That Illusive Target Called "Audience"

Zinovy's Journey has been published for a year now and I still haven't figured out who it was published for.  I guess it's because the story hooked me before the idea of audience did.  I had no idea who I was writing for, way back then.  I just knew I had to write.

I still don't know who it's for.  I'm getting great reader reviews from men and women, young and old, Christian and non-Christian. 

I know it's probably a cop-out to say Zinovy's Journey is a mainstream novel, but I'm beginning to think it might be (And, yes, I am aware of all the hedge words in that sentence). 

Zinovy's Journey has a universal hook (the world is destroyed at the beginning of the book); a universal storyline (the hero's journey); a universal internal conflict (the search for meaningful relationships in life); a universally appealing external conflict (an innocent child in danger).  All this should lead to a universal appeal, right? 

So why aren't people flocking to my website to buy it?

I know the answer.  It's marketing.  That's where I'm at right now.  I'm using a shot-gun approach.  Probably not the best idea.  Instead I should be taking aim at a number of specific targets.  But the number of possibilities is playing Russian roulette with my mind.

This article by Randy Ingermannson is helpful, however.  Randy gives us a new way to look at "targets."  He borrows an idea from John Locke, who says our target audience can be more accurately determined by what emotions our story evokes.  Interesting thought.  Encouraging. 

Now if I could just figure out an effective way to hit the readers' emotions in that big, crazy world of bulls eyes out there.