Today’s guest, Robin Colucci Hoffman, the Get Published Coach is a born wordsmith. She coaches clients in writing their book and helps them with editing as well. In this post, Robin will be sharing two mistakes you may be making in writing your book that can get in the way of making your book a bestseller.

Before we get to our guest’s post, I want to share with you the opportunity to be part of my book about what it really takes to be a bestseller. If you or anyone you know…

a) have a story of how your life dramatically changed from reading a bestselling book,
OR
b) have a story to tell, a message or expertise to share but its not getting in the hands of as many people as possible,

Please tell me your tale!  Your story could be chosen to be included in the book together with stories of New York Times bestselling authors which, this book is based on. Simply email me a short synopsis at support(at)AuthorBestseller.com and will let you know the next steps. Can’t wait to hear your story!

Now on to Robin’s article on writing your bestselling book…

Target Your Book

by Robin Colucci Hoffman

No matter how great your information is, or how much you have of it, to create a best-seller, your message must be clear and targeted.

In my work with authors, I see two mistakes over and over again, both of which can get in the way of you obtaining best-seller status.

• An Audience of ‘Everyone’ – If you are writing to everyone, you are writing to no one. No matter how broad your book’s appeal may seem, not everyone wants your information. For example, we could all agree that ‘everyone’ wants to prevent or cure cancer, but the people who would buy a book on the latest designer drugs are not the same as the ones who would want a book on natural remedies. When you narrow your target market, you can reach them easily, and they are far more likely to be warm to your message and buy your book.

• Over-Delivering—I know, I know, you have a wealth of knowledge and expertise, and it’s all so great, you just can’t wait to let it out and tell everyone. Unfortunately, when you try to share everything you know in one book, you end up with a long book and a confused reader. With information flow in overdrive, readers these days are delighted to buy non-fiction books on a specific topic, take what they need and move on. Make it easy. Pick one main topic, go deep, and write more books.

The best time to target your book is before you write it. The audience you choose should influence the tone and flavor of the material. Your guide to surviving the teen years directed at parents would read differently than if it were for teens.

Other tips to target your book:

• Be sure your book’s title and subtitle clearly communicate who the book is for and the main benefit of reading it. I often start with a working title and save the final title for last, once we can see the book as a whole.

• When you write, think about your audience, what they care about, how they think, how they are likely to relate to your information, and write directly to them.

• Early in each chapter, communicate the main benefit to your audience. Always keep in mind that your audience is thinking, “what’s in it for me? What am I getting out of this?”

• Identify the segments in your audience base. Perhaps you have a book for each segment? What might those be?

• Or perhaps your information flows in a progression. Can you write a basic or overview book, and then use future books to introduce advanced concepts?

When you make the effort to target your book with a clearly defined topic for a specific audience, your reward is your book sales.

Robin Colucci Hoffman, MA, The Get Published Coach, helps coaches, speakers and consultants write and publish books to further their career. Find out more at http://GetPublishedCoach.com