Writing is a joy that many people keep to themselves, which is fine. You are not obligated to share. However, if you want to make a living as an author, your writing will inevitably end up in public. If you are still in school, it is only a matter of time before you will have to write and speak before an audience, perhaps to deliver an essay.
So, just how influential is your audience in the act of writing?
They Aren’t Just Your Readers
Did you notice how that last sentence was phrased? Your audience is essential when they are reading your work, but they’re just as important during the act of writing. Why?
Are You Getting Through?
A writer’s audience is like a radio. If you don’t get on their frequency, they will not understand you or hear you clearly. Try to “tune in” to your audience before you even begin writing. You can do this by considering several things:
- Their background
Is your audience primarily working-class? They might not identify with writing that addresses people with a corporate background or a privileged childhood. Of course, there are always exceptions, but you’re trying to reach as many people as possible.
- Their needs
What keeps your audience awake at night? What preoccupies them? What are they struggling to address? What could you give them that would help meet their needs?
- Their language
Language is more than just English, Spanish, Chinese, etc. It’s also important to take into account the local dialect and slang. The English spoken by an inner-city high school audience will be different from the English spoken by retirees in senior centers.
- Their likes and dislikes
Never before have people’s interests been out in the open. What you write can elicit strong reactions from readers. This is a good thing if you can navigate your audience’s emotional minefield.
- What they know
Learning is mostly about forming connections between pieces of information. Your audience will try to relate any new information to something they already know. You can make this process easier if you have an idea of their base of knowledge. Similes, metaphors, and short stories will make it easier for your audience to make connections.
- Where they’re from
The rural poor of underdeveloped areas may not fully grasp analogies relating to modern technology. You might love computers and gadgets, but your information might get lost if your audience does not work with them closely.
Sometimes an audience is so diverse that it becomes pointless to focus closely on these factors, but some things apply to all audiences.
I’m Here to Help
If you’re going to go to the trouble of writing for a specific audience, you don’t just want them to read. You want them to be entertained and take something that will survive long after they have finished reading.
Fiction writers have it easy. They don’t have to worry about much except being entertaining. However, if you’re writing nonfiction, things get more complicated.
A Spoonful of Sugar… JUST a Spoonful… Helps the Medicine Go Down
Nonfiction readers are looking for information that is personally helpful and relevant. Your objective is to make that information more alluring than it would be otherwise.
Don’t be watery; your main message will get lost in the fluff. Alternatively, don’t be so blunt that your audience is driven off.
A good writer is a surgeon of ideas. You want your audience to accept new information as painlessly and as smoothly as possible. Performing a transplant – whether of physical organs or new ideas – calls for finesse.
You cannot make clean, painless incisions with blunt instruments like baseball bats. Being blunt might be satisfying for you as a writer, but it can quickly alienate an audience, no matter how beneficial the information you’re sharing.
Never Talk Down to Your Audience
In an age when superstars are made overnight on the internet, it’s easy to lose sight of this fact:
Without an audience, there are no celebrities, no rockstars, and no famous authors. Your audience decides if you become a billionaire author or if you remain unknown and unsold. So don’t put down the people that write your paycheck.
Closing Remarks
If you’re pressed for time and inspiration, you might employ a cheap custom writing service to write the entire work for you, then tweak it at your discretion, so you’re not starting from scratch. Such “ghostwriting” services are more affordable than ever. Individual ghostwriters are easier to find if you want to pay the person instead of a big organization. Keep in mind that anything beyond essays and papers will require you to plan financially. Even cheap rates add up in the writing world.
We never stop learning, and writers are among the people that make learning a joy. By thinking about your audience at all stages of the writing process, you can be the reason that somebody out there is happy to keep growing.
