The target market
for one of my pen names
is a niche reader.
This niche is large enough
to make me very happy sales-wise.
I enjoy writing in it
but my creativity is greatly restricted.
The niche has defined expectations.
I don’t vary from those expectations
much
because that would make
the readers unhappy
and I’m writing those stories
for them.
I have another pen name
whose target market is me.
It is my vanity pen name,
my indulgence.
I don’t expect it to make
vast amounts of money
because I don’t plan
to buy my own books.
I write whatever I want
under that pen name.
“If you shipped it to the world
(or even showed it
to a colleague)
it might be because
you liked it.
You made it for yourself.
But if your music,
your graphic design,
your website
–whatever your work is–
isn’t resonating
with the market,
it might be because
you forgot
to make it for them.”
If you design a product
purely for yourself,
don’t expect to have
many more customers
than that.