One of the most difficult things that an author has to contend with is finding his target audience. If you are trying to become traditionally published, agents will probably ask you about comparison authors. What they are asking is whether you know about your target audience. Many authors are tempted to think that their books are for ‘everyone’ hence they make fewer efforts to figure out who the book should be sold to.

There is one big problem when an author writes a book that can be sold to anyone. For example, it is harder to sell a book to a general audience than it would be if the audience was specified. Many agents and publishers shy away from books meant for everyone for this very reason. Below are some tips that an author can use to figure out who his/her target audience is.

Figure out which people would enjoy the book

It is very easy for an author to identify the people who might be interested in his book because he knows how the entire story goes. If, for example, an author writes about a scientist who uses a device to tear a hole in the space-time continuum to travel to the far reaches of the galaxy or for time travel, this book is clearly for lovers of science fiction/fantasy. Not all books are this easy to place but authors have to make every effort to categorize their books nonetheless.

Find books similar to yours and identify their main readers

Books are not always going to end up being bought by the audience an author is targeting. To get insight about target markets that might not be clear to an author, he can study the buyers of books that he considers to be similar to his. Authors frequently write books with a particular mindset but when the books start selling, they appeal to totally different people than the authors expected.

Identify your book's signature component

As an author you should be able to summarize your book in a few words that can take the listener into the deepest part of the plot. To do this you must know exactly what makes your plot unique and this knowledge can help you to figure out the type of people who would enjoy reading the book.

Determine some demographics

Every author should use the story he is telling to figure out the specific people that the novel might appeal to. For instance, the author can use his characters and the things they are doing to figure out the audience that would likely enjoy reading the novel.

Combine all the previous tips to narrow down the audience

In order to find the best audience for a particular book, an author should use a combination of the tips mentioned above. An author might find that considering one or two tips gives an audience that is too big to focus on. However, by combining more tips, the author will be able to narrow down to the primary audience and also identify secondary audiences that can be convinced to buy the book.