2 Know thy reader: the MQR
Understanding your audience is a crucial step in writing a successful technical book. The Minimally Qualified Reader (MQR) is a concise, precise description of who your readers are and what they will gain from your book. This document explains how to create an effective MQR, provides an example, and offers guidance on rating the difficulty of topics to help you define your book’s prerequisites and takeaways.
What is the MQR?
The MQR helps everyone involved in the publishing process—authors, editors, marketers, and reviewers—share a clear understanding of the book’s target readers and its goals. It consists of a short description of your intended readers, a list of prerequisites (skills and concepts readers must already know), and a list of takeaways (what readers will be able to do after finishing the book).
You can often adapt your book proposal to create your MQR, making it a bit more detailed. Writing an MQR typically takes less than half an hour and is usually about a page long.
How to write an MQR
The MQR is made up of three parts: