Who is my reader?

Deciding who your reader is essential for a number of reasons;

  • It helps you target the right publishers.
  • It assists with your marketing and book promotion.
  • It helps you to reach your ultimate goal.
  • It ensures you use the right terminology and language in your marketing, PR., speaking gigs etc.
  • It helps you get known as a thought leader in your area of expertise.

However, as I see with for so many clients, many people think they could write or work with everyone! If you can really understand who you are speaking to and what matters to them, you can get far more powerful results with your new book.

Don't be frightened to narrow the market for fear of missing out on sales. My first self published book is called "Your Daily Dose of Business Woman's Networking and Success" And one of my best reviews and posts was from Nick Looby an international speaker and Author who said "I may be a man but this book is awesome" He even shared a picture of himself on the tube reading it with the tagline "Hmm, not sure why I'm getting funny looks, but I don't care!"

I may own a business woman's network but it doesn't stop men attending or having coaching with me.

Knowing who your readers are helps you to really hone your message. You may be writing a book on how to be financially free. However what appeals to a millennials is not necessarily what will appeal to a 60+ year old whose pensions fall short for the life they were hoping to lead.

Choosing who your readers are doesn't mean that you only have one category. As I talk about in the marketing production line course, you can create more than one niche. And some niches' as with readers will overlap.

Let's use my target audience for the book "Fight the fear" as an example;

The original target audience was;

  • Business owners
  • People who work
  • People who wanted to run a business.

It was created with my publishers Pearson's. But then with the introduction of WH Smith's on the scene, we altered that to include people who feared things and people who felt like their were obstacles to their success.

With the launch of the book and the resulting PR opportunities in the mainstream press, the following reader markets were added;

  • Those struggling with negativity and feeling sad.
  • Students.
  • People at cross roads in their life.
  • People who don't know what to do with their life.
  • People suffering from anxiety and mental health issues.

Years ago when the book was about to be launched I predominantly created content (IE writing blogs, posting comments on social media, and aiming to get in the press talking about certain topics) around the areas of increasing sales, confidence and success without spending a sack of cash. Since those were the people that were predominantly coming to me for coaching or training at the time and thus were likely to be my natural audience for my book.

With the success of the book, I've adjusted what content I create in my marketing strategy to ensure I'm talking to these new audiences too. As a result, I've gained a lot of new audiences who are struggling with a lack of confidence. My marketing has connected with them on a deeper level and lead to them picking up the phone and so it's led to further new opportunities, new products and new courses and books.

So as you can see knowing your readers doesn't narrow the opportunities it hones them and enables you to sell more books.

So who do you want to read your book?

  1. What do you want them to do when they've read your book?
  2. How would you like to engage with your ideal readers?
  3. What would you like to be talking to them about?
  4. What do you want to ensure your readers get from reading your book?
  5. How are you influencing the people in your life/network/friendship groups?
  6. What subjects do you love to read and do you have a unique take on these?
  7. Do you feel that no one has written a book that really resonates with you on a subject that you have knowledge of?

Answering these questions will help in later lessons, so take the time to answer these questions.

What do I want my reader to get from reading my book?

  • Will they gain knowledge? What knowledge?
  • Will they gain understanding on something they didn't know existed in the world?
  • Will they learn new skills? What skills?
  • Will they gain something?
  • Will they be able to handle situations differently and more effectively?
  • Will they be inspired?
  • Will my readers be more successful, fitter, happier, financially secure, nomadic travellers, proficient writers, talented painters, new craftsman, powerful healers, brighter thinkers, tuneful singers, etc, etc, etc.

Getting in the head of your clients will enable you to answer this too;

  • What issues do your readers face?
  • How do they phrase their needs and wants?
  • What language do they use?
  • What matters to them?
  • What are their hobbies, passions, holiday destinations?
  • What kind of life do they lead?
  • What worries them?
  • What do they strive for in life?
  • What beliefs do they hold?

The more you can understand your reader's mindset, worries, joys, passions, goals and desires, the more powerful you can make your promotion and the more your book will resonate with your target audience and your publisher!

ACTION; Take the time to list the words that apply to your readers ie,

Stressed, overworked, failing, lacking in confidence, determined, passionate, sad, lost focused, lost accountability, need structure, etc, etc. 

(In the marketing production line course we look at this in detail and I call these your power words - you will have pain and pleasure words. Work out of the words you create which are painful and which are pleasurable.This is important to know because some audienceS are drawn by the excitement and the positive words into a purchase and others are drawn by the desire to get away from the negative and the words that make them feel like they are failing. So take the time to appreciate the power words for you too.)

You want to create a powerful statement that tells you clearly (and publishers) who this book is for and what it will give them. For instance.

"This book is aimed at those with a passion for nature to help them understand how embracing nature, protecting it and living in it will give them a healthier, happier more connected life."

or

"This book will enable readers who have faced difficult times and don't know how to go on to find solutions to remain resilient and create an action plan that obliterates the obstacles they face so they can move on with their lifes."

IMPORTANT WARNING;

At this stage you are not thinking from your view any more. You want to think from the viewpoint of the reader/publisher.

Understand what the reader gets from this. One of the reasons why I see readers fail to engage with what people write is because they write from their viewpoint. Forget yourself in this lesson and really question if you have written a statement that is from the view of the reader and how they will benefit from your book.

To do this look at all of the sections of this lesson;

  1. What power words exist?
  2. What core goals exist?
  3. What does the reader gain?
  4. What do you gain?
  5. What do you want them to do next?

And put that together to create your powerful sentence on who your readers are?

Complete and Continue