2.3 figUrE OUT yOUr AUDiENCE “The only way on earth to influence other people is to talk about what they want and show them how to get it.” —dale Carnegie You can absolutely write a book without caring who your audience is. But don’t expect it to do well. In fact, there’s a name for a book that is written without an audience in mind—it’s called a diary. If you want your book to be successful and reach the objectives you set out for it, you need an audience, and you need to think about and define that audience beforehand. Let’s start with a definition of what an audience is (for the purposes of a book): An audience is a single group of people that share the specific problem your book solves. Why does this matter? Because the key to writing a good book is figUrE OUT yOUr AUDiENCE · 63