Who are we writing for?
(David)
The question appeared somewhere last week and I’ve been letting my thoughts about it simmer gently on the back burner since then. This is my take.
I write what I love for people who love what I write.
Does that sound corny? Possibly, but it’s true for me. I write for the joy of it. I’m too long in the tooth in terms of both age and book industry experience to be worrying if people might not like what I produce.
I don’t need money from book sales to eat and warm my house. My war pension covers that, not lavishly but sufficiently. Book sales give me pocket money which I use for, well, for buying books. 
People who don’t like the books I write or the way I write them don’t need to read them. And I don’t need to care what they think.
Does this sound passive aggressive? Possibly, to some ears. I don’t feel it is but I have no control over how my words sound to those who might be offended by my views, language, grammar, or style.
People who would prefer me to write things their way instead of mine are welcome to write their own books. Again, not passive aggressive. Just saying honestly how I feel about this. Constructive critique is welcome in my world if I have invited it. Whether or not it suits my style, etc. I will still think upon it.
Slagging off me or my work is a pointless endeavour because it simply won’t penetrate my force field.
So, again, who is my audience?
People who love what I write. Love is all we need.
(Nimue)
I often have a few specific people in mind when I’m writing. I find it a helpful focus, and I reckon if I can think of three or four people who might like what I’m doing, there’s a decent chance a few other people will, too. I’m very much thinking about what the Pagan community might need someone to write about when I’m working on books. For blog posts, I’m either writing in response to the question ‘what do I know now that I did not know before’, writing in response to something someone else has written, or writing with a specific person in mind.
I write the things I could have done with in the past. My Druidry and Meditation book has in it the things I could have done with someone telling me when I first started exploring meditation. I’ve written nonbinary characters and polyamorous characters because I’ve needed more fiction with that kind of rep. I’m aware that the witchlit audience is often women in their middle and senior years who want to see themselves in the characters they read, so that’s informing some of what I’m working on at the moment.
I’ve never written for market trends. You can only be running to catch up when you do that. I’ve never tried to write for everyone. I don’t really think it’s possible, and that trying to do it tends to result in bland and generic things. The books that catch wide audiences were most often written with a specific audience in mind, and I think it’s better to go that way.
Like David, I’m very relaxed about the idea that my books aren’t for everyone. It makes me happy to know that there are people who like what I do. If one person likes something I’ve written, it was worth me having written it. And on a not-unrelated note, the anthology Pagan Planet, which I organised and edited, has sold over a thousand copies as of this month.
