So, do you think every Christian needs to read your book? If you do, let us stop for a moment and get real. If you think your book is going to end up in WalMart, on Oprah, and on the NY Times Bestseller List...really, I hate to rain on your parade, but you really are setting yourself up for a lot of disappointment. It will help from the start to have realistic expectations and recognize clearly who your real market is. You must ask your self these defining questions...who, what and where? Then you must prove the why.

If you cannot narrow down your who into a specific people group, the narrower the better, the more difficult you will find marketing and promoting your book.

WHO?

If your who is all Christian, all women, all men, or all teens, then we've got a problem. Your goal should be to target your message to a more specific people group, like:

New moms

Single moms

People in sales

Military wives

Cancer survivors

Homeschoolers

Christian writers

Teachers

The grieving

Bereavement counselors

Child abuse survivors

Teens struggling with addictions

Women struggling with eating disorders

Christian counselors

Runners or hikers

Pastors or church leaders

Wives of veterans

Parents of terminally ill children

Caregivers

Senior citizens

Stay at home moms

Dog lovers

Cat lovers

And so on

The more clearly you can define your market, the easier it will be to find ways to advertise and promote to them.

If you are a fiction writer, make sure you include an issue in your story. Do not just have your main character become a Christian, but create someone struggling with abortion, infertility, domestic violence, infidelity, prodigal children, AIDS, homosexuality, etc. This will help you niche market your fiction title much easier since there are many support groups in the church and secular world reaching out to those dealing with issues, giving you a greater potential reading audience, again, because it is targeted.

WHAT?

Once you've determined the who and hopefully narrowed down your market to a niche group of potential readers, it is time to take a look at the what:

What magazines or newsletters or newspapers or catalogs might they read?

What radio stations do they listen to?

What TV shows do they watch?

What websites do they visit?

What keywords are they typing into an internet search engine?

What blogs do they read?

These days you see magazines, catalogs, websites and newsletters targeted for specific people groups. Many support groups have newsletters to keep in touch with their membership and typically the cost to advertise is low. Also, the chances of getting your book reviewed are much better in this type of publication than in a huge, well known publication...especially if your book offers great benefit to their readers.

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