Reader personas are a powerful book planning tool that helps authors develop a better understanding of their reader's information needs, in order to sell more copies of their book.

Reader personas are fictional 1-page documents that summarize the characteristics and needs of an author's primary and secondary reader segments.

Why are reader personas so important?

For better or for worse, writing is a business measured by sales. There are few rewards for authors who write a "good book" that few readers buy.

Reader personas, completed at the start of a project, help authors avoid the common trap of writing a book on a topic that, unfortunately, fails to appeal to their intended readers. The book's resulting lack of sales undermines the author's goal of establishing their expertise in their market niche, which could, otherwise, lead to profitable opportunities for coaching, consulting, speaking, future books, and information products.

The following are the 4 key attributes that authors should include in their reader personas:

1. Name and photograph

Each persona should include a first name and photograph. A first name is usually enough to represent a category of readers, although sometimes the first initial of their last name is included. The photograph can be a simple head-shot downloaded from a royalty-free online source. The photo is mainly intended to identify the sex and approximate age of the market segment.

2. Story

Each persona should include a short story profiling the major characteristics of each reader segment, i.e., age, sex, income, occupation, education, etc. Personas should also detail each market segment's frustrations, problems, and unachieved goals.

In their reader personas, authors should answer questions like: "What's keeping these readers up all night worrying?" "What's preventing these readers from solving their problems or achieving their goals?" and "What do these readers need to know in order to succeed?"

Authors typically base these stories on questions they are frequently asked by clients and prospects, comments on their blogs, and feedback during speeches and teleseminars.

3. Key attributes

After preparing the story portion of a persona, the main ideas should be consolidated into a short bulleted list that summarizes the market segment's key characteristics and information needs.

4. Quotation

Many authors find that the most time-consuming task is to come up with a short quotation that summarizes the information they hope to gain from reading the book. The goal is to summarize the reader's expectations into a statement that can be translated into the book's mission statement for each market segment.