{"id":"12690","date":"2023-02-23T07:09:08","date_gmt":"2023-02-23T15:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/?p=12690"},"modified":"2023-02-24T06:24:41","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T14:24:41","slug":"pickfu-anna-david-author","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/pickfu-anna-david-author\/","title":{"rendered":"Mistakes authors make: Dos and don\u2019ts from New York Times bestselling author Anna David"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Anna David freely admits she’s made plenty of mistakes along the way to becoming a New York Times bestselling author, popular podcaster, and publisher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Party Girl<\/em>, her first “almost entirely true” novel (now a movie in the making), chronicles her juiciest personal trials and tribulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her biggest mistake as an author? Not knowing the audience she was writing for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I did that for six of my books,” David said by phone from her Los Angeles home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As she wrote in Entrepreneur<\/em> magazine about one of those books: “Take it from someone who created an anthology about reality TV shows, failing to understand that reality TV fans want to watch reality TV and not read books about it, and non-reality TV fans do not want to read a book about reality TV.”<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Mistakes<\/a>
Author Anna David runs Legacy Launch Pad Publishing.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

David\u2019s passion these days as founder of Legacy Launch Pad Publishing<\/a> is writing books for business leaders that turn them into authorities in their field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knowing your target audience<\/a> is a topic she comes back to time and again: with her clients, in her forthcoming book, On Good Authority: 7 Steps to Prepare, Promote and Profit From a How-To Book That Makes You the Go-To Expert<\/a><\/em>, and in her podcast, also called “On Good Authority” \u2014 which she renamed after asking her audience for their opinions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all learn from our mistakes. David would especially like new authors to learn from hers.<\/p>\n\n\n

\u2705 Do: Find out what your audience wants before<\/em> you start writing<\/h2>\n\n\n

Exhibit A in not identifying your audience\u2019s needs<\/a> first: David\u2019s reality-TV book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a common mistake many first-time authors make. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They dont find out if anybody actually wants to read a book on that topic,” David said. (Publishers don\u2019t appear to do this, either. “Everything in publishing is random,” the CEO of Penguin Random House testified<\/a> in federal court in the publishing giant\u2019s August 2022 antitrust trial.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But you don’t have to leave things to chance or a publisher\u2019s whim. Get online and search what’s selling (and not) on Amazon. Use market research techniques<\/a> such as social media listening or surveys. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Confirm there’s an audience for your book before you do anything else, and you’ll have the confidence \u2014 and the data \u2014 when it\u2019s time to write, publish, and market the thing.<\/p>\n\n\n

\u274c Don\u2019t: Listen to your friends, family, or social media followers<\/h2>\n\n\n

Love (or like) them, of course. They\u2019re your biggest fans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when validating an idea<\/a> for your book or cover design, remember that those closest to you aren\u2019t your target readers or buyers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019re prone to acquiescence bias<\/a>. Even if they don\u2019t like your idea or your writing, they\u2019ll probably tell you they do.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

And then there\u2019s the social media herd effect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have tons of clients who will ask their friends, \u2018Do you like this title or cover?<\/a>\u2019 and their friends are not experts in book publishing and they\u2019re not their readers,\u201d David said. \u201cSo then they put it on social media, and I always see that after someone comes out strong and picks one, everybody follows. It becomes an echo chamber.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get outside of your circle to get unbiased feedback you can actually use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find out what readers think of your book cover or title. Start today<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n

\u2705 Do: Pay attention to negative comments <\/h2>\n\n\n

Haters gonna hate, but there is value in brutally honest feedback from your audience of potential customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David recalls the PickFu poll she ran to test new names for her podcast about book publishing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe minute I put it up, I got some really mean comments and I thought, \u2018Okay, this is good. This is real,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Screenshot<\/a>
Anna David tested names for her podcast with an audience of high-income earners.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

David already knew that some listeners didn\u2019t like the previous names of her podcast (she\u2019s changed it more than once). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading the commentary, good and bad, on these new names let her know that she still had work to do to find the best one.<\/p>\n\n\n

\u274c<\/strong> Don\u2019t: Develop \u201cexpert blindness\u201d <\/h2>\n\n\n

You may be the expert on the topic you\u2019re writing about, and that\u2019s awesome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this can lead to what\u2019s called expert blindness<\/a>, which makes it hard for you to consider how your non-expert readers feel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, what you think is interesting or relevant may be utterly dull to your readers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We all have expert blindess, and we all have learned and then forgotten what we thought when we first learned those things,” said David.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reader feedback, especially qualitative open-ended feedback<\/a>, keeps you connected to your audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There\u2019s nothing more valuable than getting in your customer\u2019s head,” said David. <\/p>\n\n\n

\u2705 Do: Get audience feedback at every step<\/h2>\n\n\n

You know what they say: test early and often.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"cover<\/a>
The cover design of Anna David’s new book, On Good Authority.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

David tested potential titles and subtitles for her newest book on PickFu a few months before publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, she said, “There are so many stages at which you need to get this sort of feedback. And not just for your cover or your title. Think about your lead magnet. It seems like the possibilities are endless.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s really no bad time to find out what your audience thinks about your book idea, cover design, title, or blurb\u2026once you find out who your audience is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take it from someone who knows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":""},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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