Who Do You Write For?
Issue 8
“I’ve got a great story idea. Probably it’ll be a short story. On the other hand, it’s full of terrific characters, so maybe it needs to be a novel. And a good screenwriter could always turn it into a movie, right? And—”
Wait a minute. This all sounds exciting, but have you figured out who you’re writing for? Who is your anticipated audience?
All too often, this question is greeted with either a blank look, or—worse—a hand-waving assurance “Oh, it’s got something for everybody.”
Identifying your audience at—or at least near—the start of your writing can help you focus your efforts for maximum effect. It’s not only about matching style to a particular demographic. Knowing who you are writing for can influence everything from word choice to content to length of sentences. You wouldn’t use the same material and vocabulary for a middle-grade reader as for a young adult. (You wouldn’t want your book banned, for one thing, but that’s a focus for another day. And who’s to say some of you wouldn’t take on that challenge anyway?)
It’s true that the most obvious need for careful planning in writing to your audience comes into play with children’s literature. Here are links to two articles; one deals with how editors classify children’s books by age level.
https://www.book-editing.com/age-levels-childrens-books/
This article takes you through the expectations of books for infants and toddlers, activity books, interactive books, and four categories based on reading level. It finishes with some recommendations for further reading that will help in determining how to reach the audience you want.
The second link is to an article on how important it is for all children to be able to find themselves in literature.
Something many people don’t realize is that when the majority of published books contain a homogeneous cast of characters, books are swiftly recognized as not reflecting reality and as denying or at least minimizing the existence of those outside the homogeneous group. It may be a distinction too subtle for complacent adults to grasp, but children have a natural radar for that sort of thing. When it happens with greater and greater frequency, children’s perception of reality can become skewed or they comprehend that there are people in charge who don’t care that they exist. On the one hand, a distorted view of real life, on the other, a devastating realization most of us would not want a child to face.
While the Scholastic article deals with how to select books for your child to read, it provides food for thought for the writer planning their next children’s book.
Children’s needs are not the only reason to determine who your audience is. You want to maximize your readership no matter what you write. More importantly, you want to ensure that you are reaching the readers you want to read your material. You can only do that if you have a specific audience in mind.
Reading audiences have different tastes; genres have different styles. The reader of the action thriller is often not a reader of cozy mysteries. Essays aimed at convincing public servants on cultural issues will be worded more formally, often with citations and statistics as well as impassioned rhetoric, than an essay on the cleaning and cooking of catfish. An article on NASCAR will itself be faster-paced than one on golf.
In essence, writing is aimed at informing or entertaining in the manner best received by its readers, and accomplishing that requires identifying the audience in advance. You have to know who you are writing for.1
Here is a list of writing components that can be affected by your choice of audience:
Vocabulary
Word choice (separate from overall vocabulary level)
Formal/informal style
Pace—often related to the nature of the content; see NASCAR/golf comparison
Setting
Format—the way in which your writing is presented; eg, it may be tightly organized and directed with bullet points or laid back with long, flowing paragraphs
Formulaic elements used—genre writing is often expected to hit certain notes for its readers
On a practical note, potential editors/publishers will ask who you think your target audience is. Best to get that ironed out early.