Defining Readers for Your Book

Stuck on how to define the audience for your book? Help has arrived!

By now, you all know that when I say I am taking a few days off from Substack, I do the complete opposite. This is the first of a three-part series for paid subscribers, covering defining your audience, engaging your audience, and retaining your audience. Some of the information I’m sharing was included in classes I offered in March, and some is new.

First, some business:

I'm teaching an author branding class on July 11 at 1 pm EST. You can find out more by reading the newsletter about it here. I wanted to expand on what’s included: the class is live on Zoom, and registrants will have lifetime access to the recording. This class is also for ALL authors: fiction, nonfiction, published and unpublished. It is also for publishing people who want to upskill in branding. Not bad for $150! You can register here.

And now:

Identifying Your Perfect Reader:

Let’s begin with myths about defining readers:

• Myth: Readers prefer one genre of books and stick to it.

• Myth: Readers prefer books in one format (hardcover, paperback, etc.).

• Myth: Readers find out about books from reviews.

• Myth: You can’t convert non-readers.

And some truths:

• One genre does not fit all. Your book is not for everyone, so you must think deeply about who it is for. You can’t tell an agent, editor, or publisher that you “want everyone” to read your book. They want to know about specific audiences.

• Reviews do not sell many books. Caveat: If there is a cluster of great reviews in a condensed period—a week—a book can see a pop in sales. This is the exception, not the norm.

• Non-readers can be converted if you know how to reach them. I will cover this in the next installment in this series.

• People switch formats quite a bit.  A physical book reader might also listen to audiobooks, read on an electronic device, etc.

Why Do You Need to Define Your Readers?

• Books have primary and secondary audiences. For example, a book's primary audience could be women in a specific demographic, but the secondary audience is interested in the topic(s) the book focuses on. “Sandwich” by Catherine Newman is for women of a certain age, but it also tackles menopause, so the secondary audience is women who are in or have experienced menopause. The two are not mutually exclusive.