Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Who's Your Audience?


“My book is for everybody.”

 Do you want to know what that sentence is? It’s the S.O.D., a.k.a., Sentence Of Death.

 I’ll admit—I hope everyone reads my book. But if I’m being realistic, I need to remember that different people have different needs.

 (There are exceptions, like The Purpose Driven Life, or The Shack, that appealed to a wide range of people. But most of the time, editors are looking for a specific target so they can HIT it.)

 So how did I “find” my audience?

 1-Writing for teen girls was a natural outflow of the ministry I was already a part of (camp ministries, after-school ministries, youth groups…)

 2-It was in my heart. I struggled a lot in my teen years, and I wanted to be a voice to remind these girls that not only would they SURVIVE, they would GROW.

 3-I got outside help. It sounds obvious, but sometimes we need to take a few steps back to figure this audience thing out. So if you’re struggling with targeting your audience, ask a friend to read your blog. Find out how “young” or “old” your voice sounds.  Who does it appeal to?

Q4U: Who’s your audience?

5 comments:

  1. I've been doing a lot of thinking and overhaul of my writing hopes and dreams. It has me thinking about genre, too. I've narrowed down a lot but am still a little on the fence of whether I want to write YA or twenty-something's (I don't know that's a genre?)
    I have ideas for both but I don't know how to decide.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think YA and "20 somethings" can fall under the same umbrella if you do it right. For example, if you're writing romance and can make the love story "dreamy" enough for the high school girls, yet "realistic" enough for the college girls, it could potentially be popular for both groups. :) I say this as a girl who can navigate a boostore like you wouldn't believe. I might find a particular book in the teen section in one store and late find it in the romantic fiction section in the other (grouped with all the other romance). Haha. In case anyone wants to know, I'm talking about Miss Match. Erynn really struck gold with that one...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks, Ashley! Lol, that's exactly the kindof of book I'd like to write :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks! This post is helpful :)
    http://mirandaleerholm.blogspot.ca/

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow, I didn't see these comments until now. Sorry guys. I agree, Tonya and Ashley. Erynn really did an awesome job with Miss Match. One of my favorite books ever! And Miranda, I'm so grateful this was helpful. Please tell us what we can do to help address topics that you want to hear about!

    ReplyDelete