[Writerpreneur] Day 18 - Lesson 0302: The Choice of a Reader Ensures Your Story is Read
The second choice any successful author makes is their reader. Do you write for a single person?
“Books are written to be read.” That is true of any story or article, printed or digital.
The successful writer always has a reader in mind, even though that may be just one person - or even the writer himself.
Many of our well-known classics and modern works were written to please a single person only. Some of our best lyric poems were intended for a single reader - like love letters.
Lewis Carroll wrote Alice in Wonderland for a single girl’s pleasure.
It’s quite possible to write a masterpiece for one reader - and often enough, these books become widely popular once they are printed.
This is because there are certain solid advantages in writing for a single reader when the writer knows them well.
Interest is the foremost problem in writing. When the reader becomes disinterested, they quit reading. And that wastes all the effort of that writer. No matter how much effort the writer has put into that book, it will remain unread.
Any author’s success must start with considering his reader.
The next task is to form a clear concept of that reader he wants to interest.
Only a few beginning writers have given any thought to this. They haven’t tried to select or even imagine the exact reader and how to interest them. And so that novice handicaps himself before leaving the starting gate.
The reader is actually the writer’s closest collaborator. Neither of them can continue along that line until each understands the level of comprehension and sympathy to expect from each other.
So we must next choose our reader. The simplest approach to this is to read contemporary works. In such a study, begin with popular magazines. These are targeting definite tastes and geographic areas that we are familiar with.
A magazine’s editor can’t afford to publish random works. The circulation has to be maintained, or he loses his job. So he’ll make sure he knows what pleases the readers and includes nothing which may repel or offend them.
The editor has to be definite in his choices, because his readers have definite requirements.
Authors can learn to understand that magazine’s readers through a thorough study of past issues. As they read each issue from cover to cover, they discover the boundaries of the reader’s tastes, as well as new trends and demands the public is making.
For the better you know your reader, the better you’ll be able to please them. And if you can please one reader, then you can please many similar readers.
And so ensure they read your writing to its end.