There’s no doubt that marketing and the quality of a book’s content go hand-in-hand where book sales are concerned. Yes, marketing can turn a bad book into a success and clearly a lack of marketing can mean a great book goes unnoticed. But at least in the case of the former, even a bad book eventually will suffer as customer reviews pile up against it.

And yes, one can write a book that fits what marketing research says will sell, boosting your sales, or you can ignore it, write the book you are passionate about, and see it languish. The former, however, often results in cookie cutter stories and hackwork.

There is a way to use marketing research to improve your writing and to increase your sales, however. In doing so you won’t sacrifice your principles either.

How?

Go to Amazon.com and to Goodreads then identify other books similar to yours. Don’t look at their covers or blurbs, because you’re not trying to be a copycat of what they do. What you want to determine is what their readers – who also are your readers – liked and disliked about those books.

Do that by reading the reviews. Identify what readers appreciated about your competition’s books. Such qualities (for a nonfiction book) probably are words like “written in conversational tone,” “well-organized,” and “lots of interesting anecdotes.” Make a list of those qualities, checking off the ones they are repeated.

Do the same for what the reviewers disliked about the books. Such criticisms might be, “very dry, dull writing style,” “poorly organized,” and “very impersonal tone.”

Now consider your book. Do you do those things that readers like? If not, start doing them in your book. Do you do those things that readers dislike? Then stop doing them in your next book!

When you write the blurb for your next book, emphasize that your book possesses those traits or content that you identified reviewers liking. Add that to your press releases and social media efforts.

What will be the result? Your book will gain a reputation as well-written and meeting the needs of your readers. That can only lead to more sales!