How to Find Your Audience
If you want to make money from your writing, you need an audience.
“Most of life is a search for who and what needs you the most.” — Naval Ravikant
If you want to make money from your writing, then you need an audience, individuals who read what you write and potentially are willing to pay for it.
This is true whether you write non-fiction or fiction.
But how do you find that audience?
I discovered a book outlining a detailed process to find an audience you want to serve and one able and willing to pay for what you write.
The Embedded Entrepreneur: How to Build an Audience-Driven Business by Arvid Kahl is the best book I’ve found that does just that.
Although the book is written for potential start-up entrepreneurs, his recommendations are spot-on for non-fiction writers. Fiction writers also need to be clear about who is their audience.
You might be thinking as I once did, “But I’m not an entrepreneur.” Yet, if you seek to monetize your written work you must develop an entrepreneurial mindset.
In today’s world, it’s essential.
Why is this important?
As I wrote about in an earlier issue of this newsletter, I discovered that it’s easy to self-publish a book, but exceedingly difficult to write and publish a book that people will want to buy and read. You need to have an unclouded vision and understanding of your potential readers — your audience. I have seven self-published books under my belt that have convinced me of this truth.
The Embedded Entrepreneur is about how to create a product (in your case, a written work) by using an “Audience-Driven approach.” In other words, know your audience before you create your product.
In fact, embed yourself in that audience.
If you can discover and help solve their problems, you’ve got a potential audience.
Arvid Kahl lays out a specific process to find that audience.
Here is the outline of the audience discovering process:
Step 1: Awareness — Think of Possible Audiences
Step 2: Affinity — Find Out How Much You Care About Them
Step 3: Opportunity — Find Out If They Have Interesting Problems
Step 4: Appreciation — Find Out If They’re Willing to Pay
Step 5: Size — Find Out If This Market Can Sustain a Business
Arvid Kahl digs deeper into each of these steps to guide your audience finding quest.
“An audience is everyone who should be interested in you, your business, and your products. They are not just walking wallets. An audience is a group of real people with desires, dreams, and problems. If you want to build an audience-first business, you will need to build honest and authentic relationships with actual human beings.” — Arvid Kahl
I’ll be following his advice and his process, and let you know how it works for me. You should too.
Let’s find our readers — our audience!
