The Importance of Being Able To Identify Your Target Audience

The Importance of Being Able To Identify Your Target Audience

One of the challenges that a neophyte writer has to face is figuring out who their target audience is. If you try selling your literary work on an experienced publications agent or an editor, one of the first things that they will ask you are what is termed in the publishing industry as ‘comps’ or works of other authors that are comparable to yours. What they are trying to do is ascertain your book’s target market. This helps them assess the marketability of your work

There are a lot of greenhorn writers who make the mistake of believing that their literary style can be appreciated by everyone. However, to be able to promote your work successfully, you have to veer away from writing something that you think will please everyone and instead, concentrate on only one specific demographic.

And this is how your writing style varies based on the kind of audience that you have. For example, imagine yourself being involved in a minor vehicular accident where you are partly responsible. If you had to inform your parents on what happened, how are you going to deliver your story? How about if you are telling the story to your friends? A story’s version changes depending on who the intended audience is. This clearly illustrates how writers customize their literary work to suit a specific audience. Just as what you tell your parents and friends may be different from what you report to your insurance company, how you deliver your story will vary depending on your target reader.

The Importance of an Audience

Being able to determine who your audience is will help you decide on the kind of information you should include in your story. With the target reader in mind, you would be able to organize your story, thresh out the details, and fill in supporting details that are necessary for the reader to understand your story more. It influences the structure and tone of your narrative, impacting your story development and the progression of your conflicts. In order to present an argument that will be understood and embraced, you need to deliver it to the right audience. Not knowing who your audience is can be likened to narrating a fairy tale to adults or reading a romance novel to 3 year-olds.

Knowing your audience also entails understanding what their specific needs are. This will help you plan out your story more effectively. For example, if your target audience are people who like reading suspense thrillers, you need to focus your research on how popular thriller novel writers are able to grab their reader’s attention and encourage them to want to read and know more.