Are You Publishing or Just Printing?

Publishing is a business. and you need to think of it that way. Begin with a business plan, not just a marketing plan.  You'll need to consider a lot of things when entering the publishing business, not the least of which is "Why am I Publishing".  If you are taking your Word doc over to your neighborhood copy shop and having them print a few, that's just "Printing," it is not "Publishing." Publishing is the entire process of developing a product that can be marketed to an audience -- from writing something someone will want or need, to manufacturing, distributing, marketing, supporting.  Printing is just a part of it -- but if that is all you need, that is all you need! (i.e. Your family's genealogy or your church's cookbook.) So, what do you need?

Over the next month, we'll help you answer these questions,

Forget for a moment that your own writing is involved -- I know it's your baby that you have slaved over for 10 years or 10 months or 10 weeks or whatever -- and think of it like you have invented a new flashlight. You would have to consider:

• How you are going to develop it into a marketable AND manufacture-ready product? (Hint: editing, design, production --- printing is just a small part of this section)
• How much it will cost to manufacture it and how does that affect my retail price? Is it feasible in my market to allow my costs to dictate the retail price at all?
• Where and when in your consumers' "need cycles" are they most likely to seek information that might be offered in your book and where and how might they find you in the process? i.e., Do they need something to entertain themselves at the beach or are they trying to cook healthy or are they thinking about going to back to school? Each consumer goes through a decision-making process prior to deciding HOW they will inform themselves (or entertain or educate) before they go through the decision-making process of WHAT to buy to fulfill their needs.
• How much will it cost to develop a distribution channel for it and how do I do that?
• How will I handle the daily operations of my business? How will I actually take the orders, process the credit cards, invoice retailers, pack the orders, ship the orders, process returns, store inventory? Do I need envelopes/boxes/tape/labels?  Will I maintain inventory? Do I need a fulfillment partner?
• What kind of taxes do I have to collect and pay? What if I have an event in another state -- do I need to have a temporary tax license there?
• How will I promote my product? Marketing, Advertising, Publicity and Visibility... Writing a business plan with a marketing budget is critical... and that's a blog in itself.

If you answer the questions above, you'll gain valuable information about the industry, because to publish a book requires that you:

1. Understand your options and what publishing entails
2. Are familiar with the terminology, and you understand what you are getting into
3. Develop a realistic budget -- budget your money and your time -- make sure you have both
4. Make a decision to either be a publisher, find a publisher, or just find a printer -- they aren't apples and apples or even apples and oranges. More like apples and flashlights.

You have a story to share -- be smart about it so it reaches its potential.  Keep the ink flowing.

W-A-K-E U-P Your Marketing Strategy - an Introduction

In an earlier blog this week, I introduced my gimmick method of identifying the "psychographic" characteristics of your customer and using that info to create an effective marketing message. It's my WAKE UP strategy. Over the next few days, I'll outline what this anagram stands for and why it contains important keys to success in publishing and marketing your book. This method is designed to help you find your real target audience and understand what to say and where to say it. I have a degree in marketing, but you really don't need one to understand psychographics. You simply have to understand what your mom always told you -- it's not what's on the outside that counts, it's what's inside. It's a lot more difficult to find the values, beliefs, interests, hobbies and behaviors of your customer, but in those nuggets, you'll find gold.

Here's a Working Example
To help you see what each step is, an example might help -- we'll keep this example throughout this thread of blog posts. Our example book will help moms and dads find work-life balance. In this marketing study, we want to know who is buying parenting books, where they are hearing about these products, how to talk to this customer, what price point to set, what sales venues to target as partners...for starters. In this post, I'm only doing an overview of our WAKE UP strategy. In subsequent posts, we'll dig in...so stay tuned.

• W = Watch  - Here, you are looking at the universe of prospective customers to examine further. Who among these groups is our customer? This is your Watch Group. (BTW, I now do Watch Groups on Facebook, because, as you know, not all of your customers are geographically close.)
• A =  Ask - Once you find a Watch Group that agrees to share their opinions, ask them how they get their information about parenting issues. Ask them where and how they purchase things for their family -- and WHO BUYS versus WHO USES goods and services in their circle of influence.
• K =  Know - Know what your final objective is before you move further. That objective is not to prove what you think you know, but to actually know, based on the information shared with you.
• E =  Examine - Really dig into the messages you are hearing. LISTEN to voices other than your own. Examine each piece of information closely and determine the words your target customer finds relevant and persuasive, and uncover the tone of the messages.
• U =  Understand - Now, seek to understand who your buyer is and who your reader is. They aren't always the same individual. Your marketing messages have to serve these two masters!
• P =  Perceive - As an expert in whatever it is you have written your book about, you are probably very much like your prospective customer. Ask your Watch Group to review your marketing materials to gauge their perception of the creative aspects, copy, offers, the marketing vehicles by which you are delivering those messages, and your distribution plans (where will you sell your book?). 

After you WAKE UP, use this as your marketing road map. This is no longer only your gut feeling, but real, workable knowledge.  Today's consumer has so many messages being thrown at them. Make sure your message is relevant, and in the right place at the right time.  Next issue, Watch, brought to you by the letter W.

WAKE UP Your Marketing Strategy

With the vast number of books inundating the shelves each day, how do YOU know who to market to? Who cares that you wrote a book?  More importantly, who cares that you are publishing your book? 

No really, WHO CARES?

If you can't answer that question right now, sit down and do some homework before you publish. Publishing is an expensive business anyway; but there are dumb ways to spend your money and there are really smart ways. Know who you are marketing to, specifically, fundamentally, and categorically. To really understand the market I'm pursuing for a given project, I use my own "W.A.K.E. U.P." Marketing Strategy: 

Watch. Ask. Know. Examine. Understand. Perceive.

I'm not talking about demographics--married/single, age, own home/rent, ethnicity, religious affiliation, kids/no kids, geographic region, employed/self employed/retired, income, etc. Yes, you can locate this data quickly and easily. Any "list company" will sell you a list selected down to the exact demographics you specify. But what do those stats tell you? 

HERE'S A RIDDLE:  A 45-year-old female new small business owner wants a poster for her wall. She's educated, is married, is mother to two kids, owns a modest home in a middle-class neighborhood, and owns two cars. She brings home $60,000, and her spouse brings home $65,000 from his job as a salesman for an insurance company. 

Which "success" poster is she most likely to hang in her office?*

ANSWER: While both posters are very nicely laid out, colorful, and hold the information our subject may want to see every day, she would likely choose the bottom one over the other. Why? She also happens to like camping and this poster reminded her of that place overlooking that lovely river she visits each year and dreams of owning someday. But how the heck would you have known that? Very tough, but not impossible. It all comes down to knowing what makes your buyer tick. How do you wake up those important facts?

You needed to know what her behaviors are. Her psycho-graphics. Today, you must reach higher than the low-hanging demographics to find out what her interests are. What are her values, beliefs, behaviors, triggers. What magazines/newspapers does she read? What programs catch her eye? What does she do with her spare time? What does she consider spare time? Does she volunteer? Does she like to travel? Garden? Exercise? Read? Cook? Is she a precise thinker? Does she go to seminars or workshops? Is she interested in nature or environment, religion or spirituality, or is orange just her favorite color?  How does she get new information?
 
What did her age, marital status, home ownership, income, or ethnicity have to do with her choice here? Not nearly as much as her interests, beliefs and behaviors.
 

Now for YOUR book

Think about these things when you first start writing your book -- make sure you have a market (look in the mirror, first, because you are probably a good profile for your buyer), and then consider what else motivates your buyer. If you have a market you can find, publish your book to fit that market. If you are just publishing for yourself, admit it up front, check your ego at the door and set your expectations realistically. 

*These posters were simply pulled randomly from a Google search for illustrative purposes. No permissions were asked or granted -- however, no posters were harmed in the making of this blog post, and I hope the copyright holders will understand my intent.
**Next post will examine each step in the WAKE UP marketing strategy in depth.