Successful authors understand that the focus must be put on the reader and satisfying the reader's needs. Even in the most personal writing, a memoir or autobiography, the writer shares her struggles and triumphs in an effort to help the reader make better sense of his own.
—Todd Sattersten, Every Book Is a Startup (O'Reilly, 2012) 

Discovering your target audience is like the jelly part of a PB&J sandwich; the topic itself is totally the peanut butter. Those two elements need to be clearly defined before you put pen to paper. 

Many times when we discuss our writing projects, we verbally articulate who we are writing for, but when we take a closer look, sometimes it's hard to match whom we said we were writing for with the writing itself. I've seen this many times during the editing process and when I review manuscripts for publication. The query or the proposal will say one thing, because the author may understand what I am looking for, but when I actually read the piece, the focus is a bit scattered. A similar thing happens when the author is not able to pointedly tell me who their audience is when I ask. 

If you can't answer the question, Who are you writing this book for?, you will have a hard time putting together a well-formed piece that connects with readers. But no worries. Let's see if we can put our heads together and figure this thing out. 

One of the things I do, even in editing, is google the topic I am working on and see who is saying what about it. Then I check out who seems to be reading and sharing what is written—retweeting it, facebooking it, whatever. I look at blog comments. I visit organization websites that provide similar resources or solves the problem I am writing about and see who attends their workshops or conferences. I look to see who they say they are providing their services for. Then I make a list of those people. I categorize them. I cross out the ones that don't exactly fit my core audience—or maybe I leave them as my secondary audience. 

One of my mentors told me that once I discover the simplest composite of my audience, I need to narrow it down to one single person, find a suitable visual image, print it out, and tape it to my computer or somewhere in my eye's view while I write or edit. I thought this idea was genius. Do you do this? 

You should know the basics of who you are writing for:

  • Gender
  • Ethnicity
  • Age
  • Education level
  • Faith or religious preference
  • Economic status
  • Relationship status
  • Occupation
  • Common life situations; be specific (working moms, men with young children whose wives died young, over forty and unmarried, etc.)

You don't have to answer all of these for every project. I am just giving examples of very important things to know about whom you are aiming your piece at. Knowing this information will build your sensitivity and will help as you choose words, pull together examples and illustrations, and form your arguments. (Side note: jargon and stilted language can actually work if the audience is right.) Being able to show that you were, at some point, where the reader is right now helps them to feel like they can relate to you--and in turn helps you sell books, builds your readers' confidence in you as a writer and authority on that particular topic, and sets a successful foundation for your next project. 

So tell me, how do you determine whom you are writing for? Is it always the same person in every piece?

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