Will Your Novel Solve a Reader’s Problem? by Guest @Janice_Hardy

Having attended comic book and movie conventions, I have seen authors with a table, selling their novels. I have often wondered how well they do.

Depends on the author and the event. Some might only sell a few books, others might sell hundreds. Targeting the right audience and event helps a lot, as you want to have the type of book the people attending that event would want to read.

It also matters on your own expectation. I know an author who is happy if they sell one book an hour at an event, and others who consider it a success if they sell 25 books or more. So if you go expecting to sell 500 books and sell 50, you might think that’s terrible.

I need to get better about how to sell my books – I know how to write them, just not how to get people to read them.

Wow! You’ve given me a lot to think about here. I’ve frequently said that if one of my books takes a reader out of their bad day for a few hours, helps them forget chronic pain, or a crappy boss, or the challenge of being a caretaker, then I’ve done my job as a writer.

But this post has shown me I’m not doing my job as a marketer because I haven’t directed my stories to the people who would enjoy them the most. I need to think about the people who I believe will get the most out of them and figure out how to get their attention. Thanks for this insight!

I need to narrow down my audience and see what places are best to market. I will look at what other authors in my genre have done for inspiration.

You make several great points and hit on many great ideas for authors to reach readers. However, not everyone can really find that gold mine or get that small niche that gets those readers. I totally agree with this article I just wish I could connect my novels to outside idea.

First of all, I really like this approach to marketing. I think it would really focus my efforts. I need to read it again and make notes. And are you kidding me? An hour to talk all things writing and publishing? Sign. Me. Up.

Thanks for jumping on board with #NaNoPromo!

Wonderful advice. I have this bookmarked so I can read it again because I tend to forget things. ^^;;

Great article andadvice. I think it’s interesting how people will spend hours creating pintrest pages for characters, but no time thinking about their readers. I found that it is helpful to create a reader profile on what they would be like and their interests.

Great blog post! I often try to envision my perfect reader, but I find it hard to connect with them in a way that wouldn’t seem ‘sale-sy’.

My books have elements of Star Trek, Star Wars, and Battlestar with some Aurora Rising and Skyward thrown in. How do I go to a Star Trek website and say ‘yo! I have a great book.’ I do target sci-fi related material in my Amazon and Facebook Ads tho’ although I’ve not been successful enough to scale.

Any methods for connecting that would be more organic and really help with eventual author platform building?

Thanks, Janice. Always good to see things from a reader’s perspective.

Great article! Gave me an idea to work with teachers.
Loved the Shifter series so much and then it for my my oldest niece.

“Write down three key reasons someone would want to buy your novel. Are all of those reasons in your marketing material and blurbs?”

Finding the “why” of my novel has been the leading factor for so many starts and stops. Am I creating enough value? Am I creating the right value? These questions haunt me at different periods of the process. It was nice to read this and know I’m not alone.