Hmm... that's really good food for thought. Waltz en France said something similar in his rant. The Market Definition exercise isn't going anywhere, but you're inspiring me to create more than one approach to answering the question, or at least, to write different ways to think about it. If you're writing for yourself (or Aunt Carol), then profile yourself (or Aunt Carol) as a demographic. If it seems to specific when you're done profiling, prioritize the elements of the demographic... say, pick the top three. Some of the complainers argue they want a wide ("mainstream") audience, so if I label myself as a 40-year-old type-A but often childish white moderate-leaning married Lutheran Christian American female military brat who is a professional musician, teacher, and small business owner with a bachelor's degree in a technical field and a vivid imagination, who loves animals and dessert and positivity and humor...... but I want to target a more mainstream crowd than "other people who meet that exact same demographic" (if you find someone else matching that demographic, PLEASE introduce me), and someone (say, a Prep Mistress) forced me to pick three and can the rest, which three would I pick? Is my book for 40-year-old Christian Americans? Married military brats who own businesses? Musicians with technical degrees who love humor... scratch that one, that's a tiny audience, lol.

Anyway, thanks for the ideas. We could probably make the exercise a little more user-friendly.

Cheers,
Michelle