Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Meeting Reader's Needs

Meeting the needs of readers is a writer's single most important mission. This is accomplished in many, many, many ways. Some writers write for themselves and by default serve the reader's needs. Some writers write for the market and thereby meet the needs of the reader. Some writers write specifically to meet the needs of the reader. Stephen King said he writes with an "Ideal Reader" in mind. Whatever your chosen path in the writing of your content, remember the all important mission, meeting the reader's needs.

A bit of a case study here: Jay Thurston wanted to write his newest book Out of the Rainbow when he was 11-years-old. He waited until he was in his 70s to write it. He wrote it because he needed to tell his story and he needed to tell his story to middle school kids and he wanted to give them happiness. As Waller Wampus says, "Happiness is all I have to give." Yesterday we received a call from a man in Denver who bought three copies of OOTR because he hoped to, "get his grandkids off the computer for a while."

Jay, in meeting his need to write, in meeting his need to give happiness to middle school kids, met the need of a grandpa in Denver. How cool is that?

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