Author Archetypes and Marketing Strategies
Table of Contents
Your author Archetype is Reclusive
The most important thing for Recluses is the creative process itself: you can’t stop writing. The only condition is that the results of your creativity must be in demand.
At the same time, the Recluses do not want to flaunt themselves and do not want to communicate directly with readers. While ratings, reviews, and sales are important to them, they prefer to keep their distance when interacting with strangers.
Beginner authors of this archetype dream of “just writing” and having their books “sell themselves.”
Professionals understand that this is unrealistic and use effective marketing strategies that suit their archetype.
Key conditions for your success are the availability of a book series and the regular appearance of new products.
Motivation
The main motivation of Recluse authors is being in demand among readers.
Often, in an attempt to find their audience, the Recluses try writing in different genres and experiment with plots and characters.
If they fail to find a suitable niche, they suffer greatly and even take long breaks from the creative process.
But as soon as they find their readers, their productivity increases dramatically: many even begin to write several books a year.
Optimal Creative Strategy
The ideal creative strategy for Recluses is to write a series of books that are either united by one theme, genre, group of characters, worlds, or author’s brand.
A series is much easier to promote than a stand-alone book. After reading one book, people want to continue and buy all the books in the series. They become fans of the author-Recluse and wait for his new products.
The Reclusive author can write both fiction and nonfiction.
Note: If you are a nonfiction author, I suggest you also familiarize yourself with the Expert author archetype.
Stephen King is an example of the Recluse. All his works are united by the theme of human fears, he rarely appears in public, and writes precisely because his work finds a warm response from readers.
Your Income
The Recluses earn their income solely from the sale of books, so they need to build an online business—there is simply no other way to succeed.
Even if the Recluse can find a traditional publishing house, in most cases, this does not guarantee him a steady income.
But if the Recluse understands book marketing, analytics, and advertising, he can become a professional author living on book income. He will write a lot, and will gradually amass fans, and furthermore, an impressive list of books that will bring him income.
If everything is left to chance, the likelihood of success is small. At best, the Recluse will sign a one-time publishing contract, receive a tiny fee and a couple of reviews, and this will be the end of his success story.
With no feedback from readers, the Recluse will be left without inspiration. It will seem to him that, in principle, no one needs his work, and if this is the case, what is the point of writing?
Marketing Strategy
The most important thing for the Recluse is to clearly define the type of people for whom he writes. After all, this is the only way to find your readers.
Potential fans of the Recluse are fans of a particular theme or genre/subgenre; for example, fans of horror films or lovers of books about Vikings.
Readers clearly know what they love and want to find a book that is roughly similar to the one they just read—not in terms of plot, but in terms of emotion and iconic patterns.
Examples:
Maria wants to read again and again about the love between a strong and courageous military man and a fragile “stay-at-home” woman. Maria is not interested in the originality of the plot, she gets high from the fact that she is immersed in a certain emotional state.
Max, on the other hand, is fascinated by books about space aliens, but on the condition that they have original ideas.
The first step of the Recluse is to find a subgenre or theme that has the following benefits:
- Getting pleasure from working on such books
- Having enough readers on the market willing to pay for this type of book
You can find your genre or topic with the help of market research. In the future, I will tell you more about how to do this.
The next step is to study reader preferences. The author needs to understand what exactly fans of the genre he has chosen like or dislike. This is done through the study of reader reviews of books in the chosen genre.
If the author writes for an existing request, he guarantees himself good sales, but on one condition…
Genre literature is a highly competitive market, so books must not only meet reader expectations, but also have a great presentation.
The cover and abstract should help readers understand that this is exactly what they are looking for. The quality of text and layout should be precisely what fans of this genre are used to.
The assurance of the Recluse’s success is the knowledge that he offers people what they are already looking for and for which they are willing to pay.
How Does the Reader Find Your Book?
Readers find new books in the following ways:
- Clicking on advertisements on the Internet (social networks, contextual advertising, recommendations from bookstores)
- Searching in the catalog of bookselling sites
- Locating discounts and promotions on sites that specialize in discount books (for example, BookBub.com)
- Finding mentions in the press, social networks, or podcasts
- Locating joint projects with other authors working in this genre or on this same topic. (For example, an author makes a collection in common with colleagues or puts up a set of books for sale from different authors)
- Through direct recommendation of bloggers or public figures
- Through direct recommendation of friends or relatives
- Through a random bookstore purchase (the book just caught my eye)
Consider the most effective ways to attract readers that are available to novice authors:
Advertising
Advertising is the most effective way to reach readers. You can advertise on self-publishing sites, social networks, search engines, using contextual advertising, etc.
A professional Recluse author must master the setup of online advertising campaigns and learn how to analyze their effectiveness.
Collaboration With Other Authors
Collaboration with other authors is an exchange of readership. Authors in your genre are not competitors because readers read books much faster than authors write.
Collaboration essentially means that you recommend your colleague’s book to your audience, and he recommends your work to his readers. However, for this plan to work, you need your own fan base.
Bookstores
You need to decide on which platforms you will place your book. There are two options:
- Exclusive sales on one site which has an increased percentage of deductions
- Placement of the book on multiple sites which has a greater reach of readers
If you are a beginner, it is better to start with one platform. And when you succeed on it and learn how to attract readers, you can try other sites.
The Reader's Path to Purchase
The reader learns about your book and finds it either in a bookstore or online. Now he has to make a buying decision.
- The first stage: the reader looks at the cover. If he is interested, he opens the book.
- The second stage: the person studies the abstract and decides whether to start reading or not (some people skip this step).
- Third stage: The person reads a free excerpt of the electronic version or the first page of a paper book and makes the final decision about the purchase.
If you have passed all three stages, then you will have a buyer.
Reader's Next Steps
It is important that, after reading the book, the reader wants to buy your other works. To do this, at the end of the book, you must indicate what else you have written (if you already have other books).
It is also desirable that the reader leave a review. For him to do this, you need to leave a call to action at the end of the book:
- Explain to the reader how important reviews are to you and how they help you keep writing.
- Give a specific link where the reader can leave a review.
Make the process as simple as possible and don’t forget to thank him or her for the feedback.
Newsletter
In order for you to offer readers your next book, you need to stay in touch with them. The most reliable way is for them to subscribe to your newsletter.
Offer readers something of value as a thank you for subscribing. These can be illustrations, an alternate ending, a prequel, a biography of the characters, etc.
To do this, at the end of the book, indicate the address of your site and explain exactly what needs to be done: subscribe to the newsletter and receive a letter with a gift.
Subsequently, you can send notifications to your subscribers about the release of new books or additional materials. It is not necessary to constantly send something: it is enough to remind them about yourself once a month.
Social Media
Recluses find it hard to run social networks. They would just rather write another book.
Don’t ignore social media; it’s a good tool to promote your books. In order to use it for business, it is not at all necessary to endlessly post content.
It is enough to do the following:
Account Registration
First, you need to register your accounts in all major social media: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Focus on where there are accounts of well-known authors in your genre with a large number of subscribers.
You need to specify:
- What genre you write in
- What book you have available for purchase
- Where and how the reader can buy your books
- Basic information about yourself
- A link to your website with an invitation to subscribe to the newsletter
- A short description of what book you are working on right now
- Information about the latest release (if any)
Advertising in Social Media
Secondly, social networks should be used to advertise your books. To do this, you create advertising posts for each book and put them in promotion.
Participation in Broadcasts
Thirdly, social networks can be used for joint broadcasts with bloggers working in your genre (if that appeals to you, and if you feel comfortable speaking in public).
Note: You can read about how to be active on social networks in the descriptions of the authors-Entertainers and authors-Bloggers.
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