How to Identify a Target Audience for Your Book in 3 Steps

How to Identify a Target Audience for Your Book in 3 Steps How to Identify a Target Audience for Your Book in 3 Steps Don’t you feel like your book could be a massive hit, if only the right people knew about it? If there were only some way of finding your target audience, you'd be able to reach out and get your novel into their hands or e-readers.This post will lay out a method on how to identify a target audience. You will find the ‘right people’ for your book, learn to see things from their perspective, and discover the most effective channels for reaching them.If you're a self-published author, you probably don't have the resources to market to everyone. The only sensible approach is to appeal to people who are actively seeking books just like yours.   If those people love your book, word of mouth will quickly spread, and you will start to build a loyal following that eagerly awaits your next publication.  So let’s get to it! How to identify a target audience: see things from your readers' perspective Step 1 - How to identify a target audienceHow do you go about figuring out who your book is meant for? While you may have a vague idea, it’s best to be as specific as you can.That’s because when you have an exact description of one ideal reader (this includes key demographics like age, sex, hobbies, interests, location, marital status, etc.), it becomes a lot easier to find similar people and expand your target audience.To understand this better, let’s borrow a concept from the business world: the idea of a ‘proto-persona.' This is basically an imaginary person who shares many traits with your most likely customer. How is this useful for authors? Let’s find out.Creating a proto-persona for your book Facebook Advertising for Authors, by Mark Dawson: Part 2 Read post Step 3 - Hone in on your real audienceYou can only go so far with assumptions of who your readers are, what they like, where they hang out and how they behave. Once you have these assumptions, you need to test them. How exactly do you go about doing that?Testing assumptions with Facebook AdvertisingTo be a successful author you have to start thinking like an entrepreneur. How do you find out whether your book will appeal more to fans of Lee Child or James Patterson? Create two Facebook ads with the same image and a similar copy ("fans of X will love this!") and target them at these two respective target audiences. For example, if fans of Lee Child respond better to your ad (higher click-through rate), then you have your answer.You can run a similar test on your image, or on the tone and length of the text you’re using. A/B test your Facebook ads to see which performs better If you have tons of questions swimming in your head at this point, that’s understandable! Check out this insightful interview with author Mark Dawson on the Reedsy blog,  for  a fun and easy introduction to Facebook advertising for authors.What’s your niche?Use forums like Goodreads to reach people who fit the description of your proto-persona, and expand your network to start conversations and get valuable feedback from real readers. Promotional activities are mutually beneficial if you reach the right communities. In exchange for a free copy, you can ask your newly found readers to review your book.The next steps†¦Most authors and book marketers recommend choosing one or two platforms and focusing your marketing efforts on them. This is a very good idea if you’re just starting out and don’t have the bandwidth to execute a massive marketing plan.You have to hold the attention of your fans by consistently provide them with value, whether that's by releasing free short stories, or engaging them on social media.  The importance of thinking from your reader’s perspective cannot be stressed enough, only because most authors ignore it completely.A loyal following will give you real-time feedback and insights into what your fans enjoy. You’ll be surprised at the amount of traction your book gets just through word of mouth.So don’t waste any more time on directionless marketing, find out where your audience is hanging out right now!Do you have any unique methods of how to identify a target audience? How important is it to have a clear strategy for finding your audience? Leave your thoughts, comments and questions below.