Summary: <br> How do readers decide to buy books?<br> <br> <br> <br> How can you influence them to choose yours?<br> <br> <br> <br> You may not realize it, but your communication with your reader begins long before they ever read your book’s stunning first line.<br> <br> <br> <br> Marketing is the method by which you can influence a potential reader to take the next step toward purchasing your book.<br> <br> <br> <br> If you understand marketing fundamentals, you will understand why certain tactics work, or why they may not work for you. Your marketing will be far more effective, and your readers will thank you for making their decisions easy.<br> <br> <br> <br> Now, some authors think the fundamentals of marketing don’t apply to their book or their situation. But the longer I work with authors, the more I observe how important these fundamentals are.<br> <br> <br> <br> As we examine the book-buyer’s journey, we will use the term “customer” because you, the author, haven’t yet earned them as a reader. If we influence the customer in the right ways, they’ll finally become a reader at the end of the journey.<br> <br> <br> <br> In this article, we’ll only examine the in-person customer journey that takes place in a physical bookstore, but the steps for the online journey are similar. <br> <br> <br> <br> 1. The customer decides to visit the bookstore.<br> <br> <br> <br> The harsh author reality is half of Americans never visit brick-and-mortar bookstores. From the start, authors must realize we’re only talking to the kind of people who read books.<br> <br> <br> <br> But the folks who do read, visit two types of bookstores.<br> <br> <br> <br> Destination Bookstores. Barnes and Noble is a destination store because people drive there specifically to buy a book.<br> <br> <br> <br> Interruption Bookstores. These are bookstores at the airport, grocery store, or the spinner rack near the register at the pharmacy. These are book sales locations that “interrupt” normal activities.<br> <br> <br> <br> Knowing the distinctives of these bookstore types gives us important clues about the customer, because different bookstores attract different readers.<br> <br> <br> <br> Three Types of Destination Bookstores and their Readers<br> <br> <br> <br> Big Box Bookstores<br> <br> <br> <br> Customers who shop big box bookstores are general readers. One customer might shop for their next great read not knowing exactly what it might be. Another customer may be on a mission to buy a specific book. A third type of customer might stop in for a five-dollar cup of coffee and browse the shelves as they sip.<br> <br> <br> <br> Amazon Bookstore.<br> <br> <br> <br> That’s right, <a href="https://www.authormedia.com/141/">Amazon’s brick-and-mortar bookstores utilize a fascinating approach to provide customers exactly what they want</a>.. <br> <br> <br> <br> Used Book Bookstores<br> <br> <br> <br> These stores attract budget readers. Customers are conscious of the cost of books because they tend to buy so many. <br> <br> <br> <br> Three Types of Interruption Bookstores<br> <br> <br> <br> Airport Bookstores<br> <br> <br> <br> Airport bookstores appeal mostly to wealthy readers.<br> <br> <br> <br> There’s a high correlation between a person’s wealth and how frequently they fly. People who earn a six-figure household income travel a lot and they fly a lot. They’re constantly in airports for work and for pleasure.<br> <br> <br> <br> If you’re writing a business book, an airport bookstore is key. Business leaders travel and generally have influence. If a traveling CEO buys your book in an airport bookstore and likes it, she’s likely to make it required reading for all her managers.
