“My book is for everyone!”
“My book is for all women.”
“My book is for anyone who wants to grow as a person.”
No, nope, and no way. Well, maybe. I mean, sure—your book may have mass appeal, and it might be a great read for any reader. It may be deserving of Reese’s next pick or a mention on Super Soul Sunday.
But—and I’m intentionally using the word “but” here—we have a saying in publishing: When you write to everyone, you write to no one.
And we also have a saying in marketing: The riches are in the niches.
What is a niche anyway?
Short and sweet version: A niche is a specific group of people.
Longer and sweeter version: A niche is a specific group of people you are especially suited to educate, lead, inspire, train, entertain, or otherwise connect with. By finding your niche, you’ll be able to stand out in even the most crowded space and make a true and measurable impact.
Here’s a formula you can follow:
Your Unique Background and Expertise + A Specific Need + A Specific Group You Are Best Suited to Serve = Your Niche
For example: You might be a Black female business coach who understands the unique challenges of women of color running service-based businesses. Because of your own experience running a service-based business and dealing with the many systemic barriers to success, you write a book for female women of color, service-based business owners looking to reach six figures. And your coaching business marketing, copy, and content revolve around serving this group extraordinarily well.
This doesn’t mean that Black women in this niche are your only readers. It simply means they’re the primary readers. You can also define secondary and tertiary readers. In this case, perhaps it’s all women business owners running service-based businesses who want to reach 100K, or women of color who aspire to be business owners.
Your niche is your ticket to influence and revenue.
I’ve spent sixteen years in the publishing industry, plus an entire lifetime devoted to bettering myself as a reader and writer. As an expert book strategist and coach, as well as an award-winning, best-selling author, I’ve seen that these truisms hold.
Yet if you’re like many of the aspiring authors I speak with, you may bristle at the idea of limiting yourself to a specific group.
As an example, I’ll share about a past client (whom I now consider a friend!) Giovanna González, known as The First Gen Mentor on social media. Giovanna published her book, Cultura and Cash, in a crowded genre—finance—but to her niche, first-generation Latina. Her subtitle says it all: Lessons from the First Gen Mentor for Managing Finances & Cultural Expectations. Since most finance books are written by white men to a largely white, privileged audience without cultural layers to consider in their financial planning, her book serves a need that wasn’t being addressed.
Her book has hit best-seller status, won awards, and is now being translated into Spanish. She’s been on major stages and was even invited to NASDAQ. It’s incredible to watch her success!
But I have no idea what my niche is . . . help?
First of all, let me tell you that you are not alone. Uncovering and clarifying your niche is a challenge, partially because you need to explore, assess, and then narrow in and focus.
Remember that your niche can shift too. You are not a static entity. You are a human with changing interests, needs, wants, and desires. You can lean in one way and then discover you want to lean another direction. That’s OK and it’s normal. Just remember that any shift in your business focus and marketing—that includes your book—often requires a year or more to deliver results.
To help, I’ve created a guide that you can use to start thinking through your core message and professional story, which will include aspects of your niche. Access it for free here: Core Message and Professional Story Writing Guide.
Many authors find that their reader is themselves five or ten-plus years ago. Others have a clear ideal client they love working with and want to reach more of these magical unicorns. If you’re unsure, consider answering these questions. I recommend spending fifteen to twenty minutes writing down your answers:
- How does my unique background shape how I work?
- What do I wish I’d known ten years ago to help me be more successful today?
- What do I love teaching, training on, and talking about? (Think widely—scope of life, not just work.)
- What do people constantly ask me or seem curious about? (Write down specific questions or statements people say to you regularly.)
- When am I my most on-fire, present self?
- When friends, colleagues, or clients introduce me, what do they say? (You can also query people by asking them something like: If you were to introduce me on stage, what would you say about me?)
- What is one of your favorite projects or clients from the past year?
- If you could work with any client, who would they be and why?
From here, pay attention. Start to notice patterns in your work and life that might help you narrow down your niche. Experiment with content that is more focused on the niche you think might be right for you—a social media post, a blog post.
Kind of like marriage, when you know, you know. You’ll have both an intuitive sense of the right niche and data-backed reasons why they fit. When you cover your niche, lean in, because that’s where the riches—and impact!—are.
Have you found it easy or hard to define your niche? Share with me in the comments—I love hearing from you and read and reply to each and every comment.
P.S. This is a genuinely human article. No AI was used to write this piece.
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