What’s harder than producing an article or book by yourself? Writing it to someone else’s specifications and standards.
I often get questions about the content and length of books and articles: “Should I include expert comments in my book? A bibliography? An Index? A glossary? An Introduction? Etc?” “What length is a typical article? Where should I submit it?”
If you are working with an editor, agent or publisher on a book, they will pretty much direct the project. If you want to be published, there will be no slacking. You will find a way to gather and include all of the amenities they ask for, no matter how difficult or complicated. If you are working on an article, you really must figure out which magazine you are aiming for in order to meet their standards and fulfill their author guidelines. So, again, you are writing to satisfy someone else. Not what you thought writing was about, is it?
But your ultimate goal, if you want to be published, is pleasing your audience—your readers. And you should have them in mind throughout the process of writing and embellishing your article of book project.
When you aren’t sure what direction to take your manuscript, think about your audience. Anytime you feel stumped, defer to your audience—what would they want? How can you reach them? How can you best help them? What do they need from you that you can provide?
It is your responsibility as a writer to bring your readers what they crave in the way of information, guidance and/or entertainment. And you can only do this is you know your audience and if you keep them in mind as your write.
Today, when you sit down to write a portion of your fiction or nonfiction book or you begin to work on your article or short story, bring to mind your audience. For nonfiction, imagine members of your audience reading this. How do you think it comes across to them? Can they understand what you are presenting? Is it clear? Is this the type of information they want/need? Are you responding to all of their questions? Can you back up your statements with credible research or expert quotes? Is your material organized in such a way that it is easy to follow?
For fiction, is your story believable? Does it flow naturally? Do your characters come across as real? Will readers find it easy to relate to your story and your characters? Is the direction of your story unpredictable? Is the writing fresh and reader-friendly?
There’s certainly a lot to think about when you decide to write something for publication. And the mistake many authors make is that they write more for themselves (“this is what I think the world needs to read,” “I want to get my story published no matter what it takes”) than they do for others. And this can be a giant mistake.
Today, evaluate your purpose for writing what you are writing and your reason for writing it. I’d like to know what you discovered.
Visit my websites to see what Patricia Fry and Matilija Press have to offer.
http://www.patriciafry.com
http://matilijapress.com