Finding Your Target Audience
I would be lying to you if I didn't admit that one of your first acts as a writer feels as if you are throwing out a wide net into the vast unknown. Even if you establish a strong Author Platform (website, blog, social media, and so on), you need to know the target audience you are aiming all of these efforts towards.
Let's consider some things:
What is your genre?: Before you do anything else, this is what you need to decide. What genre does your book fall under? And believe it or not, this is much harder to determine than you would think. What is even more interesting is that you could think you know your genre, but in fact, after market research and beta testing, it could fall under something completely different.
What are readers in your genre showing interest in?: A quick and easy search on social media such as Twitter or Instagram of your genre will give you some useful hashtags and similar books. This is going to allow you to narrow down your search and start to develop some marketing ideas.
What other authors write in your genre?: Make sure you research other authors in your genre and take some pointers from what they are doing. Are they reaching out to readers directly? What demographics are they reaching? (age, gender, occupation, education, and life experiences.) What do their social media posts look like?
Once you have made sure to do your research about your genre's market, try to think of three people you know who would fit inside your Target Audience. Are you writing for a 40-year-old man who enjoys military politics combined with action/adventure? Or are you writing for a 25-year-old woman who dreams of finding mister right and wants to read about a woman living this exact dream? Who in your life would enjoy reading your storyline in your chosen genre? These are the people you often want to test your work on. Work this to your advantage and get some feedback.
Here are some examples for Target Audience:
Children's Picturebook: Readers aged from birth to 8 years old who enjoy shorter storylines with visuals.
Young Adult Adventure: Readers ages 13 to 18 years old who enjoy storylines with characters who endure grand adventures and travel to places they couldn't.
New Adult Contemporary Romance: Readers ages 18 and over who enjoy storylines set in today's world with a focus on uncommon but plausible romantic situations.
In the End
Take the time and effort to determine your target audience. Without them, who is there to read your story? I promise that the payoff will be well worth it.