I recently had a question from an author asking me to explain “what is the target audience for one of your books,” and I came up with a good catch phrase to explain it. Instead of “Six Degrees of Separation” that connect you and every other person in the world, think about “Six Degrees of Obsessiveness” between you and every other person in the world.
In the center of the network is you, the person who cares so much about a topic that you are willing to write about it. In the center I also include your family, business partners, and intimate friends: the people who either share your interest to the point of collaborating with you, or who (because of their closeness to you) cannot escape hearing all about it.
The first circle of obsessiveness includes people with whom you talk about your subject on a daily or weekly basis. These are people who write or call you about your subject.
The second circle of obsessiveness includes people people who share your interest and know of you, but with whom you are not in regular dialogue.
The third circle of obsessiveness includes people who share your interest, but who have never heard of you.
The fourth circle of obsessiveness is composed of people who are aware of the topic of interest, but have not focused on it before.
The fifth circle of obsessiveness includes people who have never heard of the topic before, but who might pick up your book if it looked interesting.
The sixth circle of obsessiveness is those people who are so far from being interested that it would require some sort of extraordinary event to make them interested in it.
For my sort of publishing, you should aim your writing for the third circle.
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