The average U.S. adult spends half of [his/her] day indulging in some form of media or content. Information is added at the rate of 2.5 *quintillion* bytes of data every day, and it’s growing.
Or so Google says… I don’t know what a ‘quintillion’ exactly even is, it sure sounds like a hell of a lot though.
*’A lot’* enough to raise concerns for any aspiring writer or content creator.
​
# The Importance of Writing for an Audience:
When you’re a writer in the 21st century sipping strong coffee and battling existential depression, you need to understand that there’s an ocean of people that want their content read out there. Everything from sleazy marketers(sorry Dan) to self-published writers, from pajama equipped passionate bloggers to people writing scripts for YouTube videos… everybody wants to be heard.
So in any given niche the race isn’t just there to see who writes the best or who markets their content better anymore(although they do have their very important place), it’s there to see who provides better value to their readers.
**The market serves the folks who understand their audience better.**
​
# Who are you writing for?
The question you need to always be asking yourself time and time again as you write is this:
“***WHO IS MY AUDIENCE? Who am I writing for?”***
The first step when you open up a new document to start writing something should be to define your audience. Define your audience as the group of people you intend your writing to be read by. This should be the demographic that loves what you write and resonates with it.
Open up a word document and note what you think your typical reader looks like. Don’t worry about being dead accurate, although having a good idea about your target demographic is always a good thing. The list should include:
​
* The probable sex (leans towards female/ male?)
* Age group (teen, YA, past their 40s?..)
* Education level (Has a degree in ___)
* Most probable economic status
* Relationship status
* Interests
* Values, etc.
Decide on what or how much your reader knows about the subject. When you write for them, what problem are you serving to solve?
If you write fiction, things like education level, economic status, etc might not be as relevant but other entries like age group and probable sex would still be very important. For example, if I was writing a YA goth horror novel, my list would look like: Age- Teen & YA, Sex: Leans toward female, Values: Going against the grain, revolting against the norms, etc.
​
**”Well, how do I find out what they want to read?”**, I hear you ask.
“Put yourself in your readers’ shoes” is probably the go-to answer you’ll receive, and as much as this advice has been taken out of context and poorly implemented time and time again, this is exactly what you need to do.
​
**Put yourself in the shoes of your readers and ask yourself what itch you want scratched.** Go some steps further. Lurk around the corners where your potential readers hang out and analyze what they appreciate and what they don’t. If you write true crime, this might mean hanging out on a few citizen sleuth forums and chatting around. If you blog about technology this might mean engaging in these type of communities. Go to amazon and look at other books in your genre. Look up the reviews, what did people enjoy and what they felt was lacking? Squishing your ego and growing as a writer is the *#1 important thing* you need if you’re looking to make it in the long term.
If you have a newsletter, that’s great. A newsletter a great tool for engaging with your audience directly. Ask them what they’d like to read in your next piece. Feed them a couple of options, shuffle some ideas around.
​
***Wait, can’t I just write for ‘People in general’?***
In my years of ghostwriting, I keep running into this situation time and time again. When I ask people who they want their target audience to be, they say- “Oh, I don’t know. Just *people in general,* I guess… Won’t more people read it that way?”
*No. God no. Ew.*
When you’re defining your audience, you’re making a big choice. You could write for ‘people in general’ and maybe get some to read it and forget about it, or you could write for a **set** group of people, a group that will remember you and look forward for more. When you’re defining your target audience specifically, don’t think of it as narrowing down your potential readers to a much lower number, think of it as identifying who it is that will appreciate what your write.
What choice will you make?
​
I’ll end this with my favorite quote by Kurt Vonnegut:
*’Git gut’*
Nah, actually it was more along the lines of:
*"Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia."*
And while you don’t have to take this very literally and write for just one person, this should give you a glimpse of the importance of targeting your audience. This concept holds true to everything and anything you’re writing.
​
**tl;dr**: Understand your audience better. This is your bread and butter. Set expectations for what you are going to deliver and go forward and exceed it. Plus Ultra.
Thanks for listening to my rant. If you appreciate it, feel free to go through my blog ~~here~~. Also check out my new collection of short stories- [On the Other Side](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08933CS3B) , it’s free on Amazon right now.
~ Keep rocking.
Nathan
​
Edit uno: Formatting
The average U.S. adult spends half of [his/her] day indulging in some form of media or content. Information is added at the rate of 2.5 *quintillion* bytes of data every day, and it’s growing.
Or so Google says… I don’t know what a ‘quintillion’ exactly even is, it sure sounds like a hell of a lot though.
*’A lot’* enough to raise concerns for any aspiring writer or content creator.
​
# The Importance of Writing for an Audience:
When you’re a writer in the 21st century sipping strong coffee and battling existential depression, you need to understand that there’s an ocean of people that want their content read out there. Everything from sleazy marketers(sorry Dan) to self-published writers, from pajama equipped passionate bloggers to people writing scripts for YouTube videos… everybody wants to be heard.
So in any given niche the race isn’t just there to see who writes the best or who markets their content better anymore(although they do have their very important place), it’s there to see who provides better value to their readers.
**The market serves the folks who understand their audience better.**
​
# Who are you writing for?
The question you need to always be asking yourself time and time again as you write is this:
“***WHO IS MY AUDIENCE? Who am I writing for?”***
The first step when you open up a new document to start writing something should be to define your audience. Define your audience as the group of people you intend your writing to be read by. This should be the demographic that loves what you write and resonates with it.
Open up a word document and note what you think your typical reader looks like. Don’t worry about being dead accurate, although having a good idea about your target demographic is always a good thing. The list should include:
​
* The probable sex (leans towards female/ male?)
* Age group (teen, YA, past their 40s?..)
* Education level (Has a degree in ___)
* Most probable economic status
* Relationship status
* Interests
* Values, etc.
Decide on what or how much your reader knows about the subject. When you write for them, what problem are you serving to solve?
If you write fiction, things like education level, economic status, etc might not be as relevant but other entries like age group and probable sex would still be very important. For example, if I was writing a YA goth horror novel, my list would look like: Age- Teen & YA, Sex: Leans toward female, Values: Going against the grain, revolting against the norms, etc.
​
**”Well, how do I find out what they want to read?”**, I hear you ask.
“Put yourself in your readers’ shoes” is probably the go-to answer you’ll receive, and as much as this advice has been taken out of context and poorly implemented time and time again, this is exactly what you need to do.
​
**Put yourself in the shoes of your readers and ask yourself what itch you want scratched.** Go some steps further. Lurk around the corners where your potential readers hang out and analyze what they appreciate and what they don’t. If you write true crime, this might mean hanging out on a few citizen sleuth forums and chatting around. If you blog about technology this might mean engaging in these type of communities. Go to amazon and look at other books in your genre. Look up the reviews, what did people enjoy and what they felt was lacking? Squishing your ego and growing as a writer is the *#1 important thing* you need if you’re looking to make it in the long term.
If you have a newsletter, that’s great. A newsletter a great tool for engaging with your audience directly. Ask them what they’d like to read in your next piece. Feed them a couple of options, shuffle some ideas around.
​
***Wait, can’t I just write for ‘People in general’?***
In my years of ghostwriting, I keep running into this situation time and time again. When I ask people who they want their target audience to be, they say- “Oh, I don’t know. Just *people in general,* I guess… Won’t more people read it that way?”
*No. God no. Ew.*
When you’re defining your audience, you’re making a big choice. You could write for ‘people in general’ and maybe get some to read it and forget about it, or you could write for a **set** group of people, a group that will remember you and look forward for more. When you’re defining your target audience specifically, don’t think of it as narrowing down your potential readers to a much lower number, think of it as identifying who it is that will appreciate what your write.
What choice will you make?
​
I’ll end this with my favorite quote by Kurt Vonnegut:
*’Git gut’*
Nah, actually it was more along the lines of:
*"Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia."*
And while you don’t have to take this very literally and write for just one person, this should give you a glimpse of the importance of targeting your audience. This concept holds true to everything and anything you’re writing.
​
**tl;dr**: Understand your audience better. This is your bread and butter. Set expectations for what you are going to deliver and go forward and exceed it. Plus Ultra.
Thanks for listening to my rant. If you appreciate it, feel free to go through my blog ~~here~~. Also check out my new collection of short stories- [On the Other Side](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08933CS3B) , it’s free on Amazon right now.
~ Keep rocking.
Nathan
​
Edit uno: Formatting
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