One of the most common questions I hear from potential authors is, ‘Should I wait until I have a bigger audience?’
Even though that call to write a book might have been there for the longest time, perhaps you’ve been pushing it away, because you don’t believe there are enough people who will want to read it?
So, what comes first, the book or the audience?
Well, it’s true that most traditional publishers will expect you to have a large audience before they offer you a book deal.
But, when it comes to self-publishing and hybrid approaches (like The Unbound Press), you have the freedom to play your own game. (And because freedom has always been my biggest value, THIS is the space I personally choose to play in).
With the Unbound Writing approach, you get to grow your audience, your community, your merry band of soulmate readers and clients, as you go. The invitation is to use your book-writing journey as a way of sparking a movement.
And when I talk about ‘audiences’ and ‘movements’, please know there’s none of that icky, bro-marketing, hustle-culture ‘Go big or go home’ energy here. Oh no.
A movement doesn’t have to be huge.
A movement doesn’t require an audience of thousands.
A movement happens heart to heart, soul to soul, one to another. And it ripples out.
(Just take a moment to tune into where you might be this time next year if you started your book-writing journey NOW. The ripple effects could be huge.)
In this blog, I’m giving you some simple ways to spark a movement and grow your audience, right from the beginning of your book-writing journey. (And if you want to make the most powerful start, why not download my free book-writing guide?)
But before I do that, let me give you a specific, real-life example to show you what’s possible.
How I more than doubled my email list (almost by accident!) from writing one article
This is based on my own experience when writing my second book, UNBOUND. Before I dive into the details, I want to let you know that, yes, I did already have an audience, both on social media and around 700 people on my email list. But, as you’ll see, what I’m sharing here could easily be replicated if you’re starting from scratch.
In the summer of 2017, I was a few months into writing UNBOUND, but in reality I’d written very little! I had no clear idea what form the final book would take, so I was trusting the process and allowing different ideas to flow through.
Through this process of exploration, I’d tuned into some themes that encapsulated what it means to be an unbound woman (and how challenging that can be) and I distilled these into a blog post: The 7 Signs You’re An Unbound Woman
Learning Point: You don’t have to wait until you’ve got complete clarity or written your book to start sharing. You can use the ideas that are coming through and stories you’re writing about to form the basis of other content – blogs, social media posts, videos, articles, podcasts – which will all help to create connection with your people.
At the time, I was taking a writing class with Carolyn Elliott, founder of WITCH magazine, so as well as sharing this article on my own website, I decided to submit it to WITCH.
Once I sent the article through to WITCH, I didn’t think much more about it. In all honesty, I doubted whether it would be accepted for publication.
Learning Point: If you have these kind of fears and doubts about writing, know that they are COMPLETELY normal and part of the process. In fact, in the Unbound Writing Challenge, I give you a way to alchemise these very same fears and doubts into the gold of compelling writing.
It was only one evening a few weeks later that I realised my article had been published. I started to get lots of new requests to join my Facebook group, which was unusual. When I checked, I saw that ‘The 7 Signs You’re An Unbound Woman’ had been shared on WITCH and it was getting thousands of views and hundreds of shares (much more than it would have done on my own website).
When I submitted the article, I knew that I should include a link to a freebie so people could join my email list. I didn’t have anything specific, so I kept it super-simple and offered a free Meeting Your Unbound Self visualisation which had been part of the bonuses for my first book, Heal Your Inner Good Girl.
Learning Point: ALWAYS keep it simple! When you’re writing in this unbound way, it’s likely that your words themselves will create a high level of resonance with your people, so if you have a freebie they can sign-up for, great! But you could also simply invite them to join your email list or Facebook group.
Over a couple of weeks my email list more than doubled to around 1750. And the magical thing is that this was a completely new audience for me. Some of these women went on to become high level, 1:1 mentoring clients after reading that one post and having a quick exploratory conversation.
A piece of writing like this is a gift that keeps on giving. I still get people coming to me via this article and others I’ve since written for WITCH. And after the initial rush of new unbound community members, because I knew that the ‘7 Signs…’ article resonated so deeply, I was able to share it more widely using Facebook ads, attracting new people to my work (and potential readers for my books) for very little outlay.
So, as well as the key lessons I’ve shared above, what will help YOU to write a book that sparks a movement and grows a community of soul family readers & clients?
Here’s what you need to know:
1) Don’t wait for clarity — write for clarity!
So many writers want and expect to have their whole book mapped out before they even start, but this can lead to procrastination and perfectionism. If you have even the faintest glimmer of an idea, start writing. You’ll gain clarity as you go and your book will guide you. (Download my free Connecting With Your Book visualisation to super-charge this process).
When I started writing UNBOUND, I had no real idea what it was going to be about or what format the book would take. I simply showed up to the page and asked what wanted to come through. At points, it felt like I was writing five different books, but eventually, a structure dropped in and I could see how everything came together as a coherent whole.
2) Write about what lights YOU up
If you have the intention to write a book that grows your audience, it can be tempting to start focusing on what other people might want to hear from you. When we look outside for the answers, we can get caught up in over-thinking and imagining that there’s a right way to write your book — there’s not.
The only rule is that you write about whatever you feel passionate about. This might feel counterintuitive and maybe even a little selfish, but you have to start with YOU. Even if it doesn’t make complete sense or you feel like others might not get what you’re writing about (or even criticize you), trust that if it’s igniting something within you, it will do the same for others.
3) Be willing to go first
If you want to write a book that activates others and creates real change, you have to be willing to be activated and changed by your writing process. Books that spark movements don’t get written in a neat and tidy way! Know that you will be challenged as you write your book and called to step into your fullest, freest self. This is what will infuse your book with the most powerful energy and inspire your readers to make changes.
When I wrote the article for WITCH, I had NO idea whether anyone would ‘get’ it. I had to take a deep breath and be willing to go first, despite the fears and doubts that were bubbling up. And I’m SO glad I did.
4) Create community around your writing
The exciting thing about writing the Unbound way is that you get to create a community around your book as you’re was writing it. There can be this idea that you have to hide yourself away in your office for months or years on end in order to write a book, but the reality is it’s far more powerful to take your readers with you on the journey.
Share aspects of your writing as you go, allow your readers behind the scenes of your writing process and invite them to be part of it by asking questions and encouraging engagement. This has the dual effect of building interest in your book long before it’s out in the world and also infusing your writing with a dynamic quality that will make it truly compelling.
So, there you go, magical one. Can you feel that creative fire starting to ignite within you?
If you want to get the most powerful start to your author journey, download my free guide where I answer the top 10 questions about writing a book.
