My new Substack publication is live! It doesn’t look like much, but over the last week, I’ve been doing a lot of work behind the scenes.
Over the years, I’ve developed a deep appreciation for the fact that when someone decides to read my writing, they’re choosing to spend their most valuable currency on my work: they’re spending their time.
If we writers want people to spend anything (whether that be time or money) on something we create, we need to start by know who we’re trying to serve.
Thomas Umstattd Jr., who teaches marketing for authors, talks about how writers need a “Timothy.” He draws this term from the fact that although the Apostle Paul wrote the first and second letters of Timothy for one person, Timothy, those books have been relevant to millions of Christians down through the centuries. Umstattd argues that if authors want to reach anyone, we need to start by writing for a particular “someone.”
This is common marketing advice (though marketers tend to use terms like “avatar” or “idea client” rather than “Timothy”!) and I’ve seen it to be true over and over in all the different ventures I have undertaken.
Although I already know the ideal audience for my new Substack well (I’ve been writing for them for the last three years!), I still sat down with a notebook and pen to reestablish who I’m writing for with this new blog.
These are the questions I asked:
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