Broaden Your Base

by Doyne Phillips, Managing Editor

While watching a sci fi movie my grandsons came to mind. I thought my 12 and 5 year old grandsons would like this great space travel adventure. But then I thought back to a couple of scenes and some profanity and thought again. No I am afraid their Mom’s would object. I too would object to them seeing and hearing this. Allowing this would validate those objectionable portions which would open the door to other objectionable things in their life.

But what if those profanities were removed or replaced with another word, just as strong but not profanity. Or that one insignificant scene, no doubt placed there for shock, was removed or replaced with another scene not so objectionable. Would that not open the door for an audience their age? An audience that age would consist of some 70 plus million people. For that I would have to think about making the changes.

This very point we must think about when we write. As we write we must be true to our characters. That I understand. As we write we should be aware we are involved not only in our emotional and creative release of writing but in a very competitive industry, an industry that can reward us handsomely for our creativeness. If people enjoy our work, if enough people seek us out, we can be truly blessed.

 

I am fortunate to have grandchildren that introduce their grandparents to their current movies. If not for them we would probably miss some of the best movies out today. Yes they are G rated and do not have adult themes but they are great movies. They are also money makers. 

Baby Boomers today number some 77 million. Shadow boomers, their children, are a few million less. The generation of today’s children, my grandsons ages, will outnumber each generation living today. So the question is; as you write can you or are you willing to make those few changes that may be necessary to broaden your base of readers. Would you consider a minor change here or there that could open the door to additional millions of readers? Be ready to make this decision when the time comes. It may be the deciding factor on the sale of an additional million books.