Have You Done Your Market Research

Time and time again, I get submissions where I really question what planet that author came from. They are overly enthusiastic about their story and seem to believe the story will sell. AND YET... I look at what is selling and this story is not even on a radar of anyone. 

Authors need to understand they are selling a product for consumers. This means that their product needs to be something that the current market has an interest in, and will spend their hard earned money on. 

Market research is all about looking at what the larger population is looking at purchasing. This is where a lot of people screw up. They look at a small minority of people and think that this is representative of a larger population. Consider this...

You are part of a group of people who love to go RV'ing. We know there are clubs all round the world of people who live over half of the year in their RV's. Is this a large population? Sure! But now let's ask ourselves the questions. Are these people ALL interested in reading a series about people who go out in the RV world? Probably not! The reality is that they all do the same things on the trip. And frankly, how many different stories can you tell about people who go RV'ing? Not a lot.

There is also the group of authors who go out to the bookstore and realize "there are no books about their topic." They then go on to believe that "if there are not books out there now, people will want the book." OK, I might give that to you, but the bigger, and probably more accurate answer is, there are no books out there because people are not interested in the topic.

If you are someone who is upset with the publishers you have submitted to, and have sent you rejections, it is time to stop and think about a few things. First of all, these companies, who have millions of dollars in sales a year, ARE doing their market research. They know what people want and what people do not want. The people are not "misguided." but the odds are, you are. 

Even if your closest friends love your book, publishers are looking for a larger population. I don't care if it is a small press, or a large press, it requires having A LOT of people interested in buying your book. The50 of you in a quilting club is not a large group.

So please, take the time to do the market research. In fact, take the time BEFORE you start writing that book to do your research. It will save you a lot of wasted time on this book that won't sell, this book you will use as justification of why the publishing world sucks, and, more importantly, this book, when you put it out on self-publishing will not sell and you will have a negative net income on.