Unpacking your readers

One of the best ways to dramatically improve your writing is to write for your readers, not for your teachers, employers, or self.

And one effective way to do that is to unpack who those readers are.

How so?

Short of actually doing research, one no-nonsense approach is to simply ask:

Who’s it for?

What do they think?

What do they value?

and

What’s it for?

What information are you trying to convey?

What is the change you are trying to make?

It doesn’t make sense to write on a sixth grade level if your readers aren’t in the sixth grade.

But writing for them—on their level, given what they know and what they think and what they value—that might be the most effective way to ensure that what you say and how you say it actually matters to them.