• By Earma Brown
• Published 11/20/2008
• Non-Fiction

Why would anyone buy your non-fiction book over another in your category? Will your book stand out in the crowd of books on your subject? Does it solve any problems in your field easily? Think about it, most readers are looking for non-fiction books to solve problems. For example, when I started speaking professionally I bought a couple of books about speaking. Looking in the bookstore, there were lots of books to choose from. I chose Lilyan Wilder’s book “7 Steps to Fearless Speaking.” I read the back cover. I noticed she could help with 7 easy steps. I scanned the table of contents, read a few lines and immediately liked her easy style. It went in my buy basket. Because I wanted to hear from several authorities on the subject, I picked up another book by Nido R. Qubein, “How to Be a Great Communicator: In Person on Paper, and on the Podium.” His cover design was white with clean lines and a personable picture of him on the front. His style of writing was not as easy to read but it still went in my buy basket as well. Which brings us back to my original point; people buy non-fiction books to solve problems. To identify your targeted market, pinpoint a problem they have and the solution of course. Problems come in all shapes and sizes. Usually a general category problem applies to all types of markets. 1. Special Interest. Is your golf game, card game, tennis game as good as you’d like? Are you considering taking up racket ball? Want to improve your computer skills? What ever the case may be, your need to improve or change your level of performance is considered the problem. 2. Physical Fitness. What’s the first thing you do when your doctor diagnose you are diabetic and you need to lose 20 pounds? You go look for a book that will walk you through step by step to lose weight or change your eating habits to control diabetes. You turn to an expert; someone that has solved the problem to learn from their experience.

3. Mental Condition. Are you feeling stressful about a recession? Are you noti

cing more unexplained physical symptoms probably related to stress? Once again, you have a problem and you most likely look for a solution in book form. You are happy to find someone has outlined easy steps to de-stress in our society. You gladly purchase the book outlining easy ways to bullet proof your business during a recession. 4. Personal Economics. Are you worried about the economic downturn? Perhaps, you have experienced corporate merges, lay-offs, downsizing, or retirement and lived through it? Books that present financial solutions to economic problems during shaky times are guaranteed to succeed. 5. Business Marketing. We live in a competitive society. Consultants, coaches, solopreneurs, professionals, small business owners and managers everywhere need a growing database of customers and clients. Consequently, there’s always a group of people actively looking for: how to books that offer solutions on improving their advertising copy, improving their business image or building an effective website in their field. Each of the problem types describes a problem and the readers need for a solution. The main goal of your book promotion plan is to identify the problem your book solves for your targeted reader and then present the solution. The more intense the problem and the easier you can make your solution, the more readers will seek out your book. Your job becomes to reorganize your knowledge into bite-size reader solutions. Appeal to your reader, by letting them know what’s in it for them and how easy the solution is explained in your book. For example, let’s consider the book title I mentioned earlier about speaking. The title could have been: “How to Conquer Your Fear of Speaking” instead of “7 Steps to Fearless Speaking” The latter is more appealing because it tells the potential reader there are only 7 steps to their solution.

Don’t hesitate any longer. If you wait, you can be this time next year without fulfilling your dream of writing a successful book. You have the solution. Now target your book reader and write it down. While you’re at it, use the tips above and write a book that sells way more than your competition. Make it different. Make it count. Make it yours.

Are you ready to get started writing your very own book? Go get my free 7 lesson mini-course Jumpstart Writing Your Book! You can get instant access to this ecourse and other Book Writing Coach tips at the http://www.writetowin.org web site From Earma Brown, 14 year author and book writing coach

by Earma Brown