Your Book is Not for Everyone

You’re writing a book to use as a tool to scale your business, not writing a mass-market novel. You’re writing to appeal to your unique and specific audience. Just as in business we cannot serve everyone — we need a niche — we also cannot write for everyone. Just as you need an ideal client for your business, you need an ideal reader for your book. The thinking is similar and parallel.

Just as you need an ideal client for your business, you need an ideal reader for your book. (Tweet)

I imagine you’ve done some sort of ideal client exercise in your business, asking questions like:

How old is this person?

What does this person do for a living?

How much does he or she earn?

Where does he or she live?

What are his or her hobbies?

Those kinds of questions help you hone in who your client is. I know a lot of businesses name that person, or people, if they have multiple customer avatars. One of mine is Amy. Amy is a friend of mine who’s a blogger. She tells me, until she met me she never in a million years thought that she would ever write a book and now she’s actually thinking about it. (LOVE that!) But sometimes when I talk to Amy, I use publishing words and terminology, and of course she doesn’t know publishing industry lingo. So Amy’s always saying, “Jodi, talk to Amy.” So Amy is my avatar for Jodi Brandon Editorial. (Hi, Amy, if you’re reading this!)

You have undoubtedly done an exercise like that, if not that exact exercise, so this process will be familiar to you. When you think about your ideal reader, think about those same types of questions, but additionally you need think about how a book fits into this person’s life. Ask questions like these:

Where do you picture someone reading your book (on a train, in the carpool line, in a waiting room between appointments)? Be as specific as you can.

What format does this person prefer to read (ebook on a tablet, audio book on the treadmill, paperback)?

You’re not writing for everyone, so you need to find out who you are writing for and that will help you write for them in the best way possible. It will help you get your message to them in the clearest way possible. This will help you with your marketing efforts, because you know who to market to when you finish writing your book, which is an area that deserves just as much attention as writing and publishing do.

"You're not writing for everyone" (Tweet)

If you haven’t already, get started on this important task today. Who is your “Amy”?