Episode 21: Know Your Competition: Conducting a Book Market Analysis
Today on the show Jodi talks about how author-entrepreneurs can learn about their competition and best position their book in the marketplace: by conducting a book market analysis (sometimes called a book positioning study).
This is an important step of the publishing process no matter what path or paths to publication you’re considering. (In fact, if you’re publishing traditionally, Jodi guarantees this will be a required part of your submissions package.) This activity is most powerful when done in the early stages of the book-writing process, but even if you’ve already started writing or even have a complete draft, take the time to do it.
However your book will be different from what’s in the marketplace, being able to identify that will help tremendously when you craft your launch and marketing plans. Why? Because you’ll know how to position the book for success.
Spend some time on Amazon identifying 10 or so books in your genre. Study them as products, not as books. You’re looking here for patterns so you know what’s typical for your type of book, if anything. Are all of the page counts around the same number? Do all but one have a foreword written by an industry expert? Be sure to look at book reviews, which are often a gold mine. People not only write in reviews what they loved about a book but also what they didn’t love or felt was missing. All of this information is useful to you.
Gather the information in a format so you can study and analyze it. Find the patterns that show you what readers of your kind of book love and want. This will help you construct a product (your book) to meet those needs and wants. If you do that, you’ll be able to meet your goals and your readers’ goals, thus serving your audience as well as your own business.
Listen here or on your favorite podcast player, and let me know what you think!