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Identifying an Author’s Target Market

Targeting a specific market essentially means you will aim your marketing efforts and cater your storytelling towards a specific group of consumers.  The consumer marketplace is like a giant beehive of billions of individuals each with their own unique set of interests.  When you are a new author (like me) it’s critical to obtain a clear sense of where your market opportunity lies, or else we can waste a lot of precious time and money executing initiatives that produce little, if any, return.

WEEK1:

So what’s a smart starting point in identifying your target market?  I would say it’s probably safe to assume that you as the author fall within this group of consumers who would read your book(s).  Ask yourself: what type of consumer am I?  When I am looking to read something what are my propensities and where do I go to find it?  I typically read young adult, historical fiction novels that deal with social and psychoanalytical factors such as social justice, radial injustice, defense mechanisms, coping and so on.  I also look for stories with core elements of drama and action.  I’m not much for fantasy, sci fi or romance.  Sometimes I’ll pick up the occasional biography or autobiography.  However, this is not a theme of my writing so I would exclude it from my key word list.    I would suggest conducting a consumer segmentation analysis on yourself and most importantly: take notes!  Once you have a list of your buying behaviors double-check that it’s relevant to your book as well as narrow (keep it between 4-5 key words).  A list that’s all over the map is going to defeat the whole purpose of a target market by stiffening your competition and losing control of your prospective customers.  Title this list “Key Words.”

For example: the genre of my Extra Innings trilogy (The Diamond Thieves) is historical fiction and young adult.  Also search Twitter for #newauthor and #author.  I search for Tweets and blogs with these key phrases.  When I find a Tweet or blog that I enjoyed reading or (even better) learned something from, I comment, therefore, trying to build a relationship with this individual Twitter user or blogger who shares the same relevant interest.

Next search Google, Twitter, Amazon and Goodreads for those key words.  (Note: when using Twitter hit the pound sigh before each word with no spaces.  For example: #historicalfiction or #socialinjustice Google’s search engine connects you with millions of advertisements and services.  Some of these services are blogs and by narrowing your search down via key words, look specifically for people writing blogs about that topic.  Twitter is a social network for connecting people, organizations and businesses with in-the-moment updates.  Amazon.com is a MSP (multisided platform) connecting consumers to purchase goods and services.  Craigslist does the same thing.  Networking on these sites can gain you access to a segmented audience that may otherwise be unattainable.

Once you have found a blog that falls into the same space as one of your keywords, then read it.  If you like what it has to say, leave a comment with your website address inviting the blogger to check out your site.  Your # search in Twitter will bring up a list of Tweets referencing that specific keyword.  Read the Tweet, if you like it click on the tiny star symbol below the Tweet. If you wish to comment Click the left-pointing arrow to message the initiator of that Tweet.  Or click the double arrows to Re-Tweet the post and it will appear on your Twitter feed. This process is called networking and I recommend doing so with at least 1 blogger and 3-4 Twitter users per day.  We will get more into using Twitter on future blogs as today’s focus is Identifying Your  Target Market.  As a beginner, I kept a log of the bloggers and Twitter users I was following.  I also recommend saving blogger sites in your Favorites so they are easily accessible.

At the end of Week 1, review your log and make sure that everything lines up with your original key word list.  Anything falling outside of that give it a full review.  If the list becoming too wide it needs to be scrubbed for non-relevant relationships.

WEEK 2:

Now we’re going to dig a little deeper to define the more specific segments of our target market.  Scan your book for any specific places, year or decades (ie. the 60’s or 90’s) brand names (especially ones that are unique or if you are writing an historical novel brands or products that are no longer being produced), ethnic backgrounds of your characters, special events or holidays, special interests, hobbies or activities.  You’re allowed to have more than one niche market, just remember not to allow your consumer segments to become too broad of it defeats the purpose of targeting.  Try and stick with common themes used throughout your book versus obscure ones mentioned only once or twice.  For example, if your main character is a writer or poet or dancer or real estate agent or banker then this would be a key word falling within the special interests, hobbies or activities category.  Two common themes used in my first book (The Diamond Thieves) is baseball and social injustice.  Write these down.  These will also become key words.  Now, use Twitter or Google to search for those key words.  Begin to network with these users as you did in Week 1 with your first key word list. Hopefully after these three targeted weeks of networking you are identifying your target market and learning something about your relevant segmentation of readers.

During the following 2 weeks I would recommend individually repeating the networking steps in Weeks 1 & 2.  Once you a comfortable you can begin merging them together.  Hopefully this gains you some viral traction on these sites.  I would also recommend reading the works of your Twitter followers and posting something positive on Goodreads.com or Amazon.com to help promote them. Notify them on their Twitter page when you’ve done this.

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to share.  If in reading this you share the same interests as mine check out my first-ever published book Extra Innings: The Diamond Thieves at www.bwgibson.net.  If you like it, I would love to hear your thoughts on Goodreads.com.

July 6, 2014 by
Publishing

Why Baseball?

Now that my first book is out, I’m getting a lot of folks asking: “why did you choose baseball?”

Well, as most people know my goal was to write a fictional book that required a vast amount of research, however, I did feel the need to incorporate some theme with which I was familiar. Considering the age of the characters I tried to think of what might interest them during this period in American history and baseball felt the most appropriate to capture the essence of this era. I grew up playing ball with my friends either during recess or during the summers in the town I grew up in a small town (named Wentzville) just outside St. Louis, Missouri. Other than building forts and trails in the woods that surrounded my house, I spent countless hours playing baseball. I also have some great memories of going to Busch Stadium to see the Cards (Cardinals) play. Speaking of major league teams, my dad was definitely more of a following fan. I didn’t watch sports at all growing up but I do recalling overhearing games my dad watched on t.v. or listening to on the radio. Again, these were great memories all positively influencing my current love for baseball. Now, I am a proud Boston Red Sox fan. I love listening to the games on our MLB app and posting fan messages on my Facebook page.

Once baseball was the decided theme for the beginning of the book (remember that the Extra Innings trilogy was originally plotted to be one single book) I began to create storyboards detailing the plot. Obviously, since the baseball portion of this story took place in 1947 and I wasn’t born until 1975, I did have to do some research. This mostly came in the with the help of Google. I had fun digging into the baseball archives for player and team information as well as specifics on rules and regulations of the game which have since changed. This was important because I could not always rely on my current knowledge of how the game is played. Certain illegal moves now were legal back then or had just been outlawed a few years prior to the year of this story.

For example, spitballs were originally outlawed in 1920.  The example of a balk mentioned in Book 1 is when the pitcher makes a motion associated with his pitch but does not complete the delivery.  The balk rule was first introduced 50 years prior to this story taking place but it was mentioned to help reinforce how the opposing team (“the mob”) had to be watched closely for cheating.

I want to specifically talk about Chapter 2. There is a scene between two friends (Fist and Boston) who are trading baseball cards. Researching this was tricky, because I really wanted to feature the more popular players at the time with a particular focus on rookie cards (like Brooklyn Dodger’s Pee Wee Reese’s rookie card from 1941) as those leverage the highest bargaining ability during a card trade.  But at the same time, I didn’t want to select too famous of a player because I believed that might appear too far-fetched to the reader. After all, avid baseball fans would know any and all current players (current being mid 1940’s) and not just the major celebrity players with now legendary status.  One interesting fact to note was that some major league players didn’t get issued an actual “rookie” card until a few years after they were playing.  One example was outfielder Ralph Kiner who began playing for the Pittsburg Pirates in 1946 but wasn’t issued a rookie card until 1948.

Another interesting point to mention is that major league baseball was shut down during WWII as the men were away fighting the Nazi’s. This is when the AAGSL (All-American Girls Softball League) came about (later to become the All-American Girls Baseball League in 1943. (Remember the movie A League of Their Own with Geena Davis, Tom Hanks, Rosie O’Donnell and Madonna).  This era of baseball is not mentioned in the Extra Innings trilogy at all. Based on the nature and personalities of these characters (and their relationship with one character in particular), it would be contradictory for them to speak of this league unless it was negative.

I do feel it’s important to mention that the story of the twins goes beyond the topic of baseball. Only in Book 1 (The Diamond Thieves) is this even a focus. Chapters 10 and 11 give solid closure to the baseball-themed plot and I believe that Chapter 12 does a good job communicating that the reader can expect for Book 2 to incorporate a completely different theme. For the purpose of peaking a prospective reader’s interest to buy my book, I am going to refrain from explaining what that theme is in this blog.  Speaking of Chapter 12, I hope everyone who reads the book really enjoys Chapter 12 as this is absolutely my favorite chapter in the entire book.  Readers have already reported to me that they are (pleasingly) shocked by this chapter.  I love it!

Additionally, keep memorable moments and memories in a lovely commemorative book. Then, share the experience with loved ones and learn about stories you never knew existed. You may get started right away. You’ll make a keepsake to treasure for years with the storyworth login page.

#extrainnings

June 24, 2014 by
Publishing

Opening Day of Extra Innings

What a relief to finally have this book Extra Innings:  The Diamond Thieves finally available.  Not only for myself but all those who have been inquiring about it.  It’s been quite a journey.  The fictional story of identical twin brothers Jimmy and Billy McGee has been some recent revisions – primarily in Chapter 1.

When I first received an actual printed copy and turned to the first page of Chapter 1 – I was not happy with what I read.  The first line use to read:  Jimmy and Billy stood in each other’s way of the bathroom mirror, upstairs in their parent’s Mississippi home, each desperate to find his own evidence of puberty.  

I felt “stood in each other’s way” was too negative of an opening.  This was not the image I was going for in this book.  Nor did I want the reader to think that puberty was the primary theme.   The tricky part of removing this line was that I really liked how it read.  So after some careful thought, I found a more impactful and appropriate place for it in Book 2:  Race of the Gemini.  It actually fits better here considering the overall theme of this particular book compared to the theme in Book 1: The Diamond Thieves.

From there the chapter went on with negative comments about how the boys were too hot, their attic bedroom was too hot, they were bored and just one negative comment after another.    I’m not sure why I never had this general impression before.  I guess looking at a computer screen or an 8.5 x 11 printed page doesn’t deliver the same impact as when your actually holding your complete book in your hand … who knows?

So I did a major overhaul to the first 3 pages.  I also did some work to a baseball card trading dialogue between Fist and Boston in Chapter 2 simply because some of the facts were inaccurate.

Probably one of the biggest changes was one of the twins’ friends Ryan Blair.  By some random course of events, I learned through Google that “Ryan” was NEVER a first name of a boy prior to the late 1950’s.  This book takes place in 1947 and the character Ryan Blair was 13 – so he would have been born in 1934.  At this time, Ryan was only a last name.  How me or my editor never caught this before is beyond me.  So I used Google to search for popular Southern boys names, 1930’s and found http://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/decades/names1930s.html

The name Charles popped out as one that I liked the most.  Charles was the 6th most popular boy’s name at that time.  PLUS, Charles is my grandfather’s name (on my dad’s side).  Charles Gibson.  So I thought this would be perfect.  Being that this is the South, Charles became Charlie and therefore Ryan become Charlie Blair.

There were a few other minor character’s who’s names needed changed to more accurately reflect the time period.

Additionally, my mom pointed out that the street the McGee twins lived on (which was also the name of the street my mom grew up on in Ohio) was inaccurate.  I had the street name as Greenvalley Drive.  My mom corrected me and said that Greenvalley should be two words, so to better pay homage to my mom’s childhood I changed it to Green Valley Drive.

Lastly, I beefed up one of the character’s roles during the baseball game.  As stated in the book’s summary T.J. was the team’s spark plug, so I enhanced some of his actions throughout the book to more dramatically reflect this claim.

Overall, I am MUCH HAPPIER with this revised product.  I hope that all my readers enjoy it and most importantly, I hope that the last chapter (Chapter 12) leaves them craving the release of Book 2 (of 3): Race of the Gemini.

May 31, 2014 by