Who's not your reader?

[Nik]

When thinking about the prospective audience, which may have interest in your stuff, it's sometimes easier to define who shouldn't touch it rather than who should.
In the context of my own books, anyone for whom more than 1 Russian name in the book is too much or who can't stand profanity, probably is not 'my' reader -:)
Does your stuff appeal to the broadest possible readership or can you think of people who might enjoy it a little less?

[Philip]

My thriller trilogy has sex, violence and complexity that may won't like. Many readers do not read sci-fi regardless of the story. My most popular book, after people have read it, puts people off because its about a virus only of course it is not.

Getting people to read outside their normal genre is quite hard. GR members are not your average reader.

To answer the thread question most people are not my reader (judging by sales) but I doubt that has anything to do with the type of book. There are more than enough in specific genres.

One last element. My wife hates one of the early chapters in one of my books. She stopped reading it so sometimes a specific part of a book may stop a reader rather than the whole thing.

[Leonie]

People who don't like spec fic should probably avoid my stuff. Or cat haters :)

[[deleted user]]

I would not counsel my novels to religious bigots, racists and mysoginists, as my books tend to reflect my atheist and humanist outlooks on life. I am also quite pro-feminist and most of my main characters are women. I hate racists and religious fanatics with a passion and those types don't tend to fare well in my novels.

[Ian]

I try to avoid obvious things readers might hate, but I try to add a touch of science to my fiction. I try to be at least partially realistic regarding physics, although I am happy to put in things that don't exist, but could in theory. So if you have no interest in the world around you, and you can't stand logic, you should avoid my novels.

My scientific books are somewhat different. My book "Guidance Waves" should be avoided by anyone who has not got some knowledge of physics, at least to the level of analytical dynamics, and my book on planetary formation should be avoided by anyone who has not got sufficient time or background to follow a rather complicated scientific argument. I think my book entitled "Biofuels" is adequate for most to follow, though.