Show don’t tell Writing Podcast: Episode #63. Building a Social Media Presence for Writers

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Join Suzy, and social media expert and author Melissa Pruitt as they talk about the best ways to build a social media presence for writers- and why you want to be doing this in the first place! 

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Podcast Episode Transcript (unedited)

Suzy Vadori: [00:00:00] Welcome to Show. Don’t Tell Writing with me, Suzy Vadori, where I teach you the tried and true secrets to writing fiction nonfiction that are gonna wow your readers broken down step by step. We’re gonna explore writing techniques. I’m gonna show you a glimpse behind the scenes of successful writers’ careers that you wouldn’t have access to otherwise.

And I’m also gonna coach writers live on their pages so that you can learn and transform your own storytelling. Whether you’re just starting out, you’re drafting your first book, you’re editing, or you’re currently rewriting that book, or maybe even your 10th book, this show’s gonna help you unlock the writing skills that you didn’t even know you needed, but you definitely do.

I’m so looking forward to helping you get your amazing ideas from your mind onto your pages in an exciting way for both you and your readers, so that you can achieve your wildest writing dreams, [00:01:00] and you’re gonna also have some fun doing it. Let’s dive in. Today on the Show Tell podcast. We’re gonna switch gears a little bit and I’ve got with me Melissa Pruitt.

She’s gonna talk about marketing and specifically about social media and how to get started in that. Four writers specifically. Now, I met Melissa and her husband and business partner Paul many years ago. We were part of a community called Momentum, which was about course creation. She and Paul just have the best way of teaching marketing.

You’re gonna see when we talk why we get along so well because it is practical and tactical. Much like the way that I teach writing is practical and tactical. So if you are feeling a little overwhelmed by marketing, you are gonna get some strategies here. She’s actually got a new book out as well that we’re gonna talk about, and it’s called Influenced From Social to List to Launch.

It’s the ultimate guide for anyone looking to build a powerful online presence and launch a successful business or project. Today we’re gonna apply that knowledge [00:02:00] to launching a book. So whether you are just starting out or whether you have been writing for a while and you already have books published and you know that this is an area that you could probably use some attention to, we all could.

We all could. Then this is the podcast episode for you. Melissa is a membership and course coach. She’s an author and speaker, and she is on a mission to help ambitious entrepreneurs and writers create your business. And don’t make any mistake about it. If you are a writer, you are a business owner, and you are the CEO of that business, and you get to make all the decisions she loves to teach it so that you can build something that’s filled with joy, fun, financial freedom, and big impact, even if you don’t think you have enough knowledge or skills yet.

She’s the co-owner of Adaptive Marketing Program, which helps online entrepreneurs market and sell their offers. And the co-host of the Online marketing podcast with her husband and business partner, Paul. Melissa’s degrees in psychology and NLP certifications allow her to bridge human behavior [00:03:00] with marketing strategy.

And this is how she teaches her clients to create deeper connections with their audiences. In your case, your readers, her psychology background combined with her expertise as a two-time published author with her latest book, influenced from social to list to launch and copywriter is an empowering combination to help her clients connect deeper with their audiences.

Melissa’s also a TEDx speaker. She’s been featured on multiple publications and platforms, including the Huffington Post, various podcasts, summits, events, and she loves to share her message of creating a fulfilling business on in-person stages, zoom stages, mastermind events. I am honored that Melissa is here with us today.

We had a terrific conversation that I know that you’re gonna get a lot out of. I am so excited to have Melissa here today. I know marketing is such a hot topic for many writers. It’s like this big black hole. Melissa has it dialed in and, and really, I mean, most of [00:04:00] your. Book influence from social to list to launch is really about those practical strategies, which is exactly what I teach in writing is not this pie in the sky idea, but how to do it.

Can you tell us a little bit about the book?

Melissa Pruitt: Yeah, absolutely. Um, yeah, definitely practical, tactical. I like to keep things simple, especially with social media because some people. Love social media. Other people are not so much into it, and it doesn’t have to be this big scary thing. The book really gets into about how to really best connect with your audience from social media to your list building, and then eventually with launching and with launching, whether it is your, your next book or if you have any offers that compliment the book as well.

That’s really what it’s all about and keeping everything really aligned because with social media, you can be very strategic with it. You don’t have to feel like you’re throwing spaghetti against the wall. You don’t feel like you have to just post random things, which is a lot of people, they wake up and it’s like, what am I supposed to post today?

It’s really about creating a strategic plan that re lead the right [00:05:00] people into your world so that when they see your social and they, you know, follow along with you, they’re just perfectly aligned for the next opportunity, which is, is gonna be your book.

Suzy Vadori: Yeah. I mean even we, we all know, I mean, you can’t, they can’t see my air quotes, but we all know that we’re supposed to do more air quotes, supposed to do social media, but problem that most people are trying to solve by creating a social media presence.

Like why should writers even do this thing?

Melissa Pruitt: Yeah. Yeah. So social media, love, love it or not love it. People are on social media. Even if they claim to not be on social media, they’re secretly on there poking around, and it’s one of the best ways to be visible, and I think that’s one of the reasons, you know, authors should really consider having some sort of social media strategy, just to have that visibility.

And then from there, it’s our job with the posts that we do to be engaging enough, interesting enough so that someone like when they read something, it totally resonates with them. Like, that’s interesting. I’m going to kind of poke [00:06:00] around and see what this is all about. And we’ve all been on those rabbit holes where you’re just, you know, maybe scrolling, looking at something and you see something that might peak your interest and then you find out a little bit more about.

You know that person and next thing you know, you’re, you’re buying an offer from them. I know, I know. I do that a lot on Instagram myself, and it’s like, I didn’t even know about this five minutes ago, but that post was so interesting, compelling, educational. So authors should really think about that as a way to create that visibility.

And when you put the right posts out there, which I can talk a little bit more about that too. It’s, you’re bringing the right people in and it’s not just random people in, but people that are actually interested in what you have to share, um, with your book.

Suzy Vadori: Yeah, absolutely. And, and so by, let’s even back up a little bit further, because many writers are super daunted by this.

We might be, I don’t know, need I say on meta, on Facebook, whatever. Um, and, and some of these other things are a bit daunting. So what does the book cover in terms of platforms, like list them all, should we be on them all?

Melissa Pruitt: For me personally, I would [00:07:00] rather you pick one that you could be really consistent with first before you go to all the things.

Of course, yeah. We would love to be everywhere all at once. But then what ends up happening is that overwhelm. It’s like I have to be over here on Facebook and then I’m on on Instagram. And then when you get into the nitty gritty of it, it’s not just posts, but then you’re, we’re talking about reels. Short video, long video, all the things.

And that can be really daunting. And the dms that hide,

Suzy Vadori: right? I’m on a lot of platforms and the people that reach out on some route, I’m like, can I just turn this off? Because I don’t always see them. Right. Like I worry people think that they’re getting me. I’m like, go to my website. My email address is public.

Exactly. Me. Exactly. Exactly. Oh my gosh.

Melissa Pruitt: All the platforms. Yeah. So one plat, one platform to start and do it really, really well before you start to expand. Um, it, it can be as simple as that. And also with it, it’s figuring out consistency that works for you. For me, like I like to start off more conservative civilly with consistency.

Like if you can, if you only have time to do once a week, but do it really well, [00:08:00] go for it. And then get that to be a habit, and then you could slowly add more.

Suzy Vadori: Yeah, I love that. And that’s exactly my philosophy on it as well. And, and I like to share on this podcast ’cause I often share behind the scenes as a writer, as a person in the writing space, what the heck do I do?

And the day that I sort of was like, okay, pick one thing and you and I come from some similar schools of thought and some similar training through Amy Porterfield and other groups and yeah, it’s pick one thing. And for the longest time, my one thing was my newsletter. Yes. And then that one thing, yes, I’m on socials, but that got shared across there.

There was one piece of content and it was like, my newsletter is the content. There’s no not directing. And then I added this podcast just a year ago, but I only did that because I have a team and I can help like, and that’s like 15 years into my career. I can finally show up and do this thing consistently, and now it’s going gangbusters.

Whereas before, I was dabbling in all these little, like I had a YouTube channel, I had it. [00:09:00] That it got turned into a pot, but I wasn’t putting any effort into anything and it wasn’t going anywhere. Right. And now we’re a year in and Thank you listeners. Um, they love it, right? Because I show up. I love it. I love that.

Whatever you can do consistently. Right? Absolutely. I, yeah, this is just a love fest in general, because I also love all of your language, Melissa. Like it’s very rare to find marketing that is practical and tactical, right? Like you were saying, and a lot of your language talks about marketing leading to sales, and I think that’s, I just, when I was reading that in the book and I was like, oh yes, you’re speaking my language because marketing is not sales.

And here’s what a lot of writers expect that they’re gonna go on a podcast or they’re gonna post some socials, and then they measure themselves on how many books they sold. Right. And I, I wish you guys could see Melissa’s face. Uh, yeah. She’s smiling and nodding, right, like agreeing because it’s so easy to think that.

So can you just frame [00:10:00] this for the writers who are listening today is marketing sales. I mean, it, it leads to sales, but how does that work?

Melissa Pruitt: They work hand in hand together. So it’s really the marketing piece is that awareness and having the right kind of content out there that people really resonate with.

So one of the things that I talk about in the book is like not just putting content to put out content, but topics that are gonna be really relevant to that person. So if you know the reader, uh, you know, who would be the perfect reader for your. Those are the kind of topics that you should be putting out on social to draw that curiosity, to educate, to entertain, to maybe solve a, a, a tiny little problem that they have.

But then they’re gonna leave them wanting more, leave them wanting to read the entire book to read everything that’s going on. So there, there’s that piece of it. But at some point, you know, a lot of times with marketing, with the sales piece is that we do forget to do the ask. There is an ask component of that where it’s like, Hey, I’ve given you some really great opportunities here to learn a little bit about what I do.

And for those of you that are ready to go a further, you know, you should grab my book. So [00:11:00] they work hand in hand together. But there’s that marketing component where you do have to put it out there, build that audience, nurture the audience with topics that are really relevant to them. And when you do that the right way, the ask with the sale, it just feels like the next natural step.

It doesn’t feel like you’re switching from like the teaching educating mode into the sales mode. And I think that’s where a lot of people, authors, entrepreneurs in general. They get really scared about sales because they feel like they have to turn into this different person or they might have had a really bad sales experience.

And when it comes to sales, selling is is sharing. It really is sharing. And when you do it the right way with content that’s aligned and that’s giving and that’s just. Stuff that your people really love and want more of. The sale is just the next natural step. It’s just that it’s, you’re just leading them on this path to the next.

It should be very seamless. It doesn’t feel like you’re switching on and off, you’re selling from the minute you start that marketing piece where you’re sharing that information. You know, you might not realize that you’re selling, but you are. You’re influencing, and then that when you have that. It’s just the next natural step and it just, it’s very [00:12:00] fluid.

This is how we sell all of our coaching programs where we, we just give a lot of information. We share a lot of really great things, and the people are just naturally curious. They wanna learn, how can I work with you more? Well, hey, we have a coaching program for that. We have a course for that. Um, it’s the next natural step for them.

And you could do the same thing too with, with your content as well.

Suzy Vadori: Absolutely. And I think there’s so much to unpack there, but I like what you’re saying there. There’s an offer in there, but we get them interested and they need to know that they need it. I like to say we flip the script. So for, for writers who feel.

From, you’re like really worried or icky about sales, right? Because we do, we feel icky about sales. Sometimes we flip the script. Somebody out there wants your book, and when you think about it, when you are looking for that great next beach read or you’re looking for that next read in your genre, you actually are looking for that information.

Somebody needs this book, and if you have that information. You’re not helping, you’re not forcing any, you can’t force somebody to buy a book. Exactly. Yeah. What are [00:13:00] you sharing?

Melissa Pruitt: I always like to frame for those that might be afraid of that selling, to kind of reframe it. It’s selfish for you not to share it because if you have a solution that would be the perfect solution, that perfect beach read, like why wouldn’t you share it?

So just like kind of to frame it that way and it makes that sale piece a little bit easier for those that are a little bit nervous about selling or putting themselves out there with that.

Suzy Vadori: Exactly, but it is a balance by my book. By my book is not Mark. Right. That’s just annoying. You’re not giving them any reason to buy your book and you’ll get kicked off of everybody’s fees because it’s annoying.

Okay, so speaking of that, so you’re saying share about yourself. So one of the biggest things that writers that I work with worry about or fear is this idea of my author platform. My author persona. They see influencers out there that are sharing what they had. What they have lunch and you know, their biggest, deepest fears and people don’t want to do that.

So how much do we have to share of ourselves as we build this platform, in your opinion? Yeah.

Melissa Pruitt: [00:14:00] I love this. I love this. And people, they do wanna buy from people that they, they like know, and. So naturally like the, when someone gets to know you a little bit better and a little bit about your background and what you like to do and you know who you are as a person, they’re naturally gonna feel that, that connection.

But I do say with people it is, um, I come from a psychology background, so I kind of integrate a lot of this. It’s important to have healthy boundaries as well too. So before you start to share anything on social, you should have a sit down with yourself. Okay, what am I willing to share and what is kind of off limit?

So for some people, like if they have a family, they might share that they do family activities, but maybe not share a lot about their kids. If that’s something like a boundary, they really don’t wanna share about that online. They can for others. You don’t have to air out all your dirty laundry, but like you can share a struggle.

Like again, think about it in the way, it’s like, it’s not really about sharing just to share, but how is this gonna benefit the person that’s reading this piece of content or watching this piece of content? What’s the lesson in there? That someone can get from this piece of content. So I always look at all the content with that.

Is there a lesson behind it? It’s, it’s not just sharing to share, but it’s [00:15:00] like, what is the, the reader going to get from me sharing this piece about myself? But you get to decide what you get to share about yourself. And so figure out those boundaries right from the get go. What it does allow you to do is to share more openly.

Uh, it allows you to. Kind of let go of anything that’s going on in your head. Get outta your head, get outta your way, and you just feel a bit more free to do it. And it feels tons more authentic. ’cause if you’re kind of on the fence, should I share this? Should I not share this? The person on the other side reading that or experience that piece of content is gonna feel that insecurity too.

So figure out your boundaries first of what you’re willing to share or not. I mean, there’s lots of things and I share a lot of behind the scenes. We live here in the celebration area. So I have a love for Disney World. I’m in the parks. I’m always sharing fun things behind the scenes. And it is really interesting because you would think that has nothing really to do with your business, Melissa.

But no, it’s like, because of my business I get to do fun things like that. And I actually make connections with people offline too, that we talk, we have a love, the same love for going to the parks, and then we end up talking about entrepreneurship, which is pretty cool. But then there’s other things in my life that, you know, I don’t share and, and that’s okay [00:16:00] too.

So figure out that boundary. Because people just, they’re just naturally curious and they, they kind of, you wanna have that peek behind the curtain with them.

Suzy Vadori: Yeah. It, it is about not sharing everything, but it’s also about having things to share and deciding that upfront and knowing that I’m gonna share these four sort of topics.

Is that something that you recommend? That’s something that I do. There’s like four or five things that I talk about that I know that my listeners, that I know that my newsletter subscribers wanna hear. Yes. And that’s, that helps me. Create content, and I wanna back up and get a definition of content in a second, but is that something that you demand?

Melissa Pruitt: Yeah, I have, that’s absolutely true. Like I usually pick about five topics to kind of those bucket areas. And for us it’s, it’s all, you know, we talk a lot about fan family and friends. We talk about travel. We talk about, uh, adventures that we do. Um, we talk about inspiration’s a big thing for us too. Like anything that’s inspiring, we like to share that as well.

And I’m always sharing pictures of our dog too as well. So, uh, but it’s like those little buckets, uh, that you can kind of share about yourself [00:17:00] on the personal level and again, figuring out. Where your boundaries are for that, what you’re willing to share, what maybe might not, that’s not gonna bene benefit the reader.

Again, sharing for what’s the person gonna get from this? Is it something that’s going to entertain them? Is it gonna be something that’s going to inspire them? Is it gonna be something that’s going to educate them? Because all of our content that we put out there should have some sort of purpose. And then when you go on my, even my personal social media account, I post a lot of fun stuff, but everything that I do is very intentional.

Even the fun, the fun stuff that doesn’t look like anything to do with business. All, it’s all intentional. There’s something behind that post.

Suzy Vadori: Yeah, absolutely. And I think I, I do the same. I post a lot about travel and the reason that I do that is because one of the biggest things that I find people are curious about is the inside track on a writer’s life.

Like what is that? And for me personally, being able to travel and work on my own and all of that sort of, not the location freedom. Sense, you know, that, that look like you can work from anywhere you can work or you could never work and make a million dollars. [00:18:00] No, but you know, this weekend I’m going to a conference and, and in, in person and I will be posting about that and I will be posting about my vacation and, and working there, right?

Because I love my job. So it’s, I love that it’s really a chore, not really a chore. But let’s just talk about, ’cause we’re talking a lot about content and a lot of people listening to this podcast are gonna be like, what does she even mean by content? Right? Like, what are, what do you mean?

Melissa Pruitt: So content is, again, it can come in lots of different forms, whether it’s, you know, for authors, definitely.

I know writing is our first. Point, you know, first choice point were there. It could be video, it could be audio, but it, it’s about being strategic, about the kind of content that we put out there that we’re gonna have, you know, our audience consume. And inside the book I talk a lot about, you know, really honing in on that being, you know, really strategic with it so that we’re not just putting random content to put random content.

So this is where there’s a process I take people through, which is my 1 0 4 formula, where you’re really honing in on 104. Problems, challenges, desires, things that [00:19:00] your audience, you know, is experiencing right now. They could be as far as problems, they could be, huge problems that they’re experiencing.

They could be annoyances as well. And to really, when you really list it all out, and we’ve all, at some point in business have done some sort of avatar work. So it’s similar to this, but it’s getting actually a little bit more specific. Like really mapping it out. Painting a day in the life of your ideal person, what’s going on with them a day in their life when they wake up.

What’s the first thing that they, they experience that might be a problem, a challenge, an annoyance. What is it that they want more of in their life? And listing all these out. And when you do this, you really have a whole list here. You’ll never run out of things to talk about. Because what happens is is then when you have that and you relate it to your content, related to your book, related to, you know, wherever you wanna lead people to, you’re speaking their language and they.

Read that piece of content or they watch that video and they’re like, oh my gosh, is this person in my house and watching exactly what I’m doing because that’s exactly what I’m experiencing right now. And they feel that instant connection to you. So when you do that with your content, it allows [00:20:00] you, again, to bring the right people that are aligned for the next step with you, which would be leading them to buy your book.

Suzy Vadori: Yeah, absolutely. And we have both fiction and non-fiction writers listening to this. Mm-hmm. And so it’s hard to sort of imagine, but at the same time, all of these things are true for your readers. And the nice thing is most of our writers, hopefully you are all reading in your genre and you are also readers.

And so you understand what does that day in the life look like? How do you, how do they buy books? How do they find books? Where do they talk about books? What are they looking for? What else are they reading? And that will give you lots of ideas of things that you can write about,

Melissa Pruitt: absolutely

Suzy Vadori: write about or video about, or any piece of content.

And yes, and I like to say, yeah, for writers, you nailed it, Melissa, that many of us like to write Go figure. Yeah. And so it doesn’t have to be like if you’re watching Melissa’s channels and you’re like, well, I can’t do that. Right? I don’t wanna do that. And people say that to me all the time, but Susie. I don’t [00:21:00] wanna be a public speaker that I am, do those things.

I don’t wanna do video. Ironically, there is no video on this podcast. Yeah, and that was a decision that I made because I found it really hard when I had a YouTube channel. I just found it that extra difficulty to be on video versus not video. And when I made the decision to launch this podcast, it was very freeing for me to be like, okay, I can do this more consistently if I don’t have to worry about editing video.

I don’t have to worry what I look like. I don’t have to worry about the lighting, all these things. So we’re able to consistently put out more episodes this way because I’ve taken that off the table. Yeah. And people say, but Susie, you’re great on video. I’m like, yeah, but, but who cares if I don’t like doing it.

Exactly. Make it easy on yourself,

Melissa Pruitt: whatever that is. I love that. I love that. ’cause you’ve taken away, you’ve taken away the objection for you to, to do it because you wouldn’t show up as consistently if you had to, you know, do. So I would, like I said, I’m all about doing what works for you and if you know, if [00:22:00] doing the audio, if that’s your go-to go to that, if writing is your go-to, go to that.

And then you can decide later on if you wanna add other pieces, but just do something really well, consistently, one channel to start and, and build that up. And so it, that it becomes like, not even something you, it, you, it’s a habit. You don’t even think about it. And then you can decide and you can evaluate too from that point.

Because you’ll have data at that point to really see are people engaged in this? Are people tweak things along, maybe tweaking your content, or that might be in a piece where maybe you wanna explore and play in another area as well. So maybe most of the time you do the writing, but like maybe like 80% you write, but maybe 20% you play around with a video or audio.

You can add that later on. But do something really well consistently first.

Suzy Vadori: Yeah. And the weird thing is for those listeners that are listening, we are actually recording a video. There is a video that goes to this and sometimes we use snippets of it, but there’s lots of solo episodes that I do that I can do from wherever that don’t include video.

And that just makes it way easier for me to get up early on a Saturday morning, knock [00:23:00] off a few and and call it a month. Right. I love it. Right. So what would you say to writers who are. Listening to all of this, maybe checking out my stuff, maybe checking out your stuff, or their favorite author and they’re comparing themselves.

What would you say to somebody who’s like, woo, I am not, I’m not them. This isn’t gonna work for me.

Melissa Pruitt: Yeah. And, and that’s, it’s so easy to compare yourselves. I mean, and I think no matter how long you have been an entrepreneur or writer or whatever, it’s that you do, you’re always gonna constantly look around you and, and, you know, look at other people and, and, and get in that comparison piece.

And it’s really just keeping mindful that what you’re seeing now of other people, they didn’t. Start off that way. They started just where you are. So to really keep that in mind, and I know it’s in the moment, it’s really hard. A lot of times when we coach our people and they see, you know, we have two podcasts that we do.

We have multiple coaching programs, we have all these courses and, and things that we do to help people. But we didn’t, we did not start off that way. I mean, if you look, you know, 10 years ago it was a much different. Picture. So, [00:24:00] but just by starting today with where you’re at, it’s really important. And just knowing that you do have something unique and special and different that needs to get out there.

It’s very easy to compare to other people, but you have your own unique experiences. You have your own, uh, unique, you know, education, things that you’ve been through. That is something to give to your audience. So you, you wanna make sure that you know that that’s something that’s worth, that’s worth sharing.

That’s something that’s worth putting out there. So just start with where you’re at and keep it really, really simple. Um, and try to put the blinders on. You know, if it, if it does bother you, like sometimes, you know, I’m like, okay, I’m just, I’m not gonna, I’m only gonna use social media to really produce, um, and become less of a consumer of social media.

That’s where people get a little bit stuck ’cause that they’re consuming social media. And that’s where we get in our heads and we start that comparison game. Let’s get be less of a consumer of social media and more of a producer of social media. And you just go on, use social media as a tool to connect with your audience and then just do your best to stay off of it, if that really, if it really starts to bother you and get your head a little bit.

Suzy Vadori: I love what you said. You know, we didn’t all start out that way and we [00:25:00] talk about that in writing all the time. Please don’t compare your very first draft to a polished published manuscript and say, oh, stop. Right? Like that is not it. So you are doing your very first draft, and guess what? If you are so focused on making your content perfect that very first time, because you’re never gonna do it again.

That is a very different feeling from, okay, I’m gonna post every day and it’s gonna be imperfect. And guess what? If something doesn’t work, it’s gonna be buried so fast. Yeah, exactly. Better at it.

Melissa Pruitt: A lot of times we worry more about it than our audience does. They’re not even, they’re not waking up every morning like we’re, we’re our own worst critics with that.

But yeah, I love that. It’s just like, put it out there. Worst case scenario, if it’s, if you hate it, you can always delete it too as well. So it’s like, you know. Exactly right. But don’t

Suzy Vadori: delete it all before you get going. Exactly. I just, I, I see you giving my audience a little bit of rope there and I see where they’re gonna take that.

They’re gonna be like, I can delete it. Yeah. And I think the only, like, the other thing that that brought up for me [00:26:00] was the fact that, you know, a lot of people that you’re speaking with course creators and in other areas have this thing where there is competition and in, in writing. I like to say that we don’t have any competition because here’s the weird thing about writing.

Is, if somebody loves my book, guess what they’re gonna do? They’re gonna become a more dedicated reader and go out and find your book. That might be in the same thing, right? Like me succeeding actually creates a reader for you. So it’s like not as cutthroat as you might think like some other industries.

Yeah. If they buy my course, they might not be able to afford the other course. I don’t have to just choose one book. In fact, most of us don’t just choose one book.

Melissa Pruitt: I love that. I love that there is, there’s room for everybody and I think that’s a really good thing to keep in mind. For sure.

Suzy Vadori: Yeah. So let’s talk about your book, ’cause it’s been out for a little while now, but how did the writing go?

Melissa Pruitt: Oh

Suzy Vadori: my goodness.

Melissa Pruitt: It was, it was a lot of fun. It was a big challenge too, you know, [00:27:00] everything always takes longer than you think it’s gonna take. Always. And this was, yes, it does. One of those, one of those pieces where it just took a lot longer than it expected to, but for good reasons, because I really wanted the book to have educational pieces, but then also to pull in.

Experiences of people that we’ve worked with throughout the years. So inside the book there’s lots of case studies and other places that people can find more information. So I incorporated that throughout the book as well, which I’m really proud of with that because I, that took a lot of time, but it did take a lot longer than I, I thought it would, I’m excited to get it out finally into the world.

And it was one of those things, like when it was finally time to be like, okay. Publish, let’s get it out. It’s just like, whatever, it’s, let’s, let’s get it out, ready to go. And now that it’s out, I’m excited to start talking about it more because that process took a little bit longer than expected. But I think the fun part is now that this is the fun part, is we’re on the phase now where we’re talking about the book coming on awesome podcast like this, you know, talking about the book and just I’m having opportunities to, to share it with people.

Um, so that’s, that’s the fun part. The writing the book is the one piece and then it’s getting it out [00:28:00] there into the world. That’s the second piece. But I’m excited to be in this phase for sure. But it did take a little bit longer.

Suzy Vadori: Yeah, absolutely. We always, we don’t like to tell new writers how long it’s gonna take because they don’t believe us, but it does.

It’s like, it’s like this thing, it’s not the physical act of writing that takes the time. It’s also the thinking and the, the sort of adjusting and, and all the brilliance that you’re bringing to that writing. Anybody can do spellcheck. That’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about bringing your hopes and dreams and that thing that’s keeping you up at night, whether it’s nonfiction or fiction.

Or memoir or somewhere in between. Right? And getting that onto the page is actually very challenging for everybody, for me, for you, for everybody. Because every book is unique and that’s what makes it special. Okay, so you talked about bringing in experiences from other people. Again, that’s that mindset that we are not in competition.

You’re actually sending people to other places within your book. So you’re talking the talk and walking the walk. And you actually have some really impressive endorsements for this book, which I’m not surprised. [00:29:00] I know that you work with all these people, but do you recommend, ’cause this is something that writers are really shy about when asking like, oh, well, why would somebody endorse my book?

Do you recommend any being high?

Melissa Pruitt: Aim high. There was some endorsements that I got on there that I was like, I’m not sure, but like to have some of the endorsements. I mean, Amy Porterfield was one of the endorsers, which I was just honored, you know, that she would take time to to go through that. But I just like, I’m just gonna go for it.

I’m gonna go for it. And I just put a lot, it was, that was also a part of the why it took so much longer. ’cause I really wanted people to read the book and get a sense what it was about. So I reached out to high and low and everywhere in between. To find people to take the time to read the book. And worst case that can happen is that you, you won’t get that endorsement, but you won’t know until you do the ask and and ask about it.

So, but like some of those endorsements was just a really, I was honored, pleasant surprise to have some of those endorsements and it makes it even worse. Well deserved.

Suzy Vadori: Well deserved, yeah. What was the most surprising thing that you would say about launching a book that’s different [00:30:00] from every other course launch or membership launch, or every other marketing program launch that you’ve done in the past?

Melissa Pruitt: The time piece would be the one of the most surprising pieces because like I said, I really put a lot of energy into really making it a really thorough read for everyone, having those case studies in it. So I would think that would be the, the biggest, how much time it took to put into it. But like I said, it was all worth it as far as with putting everything through with, um, and getting in the final finished product with.

Suzy Vadori: Absolutely, and I think it’s, it is one of these surprising things. I was a business executive for 20 years before quitting. I mean, I was writing while I was doing that, but then when I quit to do all things writing, finally, you know, let go of my day job, the thing that is bonkers about. Traditional publishing in particular, although self-publishing as well, is that it’s slow.

Like the publishing business is just taking its own damn time. Yes. And, and so that everybody’s creative, everybody’s got this other thing and I’m used to like boom, boom, boom. And I think that’s what makes me stand out actually isn’t. [00:31:00] Center is, if I say that I’m going to get it back to you in two weeks, you have that darn thing back in two weeks.

Even if I have to stay all night, right? Like I do not agree with the timelines in it. And, and, but there is this like. Inherent slowness to publishing that. Yeah. You just

Melissa Pruitt: have to kind of embrace. Absolutely. I think also too, what was surprising is that it is something that’s a little bit more personal. You know, when you, whenever, whatever book you write, it is a little bit more personal to yourself.

So, you know, even for me, and I’ve been doing this for some time, one of those things where it’s like, are people gonna read this? Are they gonna love this? And so that was also some of that slow process of really just making sure, and you know, we all have that level of perfectionism that we want it to be.

Awesome and perfect. And so that was a little surprising too because you know, other things, you know, really I we’re quick starts, Paul and I, my husband, my business partner, we’re quick starts. So we, we have an idea, we put it out, it’s out. And this just took a little bit more time because I think it was so personal to me that I just really, really looked at each page and.

Each part of the book to really make sure, so that, that was a [00:32:00] piece. But thankfully Paul was very encouraging. I also, I wanted to share too, is I, I did have someone that was helping me, a coach as well. Um, and so I think that’s okay too. If you are an author and you have people to keep you accountable, help you move things along.

That could be really helpful in the process of absolute.

Suzy Vadori: Absolutely. I mean, I work with writers all the time, a book coach. I work with writers all the time. In particular with busy people like yourselves wanting to write a nonfiction book. And the first time that you do it, I mean, you’ve been producing content for years.

You, you know, I’m sure your grammar is great and your messaging is down, but a book is a huge undertaking and, and if you don’t sort of have a guidepost or that accountability, it’s never gonna get done. It just won’t. Right. Yeah. I like to say coached writer. Finish coach, writers finish. Um, okay, so, but what if writers are starting from zero and don’t have anything on social media?

How, how should they start? So

Melissa Pruitt: if you, starting from zero is actually a great place to start. ’cause you can play, you can experiment, you can have fun with it. So I would like, we talked a [00:33:00] little bit about before, figure out those pieces of your personal life that you’d like to share. Those kind of, those containers, um, four to five of them and just start off there and filling it out.

You need something consistent on this schedule. Like I said, a once a week thing is a great place to start and see how that goes for a little for a couple weeks before you start to add more. And then from there, you know, you’ll start to get a little bit more used to it or become more of a daily habit, and then you can start to incorporate more to things.

Specifically to your book, really understanding your audience and pulling those pieces of content, uh, into your social media would be a great way. But just because you’re starting from, from zero and don’t have anything, you could start today, you could start at any point in time. You could start right now.

So just, just get it going with something personal about yourself first, putting it out there and make a commitment to yourself for doing it. Put it on your calendar too, if that’s like a, you know, if you’re busy and you don’t exactly just. Treat it as an appointment. I’m gonna do a social media post today, and it, it just slowly becomes a habit and something a little bit more natural and something that you become a little bit more comfortable with in time too.

Monthly, weekly, [00:34:00] daily, what are we talking? I would say whatever consistently to start, for me personally, I would love to see even just once a week, I think it would be a good place to start because it does need to have some sort of consistent, but if, if it’s less than that, if it’s once a month, once a month is better than, than zero.

So, um, but I would love to see a once a week to start, but just something, you know, simple about yourself. Again, that personal piece, and then you can. Again, pull in more information about your book if you’re sharing things. Also too, don’t take anything for granted with your social media. Like a lot of people wonder like, my life is not that interesting.

But it’s like behind the scenes showing a day in the life. You could even have a post of you, you know, working on your book if you’re in you’re writing process, showing where you write in your house, showing like activities you do to get yourself in the right head space to prepare, to sit down and write.

Like those things people love behind the scenes. They love to peek behind the curtains, so don’t take anything that you do for granted.

Suzy Vadori: Did you go back and troll my 2011 Twitter? Because that’s what I did, right? Yes. Like 2011, I was on [00:35:00] maternity leave with my third child. She’s 14 now. Right. So I was writing my first book, and that’s what I did is I posted and I very quickly got to 30,000 followers.

Wow. Just talking about writing a book. And what ended up happening was I was being asked to do talks. I was being asked to. Be the expert opinion. I’m like, I don’t even have a book yet. And so it kind of, it, it does work. And all I was doing, like literally because I was busy and a mom and, and traveling and doing all kinds of things and I would post like my laptop on a chair.

I wasn’t even in the post where I was on a beach and I’m okay. I am gonna knock out half an hour while the kids are sleeping like that was it. Times are different now. You might have to be a little bit. Different. But it did work. And I love that. And,

Melissa Pruitt: and it’s so inspiring because again, we take for granted things like that, but like those types of posts are so inspiring to people because it’s like, oh look, you know, she can do this.

She’s busy, she’s a mom, you know, but she’s still writing a book and it’s very inspiring. And you made a good point. I’m not

Suzy Vadori: saying it [00:36:00] was easy.

Melissa Pruitt: No, it’s not, it’s not saying it was easy. That’s the piece that, that’s that authenticity and vulnerability that people, and I think now more than ever in today’s times, people are craving for that.

They just want, they, they want authenticity. They want realness. We, we don’t need to have, you know, social media channels that are polished, like the whole, you know, Pinterest, you know, with beautiful branded photos. I mean, yes, I love branded photo more than anyone else too, but like. People love in. That’s not really

Suzy Vadori: what’s working now anyway.

I find like a selfie of me is the post that does better than anything that we can produce in Canva that is supposed to be better. Right? Like that’s just, you try it and I love that you say start now. Start now. Be consistent. Doesn’t matter if you are just thinking about writing a book, if you’ve got 12 people waiting for your book when it comes out, it’s better than having zero opposite.

If listeners have already put their books out into the world, they’re published, however they’re published, and it’s all awesome. However, they’re [00:37:00] published, they’ve already done it, and they didn’t do this, and their books are kind of out there, but nobody knows what, what would you, what would your advice be at that point?

Melissa Pruitt: Yeah, there’s always, is it too late? No, it’s never too late. It’s never too late. And there’s always an opportunity for a party, for, uh, a celebration. So you could do, like, there’s so many fun things. If your book has been out there, why not do like a book relaunch, you know, a book celebration, an anniversary of something.

There’s always a reason to celebrate, figure out whatever that reason is, to celebrate and celebrate that book and just get it out there again. There’s lots of opportunities to, you know, re-put it out there in the market, bring out that awareness, but there’s always an excuse. It could be the change of the season and you can, you know, have, have something to talk about your book.

Um, but you could get started with that as well too. And just, I think it’s one of those things. Just pick right back up. Start. Same thing applies. Start right now. Pick right back up. You don’t need to make it. Oh, I haven’t been on social media. You don’t need to give everybody a whole bunch of reasons why you haven’t been.

Just pick right back up and start putting it out there.

Suzy Vadori: Yeah, absolutely. [00:38:00] I, I just love, I’ve kind of stuck on this. There’s always a reason to celebrate. Melissa, you and I need to hang out more. Um, this summer, if you’d have told me that I was gonna celebrate my birthday publicly, didn’t think I would ever do that.

But this summer I turned 50 and I was like, you know what? That’s pretty cool and I’ve got like half my life done and I got 50 more years. What am I? It was like this weird moment. Yeah, and I shared it because, love it. I know a lot of my readers, whether they’re young or whether they’re middle aged like me or a little bit further along in their life and experience, just sharing that experience, that human experience was really created some really neat connections and conversations and it was profound for me.

So I know that they cared because I was like, wow, 50 more years. And it just like was like my grandmother also just turned a hundred. Oh my goodness. I think it’s real. And she still plays bingo twice a week and whatever. Like she’s great. So I’m like, 50 more years. What am I going to do? Like I’m not done yet.

[00:39:00] Exactly. I love that. So how do you see your book helping writers the most?

Melissa Pruitt: I think for those that aren’t really sure of exactly how to get their book into the right hands of the right people, it, this would, this would be very helpful for them. So it’s gonna give you a, uh, something, again, tactical, practical place to start with your marketing strategy.

Social media is a, is a great place to start with that, again, to create that visibility and it’ll really outline for you exactly the things that you can be posting on social media talking about to bring those right people in. Then as you go through the book, it talks about other ways that are very strategic to build an email list as well.

Because if you have the right social media content that’s going out there and gathering the right people in, we wanna lead them into, ’cause we, we don’t, social media is great, but at we, at the end of the day, we would love to have these individuals on our email list so then that we can have a, a really more intimate conversation with them through email, whether we send out a weekly email or a newsletter or some sort of communication that we do.

But we have to pull them from that social media through the content that we do to [00:40:00] something compelling onto our list. So it, it walks you through that so that you can really, again, gather the right people, not just random, but right people that are perfect for your book. And then these are people that are perfectly aligned for other things, for your next book or if you have offers that compliment your book as well.

But it’s, it’s a great way to lead, uh, you into that. So it’ll, it walks you through that entire plan.

Suzy Vadori: Absolutely. I mean, it is one strategy that’s out there, you know, the, the 20 books to 50 K, right? Like just keep producing books, um, is one strategy, but if you do this correctly, you don’t have to do that.

Right. Um, you can continue to grow your audience and give them different things. Yes. More books. But it doesn’t have to, you don’t have to wait until you’ve got 20 books out there for sure. Exactly. Okay. This has been awesome, and I’ve got, let’s, before I let you go, I’ve got some quick fire questions. Okay.

You ready? Okay, let’s do it. We talked about it took longer than you think. How long from the idea to you finishing or hitting publish, how long did the book take you? It was, uh, just a little over a a a [00:41:00] year, a little over a year. Okay. That is very fast. Just so you know. So I know that, that, that felt slow to you.

That is one of the fastest answers I’ve ever had on this podcast. Um, so so you’re doing good. Coaching helps, right? So, yes. Okay. What was the moment that you knew it was real and it was really gonna happen?

Melissa Pruitt: That was when, when I started to get the endorsements, and especially with some of the ones like, and asking people and some of the ones that I didn’t expect.

I’m like, oh my goodness, like people are actually reading this book and giving, you know, giving me feedback and endorsements. That’s when I was like, this is, this is really happening now.

Suzy Vadori: Amazing. Okay. What was your first big break in social media? Oh my gosh.

Melissa Pruitt: I’ve been doing social media for a long time now.

Back in the days where I would just do random videos, sharing day in the life type of thing. So it’s been such a long time. But I think one of the biggest things is I was doing social media and someone was watching, and I, I got approached. Uh, and then between that and another conversation approach to do a, a TEDx talk.

So it was, social media kind of led that way [00:42:00] where they kind of were, were watching me over here, and then we, uh, got introduced and had a conversation and that led to a TEDx talk. So that was, but it, it

Suzy Vadori: does work first big break. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. Okay. What’s your favorite thing about being an author?

It’s one of many hats that you wear.

Melissa Pruitt: Oh my gosh. I, I do love the, the process of writing, the quiet of it, allowing to be kind of introspective. I’m a lot on the go, go, go. And, uh, in our business I’m implementing a lot of things and doing a lot of things. And when I sit down to write, it just is an actual, just the time and space to just be quiet with my thoughts and, and dive into it.

So the actual process of it, I really appreciate.

Suzy Vadori: I love that. Okay. What’s your best advice for writers wanting to start a social media presence? Just start,

Melissa Pruitt: just start, start before you think you’re ready. And you can start small and that’s big. You know, like start with those little personal pieces, but just get it going.

Just get it going and push the publish. Don’t, don’t worry about it and, and move on with it. And just have fun with it.

Suzy Vadori: Awesome. And [00:43:00] okay, we’re gonna practice what we preach this entire time today, right? Which is, if you loved listening to Melissa and her style and her practicality, and you need this, you know you need this, where can we find you and your book and your services?

Melissa Pruitt: Yes, absolutely. So if you go to influenced book.com, you can get information about the book itself, and there’s some fun things on that page as well too. I also too, have a free workshop, anyone going through the book as well to compliment it. And that’s called influenced workshop.com. And they can go on there.

And for those that really wanna, you know, talk a little bit more with business and marketing and sales, whether it’s, you know, the social media piece or other aspects. My husband and I, we have a coaching program called Adaptive Marketing Program, and that’s adaptive marketing program.com. You can go check that out.

And I’ll, of course, I’m on, I’m on Instagram as well. If anyone ever wants to reach out, my handle is real. Melissa Pruitt, I love, uh, meeting people on social too, so just come on over there and say hi over there too.

Suzy Vadori: Go give [00:44:00] Melissa some love. Let her know that it was inspiring today and that you want her to come back on the podcast.

You’re welcome back here. Anytime all of those links will be in the show notes. And thanks for being on today, Melissa.

Melissa Pruitt: Oh my gosh. Thank you so much. This was so fun.

Suzy Vadori: Thanks for tuning in to show. No, tell Writing with me, Suzy Vadori. Help me continue to bring you the straight goods for that book you’re writing or planning to write. Please consider subscribing to this podcast and leaving a review on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever else you’re listening. Also visit susie Vadori.com/newsletter to hop on my weekly inspired writing newsletter list where you’ll stay inspired and be the first to know about upcoming training events and writing courses that happen in my community.

If you’re feeling brave, check the show notes and send us a page. If you’re writing that isn’t quite where you want it to be, yet for our show to tell page review. Episodes. [00:45:00] Remember that book and your writing is going to open doors that you haven’t even thought of yet, and I can’t wait to help you make it the absolute best you’re feeling called to write that book.

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