Who are you writing for? Who is your target audience in writing? If you're not sure, you're not alone—and discovering your audience will do wonders for your writing.

I teach literature and composition, which means I spend a lot of time helping students with their writing. Many of them want quick ways to make their writing better. They hope I can show them some magic structure that will make writing easier. There’s no such potion.

But there is one tip I share that produces stronger writing almost every time.

Who Are You Writing For?

For many writers, their formal writing instruction gets in the way of their more creative pursuits. In school, too often students are taught to write canned, formulaic essays that will get them through college entrance exams or high stakes testing. “I need to be objective,” one student tells me, “so that people will believe my argument.”

“Which people?” I ask.

The student blinks at me. “I don’t know. You?”

This student stumbled upon the problem with most formal writing instruction: a lack of authentic audience.

(Now listen. I know the world is full of fantastic teachers who are providing relevant and authentic audiences for student writing. But after twenty years of teaching across the U.S. and overseas, I still see too many students stuck in nondescript five-paragraph essay mode, unable to imagine or engage a real audience.)

When You Don’t Have an Audience in Writing

When you aren’t writing for someone specific, it’s easy to be unclear, unstructured, and uncompelling. Who cares if no one is going to see it?

When I had my writers describe their own experiences writing essays, they came up with a good descriptive list that included: complex, boring, irrelevant, formal, stuffy, and highly structured.

Academic and nonfiction writing can be all of these things, but I would argue the best writing isn’t boring or irrelevant. Not if the writer is invested in the topic or subject matter.

So the question becomes, how do I write a stronger essay (or article or story)? And the extended question, how do I let the right amount of personality and voice into my writing to connect?

The answer is the same: Write for a real audience.

A Creative Writing Exercise Around Your Audience

After my student writers described their academic writing, both process and product, I gave them a quick creative writing exercise. They did not have to share it with anyone. My only requirement is to be honest.

The prompt: Think about a relationship in your life right now that has a problem you haven’t been able to solve yet. Write a letter to that person outlining the problem and exploring possible ways forward.

If they can’t think of a relationship problem, I suggest they expand to a local or community problem that doesn’t have a solution.

As students begin, the room is hushed and busy. There is deep thinking going on. Pens hardly leave the pages, and when I call time, there are always those who want to continue.

I ask students how this exercise differed from their own experiences of academic writing. Immediately, students offer marked differences: I cared about this. It mattered. I didn’t get stuck. It was harder to think through what to write for solutions. I found new ideas.

Students discovered the one shift that boosts motivation and the quality of writing quickly: an audience. In this case, just imagining an audience transformed their experience.

The same is true for fiction writers, too. Stephen King is famous for saying that during his first drafts, he writes for his wife. She is his audience.

Writing for a Public Audience

I talked to Joe Bunting about this a few weeks back, and we both agreed that the moment we started writing in public, we saw our writing progress accelerate.

Writing in private has its place, and I still write in notebooks I plan to burn before I die.

But when you begin to imagine someone out there, a reader, who will absorb your words, suddenly, you’re willing to spend the time needed to get a phrase just right. You search for the metaphor that will resonate with your reader. You take the time needed to make sure ideas flow clearly and logically.

If you’ve been stuck and feel like you’ve stagnated in your writing growth, I challenge you to write for an audience and share your work. You can start with one person or publish weekly posts to a blog that you share.

What if I Don't Know My Target Audience?

It's worth some time thinking and researching your target audience and a secondary audience. If you're writing an article or book you'd like published, knowing the intended audience is required.

Some writers want to say a piece of writing is for everyone, but that is almost never the case. (Go check out the one-star reviews of your favorite critically acclaimed novels if you don't believe me.)

When you think about primary audience, consider who cares about the topic or genre. If you're writing nonfiction, look at books or articles like the ones you're writing. Who is reading them? What types of books do they buy or check out at the library? Why are they seeking out this topic? 

For example, if you're writing fitness related content, it's not enough to know that you're writing for a health conscious audience. That's only the first step of audience awareness. If you've ever come across fitness content on social media, you can likely tell who it is specifically geared toward, whether defined by gender, age, body type, economic status, and a host of other factors. 

The articles and videos created for new moms in urban areas with lots of walkable paths and common areas are going be vastly different from the articles and videos created for muscle-bound men who prefer a garage gym or box workout space. Everything from the tone to the content is shaped differently.

If you're writing fiction, identify the genre you're working in. A mystery target audience will expect much different story elements than someone who picks up a western or a romance. 

If you can picture a person in your target audience as you write, you have a much better chance of meeting their expectations and delivering helpful and compelling writing—whether academic or creative. 

Find Your Audience in Writing

With time and practice, you’ll discover that you’ve made remarkable progress. All from writing for an audience. Give it a try and share your experiences in the comments.

Have you found you are more invested in your writing when you know you are going to share it with someone or a wider audience? Let us know in the comments.