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When people come to me for marketing consultation or to do web sites or to create swag - most authors or writers cannot list for me the target audiences for their book. I find most of us think are targets are: teens, librarians, schools, and bookstores.

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Guest Expert: Dana Lynn Smith

As you write your book and develop your book marketing plan, one of the first priorities is to define your target audiences.

The primary target audience for your book is the “ideal reader” that the book was written specifically for. In your book marketing plan, define the characteristics of your ideal reader, asking questions such as these:

• What is their age range, gender, and education level?
• Where do they live?
• What is their family status – single, married with kids, retired couple?
• What is their income level and occupation?
• What are their interests and hobbies?
• What makes this person the ideal reader for your book?
• What are their book buying habits?

In addition to the ideal reader, most books have several secondary audiences. Your book marketing plan should include strategies for reaching audiences such as these:

Readers – people who buy the book to read. This is the most obvious category and it includes your primary audience as well as secondary audiences who have an interest in your topic or genre.

Purchasers – people who buy the book for someone else. For example, people buy books as gifts, parents and grandparents purchase books for children, women buy men’s health books, companies and organizations purchase books to give away as gifts and premiums. Who would be likely to purchase your book for someone else, and how can you reach those folks?

Retailers – companies who buy your book to sell it to others. If you’re selling through physical bookstores or other retailers, you have the task of convincing these resellers that your book will sell in their stores and demonstrating how you can help generate demand.

Influencers – people who communicate with your target customers and can let them know about your book. The influencers may be the most important category of all, especially in online marketing and social media. Think about how much you can multiply your marketing efforts when other people spread the word to their own readers, customers, and networks.

Your book marketing plan should outline specific tactics for reaching influencers, including print, broadcast and online media. You can reach the media through traditional publicity efforts as well as online press releases and article distribution.

Other important influencers include authors, consultants, and bloggers who cater to your target customers. These folks can mention you, your website, and/or your book in several ways, including blog posts, links, Twittering, ezine articles, and media sharing tools like Digg.

Here are some tips on working with influencers:

• Search the Internet to compile a list of the top websites, blogs, ezines, magazines, newsletters, online forums, books, ebooks, clubs, and association that cater to your target market or cover your topic.

• Study each site to get a good understanding of what they do and how it relates to your book, and look for possible promotional opportunities.

• Write a thoughtful, customized email or letter sincerely complimenting the prospect about their site, publication, or organization, and suggesting some specific ways that you might work together to your mutual benefit.

It’s also important to read the top blogs and online forums on yo

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Who will your readers be? What is their age group? Profession? Interests?

"What kind of reader did you imagine while writing?"

"Which individuals will benefit from reading your book?"

"Who do you think will buy your novel?"

"Can your book attract readers of books from other genres?"


While writing, it is easy to have a specific audience in mind. Since I write middle-grade, I think of upper elementary / lower middle school kids as I create a story. But now that my work is on submission, I need to think beyond this initial audience.

What other people might be interested in your book?

Think about your story. What things about it make it unique? My novel-in-verse, MAY B., takes place in Kansas in the 1870s. May struggles with an unnamed learning disability, most likely dyslexia.

How can these unique aspects interest those beyond your initial audience? Brainstorm a list, however ridiculous, of others who might find your story interesting.

Here's what I've come up with for MAY:

• Readers of Louisiana Literature magazine (a portion of MAY B. was featured in LA Lit's 2009 spring/summer edition)
• Learning disability organizations
• Learning disability educators
• Blogs/sites for parents with learning disabilities
• Dyslexic organizations
• Dyslexic education
• Dyslexic blogs/sites for parents with dyslexic children
• Kansas Historical Society
• Kansas Historical museums
• Kansas libraries
• Kansas schools, teaching programs, and teachers
• National Council for Teachers of Social Studies
• Adolescent literature professors
• Museum gift shops in the Mid-West
• Kansas newspapers
• Mid-West Magazine? Sunset?
• Kansas public radio

Though some of these groups listed might be a stretch (NCTSS probably won't take much interest, for example, and I have no idea if Sunset Magazine does book reviews, let alone reviews for children's books), I've expanded my thinking about my audience.

I'm slowly starting to collect addresses, phone numbers, and email for Kansas Museums. Maybe sometime soon I'll seek out some sites on learning disabilities, not to toot my own horn, but to add to the conversation. Promotion is as much about respecting your audience as it is sharing your book.

What groups beyond your initial audience could be part of your target audience?

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