Skip to main content

The Characteristics of a Niche Expert and Publisher


In niche publishing, your goal is not to become a celebrity, but an expert. Build upon the expertise by helping others, and the book sales will follow. I know this because I am possibly one of the worst face to face sales persons ever. I believe in my product, but because of conflicting life roles, I find it difficult to go through the requirements to make direct sales. I worry about seeing my bosses at conventions, seeing peers at lunches, and being ostracized for using company time to sell my product. That gives me only after work hours to sell; that’s family time. In fact, my sales techniques practically talk people out of my buying my book. Why, because I want to help people first and sell books second. This book will assist you with writing, publication, sales and marketing plan that allows you to be yourself and provide a great service.

Instead, I’ll explain how to sell books within your niche based upon your reputation, expertise and ability to fill an educational void. When people hear of you, they will already know about your book. You will also learn how to overcome tough situations as you work with professional and hobbyist organizations.

Here are some charactoristics of successful niche experts:

Entreprenuer
See a problem and offer a solution

Bright
It takes brains to figure out a solution and make it affordable, valuable and appealing to a particular customer.

Thick Skin
Writing to a niche market proves difficult when a technical know it all offers her critiques.

Politician
How you react to unfair reviews and criticism.

Friendly
Create positive and fair reviews when speaking or writing of others and their products. If you can’t give a good review, don’t give one.

Focused
Authors who work in a niche market have to maintain strict focus. Your efforts are only successful when you get the desired results.   

Creative
Your market may not be easily identifiable, ideas that capture your target’s imagination may be elusive, and your audience may be difficult to sell to, but at least you are creative.

Have a Message
That passion is a burning message that screams, "I can help make your life easier" or "How do you live without me?"
                                                                                                  

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Great Reason to Self-Publish Two

Market Your Way-More and more publishing companies rely on the author to market books. Just look at the latest book covers and see which is larger the author's name or the book title? It's the author who sells books. As a niche professional, you have a built in market and your efforts can easily reach them. You know what works, so go to it. Many people are put off by marketing as I was when I first began. When a niche author serving in an industry with peer-customers, the last thing you want to do is bombard them with sales. Your role is the be the expert and provide answers. Cold calling is also not necessarily the answer in niche marketing. If you've developed a blog, newsletter or social media following, then you have your customer database. Your marketing efforts flow as you provide advice and answers to those following your posts, comments and articles. Many authors teach, speak, volunteer or are otherwise active in their professions. It's hard to remain o...

Why authors might choose to work with a publisher instead of publishing themselves

  Why you might prefer to publish with another company instead of do it yourself. There are a lot of blog, newsletter, training and podcast information telling the good news about current publishing opportunities. Most tout the benefits of putting your own book on Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). It is a great resource, but contrary to the popular discussion, it’s not the only option. It seems most information coming out seems to publisher shame anyone who does not “do it yourself”. It’s as if the expectation is to self publish and anyone who does not, is a publishing pariah. There are so many published articles describing benefits to putting your own content out though KDP, heck, even I do it. Most build entire businesses around the KDP instruction or consulting opportunities.   However, I’m more concerned with the author who just wants to write and publish their books without the hassle of the publishing business. The author who wants an outlet to make their book ava...

There, In The Jungle...an excerpt from Commitment-A Novel

     The sun painted streaks of pale blue and yellow through the morning sky. Birds were awake, singing to anyone appreciative enough to listen. The moon was full and bright as it still sat high in the western sky.      John listened intently. He was used to the sounds of the jungle, something he would actually miss. Gone were the distractions of machines. However, he prayed that they would soon be getting back to the plane that would take them back to their world–civilization.      Suddenly he was aware of something new–silence. The singing had abruptly stopped, but why? Birds go silent as a survival instinct, he thought. He listened more intently, as the ground would be soft, muffling any footsteps.      There! In the brush – a slight movement. He focused his eyes to one side of the dark, heavily vegetated area hoping to catch something in his peripherals. Behind about fifty yards, vines and branches moved...