A word for writers from Kiese Laymon, re-posted from social media.

I don’t like to give advice, whether solicited or not, but folks keep asking me about audience and I can say this. If your primary audience is a thesis committee or a tenure committee, that’s who is gonna read your book. Please don’t be mad if we don’t read you if you don’t ever write to us. Those committees can keep us employed, keep us chasing their tastes, keep us hoping, and often, keep us sad as fuck. They cannot ever be our primary audience if we want readers to give a fuck. Terrible conundrum. But.