Monday’s planning tip for authors

To sell more books, plan it before you write it by creating reader personas, 1-page documents that describe the characteristics of specific groups of readers, their concerns (frustrations, goals, problems, etc.), and the types of information they want to know. Don’t begin writing until after you clearly identified who’s going to buy your book and why.

What counts is not the information or the passion that’s inspiring you, but the information that readers need, want, and are waiting to buy.

Books are published to be purchased. No publisher wants to edit, print, and distribute a passionately-written book that readers aren’t interested in buying.

Power of Personas
Personas are written reader profiles that answer questions like:

• Who are your intended readers?
• What are their identifying characteristics?
• Where do they live and work?
• What are their urgent frustrations, problems, and un-achieved goals?
• What questions are they asking?
• Where are they looking for answers?
• How can you reach these individuals?
• What kind of appeal can you use?

Success will come to the extent that you take the time to answer the above questions, not in general terms, but for specific market segments. It’s better to identify and fully understand a handful of market segments than it is to view your readers as an undifferentiated mass of people.

If you’re writing a book about preparing new business proposals, for example, don’t write it for “everyone.” Instead, think in terms of market segments like self-employed professionals (selling services to corporate markets), real estate professionals selling relocation services to newcomers, or sales professionals selling high-tech products to the home office market.

Personalize your research
As you begin to develop a greater understanding of each market, give each market segment a name. In addition, prepare a short quotation that summarizes the market segment’s concerns and style. How would a representative of each segment describe their problems and goals?

The more research you do planning your book, before you begin writing it, the easier it will be for you to write the right book, and the easier it will be for you to write a winning book proposal!