Who Do YOU Write For?

By Michael Drew - Jan 09 , 2008

Most writers write for themselves. But the best writers write for their audiences. Which one of these blocks do you reside on?

Writing for oneself is like writing with tunnel vision. Self-writers always communicate from the same perspective (their own) in a voice, progression, and structure that is pleasing to them. It’s not that they don’t realize they are writing to an audience—they do. They just happen to think everyone in that audience makes decisions and processes information exactly like they do.

The best writers are much more flexible than that. They like to present material from four distinctively different perspectives to give themselves a shot at appealing to the various preferences that exist in every audience. Why four? Because, since the days of Hippocrates, human behavior experts have been lumping us into one of four temperaments. The names of these temperaments change depending on the expert, but for the sake of this post I’ll use the Myers-Briggs/Keirsey terms of spontaneous, methodical, competitive, and humanistic.

By the way, my colleague Jeff Sexton just wrote a magnificent article linking the four temperaments to the Sex in the City gals to Cosmopolitan magazine headlines. Read it and you will quickly realize that Jeff lives on the “best writers” block.

Spontaneous audience members are all about action. Stimulate them quickly or they are off in search of something more exciting. Methodical types want to see that there is a detailed process. Just try to bore them to death with details, I dare you. Competitive sorts are looking for holes in your logic. Be sure to substantiate your claims with these folks or you will lose all credibility with them. And those Humanistic souls out there are just looking for an excuse to like you. Let them know who you are and what you stand for, and you’ll have made a friend for life.

So what do you think? Do you write for yourself, or do you write for your audience? Understand who they are and speak to them in the manner they prefer. They can do far more for you than you could ever do for yourself.

And if you don’t yet have an audience, publish a book and create one. Getting your name in print is not nearly the almost impossible feat it used to be, what with computers and all.

Questions about writing for your audience may be directed to Michael R. Drew at the Austin, Texas, headquarters of Promote A Book: 512-858-0040. You can also contact Michael via email at michael@promoteabook.com.

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