Know Your Customer
Nonfiction is all about delivering what the customer wants. That means solving a real problem, or multiple problems. It usually means step-by-step processes that users can implement immediately to find relief from what is bothering them, or paths to obtaining what they need.
Many nonfiction books are “How To” manuals. People purchase these types of books for personal improvement.
How to Get to Know Your Customer
I read it all the time. If you want to know what your customers want, just “ask them.” That seems pretty easy if you have an email list, a tribe, or a following. Most writers start from scratch. We don’t have any of those things, so we don’t have a built in group of people to ask about to discover what they need.
If you do have a following, and you do have an interactive platform, then start now by asking “what are your biggest frustrations?” Or “what is stopping you from taking the next step?” Open ended questions like these will certainly bring the concerns to the forefront. If you have connected with your audience, you can have a discussion on your blog or other web presence that will narrow down what your customers need.
If you don’t have a following yet, then how do you get to know your customer?
You have to discover where they hang out. You have to interact with them, and you have to begin to build a relationship one person or group at a time.
The most successful authors will have books in a series or clustered in specific niches, because once they have a reader that likes their material, they can make that reader a fan. A true fan will purchase the next book that the author comes out with. A true fan will buy everything that author has to offer about information in his niche or topic of interest.
Create a Customer Funnel
Make no mistake, the best way to develop that fan base is to write more books. If there are no more of your books to read, you will lose your fan base. People will go on to other authors and forget about you. You have to supply what they want–more of your books.
It is true, that as a nonfiction writer, you have to select topics of interest. In the following posts, I will discuss how to find the topics that will garner the most interest, and therefore give you the best chances of writing a successful nonfiction book. But, remember that the strategy is always to create a customer funnel that will readers to you and your books, and will move them from one book to the next. These funnels draw a few people at a time, and over time will create the fan base that you need to sell a lot of books. This isn’t ”
get rich quick” mentality. It isn’t even a quick sprint to riches, but a long term strategy that will produce an increasing stream of income over a period of time and concerted effort.
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