We composition teachers talk a lot about audience. If one doesn’t know who his audience is—even if he writes a persuasive argument—he will fail. Why? Because the audience may not understand or, even worse, may not care.

Which is what happened on my first attempt to publish this book.  It was titled Walking through Retirement: Finding joy, one step at a time, which I thought would be appealing to my audience, but it flopped. My audience wasn’t interested.

It took me nearly a year to discover why.

Customers came to me on Amazon because I was a leading seller in the retirement gifts category. My previous book, 1001 Fun Things To Do in Retirement, was a #1 bestseller for several weeks. Shoppers thought it would make a good gift for new retirees.

Evidently they didn’t feel the same about this one.

So I did the research. People who look for books on walking, especially walking for people over 60, search for things like “exercise for seniors” or “fitness for the aging” or “Tai Chi walking for seniors.”

So I designed a new cover, wrote a new preface, modified the conclusion and Voila—this book was born.

As an aside, I’m not misleading anyone. Walking is one of the best exercises and pathways to fitness for this audience.

So this is a redo. Those of you who bought the first one don’t need to buy this one. You already have the inspiring quotes from history’s walkers and those cool nature photos.

I do hope, however, you’ll help me pitch it to others.

Do it for the joy they will find in rediscovering this simple pleasure. Do it for the improved health they will experience in the process.

Come to think of it, this would make a nice retirement gift. Just sayin’.

**

Price was another thing that made the first version not sale. In tomorrow’s blog I’ll tell you how I was able to lower the price of this paperback by 30% .