Well, if you are going to do book marketing in the rightful manner, then you need to be the person who is able to analyze your section of the market effectively. Not only do you need to understand trends in the publishing industry (both self as well as traditional), but also you have to know what is likely to get the attention of the people. Now, remember very clearly that they are the same people who identifies themselves as the fans of your genre; and would be paying too in order to purchase your titles!
Therefore, today we are going to cover all about analysing your genre and identifying the trends, so that you can ensure that your book makes the biggest possible splash in the readers’ community. In quite a few of our previous blogs, we have already discussed that how the authors can use competitive analysis to their advantage when it comes to boosting book marketing. One aspect of this process involves diving deep in order to understand trends in the chosen genre by the authors. Some book marketing tips apply to all genres, but if you dig a little deeper, you will find that focusing your efforts on the strategies that work specifically within your genre can help you connect with more readers and sell more books.
Here are ‘5 Vital Tips’ that will help you in performing an effective genre analysis –
1) The Basics: First of all, you will need to get a sense of the players and the playing field. This means identifying the most successful authors in your genre and taking a look to see what they have in common, such as –
- How often do they publish?
- What kinds of stories are they telling?
- How engaged are they with their fans on social media?
- What character types are populating their books?
Getting started by identifying these aspects will help you understand what is working for you & what is not, within your genre!
2) Original Stories VS Formulaic Tales: Some readers like to escape into familiar worlds with character types that do not differ all that much from the ones that they have read about many times before. Other readers prefer wholly original stories with exciting new characters who buck trends and upend previously held notions of who can be a hero and who can be a villain. Therefore, you need to analyse that does your genre seem to attract readers who are more like the former, or more like the latter.
3) Cover Characteristics: Book covers are perhaps more important than ever, which is why we have often recommended hiring professional artists and designers to ensure that you are catching the eyes of prospective fans. People who are looking for books online see thousands of thumbnails, so it is important to know how to get their attention with a cover that makes them want to get into your title!
Take a look at the types of cover designs you are seeing in your genre. Are there elements that seem to appear time & time again? Readers look at covers to see if they contain certain signifiers that let them know they are in the right genre. Nevertheless, they also respond to covers that catch the eye due to their uniqueness and willingness to step outside the bounds of genre conventions. Be careful here! A cover that is too conventional will disappear among the selection that readers are searching. However, if it is too unique, it might alienate fans who want to be sure your book fits within their favourite genre.
4) What Is The Ideal Length: This is more important than you might think. For example, fans of fantasy and sci-fi expect books to be 400 pages or more (it is not unusual for titles to approach the 1000 page realm). However, readers of romances tend to buy books that feature shorter stories, so you need to carry a contingency approach and understand the latest trends being followed in the readers’ community!
5) Take A Look At The Outliers: Sometimes a book will defy all the tried and true genre trends, but sell amazingly well anyway. Take a look at the bestsellers in your genre and identify two or three titles that do not seem to ‘Play by the rules!’ Read the reviews and see if you can determine what aspects led to their success. It might be that the author is so well known and respected that they could get away with skirting the best practices in your genre. However, in many of the other cases, perhaps readers were ready for something different and the outlier supplied what they were looking for.
If you can identify these unique aspects, then you can easily get a head start in understanding the genre trends that just lie around in the corner!
Written By NEEL PREET – Author of the Books, Voice From The East (2016); Journey With Time Place And Circumstances (2018) & Indian Defence Files (2021).
