The journey of writing a book begins with thorough market research. This crucial step involves understanding the size and demand of your topic. You can search across various platforms such as Udemy, Google, Facebook, Coursera, and other published reports to understand book market size. Market research is the foundational stone for your book by providing insights into your potential readership. After assessing the book market share, it is important to identify your potential readers.

By researching genre popularity, competitor sales, and reader trends, you can set realistic expectations and tailor your approach. This also helps to write a captivating blurb that stands out allowing you to reach your target audience. 

Relevance of Determining Book Market Size

Determining the book market size or a topic is one of the major things that an author should do before commencing the writing. It also reveals the reader’s interest regarding the topic you have chosen for your book. Begin the research surrounding the book market size by asking the following questions.

• How big is that particular topic that you're planning to write? 

• How do you go about identifying the book market size or the topic? 

• How do you go about understanding different kinds of methods that can be used to understand the book market share? 

You can prepare a strategy beforehand so that the research part becomes easy and helps you achieve your publishing goals. 

Online Tools and Courses

Utilise Online Tools

Online tools like Semrush and Google Keyword Planners are prominent tools that offer you a proper insight into how big a topic is. Semrush and Google Keyword Planner can be gold mines for market research. You can use these tools to discover keywords related to your topic and see how often people search for them. High search volume indicates strong audience interest. 

Interestingly, Semrush can even reveal existing, successful books and courses on similar topics. With these insights, you can get clarity regarding the book market size, and potential competition, and predict the success rate for your book. 

How to Evaluate the Results of Online Tools

Begin your research by searching for a particular topic. For instance, search for Data Science on the Semrush Keyword Analyser tool. If that search per month is at least one lakh, then this means that it is a trending topic. However, if there is a topic that is more than 10,000 people monthly searching for it. Then, you can assume that the book can perform well but cannot be a massive hit as the search volume is less. 

Whereas, if the search results are only 1000 searches a month then this means that the topic is not searched by a lot of people. You can evaluate this data and can also take the help of competitor analysis, market analysis, PR monitoring etc to understand if the book will find it difficult to reach out to enough readers. 

Online Courses Available

Evaluating course popularity is another market research tactic for an author. Are there existing courses on your topic boasting high enrollment numbers? If the enrollment number is high, then this means that your book will address a bigger problem. Hence, substantial enrollment indicates a real need in the market.  

Thirdly, consider market reports. These reports contain detailed industry trends and can reveal the number of people currently working in or seeking to enter a profession similar to your book's topic. 

For example, if You have to choose between two topics namely, Statistics and Data Science. Then, you should begin your research by looking at the number of courses available for these online. To know this, you can check out online platforms like Udemy, Coursera, etc. 

Take a look at the number of courses offered for both topics. Also, know the number of students enrolled in each. This data provides valuable insight into potential audience size and book market value. The topic with the maximum number of courses or high enrollment will help you make an informed decision.

Social Media & Influencers

Market Research With Social Media 

Social media is a great tool to determine the book market size for a particular topic. You can look out for Facebook groups that have similar topics and sizes. These things give you a very good understanding of the market research. They offer a quick insight like there are successful books and courses on the same with high search volumes. By analyzing the available data, you can get an understanding of the particular problem that you are trying to solve with your book. 

Influencer’s Role

Influencers have been playing a pivotal role in determining the book market share. They cater to the masses and thus help to know about the book's potential. Here are some questions that should be a part of your research:

• Who is the largest influencer? 

• Who is the largest influencer in this particular space? 

• That influencer, what is their size?

• Do you have an influencer who's more than a million the biggest influencer in that topic? 

• Do they have more than a million followers? 

If the biggest influencer in that particular topic has more than a million followers, that means that topic is really big. If the biggest influencer is anywhere half a million, between 100,000 followers and 500,000 followers. That means that is a viable topic, but you might have questions that are viable but are not the largest market. 

If the number of followers for the largest influencers, is between 10,000 to 10,0000, in that case, you should consider based on your ability to reach out to these people, based on your ability to sell. Even smaller influencer followings, ranging from 10,000 to 100,000, could indicate a niche market or a B2B space. 

While the overall audience might be smaller, the value per customer can be high, making it a lucrative space to target. Do not be surprised if highly specialized topics, like writing a book, have top influencers with less than 100,000 followers. In these cases, the engaged community, though smaller, can still be incredibly valuable due to their specific interests. By understanding influencer audience size, you can gauge the potential reach and tailor your book's approach to resonate with the right people.

Marketing Channels 

One of the major factors to keep in mind when conducting non-fiction book research is the popular marketing channels. Some of the generalised marketing channels like Amazon or offline channels easily reach the target users. That process helps in getting the visibility that is required for your book. 

Some of the questions that you as an author have to ask are:

• Are these people available, let's say, do they meet somewhere? 

• Do they have influencers who can promote your book or who can share more about your book? 

• So what are these different topics in market research? 

• Is there a way to reach these people in a way where these people understand or are the target readers? 

Imagine selling a book where you do have an audience where you don't have any resharing viability. In that case, it will become difficult to find readers or to get access to them. 

Another insightful example could be, Let's say you are writing a book that astronauts might know to read and you have no access to these astronauts. There is no way for you to reach out to them or there is no marketing channel for you. Social media offers a tempting avenue to connect with potential supporters, but its reach is limited. Identifying the right leaders requires an understanding of both your book’s viability and the various marketing channels you can leverage. 

Use Your Own Experience

It is vital to understand the market for your book but don't let market research stifle your creativity. It is true that asking questions about the book market size for your topic the best channels to reach your audience, and the specific problem your book aims to solve are all crucial for assessing its potential. 

However, this research should not influence your passion for the topic you are willing to write. Your unique perspective and life experiences hold immense value as an author. Even if your book caters to a niche market, it can be a great success if it offers the desired solution to the problem faced by that audience.

Market Research helps you gauge reader interest and pricing strategy. You can utilize these insights to curate a book that makes a connection with the target audience instantly. Your passion and expertise as an author are what makes your book stand out. 

Hence, do not be discouraged by a smaller book market size. Instead, take it as an opportunity to connect with an audience who will truly appreciate your unique insights. 

Key Takeaways

• Determining the book market size is a crucial step before commencing the writing process as it helps to know about the reader’s interest

• Utilize online tools like Semrush to discover keywords related to your topic and analyze the search volume to understand the potential audience size. 

• Evaluate the popularity of existing courses on your topic to determine the enrollment numbers, which indicate the real need in the market