You Don’t Need a Big Audience — Find Your Minimum Viable Readership

How writers and creators can thrive with small tribes

While it may sound amazing to have writing that appeals to everyone, it’s not practical, nor possible. The more writing that gets pumped into the system, the more we need to own our niche.

Blockbuster stories were easier, before millions of pieces of content were written every day. Those days are long-gone.

…but there are more opportunities than ever before.

There has never been a better time to be a writer. Why? Because there has never been a time to find what tickles your spine. Any niche, in any category can be found, by any reader.

We no longer have to settle with generic, made-for-everyone content.

I can now subscribe to the most-specific newsletters and buy ridiculously-niche books that no one would’ve published a few years ago.

While it’s easy to get lost in the crowd as a new writer, it’s more important than ever to plant your flag — deep. We can’t be everything to everyone. We never could. But now the importance of niche is magnified.

It’s time to stop worrying about a big audience.

When we build our indie publishing businesses, it’s time to think small.

Find your minimum viable readership (MVR)

Your MVR is the smallest number of people you need to serve, while earning a reasonable living. Similar to a minimum viable product, your MVR is a good barometer for choosing a niche that can support you.

If you choose an MVR that’s too big, you’re in danger of entering an area that’s too competitive, where you might get lost in the flurry. If you MVR is too small — say, all the people interested in collecting ladybug wings — you might be the only writer in your niche, but your total pool of readers is three.

Here are some ways to estimate your MVR without losing your mind, spending hundred of hours on research (this is neither scientific, nor very accurate, but it will give you a general idea to the size of your niche):

• Go to Google Trends and search for your niche and your country (use buying terms)
• Use the free plugin called “Keywords Everywhere.” This puts all the keyword data from a dozen sources in one place.
• Search your niche on Amazon.
• Search for competition in your niche.

You want some competition, but not a lot, and make sure you can do better than your competition.

For example, there are multiple sources for email marketing for writers and creators. Most of these sources are poor or average, at best. I know I can dominate this area as I grow my platform, because I’ve got the expertise to produce results for my clients.

I don’t need a lot of people in my MVR to do very well for myself.

But I’m also careful not to make my niche so small I serve only a small handful of people, at most.

Steps to test your first book:

1. We wait to grow our tribe until we’ve got the MVR on our list, say 1,000 readers. If we launch to a group that’s too small, you won’t get results you can measure accurately.
2. Ask your MVR what they want and create it for them.
3. Launch our first book or course to the MVR and test the results (see how many people bought your book as a percentage of total names in your tribe). Sales matter most, not people who show interest, but readers who buy.
4. Once you find an offer that works, using a book your MVR buys (say 5–10% is a good benchmark), work to expand your reach and grow your tribe.
5. Simultaneously, continue to write more books, courses, and content to serve your MVR and keep them for life. Never run out of things to offer your tribe.

If you build a rabid list of readers who really love your work, you can keep selling them new books, products, and courses. They’ll feed you for life. You might only need a list of 5,000 people to earn $100K per year.

For example, suppose you create a membership site for $10/month. If you got 500 people to subscribe, that’s $60K/year from only 500 people!

Every niche is different. Yours may be more lucrative.

Serve your MVR and no other

Once you find your MVR, you’ve planted a flag. Write content that only serves your tribe. You write X for people who like Y — no one else is invited to the party. The velvet rope is closed.

As you find your MVR, part of the process is shunning the non-believers.

You don’t want to have to convince anyone to consume your content. Either they get it or they don’t. If you create a business that has to convince your tribe your writing is worth reading — it’ll be a long, cold road.

Focus on the people who already get it.

Why make your writing an uphill battle? Choose your niche wisely and serve them with everything you’ve got. Laser-focus your content. Don’t create a piece about your breakfast one day, and an article about sleep the next.

When we follow your work we want to know we can count on you for a certain niche.

This is how you build a minimum viable readership.

… and if you want to build your MVR tribe now, you’ll have a rabid audience as you launch your future work. This should be a list you own (instead of relying on social media or some other big-business platform). Tap the link below. Enroll in my Tribe 1K indie email masterclass. I’ll show you how to get your first 1,000 subscribers (and your next 1,000) without spending one hot nickel on ads.

We’re waiting for you.

Enroll in my Free Email Masterclass. Get Your First 1,000 Subscribers

August Birch (AKA the Book Mechanic) is both a fiction and non-fiction author from Michigan, USA. As a self-appointed guardian of writers and creators, August teaches indies how to make work that sells and how to sell more of that work once it’s created. When he’s not writing or thinking about writing, August carries a pocket knife and shaves his head with a safety razor.