213 Why Demographics are Mostly Useless And Why You Should Use Psychographics Instead

Summary: Author Media presents Novel Marketing, the longest-running book marketing podcast in the world. This is the show for writers who want to build their platform, sell more books, and change the world with writing worth talking about. I’m your host, Thomas Umstattd Jr., and today we are going to talk about demographics & psychographics and how most authors use these poorly and how they can give you an edge. Trigger warning! I will be acknowledging the existence of politics in this episode. I don’t plan to make any political statements or taking any sides but I will be addressing the topic. Where Authors Use Demographics * Book Proposals* Reader Personas* Website Visitor Personas* Facebook Targeting What are demographics? * Age* Race* Sex* Income* Location Why are demographics useless? * To be fair, demographics used to work back when there were only three TV channels.* The problem is, demographics assume everyone is the same.* Imagine a 31 year old white middle class woman in 1959. If you know her demographics you know a lot about her. You can be statistically confident that she is married, she’s a mom, she has approximately two children, and she goes to church on Sundays with her husband. * Now imagine a 31 year old white middle class white woman in 2019. Same demographic information and yet we know far less about her. She could be an executive at a tech firm, a full time student, or a stay at home mom. We have no idea if she goes to church on Sunday and no idea if she is divorced, single or married. We have no idea if she has children.* Most books don’t have a narrow demographic appeal. When they do, it is not unique to the book but rather than to the genre.* So while white middle class boomer women may be the biggest consumers of romance novels, how is that useful for making decisions with your romance novel. * Demographics also don’t capture the number one thing defining people these days: politics. * Most American fall into one of three camps: * Left* Right* “Please don’t talk to me about politics.”* America is fragmenting, people are moving away from those unlike them, not just on social media but in real life. There is a slow migration of left leaning Americans away from Middle America and into states like California, New York, and Virginia and a slow moving migration of right leaning people out of those states and into Middle America. * I hear the same thing is happening in the UK over Brexit. Leavers are unfriending Remainers on Facebook and vice versa. * For many authors as many as 80% of thier readers fall into thier same bucket politically. * With some exceptions, demographics don’t tell you much about the political leanings of the audience you are targeting. And yet knowing that information has a big impact on your book. The left and right are starting to use different language even. What are psychographics? A psychographic is the: * Attitude (I always buy the cheapest option. I’m willing to spend extra for quality.)* Desires (I want to be seen as a virtuous member of the community. vs I’m going to live my life and I don’t care what other people think. )* Fears (I’m afraid of guns. vs I’m afraid of being an unarmed victim with no way to defend myself.)* Personality (Spending time with people charges me up! Vs. Spending time in groups drains me.)* Pains (It hurts to see everything changing so much around me. I feel like I don’t recognize my country anymore Vs. It pains me how backward everything is. We could be living in the future right now! )* Values (I value autonomy.

213 Why Demographics are Mostly Useless And Why You Should Use Psychographics Instead

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