You are an aspiring author who wants to make a mark in this world and have decided on your genre. It can be fiction or non-fiction. You may assume it only poses concern and food for thought in book ideation or writing phases. Alas! It’s not the case. Truth be told, book marketing differs for fiction projects than for non-fiction ones.
Look at it this way: when you sell a non-fiction book to the readers, you mostly focus on the problem this book solves. It can be a history book empowering readers with life, political, and social lessons from human history. It can be a finance book promising the readers to solve their budgetary inefficiencies.
On the other hand, fiction books sell entertainment and inspiration. To sell these books, you must present the entertainment these readers are about to get. Let them read your words. You can share a few excerpts from your book. If nothing else works, you can share an enticing, dramatized summary of your story to encourage people to buy your story.
That was a quick answer to differences in marketing for fiction and non-fiction books. Do you want to know all the differences? Read on.
Problem-Oriented Versus Entertainment
First things first, fiction books are for entertainment. You can use your words and story as bait to invite them to buy. Non-fiction books are problem-based. They are written to solve a problem. If you want to sell these books, you must be clear about the problems these books will solve together with a brief introduction to the solution.
Both book genres give away some of the information given in the book for free to let the readers have a feel for the book. Still, the nature of information sharing differs from genre to genre.
Target Readers
You will not find much difference between people who go for fiction books and non-fiction lovers. Fiction readers rely on non-fiction books to get their answers. At the same time, non-fiction readers also take a break and lean on fiction readings sometimes. The difference doesn’t lie in the target demographics. Instead, it lies in the mood and circumstances of these people.
People buy non-fiction books when they need to solve their problems, they buy fiction books during their leisure time when they are free to entertain themselves. Instead of looking at who your readers are, you need to focus on what they do when they are in the mood to buy a particular genre. Look for entertainment-related clubs, communities, and platforms.
Define Marketing Channels
The marketing channels for reaching these people should relate to the mood of the potential reader. So, if you need to market your book to those readers who are seeking entertainment, you should market on entertaining social media platforms. A few recommendations will be Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. On the other hand, non-fiction books will be marketed on the platforms related to the topic.
You will find that parenting books and eBooks are more in demand on FaceBook and Instagram sites. You often also see the related content on YouTube. Lifestyle ideas are apparent mostly on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. However, personal finance appears mostly on professional platforms, such as LinkedIn.
Audience Definition
Again, this difference between the purpose of reading will impact the messaging language you will use to find your ideal readers. So, if you want to run paid ads to reach more readers, you need to use different terms for fiction readers than for non-fiction ones.
Fiction readers will be targeted based on genre. You will use the key phrases related to your genre. If you are writing a horror novel, your key phrases can be horror, novel, horror fiction, or similar depending on the storyline. The ad algorithm will show your ad to those users who have previously engaged in similar content, posts, or ads.
Marketing message comes naturally to non-fiction book marketers. They have to start with the problem their book will solve. Mostly, this problem relates to a specific socio-economic status, age, gender, and marital status. Once you have defined these demographics, use the keywords related to their search query.
What will your readers ask about their problem? After avoiding stop words such as prepositions, questions, and auxiliary verbs, you are left with the key phrases to use in the ad targeting.
Copywriting
Writing an ad or a copy for your book to describe it is a crucial factor in extending the reach of your book. Many writers prefer to do it themselves. Others delegate to more experienced copywriters. Apart from writing an ad for your book, you will also need to write a captivating and relevant book description to tell the readers about the contents of your book.
The process of writing this description differs heavily between both genres. You get to focus more on engaging and inviting the readers in the fiction book description. Be detailed but leave a lot of the storyline to imagination or further exploration. Bring the most interesting plot twist to their attention to keep them invested.
For non-fiction book descriptions, you don’t rely much on your expression and talent to engage using the right words and emotions. Instead, focus on answering their question. Most of these book descriptions start with defining the problem these readers are facing that this book will solve. Next, it defines how it will help them solve the problems.
The trick with non-fiction book marketing is to be direct and transparent. Make accurate promises and make them upfront.
Wrap Up
You may think that you need to focus on the same techniques for your fiction versus non-fiction books. However, this assumption is far from true. Non-fiction books differ in their approach and purpose from fiction books. That’s why, marketing techniques for both books are different.
