I get a lot of proposals or pitches that say “there are 157 million women in the US, that’s my market” and unfortunately they’re mixing up the difference between a demographic and a market. Publishers (especially publicists) don’t take well to these things because it makes someone seem out of touch from a marketing and sales perspective which is very worrisome considering writers are doing more and more to market their own books–and publishers expect them to.
THE THREE MAIN DIFFERENCES BETWEEN A DEMOGRAPHIC AND A MARKET:
1. A Demographic is a population which generally unknowable in a marketing sense (without data), a Market is data-driven, tangible, and accountable. A Demographic is a fact and often an unattainable group. A Market is an engaged group of probable book buyers rooted in proof.
2. Do you know how to actually reach that Demographic? If so, you’re starting to get a Market. If you don’t know how to market to these groups then they aren’t your market–you can’t reach them to share your book news.
Market:
- Do you have a newsletter with subscribers or mailing list?
- Do you have an engaged social media following with numbers to back it up?
- Do you have a podcast with regular listeners?
- Do you belong to any associations or groups (writing, alumni, or professional)?
3. Can you quantify the number of people that will directly encounter your promotion, marketing, or publicity? That’s your Market. Family, friends, co-workers, social media followers, subscribers, associations, groups–this is your market! They will be the people that you share your promotion with. Your publisher will help with bigger markets: their own mailing lists, their distribution reach, their bookstore promotion, their social media circles, existing customers and more. Your publicist will try to increase your market: getting essays, articles, reviews and interviews in front of more eyes. However, you have to do the work too–by knowing the existing market you have and how you want to grow it.
As an agent do you expect an author to include a marketing plan as part of a novel pitch?
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Not as part of a pitch for fiction but when I sign up a new author I give them a long questionnaire to fill out that includes all of this info. Non fiction DOES need all of this.
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Do you think that the publishers that you work with expect authors to do the majority of the marketing for their fiction?
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Depends on the author, the book, and the deal, but they do have to carry a lot of the weight. This is their book and they’re the best advocate for it.
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Thank you. I have been considering seeking a traditional publisher for my series, but I would have to admit up front that I am terrible at promotion.
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Whether it’s self pub or traditional both require marketing. (self pub even more so)
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Yeah, that’s pretty much the conclusion that I’ve come to–writing fiction is essentially a sales job. Pity, I like the writing, but I just can’t do sales.
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Reblogged this on mariemccloskey.
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Hey, Carly! Great looking site!
Are agents (or at least in your case) turned off by a non-fiction pitch coming from a writer who has a limited number of followers? Does that writer need to have 10 thousand followers?
Thanks!
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Depends on the topic, but you need to be an expert and show us that you have a quantifiable market.
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Great advice! Thanks for the heads up!
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Interesting post here Carly!
Thanks for this, and I imagine I won’t be alone in watching for your replies to the other questions listed coming in too!
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Reblogged this on Don Massenzio's Blog.
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Reblogged this on WRITTEN REFLECTIONS and commented:
I’ve recently begun working on my memoir proposal. I’ve found the marketing section to be most confusing. Carly Watters does an excellent job explaining what a market is and isn’t.
After reading this post, I understand the difference between demographics and market, and that I was confusing the two.
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