Step 3: Identify the ideal reader for your book

IN THE LAST LESSON YOU LEARNED

In the last lesson on the Big Impact Book Writing System, I taught you what a wise teacher of mine called the “utmost ultimate secret” to writing a successful book. 

That is, to plan it by first imagining the book from the end. 

You also learned the advantage of using your imagination rather than thinking from the end. And you discovered a great way to “turn lemons into lemonade” while you’re quarantined due to the Coronavirus.

That is, devote some of your time to writing a book fast can get your knowledge or wisdom into the world at a time people most need it. Then serve them even more deeply as they seek out your products and services.

IN TODAY’S LESSON YOU’LL DISCOVER

In this lesson you’ll learn how to identify the profile of the best kind of person for whom you should write your book.

To do that, I’ll assume you’re writing a nonfiction book that you’re using to get your message or mission out effectively.

And I’ll assume that you also want your book to also attract new clients for you, or win speaking engagements, or sell your products or high-end programs, or some other business outcomes.

WHY IT’S SO IMPORTANT

Do you want your book to attract new clients, or win speaking engagements, or sell your products or high-end programs, or create some other business outcomes for you?

If so, then the profile of your book’s reader should be the same as the target market for your practice or business -- or at least a segment of that target market.

And identifying your book’s ideal reader will identify the kinds of people (or kinds of companies) who you can help the most, be the happiest working with, and will make you the most money.   

That will become your book’s target market.  

A target market is the profile of a specific group of people you want to reach with your book and its marketing message. They are the people who are most likely to buy your products or services, and they are united by some common characteristics, like demographics and psychographics.   

Demographics are physically measurable characteristics such as age, sex, occupation, education, geographic location, company size, income, etc.

Psychographics include values, interests and other psychological characteristics that can influence purchasing decisions.

In addition, the single biggest factor determining the revenue potential related to your book is your choice of the target market of its readers.

Affluent target markets typically are people or companies who are affluent enough to buy not only during economic uptimes, but also during economic downturns. So identifying them can be valuable to you and your business’ success.

Keep in mind that books have proven to be great door openers to affluent target market segments. Why? Because the affluent tend to read more books than does the average person, and usually prefer to buy from experts. 

They value expertise more than they do lowest price. And 3,000 years of history have made a book the ultimate symbol of expertise.

STEP #3: IDENTIFY THE IDEAL READER FOR YOUR BOOK

Therefore, Step #3 of this system is to identify the ideal reader for your book.

Generally, this step will identify the kinds of people (or organizations) who you can help the most, be the happiest working with, and will make you the most money.   

HOW TO IMPLEMENT THIS STEP

As mentioned above, I’m assuming you want a book that will, first of all, get your message or mission out effectively.

And, secondly, it’ll also attract new clients to you, win speaking engagements, sell your products or programs, etc.

If so, the ideal reader for your book probably meets 7 criteria:

1.           They have a problem or desire you can help with—the bigger of a problem or the stronger of a desire it is, the better.

2.           They’re aware of their problem or desire—it’s not something you have to convince them they have.

3.           They have the money to deal with it.

4.           They’re willing to spend it—generally, people and companies are willing to spend more money, and spend it more quickly, to solve problems than to achieve aspirations.

5.           They’re in a growing marketplace—that way your opportunity with that marketplace will be even greater in the future.

6.           They’re on lists you can locate and access—you can identify gatekeepers that will provide access to enough of them through lists maintained by that gatekeeper. Those lists include everything from publications to events to joint-ventures.

7.           They’re people you’d enjoy working with.

When I and my team work personally with clients, we have a process we take them through that makes identifying your ideal reader easy and fast. 

For the sake of this lesson, here are some things you can do on your own to identify the kind of person (or organization) that meets those 7 criteria for your book:

?             If you don’t have a clue where to start, a great way is to brainstorm a list of all the people you’ve created value for in the past who’ve compensated you for it—either monetarily by trading you for it or some other exchange of value. Go back as far as possible, including childhood. 

Once you have a list, categorize them by the types of value you created for them. Usually you’ll see that you either were helping them accomplish some aspiration they had or handle a problem they had. 

And usually there’s a pattern you can recognize underneath the details that reveals the type or types of value you naturally create.

Just make a chart listing the 7 criteria above. Then list all the niches of readers you’re considering. Then do enough research on Google to rank your niches on all 7 criteria. Then use the rankings to determine your book’s ideal reader.

?             Determine target markets that want, and are willing to pay for, the problems you can solve. 

Also, describe types of people or companies who want and are willing to pay for the aspirations you have a history of dealing with. Both of these kinds of people want to buy value you can create. 

?             Out of all the marketplaces that want your expertise and are willing to pay for it, identify the most lucrative ones. 

Generally, marketplaces that are least lucrative are:

1.           The consumer marketplace.

2.           The non-profit marketplace.

3.           The education marketplace.

If you are aiming at one of these three, and if you want to locate the lucrative niches for you, start by focusing on the niches within that market that serve the most affluent people.

Generally, marketplaces that are the most lucrative are:

1.           Small businesses and professional firms in general – especially those that specialize in a particular field or that serve an affluent clientele.

2.           Larger corporations.

3.           Government--local, state or national. 

?             Many coaches, consultants and other professional service providers work with a target market whose demographics and psychographics are similar to their own. This is a natural way to become a leader in your field. 

If your ideal reader’s profile matches the types of clients you already are working with, then a great strategy to consider is what I call “the best clients strategy.” It illustrates the 80/20 Rule.

In brief, it means that typically, about 20% of your clients generate about 80% of your revenues. That 20% are your best clients. Usually they buy faster, pay more, and buy more often than the rest of your clients.

If you identify the demographic and psychographic profile of those best clients, and focus on writing your book to other people who match their profile, it’s usually a fast way to attract more of those best clients.

THE BENEFITS

Follow the guidance above and you too can enjoy the benefits that many other book writers also have. 

For instance, your book will be easy to promote because your ideal reader meets the 7 criteria above, one of which is that they’re on lists you can locate and access.

You’ll be able to generate more revenue from your book because, by using the 7 above criteria, you’ve identified people or companies who can pay for your offerings and now can promote directly to them.

Moreover, your book will be easy and enjoyable for you to write!

PROOF IT WORKS

When Mark Victor Hansen and Robert Allen hired me to help them write “The One Minute Millionaire,” one of the first things I naturally did was Step #3, to identify the ideal reader for the book. 

They had been originally aiming at writing the book for Business Opportunity seekers.

But I identified a different niche that met their criteria but was underserved, often called the Cultural Creatives. When the book was written for that new niche, people responded vigorously. 

As a result, even though the book was released on what became the worst day ever (on September 11, 2001), when the Twin Towers were destroyed in New York City), it still became a #1 “New York Times” bestseller and went on to be very successful, filling the authors’ high-end programs and much more.

ABOUT YOUR NEXT LESSON 

To help you implement this particular lesson successfully, I’ll post an article next week that will help you use it successfully.

Your next lesson in this series about the Big Impact Book Writing System will be posted on Tuesday, April 21. 

In it, you’ll learn how to choose a winning topic for your book—or how to refine the topic you’ve already chosen. This way your book will attract your ideal reader to buy it and read it. 

WE’RE HERE TO HELP YOU

 As you read this series of lessons, you may find yourself desiring to have some support in implementing what we’re teaching, so you can get your book written and out into the world -- up to 10x faster. 

If so, I’ve set some time aside to personally talk with you and help you with your book. You can read more about how this works anytime here.

And, of course, if you have any questions or comments about any of these articles – simply send me a message on LinkedIn.

Kindly,

John

 John Eggen

Transformational Publishing and Marketing Mentor

Copyright ? 2020, The Mission Marketing Mentors, Inc. All rights reserved.