Don't write the best book for everyone.

Going viral is hard.

If you're writing a pleasure giver, you're kinda hoping for the best.

There's a better way. Opt for sustainable growth instead.

Write a problem solver:

Make a clear promise and put it on the cover.

Can you guess what these books are about?

• The Dictator’s Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics

• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

• Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

If you said, yes, good... that's the point of a clear title.

Readers need to be able to figure out at a glance:

i. What your book is about.

ii. Whether or not it's for them.

Figure this out at the beginning!

If the book has already been written, you're too late.

But if you figure out what the promise is early, you can spend the rest of your time making sure the book delivers on the promise.

I.e. You can't save a bad book with a good promise.

When you're promising something, you want to be specific, not broad.

The secret to a five-star Amazon rating is to be clear enough about the promise that people can decide they don’t need it.

So think less,

"The Boron Letters" (a terrific book on copywriting)

and more,

"The Adweek Copywriting Handbook: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Powerful Advertising and Marketing Copy from One of America's Top Copywriters"

If you write a truly great book, but have a bad title, you can attract the wrong people and get bad reviews.

Avoid accidentally tricking the wrong people into buying your book by being very clear that it's not for them.

In order to do that, you want to match your promise with a reader profile.

Who is the specific type of person your book is for?

A marketer.

Sounds good, right?

Not even close.

Your book will be completely different whether the reader is:

• A performance marketer vs. a brand marketer.

• A creative director vs. a planner.

• A CMO vs. an entrepreneur who just needs to grasp the basics.

One solution that's often used is to make it ambiguous enough so everyone can read it.

That's bad.

Either the CMO will be bored to tears or the entrepreneur will be overwhelmed by the complexity.

Don't write the best book for everyone.

You can't.

Promise an outcome for a specific type of person, so you can write the best for someone.

More helpful advice on Write Useful Books.