Audience

[skip.knox]

Who is your audience? We've all been told to contemplate this question and we've all been told it's vitally important. I've never bought that, mainly because any given book is liked and disliked by such a wide range of people. I don't see how an author could ever anticipate changing tastes across time and culture.

But I recently hit upon another way to consider the question, by redefining what I mean by audience. By this definition, there are only three:

1. Me
2. A publisher or agent
3. Some specific group

This has helped me think about and talk about what I'm writing. I write for myself, no apologies. I have my own standards and expectations, and it's really all I can do just to strive toward them. Not because my standards are all that high, but because I have to meet them before I'll show a manuscript to anyone else. In other words, I do the best I know how to do. If it pleases me, then I am pleased.

Those who write for #2 are--and I realize I am probably stereotyping here (how does one type in stereo?)--are writing thrillers, best sellers, that sort of thing. Or trying to, anyway. Writing to external expectations.

#3 is more for those who write non-fiction, but would also include specialized fields such as young adult. In that case, there is also a set of external expectations, but it's more like an image of one's reader. Others *may* enjoy the work, but that target reader is the one the author is really aiming for.


Anyway, the above, fwiw.

 

[Sir Kieran]

The main reason I started writing was to put stories on paper, so I wanted to make sure I achieved my vision of perfection. Now, I occasionally aim to please and constantly see potential readers as an audience. Some writers say to never think of your audience or their reactions to your piece; I think it's okay, but a writer should understand that he/she should never change their story because of possible criticism.

 

[Caged Maiden]

I'm not going to argue, because you of course may slice the pie any way you wish, but perhaps there is a little difference in how I look at it and it might be important.

Okay, so some folks write for themselves alone. I was one of those for ten years. It's great, don't get me wrong, but I didn't learn much. I just wrote.

then I took the last four years and had me a big old writing crash course. I went from writing for myself, to writing for an audience. I used a multitude of betas to figure out what I was doing. But even there, I had to be realistic. Their tastes varied greatly. I had to be honest with myself about who was going to read my books.

So i think considering an audience may be a little more important, if for nothing else than getting feedback from people who generally enjoy books like yours. If you rely on betas who don't typically enjoy your genre/ style/ POV choice, your feedback and ultimately the ending quality of the work may be affected.

 

[Penpilot]

The short answer would be I write for me.

BUT

If I was just writing for me, then I could probably stop after the first or second draft, because I probably have the story in a decent enough shape that I understand it, the characters, the emotions, the themes, etc. that are in it. The story for the most part has been told for me at that point.

The drafts after are to try and communicate the story to someone else in the most effective way possible. It's about answering questions like the following. How do I convey certain emotions to someone else? How do I make them like my characters? How do I keep them interested?

If the story is only for me, then questions like those don't really have to be addressed because by default, I'm already invested in the story in every way. I don't have to be won over.

So to modify my short answer, I would say I write stories with me as an example of the intended audience. I write stories that I would like to read, with the intention of conveying the same experience to others.

 

[Feo Takahari]

I prefer to look at it not as who you're writing for, but as what your story has in it that people might read for. If you see your audience as just one sort of people, it's easy to make false assumptions about who will be picking up your book, tailoring your story to a much narrower audience than would otherwise enjoy it. (For instance, if you're writing a rollicking adventure, you could think of it as a story for teenage boys, or you could think of it as a story for folks who like rollicking adventure, regardless of age and sex. The latter will probably net you a wider audience.)

 

[Butterfly]

Your audience is the people you are targeting your story to. Such as:-

Age group = Children, Teen, YA, Adult
Education level - Beginner, learner, adult learner, graduate, etc.
Genre = Fantasy, Sci-fi, Literary, Crime.

Each demographic has its own literacy levels; content demands on gore, violence, etc. In thinking of the reader, I primarily try to keep to what is suitable in regards to those age groups. I tend to veer towards the older end of YA, so most things can be done. I find looking at the ticks for film certification handy for trying to see where your story would fit in regards with age group.

Your audience will dictate the language you use. Whether to keep it easy for children, or more difficult for older readers who may have a degree stuffed away somewhere. Or a gradual increase in difficulty throughout a series for adult learners.

Length is another matter for the audience. Short for children, and filled with colourful illustrations. Longer for other groups, with or without illustrations.

There could be other matters to think on. Religion, gender, locality, nationality, ethnicity... a lot of other things no doubt.

Other than yourself, your family, friends... who do you think would buy and read your work based on it's content, length, difficulty? (I'm sure there are a lot of other things to stick in here).

 

[Jabrosky]

My mom has suggested to me that I write with an adolescent male readership in mind. According to her, they like action and female eye-candy just like I do, but don't need that much in the way of characterization.

Personally I'm not sure it's a good idea to tailor your vision to fit the preconceived needs of a specific target audience. I don't even know if the current generation of teenage boys even reads that often.

 

[Mythopoet]

I used to be one of those "I write for me and only me" people. But as I've aged and matured I've come to realize that the essence of story telling is sharing and communication. There's just no point if you don't have readers/listeners/watchers to communicate your stories with. You don't have to be able to profile them. But you should be conscious that you are creating stories that are meant to be shared with others.

 

[skip.knox]

I can't write for a specific age group, nor for a gender, a race, a presumed level of literacy. Partly this is because of my own experience reading and enjoying books that were "over my head" or were otherwise not to be found on the shelves that were "for me". And partly its because of my own experience writing. I have extensive historical essays online (I teach history at a local college). They are and have always been open to the public. I get very nice notes from time to time from students and sometimes from their teachers, not just from high school but even from the middle school level. I was writing for college students, so it's obviously not grade-appropriate. Or, alternatively, the whole notion of reading levels is stuff and nonsense, and people read what they read.

So, while it is possible to *define* an audience, that doesn't mean that's for whom one ought to write. By "ought to write" here I mean deliberately to change one's words from how one might have written a story to fit some putative audience.

@CagedMaiden, I get something of what you are saying. When I say writing for one's self, I do not mean writing without caring if anyone else reads it. I meant writing to one's own standard of successful communication. I wasn't clear on that. Art should always be for art's sake. Art for one's own sake isn't art, it's recreation.

As for types of audiences (and I would not call genre a type of audience), I place all that under the heading of writing for the publisher. It's writing to some well- or dimly-understood set of external requirements to which the author must fashion his story. Again, not a bad thing, just qualitatively different. One goes about crafting the story in a different way.

It's interesting reading the conversation on this thread.

 

[Svrtnsse]

I have a pretty good idea of the kind of reader I think would appreciate the story I'm writing. They're someone who've read quite a bit of fantasy already and who's perhaps a little bit jaded by all the adventuring and actioning and epicness. They're someone who might find it interesting to read a slower paced and more laid back story that's still taking place in a fantasy setting.
They're that kind of reader, because that's the kind of story I want to tell; high on immersion, low on action.

Beyond that I'm not focusing too much on adapting my story to any specific demographic. I'm trying to write it to the best of my ability, but I'm not trying to adapt my application of language to suit anyone or anything but the story (that doesn't say very much does it).

I'm undecided about whether I'm part of the target audience for my story or not. I probably am, as the concept/idea appeals to me, but I'm not actually sure.

 

[Mythopoet]

I suppose I am lucky that I am married to someone who is a perfect example of my "target audience", i.e. the type of people I think would appreciate my stories. We have very similar taste in books and almost exactly the same views of literature. I don't think I would have the confidence to pursue writing if I didn't have him to talk to about my ideas and give me feedback on my work.