It’s common for me to read a headline or social media post from someone who shares a story or statistics that illustrate that a specific channel is "too crowded" and not worth pursuing. That may include email newsletters, podcasts, social media, or Zoom events. Yet if you are someone who writes or creates, without these channels, how will your work reach people? Today I want to explore that question and offer my advice. 

Recently I have seen people begin using the word “brand” a lot more. The context being that you have to “define your author brand” or “establish yourself as a brand” if you want to get the attention of readers. But you are not a brand. You are a person. Who you are and what you create is multifaceted. It will evolve and grow. At times, it may even seem like two opposite things at once. And that is okay. Today I want to talk about why I think that is, and what I do feel is important in establishing your work in a manner that truly speaks to your ideal reader or audience.

In recent episodes of this podcast, I've encouraged you to stop thinking about social media as being just about growing how many followers you have. But today I want to talk about the opposite: why having followers on social media can matter to your goals as a writer. The context I’m talking about here is why could it possibly matter that you have 100, or 1,000, or 10,000 followers on a specific social media channel? What is the actual value in doing so, beyond just “big numbers are impressive?”