I have edited a number of first-time writers, and when I ask them, “Who is your audience?” most of them say, “The general reader.” Of course, such an answer is much too vague.
When I copyedited a novel about the competition among student violinists at a fictional Conservatory based in Chicago, the author knew exactly who his audience was.
They consisted of literary readers who are familiar with composers, especially those who write for the violin. The author would need to only mention Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D Major, and his audience would immediately recognize it. The same with Mendelsohn’s.
But when I copyedited a long and meandering nonfiction book, the writer’s audience wasn’t as precise as the novelist’s. Sometimes the writer’s book was a self-help manual; at other times, it was an autobiography.
For example, the writer sometimes demonstrated the efficacy of a certain kind of exercise.
At other times, he recounted his participation, along with his friends, in various ultramarathons and his reactions after winning and placing in them.
So the writer’s audience was two-fold:
Readers who wanted to know how to performs certain exercises with efficacy.
Readers who had an abiding interest in the writer’s life story.
So when I find further editing clients, my first question before I start the editing process will be:
“Who is your audience?”