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You've written your book, now you want readers to find it and devour it.
We can write all the stories in the world, churning out books year after year, but if we don't reach our target audience, they're going to sit on the shelf collecting proverbial dust.
If you're happy just getting your stories down and publishing them, you might not want to focus on marketing or promoting them. However, for most of us, we want people to read our books.
That means they have to find them first.
But not everyone is going to be your audience. When you write, you write with a particular reader in mind. If it's horror, you want those with an affinity for the gore and suspense. If you write romance, you want readers looking for the next best love story.
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Just because someone is a reader doesn't mean they read everything. We're pretty fickle as humans in this way, in that our tastes vary vastly.
It's your job to discover, define, and market to your target audience. But, if this is your first rodeo, where do you start?
Let's take a closer look at what it all entails.
What Is a Target Audience?
In general, a target audience is a group of people who stand to benefit the most from your product. Therefore, this is whom you should direct your marketing efforts to.
For your books, your target audience is the readers who consume the specific genre you write in. That doesn't mean these are the only people who will pick up your book, but they are the ones you typically write your stories for.
Of course, you have to define your audience first, but we'll get into that in a minute.
Why Defining Your Target Audience Is Important
If you're starting from ground zero, the first step is to discover who your target audience is: the readers who will (hopefully) pick up your book and give it a read.
Why is this important?
Because, as an author, you will need to promote and advertise your book. And you don't want to cast a wide net. That would be crazy expensive. Even if you have unlimited funds at your disposal, why would you want to throw money at everything and hope something sticks?
Defining your target audience helps you narrow your focus—and your spending.
You can then create ads to reach that particular subset of readers. If you write mystery or thrillers, you don't want to focus on romance readers, because while some may be interested in your books, too, the majority of that target group is only focused on love stories.
Defining Your Target Audience
You might think you have an idea of who your readers are, but you'd be surprised that there are often many more than you think. Digging deep into your stories and what they offer to who can help you expand even more.
Know Your Genre (and Your Subgenre)
Why does genre matter? Because there are readers who are wholly devoted to a single category of books, whether it's thrillers, horror, cozy mysteries, sci-fi, or romance. They seek out new books all the time, especially those who read a book or more in a single day.
But, having this information is also beneficial to your research and can help you tailor your ads when you're ready to run them.
Look at Books Similar to Yours
Once you've narrowed down your genre and subgenre, you can search for books like yours. Consider it part of your research. You can look at the categories they're placed in and use that to search for readers across different platforms (more on that below).
Create a Reader Profile
As silly as it sounds, if you're confused as to who your readers are, it helps to define them by creating a profile, much like you would the characters in your book.
Some questions to ask about them include their:
- Age
- Career
- Relationship status
- Interests
- Favorite authors
- Favorite TV shows
- What they search for on Amazon
Creating a reader profile will help you narrow down your target audience, but not only that, it's extremely helpful during the ad creation process.
Sudowrite Professional unlocks extended “Audience Persona” templates so you can pinpoint niches before you spend a dime on ads.
Reaching Your Target Audience
Now that you know who your target audience is, you need to put yourself where they are.
Put Yourself in the Reader's Shoes
Let's be honest, the reason you write the genre you do is because you probably have a vested interest in it. There are authors who write to market, but most have been enmeshed in the genre for some time. They're fans, too.
Bearing that in mind, where would you go to get the latest on new releases or current projects an author is working on? This is exactly where you will find your audience.
Not sure how your book fits into the market? Check this guide on novel vs. novella word counts by genre to make sure your story meets reader expectations.
Explore Social Media
You'd be remiss not to harness the power behind social media. Reader groups, BookTok, and Bookstagram help promote your books, sometimes without you having to do a thing. Especially after you're an established author.
But here's the thing: the popular trends and reader groups with tens of thousands of members can give you insight into which authors and niches are popular. You can also get an idea of how authors engage with their readers to help propel their success.
Romance readers hang out largely on the main platforms mentioned above. If you write fantasy or sci-fi, you might check out Reddit and Discord.
Use Social Media Tools to Expand Your Audience
Social media can help you find your readers, but it's so much more powerful than that, too, when you loop in analytical tools.
For example, if you're looking to get more information on your potential readers and who your ads are reaching, Meta's Business Suite Insights can help analyze your reach and results. It can also give you information on not just your current audience, but also other potential audiences you can reach and how that might affect your performance.
And if you’re overwhelmed with description or voice on social? Try these tips for controlling tone and style with AI to help you stay consistent.
Building Up Your Own Following
It seems so easy. Build a Facebook or Instagram page, and readers will flock to and find you there. Yet, the reality is so much harsher. Many authors, especially new indie authors, flounder in the beginning. Some never take off at all.
One of the main reasons author fail to reach their full potential is because they don't know how to define, reach, or engage their audience. Here are some tips to build up your own following.
Study Similar Authors
If you know you write similar themes to other successful authors in your genre, it's worth studying their methods. Pick between three and five that have significant followings and sales (you can get a general idea of this by using Publisher Rocket™).
What do their book covers look like? Their blurbs? I'm not saying you should copy these elements, but it can help you see what they're doing to bring readers in. Reading their books and then reading reviews can also clue you in to how they meet reader expectations.
Join ARC Groups
I highly recommend this. Do it not to read ARCs (though you can if you have time), but to offer up some of yours. What better way to get reviews off the bat than to build up a small, yet reliable ARC team?
Focus on readers with influence. They should have a decent following on Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok, and be avid users. In the beginning, you can be a bit more liberal with who you choose to let on your team, but as you build up a larger following, you'll want people who will actually promote and help grow your base.
Run Ads
The two most significant places, at the moment, to run ads are Facebook and Amazon. But here's the crux: each platform has a different set of rules and a different algorithm.
If you can only afford to do one, I would suggest Facebook to start. Just think about the last time you logged in and scrolled. Chances are you saw some ads tailored specifically to you (and others that are just wacky, but for the sake of this article, we'll refrain from digging deeper into that).
When I scroll, for instance, I get a lot of romance book ads. That's because I'm a romance writer and an avid reader in the genre. I also participate heavily in reader and fan groups on the platform. To put it simply, Facebook has my number.
Study those ads, especially the ones that draw you in, and then create two different formats to start. You don't need a large budget, especially if you're just starting out. Then, after a few days, take a look at the analytics. See which of the two ads performs better and which gets more engagement.
Collaborate with Other Authors
When I released my first novel under my new pen name, I reached out to some of my favorite author reader groups and asked the admins if I could promote my book on the day of release. Most authors are happy to do this.
Another way to get more readers is to do a newsletter swap. If you subscribe to author newsletters, chances are you've sometimes seen recommendations or updates about new releases from other authors at the bottom. It's just another way the author community is amazing and willing to help each other.
Sudowrite Pro’s “Pitch Polisher” refines collab emails so they stand out in busy inboxes.
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