Writing Blog Number 2

20241014 Know Your Audience

Know Your Audience

I do know this does not apply to every writer, but for those who it does, this is something that I have found doing some editing is an issue amongst writers.

This is answering the question: Who are you writing for?

I realise a lot of writers just write for themselves. That is excellent; you should always be your first audience. And if you do not plan to show it to anyone else, great. But as soon as you put a piece of writing out there in the public, or to a group of people external to your circle, then you have an audience.
         Knowing your audience is key to reaching the people you want to reach.
         Now, I have already discussed writing in the young adult sphere ("20240510 Writing Young Adult Fiction" ), so I won’t re-invent the wheel there.
         First, though, some writers feel their work is so great or “so important” that everyone needs to read it. It’s why you get publishers closing to open calls because these morons feel their work should be submitted everywhere. When I worked for Static Movement (a spec fic press), the amount of stories that did not fit (a) the word count, (b) the theme of the anthology, (c) the spec fic genre, or (d) all of these, was insane.
         It still happens, and most of these writers are religious (99.99% Christian) writers who feel the need to convert everyone to their belief system.
         Well, sorry, but no-one’s work is so important. There is no such thing as a book that everyone has to read, no such thing as a book that suits everyone, nothing like that. There is such a thing as individual taste, needs, wants, beliefs, etc. Whenever I see those lists “100 books everyone must read before they die!” I look through and realise (a) I will have read maybe 10 of them, and enjoyed 5, and that the title is wrong.

There is no such thing as a book you HAVE to read!!

Sorry. It gets on my goat. But it does lead to this topic: know your audience.
         I can’t tell you who the audience is for any different work. It changes from culture to culture, county to country, even region to region, town to town! But you need to know who you are writing for.
         So, personal example. I write predominantly horror, and my main market is the USA. As such, I need to be aware that too many Australianisms confuse United Estatians, and that even words in English (the UK brand) have different meanings. It is still a thing I am learning, but I am getting there. Of course, as my works set in Australia, I cannot use US terms (like “cookie”… in Australia that is not something you eat… unless you’re a cannibal… but you do you) because it is not realistic, but I need to ensure some things I avoid.
         I also need to limit my use of terms like “God” and “Jesus” when spoken in a non-ecclesiastical arena. In Australia, they are part of children’s programming; in the USA, it’s as bad as “fuck.”
         But I am learning my market.
         So, what does this mean to a normal writer?
         First, only submit a story to a trad publisher who it’s a good fit for. Logical, but too many ignore it. Second, make sure if there is the option of stating what sort of rating a story has, err on the side of a higher rating. A PG film in the USA is often a G film in Australia, for example, so calling an Australian G-rated story PG is erring on the side of caution. Third, give your story the correct genre. “But my story has no genre!” I hear a lot; then call it ‘mainstream’ or something like that. Don’t give a romance story to someone who only reads body-horror. But many do…
         Of course, you can write for more than one market, more than one country, more than one culture. My stories sell in the US, Australia and the UK, set in Australia, but (it seems) appealing across cultures because I do not push the one Australian culture as the be-all and end-all. However, when my stories are way too Australian, they are a much harder sell; this is just something I have learnt through trial and error. USians have an advantage as theirs is the largest reading market in the Western world… but, even then, I have heard some Texan and Floridian writers struggle to sell to publications based west and north. That cultural divide still exists in one country.
         Then comes the hard bit. Do NOT try to write a story for every single genre and culture. It will not work. Write your story with you, the first audience, in mind, and then, if you want it to be read by a wider audience, consider these four things:
                   1) the age of the reader you want,
                   2) the genre/s you want the story to fit into,
                   3) which country/ culture you want to read your story, &
                   4) is it a good story?

Good story first, audience second. Always. Now, I know I didn’t say anything to help you find an audience, because it is too individual. But, once your work goes into any public arena, the audience is a part of the process.
         Don’t annoy them.
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