The excitement you feel once your masterpiece is complete is priceless! You might think that the hardest part of becoming an author, writing the book, is finally over. You’re wrong!

The journey of an author only starts with writing a book but does not end there.

Writing a book does not mean it will automatically sell – Find your target market.

Every book is a new product. You need to treat it that way. If you think about it, there are hundreds of thousands of new books (aka products) being released into the market every year.

You need to be asking yourself:

Who would benefit from reading my book?

EVERYONE is not the answer.

Let’s assume an author has written a book about “Parenting”. The only people interested in reading this book are going to be new parents or grandparents who would like to learn how to raise their children/grandchildren. These people are the target audience for the book. You cannot focus your energy on marketing to everyone, as they would simply have no need to read your book. And unless you have an unlimited amount of time and money you cannot reach everyone.

Focusing on the people who are directly interested in your products will allow you to engage with them more intensively and more effectively.

So what do you do?

You find your target audience. The people who would benefit the most from your book/ the people who are most likely to relate to your book/ the people who would enjoy this type of book the most.

How do we go about doing this?

You basically need to answer two questions first:

·   Who is buying your book?

·   Why are they buying your book?

You need to think about where your target audience hangs out. And when is the best time to tap into the market.

Are you targeting your book for students? Or people working in corporate offices? Is your book about political issues? Or placement training?

Take the case of the book about “Parenting”. We’ve already figured out who you’re writing for.

The next step is to figure out where to find them and when.

Some good places to interact with your future readers would be in playschools, kindergartens, pediatric clinics and toy stores. Or you could post about your book in the forums of pregnancy sites.

And since parents with younger kids will be more in need of parenting guidance than those with older kids, targeting newer parents will be more effective.

Now that you’ve figured out whom, how and when, you can start positioning your book for the maximum impact, which will translate into maximum sales.

And as a bonus, here’s a list that’ll help you profile your target audience:

Who is buying?

1. Age

2. Gender

3. Location

4. Education Level

5. Income

6. Ethnic or religious backgrounds (if it matters to your product)

Why are they buying?

1. What are their lifestyles?

2. What drives them?

3. What are their interests, hobbies and values?

Getting your target audience will mean half the battle won, to fulfilling your sales target.