The Writer's E-Zine Home

Writers' Village University - F2K: Free Fiction Writing Course - ePress-online
Writers' Village University Membership Information

Craft of Writing

Leanne M. Johnston

Target Audience
(for writers seeking publication)

As I scanned through my online writing group posts today, I noticed this statement from one of the members:

“I’ve finished my book. I don’t really want to spend time on marketing this thing, but I guess I’ll have to.”

I thought, Yep, you got it in one, sis!

As much as I sympathize with my fellow writers seeking publication and their desire to write in the genres they choose, the bell will toll as the examiner states:

“Pens down!”

The exams are over and students begin interviews in earnest to find their first job.

It is the same for a writer seeking the all-elusive publishing contract.

We must sell our work and ourselves.

What do I hear you say? You don’t like selling?

Not everyone is selling motivated or a people person. This is where marketing is crucial and specifically defining and targeting to your market audience. This article will assist you in building on your confidence and help you to sell your written word.

First, you must determine who composes your audience. Who would appreciate your manuscript? Knowing your audience through the Internet is as vital as knowing them offline. Prospective customers surround you. Every day people buy products and services. These people are your potential customers.

You must find your audience. Where do they live? How do you reach and convince them they need your product? Yes, your manuscript is reduced to that horrible word: “product.”

If you want to make “serious money,” it would be smarter to write your manuscript geared toward reaching a particular deficiency in the market. Define your target audience before starting to write and remain focused on the market you choose. This is ultimately the best marketing decision.

However, good fiction writers tend to be highly emotional, artistic and creative people. Unfortunately, this artistic disposition and yearning for freedom interferes with their expressive side when forced to write within constraints of focusing on a particular market segment. A pre-planned target market or audience may imprison the artistic writer and destroy their creativity. If this is you, write for yourself. Write what you like to read, and find a market later. If you decide to approach your writing in this way (most times it is not a conscious choice), you could have questions when you finish your manuscript, for example:

Where is my target audience? What is my product? How do I describe it? Is it educational or entertaining? Should you class it as comedy, horror, romantic, or young adult?

If you have a novel and describe it as fantasy suitable for people between 12 and 125 years of age, you may unknowingly cut potential customers. Do not attempt to be all things to all people. This is impossible and unrealistic. The idea is to increase sales by identifying and targeting smaller yet more profitable consumer groups within the total market. Aim your novel at too wide an audience and you may lose credibility, scaring potential buyers because they become confused about what you are offering.

Do not get marketing confused with selling your product or yourself. Marketing is more than who buys your products. It is a carefully researched integrated marketing solution. Study your chosen genre or field. Browse several bookstores to evaluate the different titles and your competition. What are they offering? Size, color, shape, large print, branding, promotional toys, post sale offers, links to websites, cash back, or competitive pricing? Conduct simple web searches for titles in your category and study what they offer for the price. How is your product different or better? How can you demonstrate the superior quality of your product as opposed to another already on the market?

Talented, analytical writers who can focus on a defined framework should plan their target audience ahead of publication and work out the size of the potential market. How profitable is it? Who makes up the target audience? Is it a viable segment or proposition to pursue?

Sometimes you start with an idea in mind of what you would like to write and by the time you complete it, you realize it took on a whole life of its own and turned out different to what you originally intended. This is where a plan or focus for your work can keep you on track. Be careful though. If you are one of the creative, artistic types, forcing yourself to work in a set framework may cause you to end up with a bad case of MMS (mute muse syndrome) or even worse, writer’s block.

The intensity of your desire to publish determines how much time you allocate on researching markets. If you are content to write for your own edification and perhaps that of your family, like the recently resurrected Chap Books of old, this can bring great joy. If you are wishing to find who is interested or would appreciate your writing from the thousands of people and potential markets in the world, you should classify your writing as in the example article dealing with finding your target audience below.

Imagine you have written a humorous article with a serious underlying message. The subject of the article, safety, could be a useful tool for training people on the dangers visitors face while holidaying in national parks. The humorous tone captures reader’s attention. It is a great method to relax the reader, reduce fear and aid concentration, but agents or publishers have to be convinced, or “sold” on the concept. The writer has to work harder if they choose to do something unique or unorthodox.

Once you have finished your article, your job as a writer ceases and the task of thinking like a marketer begins. By the time you have written your article and read it backwards for corrections, you will be extremely familiar with what it says. Do you really understand what it is from a marketing perspective?

The importance of defining your “product,” in this case, a funny article with a pertinent lesson, is crucial to reaching the end user of your product. Essentially, you must work out:

Who is your target audience?

This involves a series of questions, many questions, ultimately, to narrow your potential market to find people with a “need” or “want” for your article.

If you have difficulty determining your articles salability, start with these questions:

1. What age group would read this article?
2. Who or where is its market?
3. Why would they read it?
4. Where are they likely to look for this article?
5. How much time will they have to read this article?
6. Will they care about it?
7. Will it pique their interest?
8. Is there a need it fills?
9. Who will benefit from reading this article?
10. "Who" are you competing with to sell this article?
11. Is this article geared towards business, entertainment, or leisure?

There are many more questions and this list is not exhaustive. Think of a few questions yourself, or seek further help through your local library or the Internet.

Keep asking yourself questions like the above until you know your potential customer intimately. What would your buyer eat, think, act, do and, more importantly, what book would they buy? When you know the answers, you will be in a more confident position to connect with your target audience.

Remember you are marketing to people, not writers and readers. You need to find people who buy books. Not all readers buy books. If you were a cheapskate, like me, you would rely on your local library, secondhand bookshops or friends. Target the person who purchases the books.

Once you finish researching your target audience and know who they are, you are ready to ask:

How do I reach them?

How do you sell your book to the market you believe exists?

This is a whole other topic. Perhaps we could cover this in another article.


About the Author
Imagine 60’s Australia: A cool, early, autumn morning Leanne’s Mum gives birth to a female. This child continues to wake early every morning, talk the leg off an iron pot*, entertain herself with her vivid imagination and detest late nights because they interfere with her precious dreamtime.

Nowadays Leanne lives and works a Stud Murray Grey cattle farm. She considers the Murray Grey breed exceptional and one that will become the most popular breed in the world due to their wonderful temperament and marbling. She shows absolutely no bias of course.

The other side of Leanne’s personality loves to tell tales and until a few years ago, she worked in office management. One wild Wednesday she quit her job to pursue a career as a writer. She believes everyone is here for a reason. Everyone has something unique or great about them and others should encourage them to develop their special skills. Leanne likes to use her ability as a writer to help others become all they can, realizing there is heaps of good in the world if you seek it in people.

Life is like a large brainteaser to Leanne and she believes in things unseen, unheard of, and sometimes only felt.

If you wish to contact Leanne, you may, at: huonmurraygreys@bigpond.com

*Common Aussie slang