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Welcome to Season 4 of The Book Marketing Action Podcast with Becky Robinson, where we give you information that you can immediately implement to increase your influence and market your books more successfully. 

During this episode, Becky is joined by Dan Blank, who is the author of Be the Gateway: A Practical Guide to Sharing Your Creative Work and Engaging an Audience, and founder of WeGrowMedia. Becky and Dan share ways to sustain energy through your book marketing journey, methods for growing your audience, and tips for showing up authentically on social media.

Key Points From This Episode:

[01:26] Becky recounts how she came to find Dan and how she discovered his book, Be The Gateway.

[01:47] Dan expounds on the work that he does to help authors write, launch, and market their books. 

[03:50] Maintaining momentum for a book for years to come can be challenging for most authors. Dan speaks to methods he uses to sustain his energy since the release of his book in 2017.

[06:19] Writing newsletters is a great way to connect with your audience, increase brand visibility, and spread awareness for your message. Dan shares how writing newsletters helped him to start and sustain his career. 

[09:32] Sharing captivating Reels on Instagram is the most effective, organic method for reaching a wide audience on the platform. Dan sheds light on the success of his latest Instagram Reel experiment.

[14:47] Dan breaks down the meaning and inspiration behind his book, Be The Gateway

[17:18] Oftentimes, creators have non-traditional markers for measuring success. Dan weighs in on this ideology as outlined in his book.

[21:58] In this new social media-driven world, many people share their most personal and vulnerable moments online, while others keep their private lives to themselves. Dan explains how important it is for him to establish clear boundaries that separate his private life from his work in the world. 

[24:49] Dan weighs in on barriers that authors face when attempting to grow their audience.

Action Steps:

  1. Reach out to an author or podcaster that resonates with you via email. It’s a great opportunity to connect and let someone know that you enjoy their work. A kind message or gratitude email goes a long way.
  2. Create an Instagram Reel and post it on your page. Reels are a great way to use your voice to find your audience and solidify yourself as an experienced thought leader in your industry. 

Resources:

Tweetables and quotes:

If you choose to share on Twitter, don’t forget to tag @DanBlank and @beckyrbnsn so they know you enjoyed this episode!

I love that people create, I love that they write. —Dan Blank

Every week I’m creating, I’m writing, and I’m publishing makes me feel alive. —Dan Blank

There are no rules, do what you’re comfortable with. —Dan Blank

There’s the emotion of joy, the joy that I felt in holding the book, for the first time. There’s fear. I’m terrified of what it means to put this story out in the world. There’s excitement. There’s embarrassment. There are all these different things that when you share the process, you’re tapping into different emotions. —Dan Blank

I am a huge believer in boundaries. And I think that every single person needs to define their own boundaries. Those boundaries can be personal, private, children, mental health, physical health, safety, all of that is so critical.  —Dan Blank

What you do want to show up with, what you write about, why you write about it, your professional process, your professional connections, that’s where I think that I would encourage you to really go deep… —Dan Blank

Everything that I share, I try to share very authentically. I try to share what I really deeply believe in, I try to share the work that I do. —Dan Blank

You can find safe, measured ways of building relationships and being social, that will really push your career forward.  —Dan Blank

Email Becky Robinson here for a chance to receive a free copy of Dan’s book!

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