Hi friends,
One of the things about audience and platform building no one talks about is the mindset that authors come to this with.
We all want numbers, but not all of us actually care about the people behind those numbers.
It’s why so many authors do the “you follow me and I’ll follow you” style of brand building. All they care about is numbers.
This is fine, by the way, if it’s the first step. But for many authors, it’s also where it ends.
Because the truth is that they want to build their numbers but they don’t actually want to engage with people.
They don’t want to have conversations.
They don’t want to answer questions.
They don’t want to shower love on their people.
Their social media feeds are full of posts that say “look at me!” without providing any real value to their readers, and no clear thought as to who those readers might even be, or what they might be looking for.
We all pick up on this. It’s clear to see who on social media loves on their people and who doesn’t, and when someone doesn’t, we don’t love them back.
The same authors will then ask, why does no one follow me? Why don’t I have numbers?
They think the problem is outside of them.
It’s not.
The problem is many of us view audience building not as a way to connect with our people but another task on our to-do list that our publisher needs us to do.
It’s hard to love your people when you don’t know who they are and what they might want from you. Or how they might benefit from being in your space and energy.
Platform then becomes a conversation about numbers when, really, it should be a conversation about love.
The conversation becomes about me, the author, rather than you, the reader.
>>> And if you go into it from that place, don’t be surprised when you have no engagement and no one wants to connect with you. <<<
If you’re not saying to your 50 followers what you would say to your million followers, you’re never going to get to that million. But if you take the trouble to delight those 50, they might bring in 50 more.
I hope that anyone who comes on to this email list knows, pretty quickly, that I care passionately about writers. It’s not fake.
I’ve been doing this for almost twenty years and despite what else I may write about, I always come back to this, my community.
My ways are unconventional and they’re certainly not for everyone, but everything I do and say is in service of helping writers believe in themselves and build good, profitable careers doing what they love.
You can argue with me on a number of things but you can’t argue with me about that.
You can’t deny that I spend a lot of time, energy, and emotion on helping writers get closer to their dreams.
There is nothing that delights me more than seeing writers reaching for their dreams and then smashing them.
That is clear to everyone who has been on here and why so many of my subscribers have stayed on this list for 10+ years, no matter what kind of writing I talk about.
Even as I’ve made the shift in my business from freelancing to authorship, many of you have stayed because you know that no matter what kind of writing I talk about, it will always be empowering.
You will never hear me tell you to make yourself smaller for an agent, a sale, a deal, or the industry in general.
I love my community. I love my readers (you!) That is the only reason you are here, the only reason you respond.
It is the only reason any of us respond to anyone.
So if you’re looking to build your audience, stop thinking about yourself and the numbers you need to get and start loving on the people who are already following you.
If you have nothing to say to the ten who are already engaged with you, why would you assume that you’d have something to say to the millions?
Here’s a secret: When you come from a place of love and service for your audience, you come up with ideas on how to serve them. And when you know how to serve them, you attract more of them.
This numbers-based approach is what leads to authors who never email their list. To them it’s a list, not individual humans.
They send stuff when it’s convenient and easy for them. It’s not a way to connect as much as it’s a way to sell. They only send an email when they have a book to promote. It’s all for them, not the reader.
Then they wonder why people don’t respond.
As a reader, I pick up on this. Don’t you?
A few years ago, in thinking about what my readers want and what they would most be delighted by, I came up with an idea to create something and then give it away for free. I wasn’t thinking about list building; I was thinking about how I could really step up and do something outrageously helpful for my community.
Within a few days, without even meaning to, I had added 4,000 people to my email list.
The specifics of how I did it and what I learned are on a training I’ve put together that is, as it so happens, today’s bonus if you sign up for an annual subscription at any level of The Bookish Academy. (See what I did there?)
But the thing to remember is this: I didn’t set out to add people to my list.
I went in with the goal of really showing up for my people.
Two entirely different energies. Which is why it worked.
I’ll lay it all out for you in the training. Step by step.
(If you’ve bought an annual subscription already, you get this too.)
It will work. But only if you come from that place of service. If you approach it as just another tactic, then I can guarantee right now that this isn’t for you. But if you love your people and would like to find ways to serve more of them, then hop on over.
I’ll show you what I have going on and I assure you, not only will you grow your audience but you’ll have fun doing it.
I’ll see you again tomorrow.
Cheers,
Natasha