Targeting

Before your very first word, your very first outline, even your very first thought of what a story might be, you must decide on a target audience. This may be something that most writers do unconsciously, but it is quickly becoming a vital part of marketing in a very competitive world of money-driven entertainment. Personally, I don’t like to narrow my audience. I work on a strictly PG-13 basis. Maybe even a little bit more toward the PG end, since I don’t use a lot of curse words. This is not due to any moral or ethical idealism on my part, but because, in my view, when you ratchet up the violence, sex and language, you are narrowing your audience.

If you are trying to appeal to a wide audience, as I am, avoiding extremes is probably a good thing.

If, however, you are targeting a specific niche audience, you have to tailor your writing to their tastes. This can be difficult, even if you think you know your audience well. I was astounded once when a reader found A Soul for Tsing too sexually oriented. I don’t think so, but I’d love to hear other opinions.

One writer who has targeted a specific audience successfully and profitably is Anne Rice. I am sure many found her books both morally and spiritually offensive, but her success speaks for itself. On the other hand, I doubt if the Harry Potter books would have done so well if the heat had been turned up past a PG.

Recently, I found an example of changing a target audience in mid-production by twisting the sex, violence and profanity knob up a couple of notches. The recently released horror-thriller Snakes On A Plane was reportedly slated to be a PG-13 release with some action-related violence, profanity and very little in the way of adult theme. Then the public spoke out. With Samuel L. Jackson stepping into the lead role, and refusing to do the movie if they changed the campy title, fans virtually pummeled the producers into cranking out a raunchy, sexy and really spoofy flick. And the producers are laughing all the way to the bank.

The first and last thing to remember is that we, as writers, are really nothing but entertainers; and that goes for the “Great American Novel” just as much as it goes for Cheese Runners. We may be entertaining different audiences, but if they laugh, cry, can’t sleep, become physically ill or are forced to take a cold shower as a result of reading our work, we have succeeded.