Your book is going to be read by people. Do you know anything about them? If you say, “Well, whoever is attracted to it will read it,” you are right. But you will attract more of the kind of people that you want to reach if you know something about them.

I’ve written about having an “avatar” in mind when you are writing your book. And I try to do that as well. Within the past few days, I was twice surprised by people, who turned out to have backgrounds, interests, and experiences I would never have imagined.

A friend asked me to substitute for her at a BNI meeting. Having been a member myself, I knew I’d enjoy it–and I did. And I met a gentleman there who surprised me.

His name is Alex Lubin, and he has a business that employs professional handymen. (I highly recommend him if you’re within 50 miles of Sunnyvale, CA.) We chatted for a while. Turns out he has a PhD in computer science from Stanford; was vp of Cadence, an electronic computer-aided design company with which I am very familiar; created and sold an intellectual property company based on Russian inventions; and more. Now he runs handymen.

This morning, I needed a notary. I put “notary” and my zip code into Google, and came up with All Things Notary, just a couple of blocks away. I drove over and found an unassuming house at the address. The notary pulled up right after I did, and invited me inside.

He took care of the notarizing, and we chatted a bit. He is Robin Roberts, PhD (business administration). He has a background in nuclear engineering; holds multiple patents; invented, built, and marketed the first device to print out (on paper) caller ID’s, then sold the company to Radio Shack; has been a professional photographer since the fifties; own a kennel (next door) together with his mother; has authored a book….

If I were writing for notaries, I wouldn’t have pictured anyone like Robin. If I were writing for handymen, or small business owners that rent out handymen, I would not have pictured Alex.

Yet the more I get to know people, the more I realize how wide a range of uniquenesses they exhibit.

So when you think of your readers, make room for a variety of qualities and interests.

Filed under: book love • book writing • marketing

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