by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
When I was a kid, there was one part of Cinderella that baffled me.
The clock struck midnight and Cinderella, in a panic, cries out that it’s late and that she must leave.
The handsome prince responds, “But it’s not late; it’s only midnight.”
Only midnight. To a four or five year old me, this pulled me right out of the story. I’d never even witnessed midnight. To someone who turned in at eight o’clock, this seemed like an outlandish thing for the handsome prince to have said.
I frequently read on blogs that considering our readers is very important. But how do we know who our audience is? And what does it mean to keep them in mind as we’re writing?
Who is your audience?
At first, I’d consider other books in your genre. What part of the reader segment is the writer or publisher pursuing? The cover can be a good clue. Does the cover show an action scene? A romantic scene? What are the ages of the characters on the cover, if there are people depicted there? In terms of the content, you could ask the same questions. What’s the focus and pace of the story? How much profanity is used?
If you can’t tell from the cover and content of books similar to yours, take a look at the authors’ followers online.
It’s also helpful to ask yourself who your ideal reader is. Who are you specifically writing for?
And, as you take notes on books that are similar to yours, it’s good to have a grasp on the genre and subgenre that you’re writing in.
Connecting with readers
It’s important to have ways for readers to contact you. Of course you want to have your email address available for them, but it’s also helpful to have some sort of means for them to connect with you online. You don’t have to be on all the social media platforms (in fact, being on all of them is probably a bad idea….it’s just nearly impossible to keep up with), but there needs to be one at least for them to follow you on. As you write more books and have more followers on social media, you can actually see who your reader is…their ages and gender.
Writing for your audience
Once you know who your reader is, it gets a lot easier to write for them. That’s because readers will have certain expectations for the types of books that you write. If you aren’t sure of those expectations, just read more books in your genre.
For further reading, see Angela Quarles’ post at Fiction University, “Finding Your Audience” and Dan Blank’s post at Writer Unboxed, “Do You Know Who Your Reader Is? No, Really: Do You?”
What do you know about your audience? How do you keep them in mind as you write?
Considering Our Audience, as Writers: Share on XPhoto credit: TEDxAmsterdamED on VisualHunt / CC BY
You have some really good ideas here, Elizabeth. Of course, our stories come from us, so to speak. But it is important to know the sort of audience you have (or are aiming for), and you’re right; finding out what other authors are doing. Even a question such as, ‘Will my audience go for or not go for this use of language?’ is worth asking.
Exactly. I actually stopped using profanity in my books fairly quickly after reader feedback and a quick look at the profile of my typical readers.
I never even thought about midnight being not late. What about Hansel and Gretel wandering into the woods by themselves? My grandparents had a cabin on a river and I was never allowed to go off alone with my cousin like that.
My series might have originally been classified as YA (now NA) but I wrote them for readers like me – adults looking back at that time of life.
Oh gosh, yes. And tiny Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks. I think those parents must have been trying to get rid of their kids…
And we know there are lots of adults who read YA and NA for those reasons.
Hi Elizabeth – so important to engage with one’s audience … and what you’ve said makes total sense re connecting with the ‘friends who will be reading and thus buying your books’ … with the blog and when I’ve given talks – it’s essential to engage and to give those extra snippets that might draw more people in and pique their interest. Cheers Hilary
It’s very helpful research, for sure! Hope you’re doing well, Hilary. :)
I’ve simply kept track of the beta readers who are most effusive in their positive feedback, and wrote for them, hoping more of them would keep showing up.
Over the years I’ve gotten to know my core four well enough to have pictures of them in a row under my computer monitor (with my Best Beloved making 5.) So every time I look at my computer there are the 5 people who love my writing most looking at me from above the printed question “Who are you writing for?”
Anything I have questions about in my writing, I imagine their responses, and I know whether it’ll fly or not.
Before I knew any audience at all, though, I wrote precisely what I wanted to write, and these folks all found me in my unaltered state. That has made it easier to continue writing whatever I want, for me, just as much as I write for them. That’d be my advice for a beginning author, or one not yet sure of their audience: be yourself with the volume turned all the way up and your die hard core audience will find you and love you.
Nice idea to print them out! That would help maintain focus, for sure.
Longtime fan, first-time commenter!
Thank you Elizabeth for creating such a wonderful resource for writers, and for all the work you put into it. (Curation is not easy!)
Re: this post…most writers would agree that you have to consider your readers. The debatable issue is…when?
If you consider them as you write, you’ll probably be more efficient because you won’t have to spend time cutting out the stuff your readers won’t like. At the same time, though, writing might not be as creatively fulfilling because you won’t be able to go where your fancy takes you. In this case, it’d be better to consider your readers after you write.
I guess we all have to make the decision for ourselves. Where do you lean, Elizabeth?
Joel’s comment about his “Best Beloved” reminded me of a passage in Stephen King’s On Writing, where he describes writing with his wife, Tabitha, in mind. Here’s the quote:
“When I write a scene that strikes me as funny (like the pie-eating contest in ‘The Body’ or the execution rehearsal in The Green Mile), I am also imagining my I.R. [ideal reader] finding it funny. I love it when Tabby laughs out of control—she puts her hands up as if to say I surrender and these big tears go rolling down her cheeks. I love it, that’s all…”
Ah, so many great gems in that book!
Thanks for reading the blog and for your comment, H.R.!
Excellent question. And you’re right–that’s going to be something that’s up to the individual writer. I’ve approached it both ways.
I have one series that I started writing entirely for my own amusement…Myrtle Clover. I have 2 other series that I started writing entirely with the reader in mind (the publisher reached out to me, instead of me reaching out to them). The Myrtle Clover series shifted after about book 3 (it’s a 12 book series); I write it with my readers in mind more than for myself.
I feel as though all the series have been successful in their own ways. I think the Myrtle Clover series has more fervent readers.
Creative satisfaction: yeah. I hear you on that. I still find it creatively satisfying because it’s tricky to write something that readers will really enjoy. The *challenge* is creatively satisfying. But that’s a bit different, isn’t it? For me, for right now, it’s enough.
Love the quotation from “On Writing!” It’s been a few years since I’ve read it. I remember being so excited when my son was assigned it for English. (“OH! I have that book! You’re going to love it!”)
When I first read King’s book I was delighted to learn that his wife was his ideal reader. Excellent book; one of the best.
– Elizabeth –
It’s really interesting that you started your Myrtle Clover series writing for your own amusement…and then transitioned into writing the series with your readers more in mind—and that the series has such fervent fans.
Is this a mini-recipe for writing a successful series? Hmmm.
How neat your son got to read On Writing for English class! I wish we were assigned something like that in high school. Although, we did get to read Pride and Prejudice (and during one class period, even watched an episode of the BBC mini-series starring Colin Firth). So, all in all, our syllabus was pretty awesome :)
– Joel –
You and your Best Beloved are in good company!
It could be! Definitely something to think about.
Any syllabus with Pride and Prejudice on it is a good one!