By tribe, I mean what's your target readership, those who think like you do, will be eager to buy your books, and even propel you to fame? An online newsletter I read a month or two ago (have since cancelled it) encouraged writers not to please editors and publishers by catering to the masses. Instead, find those who share your passions. As soon as they read your work, they will be enthralled by it and will easily forgive any mistakes you make along the way. What is your tribe? How many people are potentially interested in your work? My goal is rather limited. Of the seven billion people on this planet, I only seek to eventually attract ten thousand loyal readers. If I can make an average ten dollars off each of them a year through books, monetizing a blog, etc., I can make a good living. Sure, becoming famous is a dream of mine, but realistically, who wants the glare of publicity? I can deal with it if I have to, but prefer a more quiet and easier life. From now on, I simply won't bother listening to the opinions of those who are not like me or don't want to change to become more like me. I am not going to bang my head against the wall anymore by trying to fit in and change my writing style just to please their mainstream, standard product type ways. How many people do you believe will ever read your books? Is it worth it to change your writing style just to please the editors, the establishment, and the masses?
I write for like-minded readers. However, I can't put an exact number on it (I think it's a waste of time even thinking about it). To answer your last question, it's not a good idea to change one's writing just to please a group of people. Write what you would want to read, and stick with it. Besides, people's opinions change over time. You can't please everyone all the time.
Hah! Too bad I can't forgive myself for any mistakes I make 'along the way.' I don't think famed writers ever have a problem with that. Maybe Stephen King or Stephanie Meyer, maybe. It's their words we spend hours looking at, not their faces (unlike movie/tv celebrities). Well, I know I'll read my finished draft as least once. That's one so far
EDIT: I'm not sure why I even bothered. You are just going to do whatever you want (which I'm still convinced is trolling us).
Interesting that I stumble across this as I was just pondering this myself on the subway ride home tonight. I suppose my tribe are liked mind individuals looking for something to wrap their minds around. I have no earthly idea how many people i may be affecting but even if it's a couple hundreds I think I'll be completely content.
I've been told that if you try to write for the market, what's in now may be boring and clichéd once your book gets published. That said, it is a good idea to see what people generally want to see. Basic themes, etc. Things they're used to reading. Your job is to tweak them so it sounds like your own story.
My tribe, my antecedents are these rather wonderful creatures - if I might gather the air fare I would swing - as the 'Great white monkey of the Congo.' It is my own moniker, of my own making, and probably I might wear those union jack shorts I received for my birthday, and flip flops aboard the aeroplane, and an AK47 maybe in the hold, at the airport - but once finally arrived in situ I would be free to disrobe, and display. It is a dream of mine, an ambition. Bring the manuscript of course, create fire, teach English traditions, literacy, religions of the world, story-tell among the monkey chiefs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonobo
So anyone who you can't understand or who you disagree with is a troll? Likewise, anyone who honestly believes they are special is also one? Sad, how very sad indeed.
Even though I think that adults could enjoy my work, I write for YA. I like comics and write very cinematically.
I don't think that what the OP proposes is so different from what any writer or producer of any commercial product is trying to do. The problem is that the "tribe" is not conveniently gathered in one location or linked by a special network or language. In reality, they are likely to be scattered all over the globe. The stumbling block is to reach all the this theoretical tribe, make them aware of your work, and convince them that they should pay money in order to do so. This also excludes the problem of language and access. Supposing you write in English, and the majority of your tribe speak Swahili. It is this logistical obstacle that causes most would be authors to crash and burn.
Even though your target audience is only .00014% of the population, are you only going to try to write for them? Or are you writing for yourself and hoping that at least 10,000 people like what you write? While I don't agree with changing your style to fit what is perceived as mainstream, I also don't understand the optimism of taking a small boat into the Pacific and trying to catch a specific fish with a small net.
Is it wrong if I don't overly think of my readers when I write? Sure, I am aware to use small words for youngin's but I stick to comfortable language for everyone in their teens and up unless I need to be technical. My readership is generally, quasi-always, people who enjoy low-fantasy, lore, and character growth. Stories are typically more about human's vs their environment rather than on some epic quest between good and evil. So... whatever label applies to that paragraph of people there. My stories are for whoever enjoys those particular stories, though I rarely delve outside of fantasy and try to stick away from high fantasy (Even though it can be, like, sooo totatally cool and badass)
I am not sure how many people are like this, but here it goes: My target is anyone who loves nominal anti heroes or villain protagonists, enjoys SR or GTA like plotlines, but at the same time likes the supernatural. Someone who loves vampires, werewolves, magic and the like, but wanted something to read besides Harry Potter or Twilight. Someone interested in something new.
Nerds that don't use Bazinga t-shirts I never stopped to really think about it. Maybe my tribe is those people that like to read entertaining action books. Like me
since what i write is mostly all philosophical in nature, i don't write for any 'tribe'... and the market my writings are targeting is all of humankind...
No, anyone who creates threads just to ignore helpful posts that members write and then claims that they just aren't understood because of their intellect is a troll. Your logic skills are very poor for a supposedly 99.8 percentile intellect. We keep telling you that you are being unrealistic. You aren't listening and keep making thinly disguised threads to push back against our ideas.
Yes, my realistic goal is to eventually attract ten thousand loyal readers. In order to do so, however, I will write for much more than that. Some of them may never have the opportunity to be exposed to my work, while some others may read and then reject my message. I am not sure now as to the exact number of my target audience. It could go as high as tens of millions. Many people who agree with my views don't read much, however, so if I can get ten thousand that would meet my minimum needs. The more the better, of course, so if I get a hundred thousand or even a million, I might be on my way to fame and fortune.
So what do you want me to do, folks? Give up my dreams? Just because the vast majority of people lack the intelligence, talent, energy, and drive to succeed as writers, I must lower my sights, be realistic, and settle for being average? No way. Until proven otherwise, I must assume that I am quite special and will do better than anyone else on this forum.
Sure, I would love to spread my own ideas about life to all of mankind. The problem is that few will accept my wisdom or that of any one person for that matter.
Dude, you're basically just repeating the same stuff you've been saying in the last two threads you created. Please please please read what people are actually saying. No one's telling you to give up. All we're doing is telling you to do your research. Look at publishing data, learn how to submit to a publisher, etc. Your constant "I'm special" isn't helping you. Be humble, work hard like the rest of us, and you just might reach your goal.
Just wanted to respond to this: We're not a group of average people who lack talent or dedication. This is a writing forum full of writers. We're here because we do have the drive to succeed. So you're no better than anyone here.
Hmmm, an ego is stuck in the ceiling. As an elf I want to use my bow... Everyone is special and don't at same time. You can be better in poetry, but worse in fantasy. And vice-versa. Even Yoda cannot be better than everyone here.
I kinda like Yoda's writing style. After all, who can forget his infamous opening line? A bright cold day in April it was, and striking thirteen the clocks were.
No! >:[ I will not let this thread suffer the same fate as the previous two. <dives in heroically> *ahem* My target audience/tribe? For now it's mostly young adults/college students. I haven't really stuck to a specific genre yet, though. I think I like to aim for those who like just a good action-adventure story. A story that takes itself seriously, yet at the same time, doesn't think itself the next Lord of the Rings or tries to preach anything. It's just a good story. Don't get me wrong, I do want it to have complex characters and a deep plot, but I'm not fooling myself in thinking I'm writing the next epic, 'cause I'm not. I also don't want to. Also I hope my audience won't mind the stories poking fun at common literature clichés. I have plans in the far, far, distant future to write fiction books for a more adult audience. That's in the far-flung future though.
