Niche is a New Better Sales/Less Work Technique

Niche Write and Niche Edit and Niche Marketing for Your Book?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I learn amazing things by reading advertising, especially the ones known as advertorials. Advertorials are usually written by experts in their fields and are sometimes a bit arcane, but they can make me rethink what I am doing with my books. You can find them in your local newspaper of in respected magazines like Time. Most media marks them clearly as "advertising" but the headlines usually feel more like great nonfiction topics.

The one I found in December was in a slick magazine called BookBusiness. It was paid for by a short-run printing company called Canon Solutions America. In it they talk about book for niche markets and niche markets have always fascinated me. I write for two of them—writers and retailers.

My point is that this is not a topic that is new to me. But this article made me think. The author (unknown) said “ . . . today you can get the same book with a different cover based on your preference. That’s only going to increase.” The idea of the same book with only one tweak—the book cover—may be slightly overstated, but it fits with what I’ve always said about marketing when I encourage people to read my The Frugal Book Promoter and just substitute the words “books” and “author” for whatever is appropriate in the world of that particular reader. I tell them, “Marketing is marketing is marketing.”

So, I should probably go back and replace those words with something appropriate to almost any niche market instead of expecting my faithful readers to do it for themselves. That might be the ticket to having a whole series of books—very nearly like the Dummy books that have done so well. After making those tweaks, I could slap on a new cover and reword the title and suddenly my “marketing is marketing” mantra makes more sense (and is easier) for a whole range—a whole new niche-- of readers!

The idea sure fits with my advice to plan your marketing campaign so the work you can do can be recycled. We authors are not islands. We can only do so much on our own. After that, it’s either get more mileage out of what we do or start outsourcing like crazy. Actually, I kind of like both ideas.

CHJ

-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including the award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor .