“The queen of beach reads” (New York Magazine) delivers an immensely satisfying page-turner in this tale about a summer of scandal at a storied Nantucket hotel.
Pop Quiz, Part 1: What’s the current #3 top seller in “Literature & Fiction” on Amazon?
If you read fiction, you might be able to guess that it’s by Elin Hilderbrand, and it’s her latest release, The Hotel Nantucket. It was published about two weeks ago and already has 4,100 ratings, averaging 4.5 out of 5 stars. Hilderbrand, the author of close to twenty novels, is one of the top-selling authors of our time. Her first novel was published in 2000. Most of her novels are romance and are set on Nantucket Island, where she lives. The New York Post once called her “the queen regent of the easy-breezy summer read.”
Pop Quiz, Part 2: What’s the current #3 top seller in “Children’s Ancient Civilization Fiction”?
Not sure? It’s a book titled Addison Cooke and the Treasure of the Incas, by Jonathan W. Stokes. It was published in October 2016—almost six years ago. As of this writing, it has 639 ratings, with a 4.7-star average score. It’s the first in a series, and the second and third titles in the series hold the #75 and #70 slots, respectively, in the same category.
I bring this up to illustrate a point: Now on his seventh book (three in the Addison Cooke series and four others), Mr. Stokes is creating a market niche for himself.
There was no Amazon data in 2000, but I’d guess that Ms. Hilderbrand began the same way. She wrote a romance novel set on Nantucket—and then another and another and another. Over time, she created a market niche that readers now associate with her name. That led to her becoming not only a bestseller in her market niche, but an overall bestseller.
None of this is to suggest that if you’re considering writing a book or having one ghostwritten, you should “write to the marketplace.” Quite the contrary: Your book will be more authentic, engrossing, and informative if you write about what truly inspires you and what you passionately want to share with readers.
That being said, there’s power in the market niche. By becoming a top seller in a niche category, you can bring attention to your books. As a niche bestseller, you demonstrate that you have expertise in a particular subject. Readers interested in that subject will look for further books by you, because you’ve established yourself as an influencer in your niche.
This works for nonfiction, too. For example, a nonfiction title by a debut author about starting and growing a home-based business is unlikely to launch to the top of the list in the “Entrepreneurship” category. However, if it’s well written, instructive, and skillfully promoted, the same title could much more easily become a bestseller in the “Home-Based Business Sales & Selling” category.
Does the idea intrigue you? Do you have a niche idea that you want to share with the world? If so, and if you’d like assistance writing your book, please contact us. We’d love to discuss your project and help you launch your niche book into the marketplace!
