Your contract is signed. You and the press are both excited, and then I receive an email that is all too familiar. My first-time authors asks some version of, “Should I write the book broader? That is, what if we’re missing out on potential readers by focusing on a single party?
A book or school principals is suddenly expected to speak to general education teachers, or a fitness guide for twenty-somethings is being stretched to all the way into one’s seventies because there are universal themes.
Let me tell you the truth: You will not capture more readers. You will alienate the ones you have.
As my former publisher Shannon Vargo once said, “A book for everyone become a book for no one.” She is correct! (May the book gods always bless her list.)
Your readers will not buy half a book. A 20-year-old’s metabolism is quite different than a post-menopausal one at 70, and a principal’s framework and authority rarely translates to the frontlines of the classroom. Now if your captured audience or business model shifts, we can discuss what makes sense for the book.
I will attempt to get you back on track—that is, back to the original plan. However, a good editor will not fight you. Eventually, they’ll silently write it off as a loss.
Instead of abandoning your primary audience, you can:
- Put all your resources into a successful book 1 launch and let book 2 speak to the secondary audience
- Offer a supplemental resources like a downloadable guide to the other audience in exchange for preorders
Don’t betray your audience.
Good luck!
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