Who is Your Audience?

I was asked this question often while I was writing A Better Life. From friends and potential readers, it was mostly out of curiosity about what kind of book I was writing and who I thought my audience would be. I wasn’t sure; I just wanted to tell the story as well and as true as I could.

The question took on more importance when it came from potential agents as I began sending out my completed manuscript. As a first-time author, it felt a bit pretentious to say that it would appeal to a wide range of people. Agents want their authors to know their target audience. When I had to put it into a category, I said it was “Women’s Fiction,” but that never felt right. I wanted the work to speak for itself and not be restricted to a particular label.

It has been almost a month since A Better Life was published, and as of today, 90 copies have been sold. I am beyond pleased that a wide variety of people — women and men, from their 20’s to their 80’s, have purchased the book and I have had much positive feedback. I believe my audience is turning out to be people who enjoy and are moved by the story and the writing, not because they belong to a particular group, but just because they are human. I couldn’t ask for a better audience.