Why do you write?

Have you asked yourself this question? Have you agonised over the question?

 

It's worth spending some time thinking about this question and about your answer.

 

It will help you to be a more successful writer, if you are confident you know why you write.

 

Most people who write do so first for themselves. They write for enjoyment. They write because they want to satisfy a desire in themselves. They may write for any number of other reasons, but they write for themselves first.

 

There's nothing wrong with writing for yourself, if you're prepared to accept that you might be writing for an audience of one.

 

If you aim to earn money from your writing, then you need to think differently. You need to think first about the people who are going to pay you. You need to make sure you write for them. You also need to make sure you write the sort of things they want to read.

 

Many writers, and especially those who are likely to be both disappointed and frustrated in their efforts to achieve commercial success, write for themselves and then look for a market where they hope they will find people's interests are in tune with their own.

 

They hope that somewhere there will be an audience of like-minded people waiting for them. 

 

If you are really looking for commercial success, you need to seek out a market first. You then need to consider how you will address that market's interests, needs, hopes and fears.

 

Only then is it time to think about what you are actually going to write.

 

I'm a businessperson who writes so I spend a lot of time thinking about my audience. I define my audience carefully. I think about individual members of that audience. I think about what they like, what they do and what they want to know more about.

 

It helps me to get published more often, so I know that this is a path worth following. 

 

See my blog: http://margaretadams.wordpress.com for more posts on subjects similar to this one..