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Welcome to Season 2 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. In this episode, we are joined by Minal Bopaiah—Author, Equity Strategist, and Founder of Brevity & Wit.
Today’s episode is continuing the “Author Journey” series, based on Becky’s book, which is scheduled for release from Berrett Koehler publishers in April 2022. The book is called Reach: Creating the Biggest Possible Audience for Your Message, Book, or Cause.
Key Points From This Episode:
[00:54] Minal shares about what her experience has been like growing her influence online.
[02:09] Minal discusses building connections on LinkedIn, what’s worked well for her, and how she has expanded the reach of her work.
[04:16] Minal shares the challenges she faced on the journey to getting her book contract.
[05:16] A challenge for marginalized voices in the business books space, is that it seems you almost have to be making six figures in order to be able to get the book deal and afford the extra publicity and marketing around the book. Minal shares her experience that led her to that belief.
[07:09] Minal discusses her perspective on difficulties that people from marginalized communities might face.
[11:59] We hear about what people from dominant identities might be missing about the challenges that people from marginalized identities face.
[14:31] For those who recognize that they are part of a dominant community, with the privileges associated with that, Minal shares what they can do to elevate marginalized voices.
[20:11] Minal shares her final thoughts as it relates to publishing and amplifying voices.
Action Steps:
- Mobilize your network. One of the things Minal mentioned was that she realized, in the publishing world, it’s more about relationships and networking, than it is about the quality of your work. So I would encourage you to think about your network and the ways in which you can mobilize them to help you. We do have a network mobilization resource available to help you think through this.
- Read outside your comfort zone. As it relates to equity and inclusion, Minal recommends getting a different perspective, having those difficult conversations, reading books from people that don’t look like you or from people who are outside of your comfort zone, just keep reading and read profusely.
- Bring awareness to the areas where you are dominant. Another thing mentioned in today’s episode was doing some research in order to become aware of the complexity of your identity among all of the dimensions. Minal mentions Theequitybook.com, which is her website for her book. On that page, you will be able to download the Group Identity Wheel and do the exercise to raise awareness of your own identity. Doing that exercise will help you understand the ways in which you have privilege and the ways in which you’ve been marginalized.
Resources:
Learn more about Minal’s company, Brevity & Wit.
Learn more about Minal and her book, Equity: How to Design Organizations Where Everyone Thrives, here.
Connect with Brevity & Wit on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Connect with Minal on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Tweetables and quotes:
As a marketer, I think it’s really important to make decisions that allow you to use your resources wisely. – Minal Bopaiah
I think a writer’s job is to tell the truth in the most authentic voice possible. And so even though you want to be cognizant of your audience, you also want to be true to yourself. – Minal Bopaiah
If we only read books from people who look like us, then it’s not going to be possible for us to amplify the work of someone who doesn’t look like us. – Becky Robinson
It’s really a need to influx and to have more of these voices out there. Because there are so many stories we’re not hearing and so many perspectives that we’re missing. – Minal Bopaiah
If you found value in today’s episode, we hope you’ll take a moment to share it with someone else who might benefit from it. If you have any questions or topics you’d like us to cover, please email Becky Robinson here.
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I am the founder/CEO of the Weaving Influence team, the author of Reach: Creating the Biggest Possible Audience for Your Message, Book, or Cause, and the host of the Book Marketing Action Podcast. I’m a wife and mom of three kids, and I enjoy running, reading, writing, coffee, and dark chocolate.