Know your public

Writing is, of course, something that you have to do for yourself. You should write about something you really want to write about. And you should write in the way that works for you and that feels comfortable.

But if you inspire to get your story published once it’s finished, you should really keep in mind who your public is going to be. Even when writing you should always have a little voice at the back of your head who from time to time reminds you who your writing this story for. That doesn’t mean that you have to write entirely for someone else. It just means that you have to take into account the kind of people that will eventually hold your book in their hands.

First think about what genre your story falls under. Are you writing an adventure, romance or perhaps fantasy novel? Each type of novel has a different public. If you really can’t find out what public that is going to be; hold a stakeout at your local bookstore or library and see what kind of people grab the books of the same genre of the shelve.

Other then the genre it’s important to know what age you’re going to be writing for. I don’t think that I have to explain that you need to write differently for small children then for adults. With stories for small children, the plot can’t be too difficult and you need to use relatively simple words that the children will be able to understand. It won’t work if you write a story that someone of you age understands and loves, and then try to sell it off as a children’s story.

When you contact an agent or a publisher, it is equally important to know who your public is going to be and what kind of genre your book falls under. Don’t send a young adult fantasy novel to a publisher who only publishes romance novels for adults. Publishers and agents always have information on their site about what kind of books they’re looking for. If it’s not in the submission guidelines for some reason, you can always look at the books that they’ve published in the past.

For those of you who wish to write for children, but don’t know how, I suggest you go to the children’s section of a bookstore and look at the kind of books they have there. They are categorized on age (the ages of the kids who are supposed to read them) and you can get a clear view of what kind of books are for what kind of kids. It is also always great to talk to some children and ask what they like about books the most and what they like to read about.

This was kind of a short and boring post, but I hope it helps you get some more info on how important it is to know who you are writing for. And it’s short because I’m insanely busy at the moment ^.^’

Keep writing!

Xx LordKiwii