My Age Should Not Determine My Reading Demographic

I am an author, a freelance copy editor, an Indie publisher of my own works with a never-want-to-be-cured-from addiction to movies and books.  I am also female and a Baby Boomer.  Yet I love James Bond stories (whether on film or on paper), the TV show Burn Notice, the Twilight saga, Jane Austen books and J.D. Robb’s In Death series.  I also never miss an episode of House, M.D. or Lie to Me.

To reiterate:

I am not a man or a spy regardless of the timeframe.

I am not a teenager or a vampire or a werewolf.

I am not a woman living in the early 1800s whose highest vocation is to marry.  And marry rich.

I am not a female detective living in the future world of the 2050s and beyond.

I am not a doctor, male or otherwise, with a crass bedside manner—if you can get him by your bedside.

I am not a human lie detector disguised as an adult male with an adorable teenaged daughter who is truly the parent.

What do all these things share? 

ESCAPISM.

I like to escape when I read or watch movies.  I also like to learn something, whether from fiction, nonfiction or film.  I hope all my soon-to-published novels accomplish both for my readers.

Maybe that erroneous “reader demographic” model is why J.K. Rowland received her initial rejection letters for her Harry Potter books, supposedly written for boys aged nine to twelve (or that’s what I remember from a bio on her).

Therefore, all you authors out there, don’t worry that your “target audience” is small, say for boys aged nine to twelve.  If the story is universal, it will appeal to all age groups.