DEMOGRAPHIC

DEMOGRAPHIC

A Lesson by Domenic Luciani
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Who are you selling to?

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This question has been relevant since the dawn of literature, from the ancient Egyptians to Thoreau to J.K. Rowling. It may not be a big deal to someone sketching out a poem that will never see the light of day, but for the vast majority of those reading this who hope to one day have a legitimate writing career, it is essential.
For those still coping with a middle school-level education, a demographic is basically your target audience. Like the description says, who are you selling to? Are you calling your novel something along the lines of a young adult fiction, yet the storyline caters primarily to middle-aged single women, congratulations you have missed your demographic by a very wide margin. Hitting your demographic is like a gun duel. You hit it just right, and everybody's happy and you live to fight another day. Miss, and hope that the only repercussion is that you get kicked out of town.
So what do you do? First off, don't start writing until you know who you're writing for. Are you going to give to your friends? Your parents? Your little cousin? Teenagers like action, a storyline they can follow, and characters they can understand. That's why books like Pendragon, Harry Potter, and the Percy Jackson books are so popular with teens, and ones like Wicked and Da Vinci Code go largely unappreciated. Adults like more intelligent books with more details and facts. Even adult fiction usually has some sort of realistic foundation, whereas teen fiction can basically do whatever it hell it wants and be widely accepted. Middle-aged women are usually into cheesy romance novels. I mean come on, who's mother or grandmother doesn't have a stash of romance novels somewhere in their house. obviously this isn't a universal truth; some kids are walking around with a Dan Brown book under their arms and some adults have the complete Harry Potter series hidden away in their wardrobe or on their nightstand. It's just not enough of a population to have any serious impact.
Publishers and agents want to know that you have taken serious consideration to who your selling to because it's more or less their job to know, so if you have any intention to sell your book, you had better have a better answer than "anybody willing to pay". It's unprofessional and any agent not working out of the back alley of a burger king will see you as an amateur.

Take your time and consider every aspect of your work from beginning to end, post and pre-published. Know your audience. Have fun.


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Posted 12 Years Ago


ugh i am not really thinking of publishing yet just writing a good story. and i love the harry potter books and your right they are a good example of an author who knows who shes writing for.

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Posted 12 Years Ago


I tend to find this very helpful. Writers always MUST know who their audience is. Because if they don't, they're writing for the wrong reasons (even if they are.) Because if they don't have a chosen audience before writing the novel, series, short story, etc. they won't get very far.

For my small poetry book I wrote, I targeted teens that can understand, agree with, appreciate and know everything about the poems I've written. Of course there have been some adults that bought my poem book, but without the chosen audience, it will never sell like I want it to.
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Domenic Luciani
Domenic Luciani

Buffalo, NY



About
That is my real name, and that is really me in the picture. Like Patrick says, I'm not in the witness protection program. I mostly write books and stories. I like fantasy, or fiction, but if..
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