How I Connected With My Niche Audience
by Kevin Joseph
(McLean, VA)
The Champion Maker
Genre: Thriller
As is typical of first novels, The Champion Maker tells the story I was burning to share with the world. A former world-class runner, seeking redemption for his truncated career, becomes the coach of a young running prodigy, only to find himself implicated in a dark conspiracy that requires him to clear his young superstar of gene doping allegations in time for the Olympics.
When a close friend or relative reads my novel, I'll invariably hear how much of my personality and experiences shine through. And because the story is so closely intertwined with me as a person, I took it ever-so-personally when the fledgling literary agent I had labored so hard to land told me that she was unable to sell it to a traditional publisher.
Yet I remained convinced that my story would appeal to three categories of readers: runners, those interested in the science of genetic engineering, and fans of mainstream thrillers. So I became determined to sell The Champion Maker through print-on-demand publishing channels, using the Internet to help my novel reach this book-buying triumvirate one sale at a time.
Three years and a thousand books later, The Champion Maker has exceeded my modest expectations. It has been reviewed favorably by The Midwest Book Review, attracted the interest of a major Hollywood movie producer (who, alas, has yet to act on it), been named as one of three finalists for the Benjamin Franklin Award in the category of Best New Voice, and been discussed alongside Brave New World and Gattica in Dartmouth Professor Ronald Green's non-fiction book, Babies By Design.
Marketing The Champion Maker has also taught me much about the evolving publishing industry. Traditional bookselling, it seems, remains one of the last hold-outs against the electronic media revolution, with self-publishing regarded as an inferior sideshow. But the economic inefficiency and environmental waste generated by large unsold print runs, the proliferation of book reading devices like Amazon's Kindle, the "long-tail
" phenomenon that allows sellers to use the Internet to connect with niche buyers, and the growing realization by many that indie books offer a refreshing alternative to the cookie cutter stuff that big publishers and chain bookstores pre-ordain as our bestsellers, are creating more opportunities for self-publishers to sell their wares alongside the big boys.
In closing, then, let me offer four tips that may help make your self-publishing experience as fulfilling as mine has been.
1) Make sure your book is proofread to perfection before going to market, as sub-par editing is the easiest way for people to dismiss your work as amateurish.
2) Look for niche markets that you can target, like cocker spaniel lovers if your book has a doggie hero, or fly fishing nuts if your protagonist is an angler. (Amazon groups both fiction and non-fiction books in this way, leading to great opportunities for reaching these micro-audiences.)
3) Create a Website with content that will attract your niche readership in Google searches. (I created a list of forty running novels with descriptions of each, which draws many readers to my site.)
4) Take advantage of the countless free opportunities to call attention to your book on-line, such as writing Amazon reviews for books in your genre, creating an Amazon author blog, and participating in networking sites like LibraryThing.com.
And, most importantly, don't forget to have fun!
Visit Kevin's website.
