Who is your target audience?

[king-goldfish]

I think it's worth considering who your target audience is, not so that you can modify your story to cater to a specific demographic, but so you can figure out where to most effectively promote your story. Different demographics hang out different places—I wouldn't advertise my gritty, old-school, Conan-style blank and pillage fantasy to a group of tween girls on Tumblr (or wherever the fuck kids hang out now. Roblox?). I did not publish my novel on Royal Road because I heard the folks over there will review-bomb BL stories, and at least at the time I was researching it, they didn't have an LGBT tag.

That said, I still think I'm trying to find my target audience. I thought it would be queer teen girls at first because that's who I thought read BL. Actually, all of my readers are older than that (at least as far as the readers I know) and not all of them are women.

I don't think I'm doing a great job of reaching my target audience. I'm not really sure of a demographic anymore, so I'm not sure where to go to find more of them! It's something I think about a lot, and I try to follow people writing in a similar genre to see what they do... But honestly I'm so deep into this I'm not even sure what's a comp for me and what's not anymore lol.

[vfaqvrf]

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[king-goldfish]

lmao you need to do this and report back—if you don't get consumed by the tweens and their Roblox game of thrones

[vfaqvrf]

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[Gdhgj]

I used to have the same doubt of who my audience was until I started to check the metrics in Wattapd and Inkitt when I used to post there. And for my surprise the majority of readers where women older than 25 and even 65 years old. That went the same for my mm sport college romance and the omegaverse. I thought my audience on my mm sport college romance story would be in the younger side since the character all were between 21-23 years old since I mostly my characters are not younger than 27, but I was wrong. Also all the booktookers that promote MM all of them are around my age in their late 20s and 30s. So as far now that's why I focus in writing Mature and character driven stories.

[vfaqvrf]

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[king-goldfish]

Oh that's cool that you can look at demographics like that on those platforms. I'm just vaguely feeling it out based on readers I have talked to. Which is probably not the best way to get accurate statistics lol.

If it's mostly older people, maybe I should start advertising on Facebook... Head down to the nearest retirement home with some flyers

[vapidink]

According to Wattpad metrics, women 18-35 primarily from the US, India and the Philippines. I write mostly BL, but I've also written in a lot of other genres and people seem to not mind checking out those stories as well.

I don't really do much to reach them other than what anyone else does, which is using social media and sometimes the forums. Mostly, I like to share art or my characters. Tbh, I don't do a lot of promo because I'm bad at it and I kinda hate it, lol. I've been very fortunate to find people who enjoyed my stories and recommended them, so that's helped!

Honestly though, I never think about my target audience. I'm the target audience until I start making the kind of money I can live off of and even then it's iffy. If I don't find enjoyment in my stories then it's not worth writing them and I never started writing expecting to make money off of it.

[Rowan_Lane]

Queer women and men who watched supernatural and were pissed that Destiel didn't become canon. ,3

[Gdhgj]

No, that's one perfect way! I have a few old readers that I became friend of them that they always gave me insight of what they like and we share even TBR books. And dang, don't made me laught with the home retirement flyers 🤣

@BreeBaxter Not the ghost cougars! 🤣 LMAO

[Caro]

Honestly I’ve been creating comics full time for a few years and never really thought about my demographic. Most of my followers are on Instagram so I get metrics from there that I only check every once in a blue moon. I’ve noticed when I was more focused on a closer to teen comic my demo was more young women ages 18-24 but now that I’m making a more adult oriented comic its gone to women age 25-34.

The only time I’ve thought about my demo was when specifically trying to make work closer to all ages and less mature content but it didn’t really change how I market anything since I always just try to cast a wide net when it comes to finding an audience. I guess that’s less true nowadays since I post less online but it was true once

[KevinReijnders]

If you advertise externally, someone may even read your story, but they won't register on a site they don't use regularly just for that reason

I've actually had a lot of people do just that for Trespasser, on both Tapas and Webtoons

So, saying that you post here as a hobby doesn't seem to make sense.

Why not? I like sharing the work I make with the people I know. Tapas and Webtoons are tailor made for hosting comics, so I use them for that and share a link to my work in my social circles. I have no greater ambitions with Trespasser than to grow myself as an artist and a writer. Everything else that I gain from it is a nice extra.

As for the rest of your statement, to me it just reads like you're expecting me or other people to strictly follow genre conventions. But to me that's just cookie cutter and boring. You'll never really know if your work appeals to other people, until you actually share it with others. The best way to then go about it is to write and create with passion, to make something you yourself would like to read or watch first and foremost. You and your tastes are now wholey unique and you'll definitely find folks who want to read more of your work. At least, that's how my experience has been so far.

So many of the best stories defy genre conventions are were just their creators making a thing they loved. Star Wars was George Lucas mixing and matching the movies and shows from his childhood into a single piece of fiction, using the hero's journey as a blueprint. His Dark Materials follows a 12 year old girl in a story for young adults with themes fit for the adult section.

The one caveat being that you need the skill to execute your ideas. A skilled writer/artist can get away with pretty much anything.

[anon51195540]

@KevinReijnders The fact that many people post on the site as a hobby doesn't change my opinion, because everyone does what they feel like doing, and although that doesn't make sense to me, you don't need to justify yourself.

And man, you completely misunderstood the intention of my topic:

I don't want to impose on you a way of thinking, acting or making any demands on you. I just wanted to make a healthy topic, where people could help each other by sharing advice on how to attract an audience; Thinking that I want to dictate your actions is quite presumptuous of you, what you do is not my problem.

The topic is aimed at people who publish and who have something to add about how to reach their target audience. Your first comment was valid and welcome in the thread, but now, you're just trying to validate your private view and that's really annoying. And I don't intend to stay here arguing so that in the end I can say: "hahah look how right I am and how intellectual I am", I really have no interest or time for that.

In the topic, I ask for the opinion of people who think differently than me; if you think that focusing on a target audience is useless, great, you've already given your opinion! But don't force it on me or want to discourage others. This place isn't Twitter (or at least I don't think it is).

I hope you interpret this answer correctly, because I don't want to offend you or attack your morals, I just want to say that: if you don't agree with the topic of the post, give your opinion and take your own direction, instead of turning this into a boring debate. The purpose of the post is to help authors leverage their audience, if you are not interested in this and have no advice to give, why are you still commenting?

I recommend that you try to understand that not all of us share your goals; if you don't want to attract an audience, there are those who do; clashing with the actions of others will only waste your time and that of anyone who proposes to debate with you. In the same way that you have the right to post here for fun, we have the right to want something more than that.

Either way, be at peace; I really don't want to turn this into a debate or generate enmity.

[KevinReijnders]

Now you're misunderstanding me.
My reply does offer insight, in that you shouldn't try to follow genre conventions or what you think xyz demographic might enjoy.

If you write and create with passion your story has a higher chance to appeal to an audience, instead of going by commity on your own work.

If you're looking for discoverability, then well it's kinda luck of the draw. Play by tapas' rules and use their format. Post links, everywhere that'll allow it.

[anon51195540]

Ok, @KevinReijnders . Now let anyone who is really interested in adding to the post comment.

[KevinReijnders]

Hey, at least it keeps the thread alive

[vfaqvrf]

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[Stargazer31]

I also write mainly for the female gaze, both straight and LGBTQ. I'm sure that other people can enjoy my work, but I primarily write for them. Probably helps that a lot of my cast is female, Gunhild is a lesbian and Loki is gender fluid

[Heidifisk]

I'll be a bit of an outliner since I was writing for mostly a male audience since they tend to not be targeted as much for webcomics.

(Not a bad thing, just figured I'd find more of a niche.)

[Amalockh1]

My target audience is anybody who wants to read my story.
Everyone is invited to participate and give their suggestions for the plot:

Read Jack and the Beanstalk | Tapas Web Community

Content wise, it's pretty much G-rated stuff, so anyone could read it.