What Are Niche and Micro-Niche Publishing?

The Business of Self-Publishing

Updated February 2, 2023 Subtitle Writing for a tightly defined segment of a larger market can be profitable Synopsis Niche marketing and micro-niche marketing are essential and powerful ingredients in the success of your book and your self-publishing business. Here’s an introduction to some of the terms and elements needed to develop and grow your specific niche and make your book and self-publishing business a financial and critical success. What You Will Learn 1. You will learn what “niche” means and how it relates to self-publishing. 2. You will learn how to become an expert in a particular niche. 3. You will learn why you become a more successful self-publisher by devoting yourself to your micro-niche. Introduction Niche marketing and micro-niche marketing (sounds like nitche, not neech) are essential and powerful ingredients in the success of your book and your self-publishing business. With niche and micro-niche marketing, you’ll be primarily concerned with who your tightly defined audience is, what specific problems they need help with, and where to find them. Here’s an introduction to some of the terms and ingredients needed to develop and grow your specific niche and make your book and self-publishing business a financial and critical success: 1. Niche Publishing Defined Niche publishing means publishing to a specific, tightly defined, focused audience. If, for example, you’ve been living in New York City’s Manhattan for many years and have become an expert in ‘roof-top gardening in the city,’ this would be your niche. Your niche would not be ‘gardening in North America.’ It also wouldn’t be ‘gardening in the Northeast.’ 2. Micro-Niche for Super-Expert Status Suppose you do not want to write about gardening in any other city and want to be considered the foremost expert only on New York City roof-top gardening. In that case, you could further refine your niche to be ‘roof-top gardening only in New York City.’ This tiny specific niche would be a ‘micro-niche.’ By focusing on your micro-niche of New York City roof-top gardening, you do not waste your time, effort, and money chasing after audiences in other cities. You would devote all your efforts to building your brand as a passionate expert in this narrowly defined micro-niche. 3. Become an Expert To promote your books and give yourself credibility with your readers, you could write articles, a blog, a website, etc., devoted to ‘roof-top gardening in New York City’ – which is where you live and maintain your roof-top garden. You might expand on this niche to cover all gardening within New York City. You could then become known as on expert on this specific subject. Therefore, your readers and potential customers would trust you have extensive knowledge about this subject or niche and happily buy the roof-top gardening books you write. 4. Publishing With a Mission After successfully publishing your book in your niche, you might grow your self-publishing business into a niche publishing company. To do this, you might find other authors to publish that are experts in city gardening in other big cities in the U.S. Your company would become known as the publisher specializing in helping city-dwellers build and maintain a successful garden. This plan would become your company’s mission. 5. The Best Way to Grow Your Self-Publishing Business This expertise, or tightly defined niche, will drive readers to purchase books from your company. Your company’s niche, brand, reputation, and authority on this subject will allow your company to grow. Your knowledge and reputation will help you command a premium price for your publications. 6. Know Your Intended Audience Understanding your audience is an essential part of your success. So, you’ve been roof-top gardening in New York City for many years. You read every book and article on this subject. Friends and neighbors already look to you for advice on this ...