I know a lot of people really struggle with the concept.

When you walk in a bookstore, there are sections. Each of these sections are targeted to people who read them. Unfortunately, no one gets a category of 'really great books' because it doesn't fit what we read.

Even if you want to say you are writing for you, if you eve want to be in the bookstore (self publish digital has this, too) you need to be around books that appeal to others.

Am I marketing to myself? Well, I am in my mid-thirties, tend toward very geeky things, and am writing science fiction. That is a good start. Do I know an author who has something written close to what I want to do? Maybe figuring out who Margaret Atwood markets to will help me.

But saying that people who love mysteries will love my book is being a bit too optimistic. And if someone is looking for a biography they will be out of luck when it comes to my work.

I hope that helps put things in perspective. I mean, if I could write a western romance that would appeal to ages 10 to 99, I would list that. But every person is looking for something, and the only good way to get a book into the hands of someone who will love it is to define who you think might like it. And once you get that definition, some people get lucky and everyone reads it,which leads to authors and titles that are recognized like Stephen King and J. K. Rowling and Toni Morrison.

But don't forget someone did that marketing work up front. If they put King in the children's section, the kids would have nightmares to say the least. If we put Rowling in literary it would have died a quiet death, and if you put Morrison in science fiction those books would hit the wall so fast they might have become unprinted.

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