Writing for Your Audience: How to Identify Your Ideal Reader

Writing a story is an age-old form of expression that’s been treasured for centuries. But as important as it is to tell your story, it’s equally important to know who you’re telling it to.

For any kind of creation and sharing, doing so in the right crowd is necessary. That’s how you find people who are interested, and develop a reader community as an author. Creating and publishing a book is no easy feat, after all.

Your target audience is something you need to keep in mind, all throughout the process of writing your book. But if you can’t pinpoint exactly where or how to start, we’ve got you.

It’s time to dive into your journey of connecting with your ideal reader and discovering your audience.

Let’s get into it!

Why Is It Important For You to Know Your Audience?

Some might think that a plot, conflict, and climax are all you need when writing your story. However, in truth, having a target audience in mind controls and influences your entire creative process.

Without knowing who you’re writing for, you may be more likely to get scattered, have second thoughts, not have a cohesive writing style, or worst of all, fall into the feared void of writer’s block.

Spooky, right? We get it. An author usually wants nothing more than to have a smooth writing process. But having an audience in mind might help save you from the trouble of going off-track.

It doesn’t end there, though. From the conception of ideas to your final draft and publishing, knowing your reader will help you every step of the way.

This is why it is important for you to know your audience. If you ever find yourself veering off the plot, or your writing style morphing, thinking of your target audience always brings you back on track.

Read on to find out how you can connect the perfect audience to your book, and how this will boost your writing journey.

Research and Trend Analysis: A Tale as Old as Time

Just as you researched before starting your book, it is also important to do it when it comes to deciding your ideal reader.

Now, you could choose the safe route; you could create a book for an audience that's long-standing. A reliable plot and premise, the likes of which have always had a steady fanbase, is a pretty safe option.

On the other hand, you may want to go new and fresh- what are today’s audiences gravitating towards right now? By recognizing the current trend, you can learn how to grab the attention of the readers that are eager for a certain type of story right now.

For example, young adult fantasy-romance is a genre that’s booming these days. Is that something you’d see your book going into? Look at your story and see which bill it fits!

Different Demographics- Which One’s Yours?

From any type of content creator, you always hear this word being thrown around: demographic. But what exactly does it mean, and why is it so important?

Well, as a noun, a demographic means a particular sector of the population. There are a few main categories that are the prevailing sectors, such as gender, education, income and so on, but the most prevalent and important one is age.

When looking for your audience, you need to recognise which age range your book is best for, so you can write and market accordingly.

The possible demographics may be young children, for whom simple, wholesome books with a clear-cut moral would be best. Or, the best demographic could be teenagers, who would like upbeat books that are still family-friendly.

Let’s investigate the different ways your chosen demographic can affect your book.

How to Cater to Your Chosen Demographic:

Once your demographic has been chosen, you need to know what to write to fit your target audience. This might seem difficult, given that there are so many different factors that go into writing a story, but we’ll break it down for you into three main aspects.

Genre

Though some genres can be read by any and all ages, most genres have a specific age that they’re targeted to. So, when you’re picking the genre of your book, these are a few key points you should keep in mind.

Genres like adventure or coming-of-age stories would be best for younger audiences, like those in their teens, helping nurture their imaginations. Similarly, romances, crime thrillers or horrors would be best for an audience ranging from late teens to mid-twenties.

88% of people between 18-25 in the US are readers- the highest percentage per age group.

Higher demographics may enjoy business or self-help books, or biographies, all of which include things that relate to the hurdles of adult life.

Difficulty

Next up, you need to take a look at your writing style to determine the difficulty level of your writing.

What’s the vocabulary level you use? How about sentence structure, paragraph length, and even the entire length of the book you have planned out? All these things are crucial in determining your audience.

If your writing style is sophisticated, then your writing is better suited for older demographics with a higher education level, and you should plan everything else accordingly. But if your writing style is simple but effective, then maybe a younger audience would be a better fit.

Themes

Of course, an essential part of deciding your target demographic is in the actual content you write and the central themes of your story.

Your book may be centred around a light and spirited adventure, with elements of fantasy, that doesn’t get too heavy or dark. That makes it perfect for a young, under-16 reader.

However, if your book deals with heavier or more mature topics, such as a crime or horror novel, naturally, your target audience needs to be shifted accordingly to an older demographic that’s better suited.

These three aspects aren’t isolated from each other, though. They’re deeply interrelated, and your creative direction in one will automatically affect the other. But as long as you have these factors laid out before you decide your central plot, you’ve got nothing to worry about.

Your Reader and Your Marketing

Now, you’ve finally combed through all those requirements. Great!

Now, we come to an equally important part.

Writing a great book isn’t enough- you have to give it just the right stage and need to market according to the ideal reader you’ve chosen, so you can actually reach them.

Say, your ideal reader seems to be the trendy late-teen, who’s into fantasy and romance. The best way you can reach them is through social media. Building a social media presence, networking with authors and their followers, using trending hashtags, sponsored ads; these are all weapons in your arsenal.

71% of e-book readers say they find new books to read online, through websites and online bookstores.

On the flip side, you may be writing a self help book for a more mature audience who may not have the time to check social media. With this, you can connect using LinkedIn, or even emails. The possibilities are endless.

Alternatively, you can cover all these bases by publishing under BookBackr. BookBackr provides you a platform to publish your book, grow your readership, and uniquely communicate with them, in which every factor is accessible and under your control.

Staying Connected

Finally, you’re done with everything- you’ve planned your book, you’ve chosen your demographic, you’ve written a story accordingly, you’ve marketed it perfectly, and now it’s published.

But you’re not done!

Once you’ve managed to reach your target audience, it’s essential that you stay in contact with them and keep growing it as well. You can email them, post exclusive content, and read reviews that your readers leave.

After all, criticism is how you can perfect your art! When you keep in mind your readers’ reviews, you can shape and improve your writing accordingly. Taking reviews into account is one of the best things you can do to build a dedicated and growing readership.

Your author persona holds immense influence; if people think that you’re genuine and receptive to constructive criticism, this will foster a friendly and intellectual community.

BookBackr helps indie and aspiring authors accomplish this. The platform helps users set up email lists and promotion groups that make it easier for you to share your creativity, and ensure growth.

With that, you have everything you need to decide and reach your target audience.

If you have a story that you think the world needs to hear, then, this is your time. Visit BookBackr, and get started on your writing journey; we’ll be with you every step of the way!