Answer:
General public; to entertain.
Explanation:
If you are preparing a short story for publication, it naturally implies that your intended audience is the general public. The purpose of any form of fiction writing depends heavily on the author´s intentions, which can´t be generalized; however, one aesthetic characteristic that all fiction shares is that it is a creative product that aims at entertaining the reader for if the piece of writing lacked this characteristic it would most likely not be considered for publication.
