As with any product, your book must have an ideal customer—in the book-world, these are your readers.
There’s no point in writing a book if no one wants to read it, is there? Even if you’re writing it to give away to friends and family, you still need to make sure people will be interested enough to reward you for your effort to write it by reading it! Of course, our focus is not on writing a book for only your nearest and dearest but for as wide a readership as is possible.
So, who are your readers? Why will they want to read your book?
If you are hoping to attract a publisher for your book, then establishing a market is going to be key. You do that by describing your readership and their motivation for wanting to read a book like yours. Can you clearly describe the problem they have and the unique solution your book will solve for them in greater detail? Or if your book is not solutions-based, why it will appeal to them in particular?
What you write in this section of the proposal could help you strengthen a weak idea or establish whether there’s any point in writing the book at all.
Your answers will help you to decide aspects such as the angle your book takes, your tone when writing it, what to include and leave out, the length of the book and the language you use.
Knowing your readership will also shape how you market the book, which we will cover in another post. A publisher will want to know all of these things but even if you’re not looking for a publisher, the information will help you write and self-publish more successfully.
Questions to ask yourself
See if you can answer the following questions to help you get clarity around who will read your book and why.
Who are your potential readers?
Is there a demand among these readers for your ideas – is there any supporting data you can cite?
How large is the market demand?
What do they feel, struggle with, desire, lack? (These are the problems your book is going to help them solve.)
Where do the readers live and work?
What kind of media do they consume?
What benefits will the book give them that they don’t yet have? (After reading your book they will be able to understand, find out, know … so that they can be, do, see, experience, … etc.)
Once you’ve written this down you will have a better picture of the book you are writing. You may even discover some new things to include you hadn’t considered before. Taking the time to do this will pay you back in dividends, so try to enjoy the process!
In our next post, we’ll look at the Competition for your book.