It is quite common to hear, “follow your heart” or “do what you love” when it comes to publishing. While this advice is certainly worth considering, it’s also important to consider the bottom line. Alas, authors and publishers need to make a living. As such, it’s important to focus on profitable niches. In this article, we are going to take a look at using sales data to determine your niches.
1. Focus on the bestsellers
Naturally, you want to focus on the niches that sell the generate most sales. Your sales data will reflect which titles and topics have generated the largest sales volume for your company. As a result, you can continue publishing content on these topics. Ultimately, you can whittle your releases down to a narrower range of topics.
2. Drop poor sellers
It’s a good idea to drop books that haven’t generated sales for you in a six-month period. Some publishers drop titles after two or three months of subpar sales. However, a six-month period is reasonable. After all, interest in topics fluctuates throughout the year. But if you find that a title is not selling anything after six months, you might want to drop it altogether. Later on, you might want to revive that title as part of another publishing brand.
3. Your identity builds over time
As your brand gains more and more traction, your topics and titles will become increasingly focused on the profitable niches. Therefore, your readers will come to identify you with specific titles. Ultimately, your brand should focus on a specific niche. In some cases, publishing brands may become highly specialized. Thus, readers who seek to learn about that specific niche will come to know your brand as the go-to source.
4. Build multiple brands
Once your brand has become synonymous with a specific niche, branching out into other niches may require you to build another brand. This is important to note as publishing books outside of your established niche may ultimately confuse your readers. Consequently, it’s a good idea to maintain your brand identity as much as possible. In the end, creating a new brand, while certainly laborious, will go a long way toward preserving your current identity and opening new opportunities for your company.
5. Stick with the winners
Your sales data will also reveal what books and niches are bringing in the greatest number of sales. Based on sales information, you can choose the books and topics you want to stick with. By focusing your attention on the winners, you’ll reduce your costs and maximize your earnings. However, do keep in mind that topics trend over time. So, it’s important for you to keep an eye on which topics are trending at any given time. That way, you can pounce on trending topics within your specific market niche. In the end, sales data is crucial in determining where you want to go with your publishing endeavors. Without it, you’ll essentially be basing your decisions on hunches. So, it’s always a good idea to use quantitative sales data to know where you’re making the most sales.
