What's in a Reader or This is Not the Audience I Imagined

Readers come in all shapes and sizes.  When you write, the common mantra is not to just write what you know but to also write for the audience you imagine will read your work.  I don't know that I've ever truly determined who my audience would be.  I've written song lyrics, plays, short stories, non-fiction, memoirs, mysteries, business writing, essays, ads, you name it, and of course poetry.  With all those different kinds of writing that brings different kinds of readers.

Recently I did a poetry reading and wrote a family friendly poetry book with poems all about my local area.  That has brought me a whole different kind of audience that I'd never considered before - local readers! 

Finding local readers is usually suggested when you're looking at marketing ideas for whatever it may be that you are selling.  However, I never would've dreamed that the local part of my latest works ("Only in LA (LA Poems)" and "Traveling with Fish") would stir up such a wide range of interest.  I now have readers that span from elementary school students, to middle school to young adults, adults and seniors!  Not only am I selling more books than ever, I'm reaching all sorts of people with my works. 

I never imagined I would find such a diverse readership.  I think most of the time my readers were fellow poets like myself for the most part. 

I am very happy to discover that my local works have been able to reach so many different people beyond fellow writers.  After all, I don't necessarily write for my work to be read - I write because I have to - but it's a good feeling to have it read and written work is ultimately meant to be read.

So the next time you imagine your audience when you write, go big, go broad, imagine every kind of reader you'd ever want and then go for it.  Now get to writing, your readers are waiting!