PR Talk and Ghostwriter | Brittany Bearden

Today on the show with Britney Bearden. Initially, when I was interviewing her for PR. She never mentioned her second company, the ghostwriting services. So I start digging into the ghostwriting industry. The logistics, how it works. The services that she renders and the whole 9 yards.

My links are below

www.atlargepr.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanybearden/

https://www.facebook.com/atlargepr

www.clarenspublishing.com

https://www.facebook.com/ClarensPublishing/



my social medias

https://twitter.com/JRBolton_
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https://www.tiktok.com/@j.r.bolton_
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Transcript

Unknown: 0:20

was a you home early? Oh, okay. Your your home home at 12 Okay, see you at 12 Hi, how are you? Good in you doing well? Thank you wonderful, sir. I'm got my microphone and my quiet room. Nice. Looks like you're on your nice comfy bed too. I am that way you can't see how messy The room is behind me. Well, it's okay. You're in good company. So I didn't want you to see what a mess it is. But the other room the fax machine is so loud. Oh, yeah. Yeah, obviously people still fax. Um, yeah. So we share the house with my dad and my dad has fax machine. Okay. That's almost like yeah, I haven't seen a faster than the bank and like ever. Right? Yes. So we still have a fax machine. If he doesn't get text messages, he gets his little faxes and said, Yes, it's faxes. I don't know. I don't know why he's set it to this whooping sound. And I, you know, it might not go off during our hour, but I don't want you to have to edit it. If it does. I have a lot of different software's are good at compressing. So even if it does, it won't be like a terrifying sell. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Good. I was trying to make it as easy as possible for you to add it. Yeah, it's usually other than the introduction like this because it's recording whenever I would just say we're going okay, everything else and we go for it. Okay. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Yeah, there was one guest I did and she's like, what the hell? Why did you put that in there? I'm like, sorry. Cut it out. So then actually, let's get right into it. Tell me about yourself. Brittany. bargain. Bearden, Bearden. Okay. Tell me, buddy. So Brittany, what you do and what you've been doing during your COVID time? Sure. Um, so for me, I've been working from home since 2010. So COVID really didn't change anything for me. Um, it actually increased my business. And I'll explain why in a minute. I have two businesses. My first business is a public relations business. And I've been doing it since 2010. And my second business is a ghost writing business. And during the pandemic, everyone had the time to work on their book. So the ghost writing business increased. So I've been working at home so my business didn't change except to grow. I was so fortunate because so many people struggled so much through the pandemic, but it actually in terms of business helped me on a personal level. It's been very tense because my husband has underlying conditions. So it's been. So it's been a very tense year. He just got a second vaccine yesterday. So two more weeks. And then I, I'll be able to breathe a little easier. Yes, that's good. So, so when I say it's good for business, don't think that the pandemic was just like a great time for me. No, it's been stressful for everyone. Yes. So it's interesting that you told me about your PR, but you didn't tell me about ghostwriting. So first, let's go into the PR, and the the different nuances you do for your clients? Okay. Sure. Um, what do you want to know about PR, just kind of like what the process is like, basically, man stuff? What stuff? The basic lame man stuff? Okay. Sure. Um, so I take clients, and I package them in such a way that they'll be appealing to the media and pitch them for interviews and guest pieces in different publications, television, radio, podcasts, all that stuff. But I try to put them package them in such a way that they'll appeal to the media. So you can't just pitch the media and say, like, Hey, I have this psychotherapist, who's my client, she's great at her job, you should check out her website or something like that. If to say like, would you be interested in talking to a psychotherapist about the psychological impact of the COVID holidays, or something like where you try to find a topic that they're already talking about and want to talk about. So you make your client tie into what they're already working on, so that they'll quote them in a story or want to interview them. You just have to find what the hook is for each client. And then a lot of people try to just send press releases. And I don't know how you feel as a podcast host. But I feel like with a press release, there's an implied favor that says please write about me for a podcast would be like, please talk about me. So I like to include a cover letter that offers something like, um, whether I'm offering guest pieces to a publication, so that that's content for them with like an expertise level they might not have on staff, or review samples of a product. I think it's hard to get someone to write about something that they just received a press release on that they haven't touched and used invitations to an event. Like some people, some people send out a press release about an event, but not even invite the media contact to the event. They just want them to write about it. I'm sorry. You don't I'm saying? It's so silly. Right? It's so silly. But I feel like you always have to try to offer something and try to figure out how you can be a value to the media, right? Yeah, like for podcasters. And even bloggers just like, if it was a client that was making something like your lovely necklace, he's like, say they're selling it, you send it to him and be like, can you review it? Write about it kind of thing. Then it's like, if you like it, keep it kind of thing. If not send it back to us. No harm, no foul. Right, just say write about that. It's like, well, I don't have anything to compare to. Right. So I like to always make sure that I'm offering something, making it as easy as possible to write the story or do the story. I'm just trying to always be a resource. Awesome. No, that's very good. Yeah, as far as you saying, like the press release for podcasters. I've not had that problem yet. I'm still a little too small for that. Oh, we haven't had that problem yet. Okay. Um, some of the journalists I talk to receive hundreds of press releases a day. I know it's annoying. Yes. So um, so I try. And with that in mind, I try to make like my subject line stand out. Because you know, you're trying to cut through all of the clutter. And I really try to be crystal clear in the subject line. What it's about I don't want anyone to ever feel like I tricked them into opening an email. Right? Like those emails that say like, a quick question or like a favor or something like that. I want them to always feel like they knew what the email was about before they opened it. Not you know what it is the new look at the contents again. That's exactly what I was expecting. Just more details. Yes. Yes, like for me when I follow up for guests for their social media, I just say Josh Bolton show follow up. And they're like, every time they're like, wow, your subjects good. I'm like, it's literally just what I'm doing. It's a follow up. Right. Exactly. Exactly. So I just, I just always want them to be able to make the decision when they're going through their inbox if they want to open my email or not based on the subject line, because I know they're really pressed for time. Yeah, yeah, no, especially if you have 100 people commanding your attention, it gets really stressful is like, I don't even want to look at this anymore. I'm just gonna quickly look at this inbox and just mark everything red and get back to it maybe. Right. Right. So I feel like that's really important, too, is subject lines. So if anyone who's listening is trying to do their own PR, I know a lot of people listen to podcasts for tips on, like, how they can do it themselves. I would say, sit down and spend some time crafting your subject line. And actually be really intentional about it and really think about it. Yes, no, that's very true. Because there are some some emails from my big corporations I get. It's like the most bland subject line is a great, Mike, are you a scammer? Are you actually like Adidas kind of thing? Right. So yeah, definitely learned your copy on how to do that correctly. Right. So then, what else do you do have more detailed wise for like PR, like, let's say a great example, like, maybe you have a famous like YouTuber, for some reason, okay. And they do something terrible. And there's just social outcry? How would you help them get out of that kind of thing? I Truthfully, I don't deal with crisis communications at all. Good guys that terrifies me every time. And I'm like, I don't want to deal with that either. I have not had to deal with that. I don't think that I have the right personality for that. Like, it would stress me out so much to do that. Yeah, I think some people thrive on crisis communications, like I've watched the show, I think it's called flack or something. It's about the celebrity publicist, and all of the messages they clean up for their clients. And it looks really glamorous and cool, but I know it would stress me out to the max if it were my version of PR. Yeah. Yeah, then probably, they they're the ones that thrive best in chaos, but probably don't like it. But they know this is their best element kind of thing. I like working with like accountants or you know, people who really aren't going. Crazy. Yes. Oh, that's a good one. It's all the countless calls. Yes, exactly. Awesome, then. Okay. I'm really curious. So what type of books do you ghost write for? Okay, so I have a team of ghost writers. I started as a ghost writer, myself. Around the same time I started in PR, I kind of my business started. can I explain how I started my business? Yes, very important. Okay. So I got into PR, because I had an English degree, and I didn't know what to do with it. Um, so I was like, looking for jobs. And one day, my mom just said, Why don't you Google freelance writing gifts? So I know that sounds really obvious, but it was 2010. And we did have Google. But we didn't necessarily default to Google all the time. Now, that would be the first thing someone would do. But I just didn't think of it. I was like, Oh, I have to like look in the classifieds as well not like in the newspaper, but you know, like on a proper job site and right. Um, so she said, Just Google freelance writing gigs. So I did and the site came up freelance writing gigs, calm, and it rounded up the Best Writing gigs of the day. Oh, interesting. Okay, from Craigslist and a couple of other sources, but a lot of their leads came from Craigslist. So they had a link to a Craigslist ad and I responded to it. And I got the job. And it was for a book publicist. And so between him and some other clients, I was writing about 70 press releases a week, which is eventually how it led to PR because I got very burned out right and 70 press releases a week because you had to be on and creative, every single second of your job. And being a publicist still definitely requires creativity. But some of my job is just about answering emails. So some of my job isn't necessarily about being on and creative every second. Um, so so that's how I transitioned to the PR side from writing press releases was the, I just couldn't keep it up anymore. So I was like, well, I now have this skill set, how do I apply this skill set to something similar, but that won't quite require the subway. So it was the perfect thing. But while I was working for this book, publicist, he gave me all of these opportunities. So one day, he said, Do you think you could edit a book? And I said, I could try. So I edited the book. And, you know, I've been editing books ever since. I think definitely getting better over the years. But then a couple months later, after he had me out at that book, he said, Do you think you could go straight a book? And I said, I could try. So I ghostwrote a book, and took off from there, and I ghostwrote a lot of books. But I was busy. And I was kind of like, how can I scale this business where I have all these leads coming in, but I can't write as many books as I have leads. So I started a team of ghost writers. And I really know what I'm looking for when I'm looking for a ghostwriter and hiring them. So I'm, you know, I'm like very particular about, like, who I hire. Um, they aren't necessarily the ones who have written the most books. They're the ones whose writing samples have the most promise, like the best writers. Okay, um, and so, then, I have this team now that does the ghost writing of books. So before where I could only do memoir nonfiction, I have a writer who specializes in fiction. I do not write fiction. I'm so interesting, okay. It's just, it's just a totally different skill set. I tried doing it a couple of times, I just really didn't like doing it. Okay. Um, so I have writers who kind of have their own thing that they're good at, like, good at memoir, good at nonfiction. Good at fiction. One is good at Christian writing. Because with Christian writing, you really have to know the lingo, you have to know which versus the pull from the Bible. Like all of that, it kind of requires its own skill set to Yeah. So we write a little bit of everything. I would say that the majority of people who come to us have memoirs written. Do you have an autobiography? One? Right. Like that. Okay. That was like memoirs. Like memoir. I'm like, that sounds like more of the funeral stuff, but okay. Oh, memoir autobiography, same. Okay. I'm glad we're talking about the same thing. Okay, good. See, that's a very killer business. Yes. Oh, I get it. Sorry, bad one. Okay, that's okay. I like all of those jokes. I like all those jokes. I can't remember. Someone posted a dad joke yesterday, and I am trying to think of, oh, what happened to frogs who parked illegally, they get towed to a D. That's a pretty good. So. So then, yeah, I actually have a personal question, because I've been looking into getting a ghostwriter. But I don't even know, someone was selling the editing suite cheaper than the actual writing. Right? So I include editing with my ghostwriting projects, because I don't want anyone like even though I think my writers are very good. I think everyone needs someone else to look at their work before it gets published. Because I don't know if you ever do this when you're writing or reading something you've written. But if I know what I meant, my eyes will autocorrect it. Yes, that and, and I know what I meant. And I can have a name misspelled but I know how that name is supposed to be spelled. And my eyes all my eyes. Just glaze right over it. So I I think even if my writers are great, they need someone else to look at it before it gets published. So I don't I don't sell ghost writing without including editing with Cuz I think that that's a necessary part of the process. Interesting. So then, I mean, each project is different in and of itself for pricing, but what would be the average? Let's say 10,000. Word project. Okay, so I charged 5800 for 30,000 words. So let me 5800. Yes. For how many words for 30,000? words? So 52 divided by three would come out to 1933 and 33 cents per word. No, it would come out to for 10,000 words, it would come out to 19 $100.19 $133.33. Oh, that's very fair. Yeah, some of the people I've asked for, they're like, yeah, we need 58,000. I'm like, Yes. Like 508 sorry. 508000. Like Yes, my as more than I make it a year, get the lowest price I've heard besides mine for ghostwriting is 10,000 for a book. Um, I, I just don't know, the people who have$50,000 to drop on a book. Like, I've never, I've never met them. I don't know where people are finding their leads for this. Maybe I just don't network the right way or know the right people. I don't know. I don't know, either. But I've never found anyone. I have no idea how these ghost writers actually make it because you can write a lot of books for a low price. Or maybe, I guess if you write 150 1000 books per year, I mean, the average person makes 50,000 for two years. So that's what I was thinking. You only have to write one book a year. Well, and that same person was like, we'll put you on a payment plan, too. And I'm like, what's this book doesn't even work kind of thing? What if I actually lose more than I put in? Is it Great, okay. Oh, books are very expensive, because don't think you're done when you've done the ghost writing and editing. Um, because then you have to get book interior layout done, which is the typesetting of how the words appear on the page. Like how it's actually laid out, you have to get an ePub file, which is the file that shrinks and grows to fit the screen that someone's reading on whether they're reading on an you know, a phone or a tablet, you have to get the cover design. And sometimes the graphic designers can be very expensive, especially if they know it's a book. Yes. So cover design can be an expensive part of the process, you have to buy an ISDN number that's not terribly expensive, but you have to buy one for the book and one for the E book if you have a print and an E book copy. And that's like 100 $150 each, something like that. But just I mean, but when you're adding all these different things up. Yeah, it comes out to so much. Um, so I take it you have someone that does also the typesetting for you and all that, right? I do have someone who does all that. Or you just probably have everyone for everything. You got a publisher, you got this? I do. I do. I have a guy who handles my publishing, I don't handle any publishing directly myself. Um, so the ISP numbers I told you about, I can't remember if they're 100 or 150. For one, it's like $1,000 for 1000s. So publishers Oh, but so publishers will buy like 1000 and then assign them to their books. Um, I don't have anyone under my name, because I kind of thought about it. And I was like, What if someone says something that gets me sued in their book? Right? Right. Um, I don't really want the legal responsibility for being the one that publishes. So I set them up with a guy who is very experienced with publishing. And he sets them up to publish under a name, you know, they can do like an LLC with their own name. Okay, or you can walk them through the Amazon process. Some people just want to put it on Amazon, and he just walks them through the process, things like that. Um, but I don't I, I pass people off when it comes to the actual legal stuff. Yes. Yeah, I would too. And especially with your comment about the LLC, it's like people don't realize, once your book is making money, unless it's in a central recording Corporation, you're liable for all that money coming in and you're also liable for lawsuits. Right? And I mean, sometimes in memoirs, especially like when people are writing about their own life, they say some things about people that you never know how someone's going to react when they read it. Because I mean, you can change the names, but I think people still know. Oh, he said, Jackie burns Really? Like it's Jan kind of thing. Right? Like, if you if you were married to someone, and they changed your name, you still know like, I'm the one who is married to you like, right. Yeah. And especially if everyone's real tight, like, all your close family. It's like, yeah, I read Josh's book, he said something and say, You okay, right. Right. So, so um, yes, I just, I just think it's easier to do that. But I have someone to handle each step of the process. No, I'm genuinely curious. So your PR, your you have a ghost writing team? And you got a publisher? What would be the all encompassing? Like I have you do everything? kind of thing. And I just signed and send you the check? Oh, I don't know. Because the PR, the PR pricing is totally separate from the publishing pricing. I can I can send you offline. You want to do on a price list? Yeah, send me. I don't mind. I don't mind sharing it with your listeners. Like my prices are pretty public. I don't mind sharing it. But I don't know if you want me to just go through and list my price. Oh, no, that was just kind of was thinking just for me, but also everyone else listening. It's just what's what would be the all encompassing package for you. Okay, so with the PR, I have a couple of options. Because I'm being the contact on a release takes up a lot of time. When I have a package for kind of like do it yourself, a little bit people who just wanted the instructions, but that's about all. So I'll put together the press release in the pitch, I'll put together the media list, and I'll send it out. But I won't be the contact on the release. So when the media gets back to you and says, Can you do an interview at one on Friday? I'm not like copy pasting the email to you like, can you do one on Friday? No, I can do two and then I have to go back to them. No, they can do two can you do to? Oh, that doesn't work. Can they do Monday? Like, oh, that's why I just send the you can book me link is I find one that works for you. Right? Right. So so being the contact on a release is just going back and forth in between people and it can take so much time. And it's personally something that I find I'm just kind of kills my brain to do it a little bit. Like I like working on the creative part, right? Like the high level task. I don't like doing that kind of minutia stuff. So I have a press release. And, and most publicists tie you into a six month contract, I offer single press releases, because a lot of my clients only need one press release. Like if they have a book coming out, they don't need me for six months, they need that one, press release or pitch to go out. Like, here's a pitch letter offering review copies of my book, here's a press release about my book, and I don't need you for six months. So I have a one time press release, where they're the contact on the release for 385. But that's very fair, actually. I have monthly packages, um, where there's a lot more that goes into it, and my monthly packages are a lot more expensive. It's 2500 a month. Okay. But yeah, it's someone that needs it don't need you always going out, it's more worth it to pay you than to do it themselves. Right. Um, and with that, um, I do let people cancel at the end of the month, but I require a two month minimum, because by the time we draft the pitches, put the list together, start getting things out there at the end of one month, like you've done some of the press releases, but for the most part the links haven't or some of the interviews but the links haven't started coming in yet. I just think it's, I just think that the first month is kind of like setting the foundation. So so it is a little more expensive for people who want me on a monthly basis, but a lot more is included. Save for a client so they can afford to drop almost 30k a year for you Is there like a they buy a whole year in advance? Do they get a discount? Um, I've never had that happen, but I would certainly give a discount if someone wanted to do that. Okay. I don't have that money. I'm just saying Cuz I like thinking that way. I have a trading company I'm trying to work with just I had a car repair. So I can't I can't open an account with them. But they said, yeah, if you're willing to pay, like the extra five 500 you get like three months free. Okay, so I was like, hell yeah, I'll pay up that kind of thing. That's awesome. So that's what I was just thinking is my same mindset. I just dropped a lot of money now, how much can I save later? kind of thing? Right? Right. Yeah, I, um, so I've had people do that with my single press release packages. Like I have one client who will buy a package of 16 single press releases at a time. And I give them a big discount for doing that. But I've never had someone on the monthly service say like, Can I do a gear for a yearly price? But I would definitely I would definitely consider it if someone wanted to do that. Yeah. I didn't probably at that point. They're just like, Alright, Brittany is good. Just put her on a yearly. Right? Right. Awesome. Yeah, I just sorry. That's how my brain works. Just like oh, I wonder if I could save money even though I don't have that. Right. That's funny. I never did. I never did that crunch the numbers on the yearly price. That does sound really expensive when you tell it. But yeah, it's like, okay, it'll be like, instead of 30,000 it'll be like 22,000 a year, just say they're going. Okay, what it's like the extra 500 you cut off and they're like, oh, okay, great. So you want the simple numbers, you want the complex number we can do both. Right. Then. Alright, so the follow up question to all that was what have you been doing during COVID? But it was the you've been working from home? I've been working from home and I've been super busy. Um, I you know, there were times when I was slay everyone else is watching Tiger King and I'm here like, working my butt. Yeah. Um, where I kind of I cut a but I was so fortunate to have so much business during COVID I couldn't even complain about it. And I didn't really want to see Tiger king but that was just whatever. I tried watching the first one it's just like, what why no, I'm done. I gave it three episodes. I tried really hard. I just could not get into it but so many people loved it and they had all those means about it and it was so funny like all my co workers are like oh my god just ignore the first seven episodes I'm like it's a nine episode series. What ignore the first seven just watch the last two that okay? That makes no sense at all like for breaking bad. Like Breaking Bad ignore the first two it really is just them telling the story it's really boring. Like you don't need my still explained on the third one anyways, that when I understood ignore the whole thing. just watched the last two. I'm like What the hell? The three episodes I watched I was just like people are really bored. We need to get everyone back to work. Seriously. Seriously? Yeah, then they had a narrow when they came out though. Super dumb. I didn't even try to figure that one out. Oh, really? Yeah, it was a narrow it didn't last long. Netflix took it off. Like it was some silly anime. Like, adaptation. Okay, it was just like, it did not last long. Maybe a week and it was gone. Oh my gosh, I'm so yeah, I was working more than ever during the pandemic. So it's made the time pass really fast, where it's haven't. Because if you sit and you think about the fact that leg, okay, I used to love going to restaurants, I haven't gotten to go to a restaurant and over a year, or like, I can't visit my mom right now or something like that. If I didn't have the amount of work that I did, all of that stuff would have driven me crazy. And I know, I'm fortunate that that's the stuff I've missed out on during the pandemic, um, because so many people have had so much worse happened to them as a result of the pandemic. Yeah, but, but like, if I sat around and thought about the fact like, I haven't gotten to see my mom for over a year, like it would, it would really start to eat away at me. But I've, I've had so much work that I haven't been able to sit around and feel sorry for the things I don't get to do. Right? It's just business as usual. If anything business is going up, so it's like okay, let's keep going. Right? Yeah, same for me. I live with my parents. So that was a nice aspect. I mean, I minimum wage. I'm currently a minimum wage job. California it's really hard to pull off. Kind of hard to pull off in California. Yeah, yeah, it is. freakin one meal is like, an hour's worth of your wage and it's like, Oh, God, okay. But California, I used to live in Vegas. And we would go to California sometimes for meetings and things like that. California is so expensive. The second you enter the state, like the gas was more expensive. Everything. Everything is like, our gas is always a buck. 50 more than everyone else. Right? Yeah, it's crazy. So other than the working part, it's actually been nice. Like, being with my family. And just getting through this. Actually, back in December with my job. I actually did get COVID and it was one rough ride. Oh, was it terrible? It was rough. It was everything they said that could happen. It does. It's it's like the flu, but on like, extra steroids. Wow. Have you had any of those lingering effects that you hear people talking about now having lingering effects? COVID lungs? Yeah, I just got over it. What? What was it like? So breathe it was. So for those who do smoke. You know this feeling? My lungs felt like they were solidified. I could not breathe in. Or out. It was just a rock grinding. Oh my gosh. And you're young. Yeah. It's over. Now. I was nice herb sharply. I went to she made me this one tea. That is for? Oh my god, I forgot what it is. It's when you have like a, you get it after a bad dose of the flu. Okay, and then meningitis, no. Whatever, it really messes up your lungs. I drank it for a couple of days. And now I'm doing much better. And you got sick in December. And it's March now and you're just getting over? Getting over it. Wow. As as crazy, I guess. I guess I have stupidly thought this whole time. You know, I've worried about my husband this whole time because he has underlying conditions. And I've been like, you know, I'm in my early 30s. If I get it, I'll be fine. But I guess I guess that's kind of a rich. Each person is unique in and of themselves like my father because when I got it back in December, sadly, I gave it to everyone here. Okay. But he had underlying condition, obesity, asthma, high blood pressure. It was a rough ride for him. But he was like, it was just a really cranked up flu. He's like, I can handle this. Okay. But he stayed with me he had the lingering lung problem. So okay. Yeah, still no one should get a wear your mask. Right. Right. I, between my husband and I, the two of us will be fully vaccinated in about four and a half weeks. Wonderful. So I am really looking forward to that. Yeah, and I think it's gonna be like a flu shot. Like, every year, we'll get a new like version. It's just like, Hey, you get your flu shot and your COVID shot now. Right? I think so. They're already talking about a booster. Which one? I'm not sure a lot of my news comes from. I also live with my dad. So my dad tells me the news every day. So he was telling me about the booster. But he also told me that some Israeli scientists are developing a pill you can take that's supposed to somehow protect you against all of the variants and can somehow anticipate variants and protect you against variants that don't even exist yet. I don't believe that. I don't know. Because Because the way the virus mutates, it mutates based off of what its host had. So if you have that, that your let's say you're taking that pill, it will mutate around that pill, then it's useless. Okay. That's where like there we have the last I checked that could be off now by a couple countries. We have the African South African, Brazilian new third variants of the European and they say that this one pill knows all three of those those three to four variances that's that's some I don't know you mighty stuff there. I don't know. I didn't see the story myself. I just he just told me about it. Maybe he was just a story he thought up in his head in his day. This sounds true. So I will tell Brittany. That's totally possible. Then other than all that what is um, so actually not trying to like getting free tips, but for podcaster cuz I noticed you had the the website, the matchmaker, where did you figure that out? Um, I figured out matchmaker because one of the agencies that I work with uses matchmaker for their clients. And so I've just been pitching all of my clients on matchmaker setting them up their own profiles and interesting. That's good. Yeah. But matchmaker is a little bit like set up for the podcast host to directly connect with the clients. Or, you know, like the experts or the personalities. So, like, you can't have a publicist, set up a profile, and then start pitching all their clients, like the client has to pay the annual fee and have their individual profile. Know that actually, one of the more recent guests was her publicist, she she got permission made him the whole thing. He paid the 100 bucks and she's been handling his profile. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah, it's just it's a link between the two people. Okay. Because like I've, if actually, if it wasn't for this website, I probably wouldn't have any of my guests that I know of. Have you heard of Radio guestlist? They also have leaves for podcasts and radio hosts. I will check that out. No, I have not heard of it. There's so many stuff out. Now. I guess I was supposed to make this thing called a pod chaser profile. Okay, I've heard of it. I guess it's We're your guests, but also your listeners can rate and review your podcast, and it will help promote. Okay, like Ellen DeGeneres is on it will first show. So if like, you ever get big enough, you could reach out to Ellen and be like, Hey, I like to do either you come on my show, or I come on your show kind of thing. I mean, obviously got to be something big. Right? That's cool. Yes, radio guest list, because a lot of radio shows and podcasts post that they're looking for interviews on there. And then publicists can subscribe. Or it's not all publicist to subscribe. Sometimes individuals subscribe. And then they get like, a couple times a week they get an email with the leaves of like, here's all the podcast looking for guests this week. Interesting. Now, I'll definitely look into that. It's just one of those. I didn't realize how much revolves around social media, because then they're like, Oh, you got to hook up to Twitter. I'm like, I don't use that. It's safe to go into Twitter. Oh, my gosh. So I have done social media for clients. But I am so bad about doing social media for myself. Right. And I'm really bad about doing PR for myself to like, I just started doing podcast even though I know how to do all this stuff. I really don't do it for myself and my coo kind of challenged me She's like, we need to get our social media up. We need to do our newsletter. We need you know, you need to be out there doing PR on yourself. Okay, okay, I'll do it. The one thing for me, I don't have someone say you got to do this, this. And this is like I know it, especially with everyone I've interviewed. But it's like the every time I open Instagram, it's just an endless loop of scrolling and I'll forget what I'm doing. Right? It's like if I don't have it's not a problem then. Right? Oh, so you don't do social media because you fall into a rabbit hole if you instantly like I was trying to do Tick Tock to promote this. And it was working at first. But then it was the I had to instantly open the app. It was like active thinking I had to press the record button while the video is playing. Otherwise, it would have been an instant just scrolling. Oh my gosh. Okay. Yeah, you always you need to stay away from it. You need to have someone manage your social media for you. Yes. Yeah, I do. Because it's just one of those I know myself. So it's like the moment I open it is Game Over unless I'm actively thinking of something. Right. So, but yeah, that's a lot of people have noticed that to where they have every intention, like one of my one of my friends wants to be a tech talker. And my great First of all, watch, so you know, what's trending, because trends change instantly on that app, but also post like five times a day. So you got to balance the two and they're like, but I just like consuming and just be a consumer. Right. Right. Um, yeah. I think that there's so much that we're supposed to be out there. Promoting ourselves on. Yeah. This when we just like both of us finally that third person, like a nationally or something be like, okay, you handle our stuff now. Right? Right. And then they because like I have an app for Twitter, it automatically posts but I can't see the interactions. It's a buffer. Okay. But if you don't see the interactions, you don't fall down the rabbit hole and start scrolling. Exactly. Okay. So and I can also tell it like, oh, today, at, after a meeting, let's say 1030 I had a great interview of Brittany, here's her links kind of thing. But then it'll just automatically send it for me and I don't have to look at it other than the typing. Okay. Um, my husband will fall down rabbit holes, too, except he falls down like YouTube rabbit holes. were like, yeah, YouTube video, it'll recommend like, if you liked this video, you'll also like these five videos. And then once you watch that video, it will recommend the next one. And then the ton of ads in between. Right, right. One thing I've been doing, but I feel bad for the youtubers, I'm using brave browser. Okay. It blocks all ads. Does it really no ads? Yeah, it's, it's, it's great. So when I want to listen to music without having like, every five minutes, we add, I just put on brave and I just listen. Well, I had no idea there was something that would do that. You can even do it on your phone. If you're willing to leave the screen open. It'll run this stuff for you. Well, don't tell all of your podcast listeners how to not listen to your ads. I'm not running ads yet. I would talk to a guy Wednesday about that. Okay, it's mo pod. Okay. Yeah. He had a podcast network guy on and he's a gay, you should check out this site. He's like, it's it actually runs ads on magazines, but online magazines. So okay. He's like, so your ad will actually play. It will be the audio and everyone will be like, you have the option to subscribe. Listen to him, whatever. And I'm like, How much? I'm thinking PR now like, how much is this going to cost me? Hey, he's a for one download. I think he said is like 20 cents. Is it for an actual subscription? It's like 30 or 40 cents. Okay, that's it. He's like, yeah, like, the genius. So like, if it's the if I run out my $100 at Google, they just stopped music. Yep. Right. Like, good. That's, that's very much worth the premium kind of thing. That sounds like a good deal. Yeah. And it's just a guy who started it. Who the CEO is the one I'm talking to? He has barely any team. Wow. So that's awesome. Yeah. Well, I hope it works out for you. I hope so too. I just hope he's not going to be like, oh, a minimum of $1,000 a month like he I don't have that. This is just a hobby right now, man. Right. So for you for PR. Another thing I've noticed in that Trent is mailing list how crucial is that for your your line of work? Oh, is absolutely critical. Um, but there is PR software out there that you can have a database, they have databases, like, what is this software unless you're gonna give winter keys to kingdom. Um, there's a couple of different ones scission is really good. Press one is really good is, um, like cision is really weak on podcasts. So you kind of have to have a second database if you want podcasts. Well, because I can narrow when I know but it's the it's hard for me to do is actually like get a MailChimp up and running. real cheap and very self is super confusing. But apparently, I've been missing out on opportunities. It's like, I don't understand how to do emailing lists, so I'm just gonna ignore it. Right? Um, so I don't handle my own email list. That's something that my co handles that she's like, we need a newsletter, you're going to do this, but for the actual press releases. The PR databases are where most publicists get their contact information. And then you don't like pay for the database, and then you own it, you have to pay a yearly subscription. But I've heard of paying the yearly subscription is that they update every contact. And so they're constantly like when someone changes jobs or something like that. They're always updating the contact information, because you could spend years building a list and then it's no good three months later, because everyone's changed jobs. So yep, yeah, it's like you're seeing shame. is still this neuroscientists engineer and Oh, wait, no, he's working for a completely different company, relative but different fields. It's like, oh, shoot, I didn't know that. Right. Right. So I mean, there's, there's other ones out there. But I am super happy with vision. I love vision. And I really like press one, as well, because it has podcasts in it. decision. Okay. I'll look at both of those later to actually I'm gonna have to look up a lot after this. Oh, this is this good is good information. So then, honest. One of the things I like asking on the way out was the the COVID question, but it's the what is your goal, your business, if you had to your 10 year growth plan? And if you had to pray? Yeah, so I don't have any specific numbers I want to hit or any like big goals. I'm, I'm really happy with my life. You know, like, I'm, I'm just I love living in Florida. I love my marriage, I love my job. I really enjoy PR. So I'm pretty happy as it is. My biggest goal is more to have. I have a lot of people working for me. But every time that I get someone to take over one task of my business, I just take on more projects, and it fills it up. So I need more people working for me, so I have more free time. Spend more time with my husband stuff like that. So my my goals aren't aren't like revenue based or anything like that. It's more like quality of life based. No, I totally understand. Well, then here's actually a question who would let's say there's a ghost, aspiring ghost writer. Listening in the future? How would they contact you for something like that? I'm sure they can email me. Do you? Do you want me to give my email address or is it better to give my LinkedIn profile? I would say LinkedIn because you have better control. Okay. Um, for that after all this okay. www.linkedin.com slash in i n slash Brittany Bearden. Oh, yeah. I TTA ny ba rd and that was fast. I will do it. Tt ANYBE a r d e n. R I was just saying that was fast. But I heard everything. It's like the joke. Can you go faster? Oh, okay. No, that this has been brilliant. Brittany definitely should get you on in the future. Okay, I'd love to come on. Wonderful. I'd love to come on. Um, what kind of guests are you looking for? Actually, my just my general theme for the show is interesting and inspiring. Just to piss piss pitch to business people because they can understand the value of talking to an audience. Yeah, I'm up for as long as it's an interesting or inspiring. I would love to interview. Okay, great. I'll definitely send some people your way. Awesome. That would be awesome. Yeah. Well, thank you again, Brittany. But definitely keep in contact, stay safe and stay well. Okay. Thank you so much for having me. It was a pleasure was an absolute pleasure to