Market

It’s Wednesday! And I’m posting from the car, but I’m not going to tell you where I’m going. Watch my Insta for some pics here and there. You know me and pictures. We’re working on being better friends. ;-)

Monday, we discussed how to learn the business of publishing, and why that’s so important to do before you submit your manuscript to a publisher. Today, I have one more thing you really need to learn, something you need to do your homework on, before you submit. It’ll help you have a leg up on the competition, and help you figure out where to send your work.

Step 5:

Study the market

I know, it’s not that much fun to do. In fact, this is one of the things I really don’t like doing. But, it’s also something that you should do, and something I keep up to date on, in any way I can.

• Look up books similar to yours

This is the part I don’t like doing. I don’t like to see that there are so many books that are similar to mine, so many things on the market that I have to compete with, but this is information that you need to know. Go look up books that are like yours, that follow a similar vein, and see how they’re doing. Stalk those authors, figure out how they interact with their fans, maybe start following some of their methods. But if a publisher asks why they should publish your book, you want to be able to say that you’re like so-and-so, who published such-and-such and did really well. I don’t know why that works, but sometimes it does.

• Find some bloggers who focus on your genre

These bloggers will know a lot about what’s going on in your genre, and a lot of what the current market and trends are like. So, they’ll be a good resource for you. Some of them are even willing to chat with new authors, to try to get more hype for the book to come out. Hype is great, from a publisher’s POV. If you already have a thousand fans before you get to a publisher, it's nearly guaranteed you’ll get published with an amazing deal.

• Study sales trends in your genre

Find out how other authors in your genre are doing. See how well they’re selling, or where they’re standing on the charts. And don’t just look at the top, look at the middle and the bottom as well. Look at all of it, no matter how disheartening it might be at any given time. This is information you can use to your benefit, later on. You want to know how well you think you can do in sales, and this is a good way to figure it out. Those guys on the bottom? Don’t do what they’re doing.

• Stalk the competition

No, I don’t mean authors. I mean publishers. If a publisher is getting really good sales from a book that’s similar to yours, go to one of their competitors. Tell them that you have a book that’s like theirs, and that you think will sell just as well. Give them good reasons why, tell them about your research in sales and how you’re working to build your audience. They’ll be impressed, at the very least.

I guarantee it.

Friday, I have one more thing for you to do, before you start the decision making process. Be sure to check in and see what it is!

[love]

{RD}