Hi friends,
It’s said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
That’s what most audience building efforts look like.
Writers waste countless hours posting to social media.
Their hustle, assuming they get any results at all, leads to random followers who promptly unfollow when they’re not followed back, no raving fans, no tangible results, and no book sales, and is about as exciting as folding laundry.
Tell me if any of these sounds familiar:
1. You’re stuck in perpetual “not enough growth” thinking
Let’s face it, it takes a certain number of followers and fans to get agents and publishers to start taking you seriously. Getting there takes a serious level of commitment, vulnerability, and effort.
But if you want a thriving and sustainable career, you need to get off that treadmill or you’ll never have the time, focus or energy to actually write.
The skills, thinking, and hustle that get you to your first 1,000 readers and followers may not be enough to take you further.
Too many writers take the “you follow me and I’ll follow you” approach to audience building and then get stuck because they don’t know what comes next.
2. You have thousands of “followers,” but nobody buys
Look, it doesn’t matter if you have 10 followers or 10 million. If you can’t communicate the value of what you offer or why they should buy your book, you’re never going to scale.
People don’t buy your book because you said “Buy my new book” and posted a link seven times a day. (That just gets them to unfollow.)
I hate to be blunt (no, wait, I don’t), but if you’ve got more than 5,000 social media followers and aren’t making consistent sales, your system is broken.
3. You still don’t have CLARITY on what you offer
If you’re the sort of person who writes amazing books but can’t seem to get enough people to read them in the first place, this is probably your stumbling block.
There’s something about the way you’re putting yourself out into the world that’s confusing people. And a confused follower never buys.
Most writers dive right into audience building with no clear strategy of who they are, what they want to say, and why anyone should pay attention to them.
They tell themselves that they just need to work a little harder, a little longer, and when it doesn’t come together, they throw their hands up in their air and blame the industry, the fickle readers, and the overwhelming choice in the marketplace.
In other words, everyone except themselves and their own lack of message.
Some may even build a somewhat reasonable following and then complain that no one buys their books.
They won’t.
Not unless you’re willing to do the uncomfortable work of digging deep and designing your promotional efforts around what your readers actually need to hear from you (which may put you outside of your comfort zone and be different from what everyone else is doing).
This is why I’ve created Build a Better Platform so that you can not only get the content—strategy and tactical input on what works, why it works, and how to think about your audience building efforts— but also the coaching, which helps you identify your special sauce, get out of your own way, and learn how to get comfortable saying the things only you can.
I’ll help you magnetize readers who align with your message, therefore leading to consistent sales, regardless of audience numbers.
I had my first $10,000 month with an email list of 2,500 people (and fewer than 5,000 followers across all of my social media.)
My second indie book, an instant Amazon bestseller, was launched to fewer than 4,000 email subscribers (and again, no more than 5,000 social media followers.)
As I said, you could have 10,000 followers who are generous with likes but won’t even spend $4.99 on your book (this is the reality of most authors on social media.)
Or you could have a 100 true fans who, if they each paid you $100 a month, would easily lead to a consistent six-figure income that continues to grow and scale.
Or who buy your books on repeat and recommend them to everyone they know.
Listen, you don’t need to hustle all day long to build an audience.
But you do need to build momentum that then carries over and creates readers and fans, on repeat, without you having to burn out on your way to this growth.
That momentum is what Build a Better Platform will help you create.
Here’s a detailed overview of how we work + what we cover + the weekly breakdown.
Just watching the video will give you my strategy, which you can take and run with, but if it speaks to you and you want my help implementing it, then get in touch.
Let’s dig into where you’re stuck, where you want to be, and exactly what steps are required to connect those dots.
I can’t wait to work with you!
Cheers,
Natasha