Episode 19: Can I have more than one reader and message?

Show notes:

Do you struggle with narrowing down your reader and message to just one? If so, you're not alone! In this episode, I talk about what doesn't work in this regard and some possibilities of what can work.

If you need help discovering who you are writing for and what you offer them, download these 10 questions to ask yourself and journal through.

If you have questions about narrowing your message and reader to just one, feel free to reach out on IG @amysimonwriter

Transcript:

One question I hear a lot when coaching writers is how to narrow down their reader and message to just one. Many times we have multiple interests and different things we like to talk about. So this week we’re going to talk about some different options you have if you’re having trouble narrowing it down to just one reader and message.

First of all, here’s what really doesn’t work:

Having two completely different and separate readers and messages. For example: Travel for retirees and workout routines for parents of small children.

Why??

If you’re going to do two completely unrelated topics with different readers, then you really need two different websites, two different social media accounts, two different email lists… And you’d need to nurture and grow those completely separately. Your retirees won’t want to know about workouts for young moms and the moms aren’t thinking about retirement yet. Managing both of those is an incredible amount of work.

There are some things that can work, though.

One possibility is to have one reader and message be your main thing where you focus your website, email list, social media, etc, and then you sometimes write articles or do isolated pieces in other places on other topics. A little sneak peek to next week and episode 20, in my interview with Melissa Smith, she talks about how she writes mainly to women creatives, but she wrote an isolated magazine article about kids with disabilities. Great! She didn’t put it on her website or mention it on social media because it didn’t belong there. But it served its purpose for the magazine she wrote it for.

Another option: Same reader, but different aspects of your message. Maybe you write about travel for retirees. That could be your umbrella topic, but under that, you cover destinations, packing tips, how to get along with your spouse while traveling, nurturing your spiritual life while on the road, etc. You have a specific reader and a general topic that’s then divided into subtopics with that common thread that weaves through them all.

You can also have one topic but segment into two different readers. I do this, personally. I talk about spiritual formation and getting below the surface in our lives to uncover the things that get us stuck. I also talk to Christian writers on how to use those same principles to get unstuck in their writing. I ask questions and help them get to the root of where they’re struggling so they can make progress in their writing. Those interested in writing are also Christians, so they might want to read my spiritual formation topics, but then I talk to just the writers for writing topics. Jana Carlson in episode 18 has a similar situation - she writes for Christians who are not writers as well as Christian writers.

Part of managing this type of scenario is knowing where each group of people go to hear your message. I discovered that the Christians who are not writers most often seemed to interact with me via email. They didn’t seem to be podcast listeners (at least not for my content) nor were they interested in interacting on social media on topics of spiritual formation. However, they do interact with my emails and blog posts, so I focus my attention on email for those people. The writers in my audience, however, do interact with writing topics on social media and many listen to podcasts, so that’s where I direct my message to them. It’s still a lot of work to maintain both, so I try and streamline it however I can. Most email service providers allow you to segment your audience so you can keep track of what message goes to which people.

There isn’t really one right or wrong way to do it and a lot of it depends on your own personal bandwidth. Here’s the big picture to help you make those decisions:

1. Clarity is key. If you have a website, it should be clear and focused and speak directly to your reader. Having multiple messages or talking to multiple types of people is confusing and will not attract people to your site. The same with any social media platform and email communication. Whatever the place is, be clear and focused.

2. It has to be sustainable for you. Especially if your writing time is limited, being as focused and narrow as you can will help you to use your time much more effectively.

3. There’s always room to experiment. If you’re really torn between two topics or readers, spend some time writing about both. See what resonates with you and what resonates with others. What can you write about forever vs what is more of a passing interest that might only go in isolated places. There are also seasons for different topics. You may just need to set one topic aside for a season and then switch gears later.

If you’re trying to narrow down who you are writing for a what you offer them, I’ll put the link in the shownotes for 10 questions to ask yourself and journal through to find clarity.

If you aren’t already on my email list, you’ll be missing out on hearing announcements and special opportunities coming up this fall and down the road. Downloading those 10 questions will get you on that list. I generally only email about once a month unless there’s something special going on, so I won’t inundate you with emails.

I hope you find this helpful! I’d love to hear any questions you have about having multiple readers or messages. Feel free to DM me on IG @amysimonwriter.