In the 2015 book Blue Ocean Strategy, authors W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne present their thoughts on two distinct markets. They describe a fiercely competitive market, likened to a bloody red ocean due to intense rivalry, and a vast blue ocean where competition is minimal or non-existent as it involves creating a new market.
As an author, you can choose what ocean you wish to sail in.
Red or blue
Last week, I discussed how the market messages you that the easier, softer, and more profitable way is to get on large platforms that offer an aggregated market—the red ocean.
I also brought up the idea of you building your digital homestead. What if that homestead was out in the blue ocean?
When I first read this book ten years ago, I was working in industrial water treatment. It was difficult for me to think in a blue ocean way because of my experience growing up in the industry. It requires you to understand your strengths and then seek out how you can apply them in markets that don’t have a solution.
Over time, I have gotten to where I can break markets down and put the pieces together to figure out new ways to approach a problem. More often than not, it’s simple: Understand what someone is willing to pay for, then do what they ask. We tend to complicate things. Identify an unmet need, then meet it.
What was called the gold rush days were just that: authors tapping into unmet reader needs, increasing the volume of content, and filling out genres that were being underserved.
I believe that there is still a lot of blue ocean. The problem is that few wish to go into these uncharted waters.
Are you prepared to be out on your own?
The idea behind digital homesteading is that you create as much on your land as possible, working from your domain out.
Let me share a quick story…
When Suze and I got together, we bought a 100-year-old house, remodeled it, and added an addition. The architect we hired gave us a book called The Not So Big House. The premise was that we spend most of our time in only a few rooms in our home. Rather than build a McMansion where you don’t use 75% of the space, invest your money in higher quality rooms you use the most. Quality, not quantity.
Apply this concept to your digital homestead.
When you invite readers to your domain, bring them to a cozy, high-quality place.
The problem is most homesteads aren’t interesting, so visitors leave. Is yours an inviting garden or an abandoned shack?
Most “platforms” are just a domain, an ‘About the Author’ page, a list of books, and an email capture form. Sure, there is a current trend to turn a website into a store, but is it just another templated catalog of books you want to sell?
So, let’s say you’re the courageous type willing to go out on the blue ocean. The simple question you need to answer is what experience can you deliver that an audience seeks.
Then, make your homestead all about that experience.
Why do you stop at every corner bookstore? In the days of yore when Barnes and Noble was everyone’s favorite third space, did you spend time browsing and hanging out?
It was the feeling, the experience of discovering something new. Why not try to recreate that experience?
If you understand this experience, you’re on your way to success.
Most authors don’t.
It’s easy to be trapped in the paradigm of “Just show me what to do, and I’ll do it.” This leads to mimicry rather than an original experience.
The unique aspect of my teaching is that the framework can be effective for every author without diluting its efficacy. However, it only works when you can envision the marketing experience as if it were the world-building in your stories.
Your Homestead as an Island Paradise in the Blue Ocean.
Your readers want out of the red ocean as well.
They hate the way they are treated as much as you do.
There are those who are already out on the blue ocean seeking a haven. What if you built a tropical paradise for them to explore? That cozy little story house to hang out in and figure out if they want to spend some more time and money with you.
This is what I believe is the unmet need. Readers don’t seek just another book. They seek to be part of something more—an experience. How can you blur the lines of fantasy and reality and make your marketing seamless from your story? How can you make your digital homestead a place that makes a reader feel like they belong to something important and that sees them as important?