How to Determine Your Book’s Target Market

Part 1 of 3

Every Christian needs to read my book.

My book is headed straight to WalMart and Costco.

I’m planning to be on Oprah to promote my book.

I hate to rain on your parade, but if you believe the above statements, you are setting yourself up for disappointment.

It’s important to have realistic expectations and to recognize who your real market is. In order to figure that out, ask yourself these defining questions: who, what, and where?

Who

If you cannot narrow down your who – the audience for whom your book is targeted – into a specific, narrow group, you’re going to have a difficult time marketing your book.

If your who is all Christians, all women, all men, or all teens, you’ll also have marketing problems.

Your goal should be to target your message to a specific group, such as:

• New moms
• Single moms
• Adoptive moms
• Stay at home moms
• Military wives
• Wives of veterans
• Cancer survivors
• Homeschoolers
• Christian writers
• Teachers
• The grieving
• Bereavement counselors
• Christian counselors
• Runners or hikers
• Pastors or church leaders
• People in sales
• Parents of terminally ill children
• Caregivers
• Senior citizens

You get the idea. The more clearly you can define your market, the easier it will be to find ways to advertise and promote to them.

If you are a fiction writer, make sure to include an issue in your story. Do not just have your main character become a Christian and live happily ever after; create a character who struggles with abortion, domestic violence, infidelity, prodigal children, AIDS, homosexuality, etc.

There are many support groups (both faith-based and secular) that reach out to those who face difficult issues. If you target your novel around a social issue, you’ll be able to niche-market your title to a targeted audience.

In next Monday’s post, we’ll discuss the WHAT.

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5 Common Misconceptions About Cover Design

By Thomas McGee

Working with a custom publisher is great for the control it gives the author. But without the proper education and direction, a cover design can end up less-than-professional. Here are five misconceptions to avoid when going through the design process:

1.  I need to convey as much as possible on the cover.

A simple, clean, readable cover will almost always snag a browser’s attention before a cluttered, over-literal design. Less is more. If you want to go into greater detail about your book and its message, save it for the back cover.

2.  My fonts and colors should be the styles I like best.

While the personal and unique touch is always vital to a design, it should never outweigh the genre, or style warranted by the book itself. For example, you would not want your favorite script font used on a novel for teen boys, simply because it’s your favorite font. Always appeal to whoever you want to pick up your title. This makes it all the more important to partner with your cover designer.

3. Any designer can design my cover.

Just as you wouldn’t go to your family doctor to check out a cavity, you wouldn’t pick any Web or print designer to design your cover. Each designer has his or her specialty. Your designer should be well seasoned in the art of cover design. Experience is key.

4. I need to tell the designer exactly where each element, color, and font should be positioned.

The advantage of having a professional cover designer is that he or she works with the tools of fonts, colors, and design elements daily, and knows how to use them. To get the most out of your designer, don’t nail them down to specific placements and elements, but let them know, in general terms, what you are trying to convey.

5. I need to be published with a royalty publisher to get a professional design.

The self-publishing industry’s reputation for unprofessional cover design is well-deserved. But custom publishers, such as WinePress and Pleasant Word, have begun to redeem the self-published market. Offering the great quality design of a royalty publisher, along with the freedom and control of a self-publisher, WinePress has become an invaluable source for any author.

Thomas McGee is a graphic designer at WinePress. His job includes: cover design, Web design, advertising design, and assisting with WinePress’ partner company, Notation Marketing Group. In his spare time, Thomas enjoys volunteering at his local Christian bookstore, The Salt Shaker.

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Author Cheryle M. Touchton interviewed on Christian Writing Examiner

Pleasant Word author Cheryle Touchton recently shared the lessons God taught her through becoming a writer on the Christian Writing Examiner.  Cheryle is the “pocket full of quarters” gal.  She has a unique ministry of traveling around the country in a small RV and reaching out to whoever God brings in her path. Her book Pocket full of Quarters leads readers to examine the greatest commandment, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. (Luke 10:27) and systematically walks the reader through five steps for applying it to specific life needs.

The companion book Pocket Full of Christmas helps readers refocus and see Christ in each day of Advent and in every Christmas celebration.

Check out Cheryle’s website www.pocketfullofchange.org

She is running a special sale on her books until August 31st. Buy one book receive the second one half price.  They would make great Christmas gifts.

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Alexis Johnson to Discuss the Nation of Islam on Janet Parshall’s America

Thursday, August 27, 2009 – 3 p.m. EST

Alexis Johnson, author of I Was a Minister in the Nation of Islam (Pleasant Word), will be making a 60 minute, live appearance on Janet Parshall’s America.

I Was a Minister in the Nation of Islam paints a harrowing picture of how enraptured many Christian ministers were with the message of Minister Louis Farrakhan and how the churches were left in confusion, along with the hearts of many African American boys and girls, men and women.

Where do I fit? Where do I belong?

Those were Alexis Johnson’s questions as a young African American in the 1960s and 1970s. His desperate search took him into the world of drugs, prison life, then to the Nation of Islam where he became a minister. Still searching, Alexis ultimately found the answer at the nail-scarred feet of Jesus Christ.

Alexis Johnson now knows where he belongs and where he stands.

This book is a must read for:

• Every African American.
• Anyone ministering to African Americans.
• Anyone desiring a better understanding of Orthodox Islam, Nation of Islam, and Five Percenters.
• Anyone involved in prison ministries.
• Anyone seeking to know the fundamental differences between the belief system of the Nation of Islam and the Christian faith.

This book is needed in America’s urban centers, I wish it were required reading for every pastor and deacon. With an incisive pen and quick wit, the author has single–handily dissuaded hearts from the Nation of Islam into the glorious Light of Jesus Christ.”

—Dr. Ergun Mehmet Caner, President-Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary Director-Center for Global Apologetics, Lynchburg, VA

Alexis Johnson is now an associate pastor at Tabernacle of Glory Church in Asbury Park, New Jersey. He has a passion for reaching out to Muslims and for informing the general public on Orthodox Islam, Nation of Islam, and Five Percenters through the written and spoken word.

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How to Develop Your Speaking Platform

A speaking platform is one of the most effective ways to sell books and get a message out. If you feel the Lord leading you to develop this kind of ministry, you may be wondering how you can become an experienced speaker without first being an inexperienced one!

After you have completed some training (through a Christian speakers bureau or through your local Toastmasters), check out the civic groups in your area. The Kiwanis, Rotary and Lions Clubs are always looking for speakers for their weekly and monthly meetings. They don’t pay, but they are a great way to get some experience under your belt.

If your topic is specific to a “felt need” in the church, there is probably a small group meeting in churches in your area devoted to the topic.

Some possibilities:

• single parenting
• mothers of preschoolers
• job support
• domestic violence
• crisis support
• seniors
• women’s abuse issues
• men’s issues
• depression
• special prayer ministry
• terminal illness or bereavement support,
• eating disorders
• post-abortion stress syndrome
• veteran’s issues
• wives of veterans
• chronic illness/pain support
• alcohol/drug recovery
• gambling addictions
• sexual addictions
• divorce recovery

Contact the Leader

Once you determine the group that would be best for you to share with, contact the church to find out who the leader is. Then contact the leader and ask if they are ever looking for a speaker resource for their meeting time.

Carry Business Cards

As you begin developing your speaking platform, keep in mind that while everyone you meet is probably not a prospect to book you for a speaking engagement, just about everyone knows someone who is involved in a group or organization that has need of speakers on a regular basis. Make sure you have a business card with your picture on it and some of the topics you speak on and hand them out to everyone you know and/or meet.

Try to get the contact information of the person they know who might be able to lead you to the decision maker for a group or organization, and then follow up.

Make Warm Calls

You might feel more comfortable making a “warm call” instead of a “cold call” so consider this: Send out a letter and brochure introducing yourself and your book as a resource to the group leader, and offering your speaking ministry to them as a way to encourage and build up their participants.

Follow-Up

Close the letter with a promise to follow up with a phone call in a week or two. That way, when you call, you are not catching them off-guard; they will be expecting you. (This method will not be as effective if you are sending your letter and brochure to Director of Women’s Ministries in care of the church name, because you don’t know who it’s going to or who to ask for when you follow up. It works best when you have a name of a group leader and send it to that person directly and then follow up with them personally.)

This fundamental building block in developing your speaking platform will go a long way in building credibility.

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