When you write a book, initially, you would only want to write a book you would love to read, but the more you dive into the craft and market, you realise you should at least try to cater to your target audience.
And here comes the problem: what is your target audience, how to define it and how do you know you are right? Frankly speaking, I don’t know, but I know how I imagine my ideal reader.
There is no gender preference. Our book can appeal to both men and women, and everybody defines themselves on their own terms. It will be likely a mature person, and when I think mature, I guess 25+ as our books have ZERO teenage, young adult angst. There is no daddy issue, no orphaned children, no “I’m trying to find out who I am” trope. Our protagonists are mature people who know when life throws shit under your feet, you just shrug and walk around it..
Our reader must love humour – nitty-gritty and inappropriate. The type of humour when you bring the barrel of whiskey to the funeral because you know your dead friend would find it absolutely hilarious.
We don’t shy away from occasional cussing because when a hammer drops on your foot, you will very unlikely say “oh dear me” and blush like a pansy.
And there is sex, not fade to black or holding hands in the moonlight. Just NO. It is our own preference. We like books to have mature themes, not straight away and always in relation to the plot, but when it is time for things to become spicy, it burns with passion, kinkiness … and humour. 😋
So our ideal reader is a mature down-to-earth person who loves to laugh, doesn’t take life too serious, knows that shit happens, and consenting adult people get handsy, and even fantasy witches have their problems with tangled hair.
Are you our target reader? Like or comment, so we know such a special unicorn of a book lover exists.