Who is My Ideal Reader?
Author Blogging Challenge picked a great prompt for today. Who is my target reader? Who is my ideal customer? I think many writers (any kind of writer) ignore this question too often.
This concept was so overwhelming at first. I thought I should just try to market to everyone. It turns out marketing to the entire planet is harder than it sounds. 
Narrowing down to an ideal reader is better for you and them. The more details the better, think like a sketch artist.
Who is on my Reader Most Wanted poster?
Demographics: Gender, Age, Education, etc.
My ideal reader is a fiction author blogger, who is comfortable with computers and blogging (but not necessarily an expert). The first half of my book appeals to women and the second half more so to men. They are probably 25-55 years old. Location and education is not completely relevant, an English speaker.
How will they find me?
My readers are most likely going to find me on Twitter or through some of my old crafting channels (like Ravelry and CreatingTheHive). I also need to give Goodreads more attention.
What are their values? How will they use my book?
They value creativity, expanding on their work, and growing their book’s genre by supporting readers and other indie authors. My book will be used to save them time and build their confidence by creating a sustainable author platform.
What about my book will appeal most to my readers?
I feel the strength of my book is its supportive voice and no-nonsense approach. I don’t wax poetic about my personal philosophy. I get to the point; include a huge list of blog writing prompts, and other fun stuff to try.
How will I market to them?
This is so hard for me. I hate marketing. It still feels icky. But I know I gotta do it so…I tweet, blog, chat on Facebook, join blogathons, write and do my best to support indie authors. I try to keep up and keep in the loop my readers to new toys they can use to market their books. I look for helpful articles to fill my Twitter stream. I blog about solutions to problems I notice authors having.
Want a quick and dirty way to paint up your ideal reader? Model them after a real customer. One who adores and supports you already.
Now what?
Not only have I narrowed down who I am looking for, I have defined who I am not looking for. I can stop trying to market to those people. I will spend more time on what’s working and dump what’s not. I will go over my social media to-do list and permanently mark off the non-performers. I will shower my ideal readers with praise and assistance.
And then I will go have a bacon ice cream sundae. Cause that’s how I roll. 
Your turn, what is the hardest part about finding your ideal reader?
This entry was posted by in Creative Business, Writing Musings and tagged ABCChallenge, Biz.
I pretty much write for myself, so I have the challenge of finding a whole bunch of other…”me’s”. Some days it’s easy. Other days…not. =D
Great post, Babe, lots of good pointers in here!
Steven Montano recently posted..Something Black Release Giveaway, and the Guild of Dreams
Your books should be required reading for all.
My ideal reader is someone who loves my stories, never questions me, and won’t leave negative reviews about my books. HA!
But seriously now. I actually don’t know the answer to that. That’s why I use my blog as a tool to find the readers. My blog isn’t exactly a blog. It’s an entertainment place, so potential readers can see that what I’ve got on my blog is what they’re going to get in my books. We’ll see if it’s effective in a few months.
Jen, your (blog) writing is for mature (owns a healthy sense of humor and self – no sparkles), educated, video gamer, movie watching, nerds. Probably kid-less children on the 80′s; your writing has a great mix that appeals to men and women. It has great heart with a smarmy voice.
You rock! Share more of your writing with the world and watch the readers roll in. =D
Kid-less children of the 80′s? Not sure how to feel about that assessment. Maybe I should reevaluate my approach. LOL
I may be projecting. LOL
Added – I am curious, who are your ideal readers?
Bacon ice cream sundae… hmm… Not so sure I’d be into that, but maybe
I like the way you suggest I take a fan and create an ideal audience out of them. But I don’t have any adoring fans (yet). So, we shall see 
Great post today. WRITE ON!
Jo Michaels recently posted..Target Market
The bacon sundae was all hype. It’s not nearly as scary as it sounds. LOL
I’m still not sure of my target reader for fiction, but since I’m still figuring out what I want to write, that’s probably okay. I tend to agree with Steven and Jen, though… writing for someone like me, who’ll love what I do. That’s guaranteed to give me, what? An audience of one
By the way, I found you through Facebook and am glad I did. Thanks for these posts.
Janet Sketchley recently posted..Review: The Soul Saver, by Dineen Miller