Identifying your target audience

Basically, I'm wondering how exactly people in this forum go about discovering what their target audience is, and how they cater for that audience. Because it's something I will really need to work on if I ever want to take my writing beyond fanfiction, really.

At the moment, with my original fiction ideas, I just write what I'm thinking, and that's about it. I don't know what my core audience is likely to be, and how my writing style should accommodate for that audience.

Does anyone have any particular tips or tricks of the trade, or even just a technique to determine who you're writing for in the first place?

Don't bother. If you let who you're writing for control what you think that you should write before you've even written anything significant, how will you know that you're really writing what you want to?

Writing is, by definition, a pretty selfish profession in some ways, one being that it's more about personal satisfaction than income. Write what you want. Ask for criticisms from different people in terms of quality, but hone your style and refine your content on your own terms. Submit what you've written to who you think will take it. Accept rejection when it comes, but do not let it anger or deject you; if necessary, use your frustration to force yourself to do better. When you are accepted, be happy. That is the process.

(Of course, there is a selfless side to writing in that you're publishing this work in the first place, but that's something else entirely...)

I agree.

Yeah, I don't really think of it in terms of target audience. I just write the story in my head that I happen to like, and think of it in terms of how I would react to such a story. I don't really expect to get famous or any such bullshit, though, so that works just fine for me.

Of course, I don't want to hamper my style according to self-imposed pressures, but at the same time I'm kind of worried that I will end up writing something that doesn't really appeal to anyone and get people absorbed into it. I guess the point is I don't want to bow down to demands, but I want to be able to consider things to bear in mind when choosing audiences. Mainly because a lot of my characters tend to fall into that "new adult" age range, which is quite an enigma for marketing anyway.

So you all just think it's best to write something, and let the audience develop itself?

edited 13th May '12 2:39:02 PM by Pattyunknown

Pretty much, yeah. Do it for the art, even if it means getting a day job to make sure you're not financially dependent on your work and can take more risks with it.

That said, your audience will resemble yourself, to an extent, if you don't have a demographic in mind. And even if you do.

edited 13th May '12 2:40:46 PM by KillerClowns

Yes.

Also, don't try aiming for demographics if your characters (and potential readers, as the case may be) are college-aged. Trying to chase that dragon is the worst kind of folly.

Screw marketing age categories. They've done much more harm then good. I find this "new adult" thing deeply depressing - it's just another way of trying to put books into tailored boxes - and I strongly advise you not to think of your work in those or any other terms.

Haha I suppose that's true. So do you also think that self-publishing something in that sort of age range for characters (not that it's set in a contemporary setting) would be my best bet too?

Edit: And to clarify, I'm not pigeon holing them into that range, but that's the term I've seen thrown around for the ~18-24 range.

edited 13th May '12 2:50:40 PM by Pattyunknown

I have no idea why the age range is supposed to be relevant.

I'm also not planning on getting published in that sense, so I don't really know about that side of things either.

Doesn't mean you have to buy into that kind of thinking.

edited 13th May '12 2:51:42 PM by nrjxll

The publication part aside, what nrjxll said.

I can in a way. The age of the protagonist can make them relatable to the audience. But that said, I can also identify with characters much older than me. For example, Harry in the Dresden files is like 25-37 and I don't find identifying with him to be a problem. But for some reason, there seems to be some mentality about avoiding protagonists older than 16 and younger than 25 because they're not distinctly young or adult, according to publishers, critics etc.

Those people are wrong. That stage in someone's development can provide for some excellent stories and character traits that aren't as pronounced or important in either one's childhood or adolescence or in full adulthood. It's a transition period, and transition is almost always interesting to watch, even when it's painful or strange. Sometimes especially then.

edited 13th May '12 3:01:51 PM by JHM

I agree. I was just wondering if there was any way of transferring that into desirability, really. Like, can something with older characters spawn the type of fans that younger character series receive? Not that I would ever consider myself on par with large YA franchises, but still. Out of curiosity, and for argument's sake.

Just make them feel real, at least in the world of your story. That's basic writing advice, yes, but it's also the key to getting people to stick with your work.

I'd like to think that characterisation is one of my stronger points in writing, and that's something I absolutely strive for in anything. Definitely great advice for anybody. It's interesting to see the perspectives which are basically the inverse of everything else I seem to have read online. It's certainly quite encouraging.

Personally, I have a life-long loathing of teenage protagonists and am more inclined to read works with older ones.

This really cannot be stated strongly enough.

I imagine most of my fans ranging from late teens to twenties. The characters are in their twenties, but there is some sex planned.

Personally, here's how New Adult (with characters in the 18-25 range) going to turn out:

edited 13th May '12 3:43:35 PM by chihuahua0

Write first, engage with readers second... do the maths from the second third. <shrugs>

If you start tailoring your writing to a given demographic (or, official guidelines supposed to engage with said demographic), you may end up missing the enjoyment of writing. Or not: some people react well to writing within constraints.

Also: for YA fiction (and children's fiction in general, come to think), I'm in the Pratchett and Gaiman camp: kids and teens can take more than most expect (although, you might get roasted by the parents).

The problem isn't that no one reads that stuff; the problem is its emergence as an Official Demographic^TM in the first place.

You can never know with the publishing industry and e-books.

Huh? I'm saying that if a "New Adult" pseudo-genre actually emerges, it will be bad, for the same reasons why JHM-channeling-me said in Writer's Block Daily. What do e-books have to do with it?

Actually, more like self-publishing in general. I've been reading more about it. It creates the kind of environment that New Adult can grow in.

But what's wrong if it emerges? It means that such books can actually be sold, as opposed to being shoehorned into the two demographics next to it.

edited 13th May '12 5:19:01 PM by chihuahua0

Because nrjxll doesn't like young protagonists or things marketed to young people. Presumably, he also doesn't like mass-marketing campaigns in general.