Audience Analysis

One of the ways that book coaches and developmental editors can help authors is through audience analysis. That means identifying and understanding the target audience, as well as helping the author tailor their writing voice to meet readers’ expectations.

This is a key part of making your writing successful. Trying to get a bunch of die-hard horror fans to read your quirky YA slice-of-life novel is a waste of time and money for everyone. When you know who you’re writing for, you’ll know what they’re focusing on and what they want to read.

So, how does audience analysis work?

Identifying Your Audience
Knowing your audience means guessing at the average reader’s age, gender, religion, ethnicity, social class, sexual orientation, education, occupation, and affiliations. Obviously, there’s no way to accurately pinpoint everything. But there are a few ways to make some educated guesses.

For instance, if your protagonist is a teenager, you’re more likely to draw in teenaged readers because they’ll be able to relate the most. You can’t assume that your readers will be like your main character(s) in every way, but it’s not a bad perspective. Genres also have target demographics. Science Fiction and Non-Fiction Historical tend to be male-dominated, whereas women often prefer Romance and Thriller books.

Understanding Expectations
Once you know who will be reading your book, you’ll be able to write to that demographic. That means researching their general levels of understanding, beliefs, attitudes, interests, slang or speech patterns, and other stylistic preferences.

Not that authors always need to cater to these desires (subverting expectations can be a powerful writing tool), but if you’re reading a romance, you’d want to see a few characters get together instead of, say, a pure murder mystery. When you deviate too far from what your audience wants, people lose interest or worse.

One good example is understanding marginalized audience segments. If you include a main (or primary side) character who comes from a marginalized group, you’ll need to account for that perspective. That means considering how their race, religion, sexual orientation, age, gender, or medical condition affects their story line.

Certain decisions, events, or interactions could be read as insensitive (even if you don’t mean it like that!) if you include them in marginalized characters without doing your research. That could leave readers feeling alienated and lose you fans. On the other hand, if you handle it well, you could convert fans to evangelists and attract a larger audience.

It’s Not a Science
All the marketing research in the world can’t replace real opinions. Many authors utilize beta readers for this very reason. Asking them what genre they think the book belongs in, or what the audience will be, is a great way to help you decide where your book should go.

Remember that people are full of surprises. You may expect your book to be a favorite among teen boys and then have it be loved by middle-aged women. Don’t be afraid of your audience changing! Embrace the people who love your work and take the opportunity to ask for feedback, especially if you’re planning a series. Great authors (with the help of great editors) can adapt their writing to keep their audience invested to the end.