Just who is my ideal reader? It could be you.


Welcome back to another blog hop, with #OpenBook. Here’s this week’s prompt.

Don’t forget to click the link to see what everyone else has to say on this week’s subject. It’s at the end of my post.


Do you envision a particular reader when you’re crafting your stories?


Due to my participation in the NaNoWriMo challenge, I’m keeping this post short. The good news is that I’m nearly done for this year.


I must admit that I don’t, although I really suppose that I ought to. At the end of the day, I’m grateful for any reader, no matter who they are or where they come from. If they leave a review, even better.


When I set out to type what the voices in my head tell me, I don’t even know what will appear on the page, never mind who might be interested in reading it.


Because I have ended up writing in a number of very different genres, it’s hard to decide exactly who my typical reader is. I suppose I have several, depending on whether it’s Sci-fi, Steampunk, Psychological Thrillers, Cozy Crime, etc. etc.

It makes marketing my catalogue (over 25 titles) a bit of a nightmare, because a lot of the usual strategies that people use either don’t apply or you have to do them multiple times, one for each genre.

Which is a huge time suck.  

I tried writing multi-genre stories but instead of doubling my audience, it seemed to do the opposite and alienate both sets of potential readers.

Another thing I hoped would happen was that people would read one of my stories and then try another, maybe even in a different genre. This also seems not to happen.

Of course, it could just be that the books aren’t very good? But we won’t go there.


I digress.

I guess my ideal reader would have to be someone like me, someone who isn’t fixated on one genre, who likes realism and fact-based science, as well as action.

A reader who is willing to accept something out of the mainstream and isn’t desperate to have a long series to read.

Someone who is quite happy to enjoy stand-alone novels or short series.


If you know someone like that, please point them in my direction.


What do you think about this week’s subject?

Let me know by leaving me a comment.


While you’re here, please click the InLinkz link to check out what my fellow writers have to say about this week’s topic.


Until next time.



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8 Responses

    • Richard Dee

      Write what you know, or about what you love, I guess. Of course, you can’t know the future, only your version of it.

  1. Snapdragon

    I think the way publishers market books now a days makes it harder for authors to write across genres. However, there are people that do read widely across genres. Their out there somewhere.

    • Richard Dee

      I’m stuck with whatever ideas I get. They can be in any genre, or several. I love never knowing what I’m going to write next.

  2. P.J. MacLayne

    I’ve heard marketing gurus claim you should have a different pen name for each genre. can you imagine the amount of time you’d spend trying to do publicity?

    • Richard Dee

      A friend of mine does that. She has three different personae to juggle and wishes she’d never bothered trying to keep them separate

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