestic stories. Others don’t like graphic violence. Still others prefer political thrillers.

The more specific you can get about your audience, the more likely you are to sell more books because you’ll be going after only the right people. It keeps you from wasting your time while it helps you make the right marketing decisions.

Narrow target audience specifics

To get your book discovered, you want to know your specific target audience’s:

• Demographics
• Psychographics (life stage, lifestyle, culture, religion, etc.)
• Book buying habits or preferences

Nobody presents you with that information, though. You have to do some work to get it.

But once you have that knowledge, you’ll be able to select the book marketing tactics that will help you reach and connect with the readers who will buy your book.

For example, when you know that your target audience is book-loving females between the ages of 18 and 34, you’ll see that TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat are where it’s happening in social media and that you might reach them on Wattpad. More women than men use Wattpad and 67% of the site’s users are in that age range. 

Need help with that? In my video training program, “Who Will Buy Your Book? How to Figure Out and Find Your Target Audience,” I teach you exactly how to identify your book’s target audience and where to find them so you sell more books.

Discoverability

Discoverability, the second piece of the formula, describes how likely people are to find your book when they’re not specifically looking for it.

Maybe they ask Facebook friends to recommend a cozy mystery with a little romance thrown in.

They might use Amazon’s search box to find books on a nonfiction topic and yours shows ups in the search results.

Or they see the title and a description in Entertainment Weekly’s “top summer beach reads” article.

You already know that your target audience won’t discover your book if you aren’t promoting it. And, unless you know your narrow target audience and where to find them online and offline, you won’t be promoting your book in the right places.

That’s why “narrow audience” improves your “discoverability.”

Look for your niches

When you go from “everybody” to a more niche, narrow target audience, you make smarter marketing choices. You waste less time, energy, and money while you do more of the right things that lead to book sales.

That formula again is:

Narrow target audience (the people most likely to buy your book) +

discoverability (promoting your book in the right places) =

book sales

Applying the formula for more book sales

Set aside time to work on your formula. Write down:

• Your description of the single person most likely to love your book
• Why they will love it
• Where you will find that person online and offline
• The book marketing tactics you can use to reach them in those places
• The book marketing messages that will resonate with your narrow target audience

Record this information in your book marketing plan, then take action. You’ll find that you’re far more focused and less overwhelmed.

And you’ll probably move forward faster, too.

Remember: Narrow target audience + discoverabilty = book sales.

Do you know your book’s target audience? What is it?

(Editor’s note: This article was first published in July 2016. It has been updated and expanded.)

You want to know how to get reader reviews. You need to know where to start.

And you probably want to discover the “secret sauce that will help you get those reviews.

The secret sauce

That’s simple: Give books away.

You just have to give a copy of your book to people in exchange for an honest review.

But who do you give books to? Where do you find those people? And how do you make sure they review it?

Follow these five steps to getting reviews from people who will love your book.

Step 1: Give your book to people in your target audience.

Think of those in your target audience as your ideal readers. They’re the people you wrote the book for, so they’re going to be the most interested in reading and reviewing it.

Giving them the book is the easy part. Finding readers to give it to is harder, isn’t it?

That’s why I created a list of nine places where you can find readers who write reviews. You can download it here.

You might be concerned that giving your book away in exchange for an honest review will cannibalize your sales. I understand that, and I can’t say that it won’t.

But I will say that you can’t count on people (especially strangers) who bought your book to review it, either. And you need reviews if you want to sell more books. So, you have no choice but to lose just a handful of sales to gain a whole lot more of them.

Step 2. Make it easy for them to review your book.

There are a few ways you can do this. One of them is to include a copy of my Build Book Buzz Reader Book Review Form with your review copy. It’s a fillable PDF file that walks them through the process. They can type their review directly into the form, then copy and paste it into a review template on Amazon, Goodreads, and elsewhere.

You can also offer a few review ideas when you send the free copy. Share information about what you’ve heard from endorsers or other earlier reviewers as subtle prompts for their own reviews.

Be sure to include a link to your Amazon review page in the back of your book, too. I show how to do that in this video.

Step 3. Follow up to get reader reviews.

Follow up with the people you’ve sent review copies to. Remind them that their review will help other readers decide what to read. And, give them a link to the review section of your Amazon and Goodreads book pages (here’s how to do that again).

via GIPHY

Email follow up isn’t always possible because you might not have email addresses for everyone who’s downloaded a review copy. But when you do, check in with them.

People are busy. They forget. We all need and appreciate reminders.

Step 4. Follow up again.

Just one more gentle nudge.

Step 5. Start the process over again.

Unfortunately, most aren’t going to write that review, even though they accepted your book fully intending to do so. You know why that is – you have the same problems when you have a “want to do” versus a “must do” on your to-do list and can’t do both.

It’s a numbers game, so you have to continue to get those review copies into the right hands until you get at least 10 to 20 positive reviews posted. To do that, you need to continue to work on this until you’ve got enough.

Don’t expect reviews to appear organically. Create a plan to get reader reviews – when to ask, who to ask, how to ask – and work it.

Then work it again.

Your book deserves the support offered by reader reviews. Please do your best to make that happen.

How do you get reader reviews? Please give us your best tip in a comment!

How to create a reader profile (and why you want to)

By Alicia Dale

Having a clear understanding of the audience for a book will help the likelihood that it will be read.

A writer can get that clarity by creating a written reader profile based on information they gather and analyze.

Understanding the target reader is especially important for authors who want to self-publish and will be doing all of their book’s marketing and promotion on their own, at their own expense.

Reasons to create a reader profile

Having a solid perspective of who the reader might be can help minimize writer’s block.

Writers sometimes struggle with what to communicate. Envisioning the ideal reader and how they will receive the information is a tactic that can help ease creative barriers.

Reader profiles also create focus. When the writer is at a crossroads of whether or not to include specific information, asking if the ideal reader would value the information provides the answer.

Who will the book help?

Developing a reader profile can be a really fun exercise. The first step is to think about who this book is intended to reach.

Being able to clarify what the book is about in one or two sentences is helpful with this. For example, an author may be writing about the health benefits of broccoli. The purpose is pretty straightforward; this author contends that broccoli will promote good health.

The next question is to identify who would want to read a book about broccoli.

What type of work might they do? Brainstorm a list: health care professionals, chefs, home cooks, farmers, vegetable gardeners, food scientists, and nutritionists.

Getting specific with targeting

Now that the author has a better picture of who might want to read their book, they need to decide who they would like to target. For example, a book about the health benefits of broccoli will be a little lighter in tone and content for a home cook than one written for a food scientist.

If they choose that they would like to pursue the home cook audience, they can continue developing their reader profile.

Does the home cook have a day job, or is cooking their full-time job? Would this person grow their vegetables in a home garden? What cooking shows might they watch? What demographic might be interested – gender, ethnicity, age?

Will the book be marketed in more than one country?

Questions to ask

A writer can get creative with reader profiles. Start brainstorming about the characteristics of your ideal reader:

• Personal information: Do they own a car? How do they commute? How do they live or work? Are they well-traveled?
• Personal preferences: Do they live in a house, rent, urban environment, suburban area, the country?
• Family information: is the ideal reader most likely single, married, in a partnership? Will they have any spiritual or religious affiliation?
• What do they look like? You can search pictures on the internet of what your ideal reader might look like and write specifically to them.

Use AI to help visualize your ideal audience

You can collect photos of who your ideal reader might be using photos generated through artificial intelligence.

Generated Photos will allow you to access more than 2 million photos of people who don’t exist.

Of course, you can always go through magazines and create an old-fashioned collage of people who might be interested in your book. Either tool should be fun and spark inspiration.

Reader profiles for fiction

With fiction, it’s essential to understand what will appeal to the ideal audience, how to relate to them, and how to engage them with the story.

Young adult fantasy, for example, will appeal to teenagers from 13 to 18 years old who enjoy magic. Think about these readers:

• Where do they go to school?
• How are they adapting to remote learning?
• How do they read books – digital or print?
• What music do they listen to?
• Do they have favorite clothing brands?
• Do they follow sports teams?
• Do they date?
• Are they popular?
• Are they introverted?
• Are they artistic?

Understanding the audience will provide clues into how to write a story that will have realistic conflicts and opportunities that are available in the readers’ lives.

Reader profiles will help your book sell

In either scenario, the health benefits of broccoli or young adult fantasy, understanding the reader will help the author to pinpoint where to market their book.

For example, the broccoli book author could market to home cooks by purchasing a table at a home cooking convention. They might do Facebook live promotions or sell their book in boutique grocery stores.

Young adult fantasy authors may pay special attention to what will grab their audience with book cover design, creating enticing giveaways, and crafting captivating social media posts.

Applies to all publishing models

Whatever path to publishing an author chooses – traditional, hybrid, or self-publishing – they will be responsible for marketing their book. A thorough reader profile will take some mystery out of reaching the audience when the time comes to promote the book.

Have fun with it. When you’re thinking of your reader, imagine they love the content and it was just what they were looking for! I assure you that the targeted reader is waiting for your book.

I strongly encourage any writer to develop a reader profile to inspire content development, guide clarity in writing, and increase sales.

If you created a reader profile for your book, how did it help you? Please tell us in a comment.

This individual had no writing training or experience herself, but decided to become a freelance writer while unemployed. She turned what she learned from that experience into an online course.

Because I have a journalism degree and work as a freelance writer, I was more than curious about what she had to say. So I added myself to her email list . . . and got an education. But it wasn’t the one I was expecting.

Oh, the things you can learn!

I realized pretty quickly – as in the second email – that we weren’t a good match.

She used “the f-bomb” in the subject line and throughout the message itself. Subsequent messages used the same, um, “salty” language. In addition, they were often snarky and lacked substance.

I unsubscribed.

Words have power

While I didn’t learn much about her perspective on how to become a freelance writer, I’m glad I subscribed. The messages presented me with an “aha” moment: Our book promotion language — the words we use in our messages — can either attract or repel readers.

It’s possible – even likely – that this entrepreneur knew this and chose her words carefully so she could weed out people like me who won’t appreciate her on-camera approach. By tossing a few four-letter words into her email messages, she’s saying, “If you don’t like this, you’ll really dislike my training style! Go away!”

Message received. Buh-bye.

via GIFER

Have you noticed these trends?

I’m more sensitive to marketers’ word choices now because of this single experience. Has it happened to you? Have you seen advertising, email, social media, or other messages that make you think, “This isn’t for me”?

Here are a few language trends I’ve noticed that help me see where I fit in:

• Acronyms. Sometimes they refer to industry associations (for example, ASJA for American Society of Journalists and Authors). But they’re often simply a shorthand for people who don’t want to write entire words – YMMV for “your mileage may vary,” for example. Or, the speaker has military experience. You’ll see them in email messages, blog posts, and social media messaging.
• Buzzwords and phrases. These are often either industry terms that the target audience recognizes (blurb, metadata), corporate-speak (incentivize, unpack, or pain point, anyone?), and current popular phrases (“I was today years old when I learned this”).
• Hashtagging. You’ll see this in all types of marketing content. It’s hard to miss in this Klondike bar commercial (or should I say #Klondike?).

What does this mean for your book promotion language?

A friend uses a lot of hashtagged acronyms in her Facebook posts. After I had to Google #IYKYK (“if you know, you know”) when she used it recently, I realized that I didn’t know. And that told me that I wasn’t supposed to be interested in her commentary that day. You know – because I didn’t know, right?

So the question is: Do the words, phrases, or expressions you use in your social media messages, blog posts, newsletters, or presentations exclude people? Or, do they help you attract more of the right people? 

Is your book promotion language working for you, or against you?

Both are okay if you’re being strategic.

But if you’re inadvertently closing the door on people you believe will love your books, it could be a problem.

Know your audience

Work to match your book promotion language with your audience. If you’re a baby boomer targeting a reader half your age, you’re not going to use Lawrence Welk references, right? But you might use phrases like, “Keep it 100,” “JOMO” (not to be confused with “FOMO”), or “FR.”

Similarly, if you’re a millennial writing for a baby boomer audience, you’ll want to avoid slang you use with peers. And you won’t want to be hashtagging left and right. (Pro tip: “left and right” is a boomer phrase.)

It comes down to knowing your audience (here’s help with that).

If your audience is people like you, you’ll intuitively use language that attracts them.

If it isn’t, work to make sure your book promotion language speaks to them in ways that say you understand them. In order for us to connect with a marketer (and that’s what you are), we need to feel like you understand us.

Words can do that.

What are you doing already to make sure your messages attract the right readers? Please tell us in a comment.