Sell More Books Through Segmentation

Extra: How do you find out, then, how people are using your book?
Jud: ... A variety of different ways: Go to trade shows, [use] social media, join [online] discussion groups, ... read blogs ... . Go to these places and find out what [people] are doing. Go to association meetings and find out how associations buy [books]. Go to colleges … . You do a personal presentation at a college, and then the bookstore takes on your books. Then you contact the college librarian. … Or a person from the alumni association will come up to you after your presentation and ask if you can write an article for their newsletter, or something like that. Just the more you do, the more it compounds ... .

Extra: What are some tips for searching the Internet to locate new prospects?
Jud: Say you want to sell your book to associations. Go to [a site such as] Weddles.com that lists associations. ... The key is [that] you have to work the site; you really have to look into it. ... When I'm calling an association, I have their Web site up on my [computer] screen so I can ... see their mission statement. They'll say, "Well, how can this book help me?" And I can respond, "Well, this content applies to your mission statement, because ... ."

Once you have this list of suspects, call them; then you have to qualify and prioritize them.

Extra: How can publishers define their target buyers in ways that lead to more sales?
Jud: One is [to define] the centers of influence ... [For example, if you have a children's boo,] you contact someone like Kindercare Learning Centers that can buy for large numbers of people. The other is to define the consumers. You can't say, "Everybody." Find out the people that would most likely buy your book. You want to get a general age bracket, a general income bracket. ... If you're selling a travel book, then people with a higher income would be taking cruises. So you might contact the cruise ship line … to get a feel for them.