Episode 113: Reframing Your Thoughts on Marketing with the Unbound Story System

In this week’s episode, Elizabeth Wilson and Stephanie Oswald, Ph.D. talk about reframing your thoughts about marketing. It’s common that hearing the word ‘marketing’ can send you into a tailspin and make you want to hide. You feel it’s a cumbersome task that requires so much extra time and work, but what Stephanie shares in this episode about her upcoming Unbound Story System small group program could be the mindset shift you’re looking for. You’ll have to listen to see if Stephanie’s program is your vibe. 

Also, be sure to follow Elizabeth @ewilsonwrites and Stephanie @oswaldphdwriter on IG and Threads to keep up with what they’re doing with their writing projects.

Get on Stephanie Oswald, Ph.D's calendar for a 30-minute chat to learn more about the Unbound Story System here. 

 Welcome to the Inspired Writer Collective podcast. If you've ever felt the pull to write your truth, to shape the chaos of real life into something meaningful and to share your journey with the world, you're in the right place. We're your hosts, Elizabeth and Stephanie, writers, coaches, and entrepreneurs who believe in you and know how important it is to find a writing community to guide you on your path to self-publishing.

You’re invited to connect with us by joining our Embodied Writing Experience where you’ll get a writer’s retreat directly to your inbox on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays each week. Whether you’re working on a memoir, a novel, or journaling for yourself, this is an invitation to slow down, tune in, and write with embodied intention.   

Join our Embodied Writing Experience where you’ll get a writer’s retreat directly to your inbox on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays each week. This is an invitation to slow down, tune in, and write with embodied intention.   

Work 1:1 with Memoir Coach Elizabeth Wilson. Book a session here.

Feel Good Marketing with Stephanie. Book a session here.

If you prefer to watch our conversations, you can find all of them on our YouTube channel.

You can find us on Instagram and Threads

Transcript

Elizabeth 1:17

Welcome back writers to the Inspired Writer Collective podcast. it is just the two of us, Elizabeth and Stephanie, but we're gonna be talking about this concept around this awful term in writing marketing, except we're gonna reframe it. And Stephanie's been working on this cool project to help us as self publishing authors, as traditional publishing authors, indie publishing authors. Reframe how it is that we're showing up online, what that looks like, what you really need to be doing, hopefully demystify some of that and also maybe remove some of the blockages or resistance that you naturally feel when someone tells you you have to market your book. You have to market your book. So Stephanie, please share with our audience what you've been working on and, and how everyone can apply this concept to how they're showing up. online or in real life as they're sharing about their upcoming book, their published book, or simply their idea that they're rattling around in their head.

Stephanie 2:21

Yeah, so I'm super excited about this shift even for me around marketing, because if you've been listening for a little while, you know, I talk about my love hate relationship with showing up online and. I wrestle with how to put myself out there. And so as I've been designing this upcoming program that I'm launching at the end of May I kept thinking the word marketing creates such resistance. It creates this like. Oh my goodness. I have to, as a writer, put on a completely different hat and do a completely different thing. And as I've been brainstorming and writing all of my ideas down and thinking, what came to me is this idea of. Not needing to separate the two, that what you're already doing in your writing can naturally contribute to how you show up in the world. And now that other piece around social media is really, that's also a choice of yours because there are different ways that you can. Go out and market your book that don't involve social media. So there's kind of this spectrum where you can put yourself on as to how much you want to show up. But what I've created is this idea around. A flow between what you're already writing on the page and how you can notice as you're writing, maybe there's a line that you're like, oh, this is really fun. Or an idea or a scene idea, or how you came to an idea, or even just a picture of your writing space, or how you. Choose to write every day, or maybe you choose not to write every day and you have a completely different schedule. Or maybe, you know, I think about all the pictures I have on my camera roll of when I've been writing at coffee shops that I haven't shared, and I think to myself, okay, like that's something that I can so easily share without it creating friction for me because one, my face is not in it if I don't want my face to be in it all the time. And two is. You know, somebody out there is gonna relate to it or somebody out there is going to want to hear about it. And I think one of the things that can happen so often when we're writing and we're in our spaces and we're in our stories and we're writing is we forget readers are actually really curious about what writers do. And that's something that also became really apparent to me recently, and different conversations I've had with people around why I am a romance writer and oftentimes I don't always wanna share that because there's this idea around, well, that's not really writing, and there's this piece that I have from when I was younger where I was told those aren't really books. Which isn't true because there's some of the top performing books out there in terms of reader consumption. And it's been interesting because people have said oh, I'm really curious about how do you do what you do? And just even simply answering that question in the way that you show up creates a flow between you're already doing it, so you don't have to stop what you're doing. You just find ways to then share it in little pieces and so it really created this mental shift for me because the other piece that when I started talking about this in our email newsletters is I was talking about it as embodied marketing, which I love this whole frame around embodied and the somatic experience and the writing is in the body, and all of a sudden I thought, you know, that word marketing is really a sticking point for so many. And so. I did some word playing and I came up with this idea of the Unbound story system, that there isn't a boundary to it. That what you're doing already is naturally gonna flow in to how you're showing up online.

Elizabeth 6:28

I love that. Yeah. I, I find I do experience such a resistance when I feel like I'm switching my brain and I'm like, okay, now I, I've written the book, or it's now with my proofreaders. I'm getting ready to publish. I'm like, okay, I should do some marketing. What should I say about my book? And then it's just like, brain freeze. Right? I don't know what to say. I mean, you could look at prompts, but I'm just like, oh, oh, I don't like that. I feel resistance. It feels icky. I don't love it. Right. And so I, I love some of the things that you've brought up, Stephanie, about the ways that we can just talk about our everyday process. I, I will say, pat on the back for myself, I do tend to post

Stephanie 7:06

Hmm.

Elizabeth 7:06

Like that on Instagram reels. I do share about where I am in my writing journey, even if I don't have like a published book for people to buy yet. talked about the memoir writing process. I've talked about, you know, beta reader feedback. I've talked about a number of these different. Steps. And so I have to remember to give myself credit that that also counts as marketing. We hear about marketing, right? And it's always linked to this like, you do this and then you have a call to action, right? And, and if you're not having a call to action, then you're not really marketing. But there's this whole other aspect, especially with writing. But I think there are probably other professions where people are curious about what's really going on behind the scenes. I had a decade long career as a forensic scientist, and there's so much misconception about what that day-to-day role actually looks like. So I'm sure people would be very interested to get a behind the scenes perspective. Um, actually it's kind of like a plug for our upcoming stuff. In June is when I will be doing my pre-sales and my publication of my book, and all of those episodes for the Mondays in June are going to be short little behind the scenes of a writer. Me publishing their first book and all the considerations and things, and so it, it makes sense when I think about like the podcast and like developing content for the podcast, but it's so helpful to then think, oh, I can do something very similar. Via, you know, short videos for reels or posts or whatever. And it does count as marketing. And I think we, we as writers get into our heads about what it's supposed to be. It feels really different from we live in our creative flow flow while we're writing. And I love that you're helping me see that we don't have to necessarily view it as a. Totally separate endeavor. It's just an extra layer of like, oh, should I maybe hit record real quick, or I maybe, you know, copy and paste this line that I just wrote that's kind of fun, or would drum up interest and put it on a Canva post that I can put up later. You know, it's, it's just one other step, not this whole other like brain map and idea and concept and call to action that you have to do. think demystifying it a little bit by saying like, okay, you're already doing everything, like you're already generating the content you need. You just have to figure out what works for you as far as to share it, whether you're sharing it in. reflections in your email, whether you're sharing, you know, quickly taking a video or a photo like you said, while you're at coffee shops working. I recently, well not recently, last summer, I got some of my old writing from my mom, but she had saved from like fourth grade and stuff. And so I've been saving that for when I can put it next to my book and be like, I went from here to here. Like, how cool was that to like see that journey. and, and I wanna just jump back to the marketing session of our memoir Summit and the marketing tips that our guests, our guest panelists shared was not just limited to memoir, but there were just some really key. Points made by the panelist. Um, like Lindsay said, a book is new to anyone who hasn't read it before because I think we really get in our heads of like, how do I say something different about what I'm doing? How do I say say something different about this book without remembering that like most of the people who are gonna see that post or that real probably haven't seen your other stuff before. And even if they have, it's just a good reminder. So like you can go ahead and like list those. You know, romance tropes again, or, or dig into one more specifically. You don't always have to make it brand new. You can simply like, say again, why you got started doing this project, why it's meaningful to you. Um, I also really loved when Hannah shared that. The purpose of the marketing and when you're going to actually sell your, your final book once it's ready and published, is that you're helping readers discover a story that already matters to them. And, and that was such a relief. I remember like feeling that like sigh of relief and the chat just went wild in during the summit when she said that because it was just, it just unlocked this different mindset that. You don't have to convince everyone that this story is for them. You just have to share enough about the story that those who it's for know that

Stephanie 11:42

Hmm.

Elizabeth 11:42

them and find them. You don't have to convince anyone. You're not trying to, you know, you're, it's not the same as like a face cream where you have to convince them like, this is why you need this in your life, and your skin will look so much better once you have this. You don't have to do that. You just tell'em what the story is about and if it's for them, they'll be able to see that. If anyone missed that summit, we did record it and you can purchase that, those recordings. Um, for all of the five sessions, each one was like 45 minutes, um, a piece and those you can purchase via our website if, if you wanted to know more and, and dig into either that marketing session or any of the others we had that day.

Stephanie 12:22

Well, and I think you bring up a really great point with sharing those quotes around just the whole idea of how we connect as humans. We connect through story. When you're having a conversation with someone or you meet someone for the first time. You connect through common interests, common stories, common ideas, all those pieces that I think we're forgetting about. As our world becomes so inundated with AI and it's hard to tell when you're online especially on social media, like, is that real? Is it not real? And the beauty of being a writer is you're sharing your humanness, you're sharing who you are as a human, and humans are desperately seeking those connections these days. I don't know if anybody else is feeling that, but I think as technology speeds up and the world is in chaos and we're all feeling a bit untethered and uncertain that we really want that human connection in these moments. And I think that that's one of the things to think about when you think nobody's going to want to hear what I have to share. Nobody's going to care. And that's the mindset to shift because. People will care. When you start to show up and you start to share your story and little pieces by little pieces, you'll start to find those connections. And Elizabeth, you've done a really incredible job with how you've been showing up and I watch you and I think like, okay, I can do it. And then I freeze because I've gotten into this. Well, I have to do it right or I have to do it a certain way, or I have to have the right content, or I have to have the right hook, or I have to have the right line, or I have to do whatever.

Elizabeth 14:12

Mm-hmm.

Stephanie 14:12

Really, like you've been showing up so naturally in your process as your book is going to be coming out soon and. It's just been awesome to watch. And listeners, if you haven't gotten a chance find Elizabeth E. Wilson Wrights and check out what she's been doing.'cause it really is inspiring and, and I think to myself okay, this is what I'm gonna start doing more of is showing up and sharing my voice. And one of the ways that I did this just yesterday was in Columbia, Missouri, one of the indie bookstores here, Skylark Bookshop. Every year in April, they host a big book festival and. As part of that, they did a little short writing piece at the bookstore yesterday afternoon where it was Hey, if you wanna join us at this time, let's have a generative writing activity as part of the conference and invite people who wanna write to a prompt and see what they can write in 40 minutes. And so, a former version of myself would've been like, oh, I'm not showing up to something where I don't know anybody. You know? And I kind of know them I've volunteered in the past, but it's still that kind of unknown piece. I went and I wrote to the prompt and we had to submit and it got reviewed, and then I was invited to share. And while it wasn't related to. Anything I've written? Not at all. It was completely different, but it was still that piece of I'm putting my voice in a room. I'm standing up and Elizabeth and I were talking just before recording about how, you know, this is another example of a way that you're marketing yourself. Sure. You're not standing up in front of the room saying like, Hey, you have to buy my book that's coming out when it's, whenever it's coming out, which I don't know yet, but it will be eventually, I'm working towards that but it's still that I'm showing up in a room. I'm standing up in front of a room full of strangers and it was a packed room. I don't know these people. And I'm standing up to read and holding a microphone and the whole thing. So those are other pieces to think about is like, aside from online, what are other spaces where you can show up?

Elizabeth 16:23

And I just have to give you your kudos, Stephanie, because the Stephanie I met like three years ago and who started doing this podcast with me like two and a half years ago, like I would not ever imagine that like. Like, certainly it shows your evolution and being willing to put yourself out there because that's so, that's so many people. And you're sharing something you just wrote kind of as a prompt, like didn't have time to edit or

Stephanie 16:53

Mm

Elizabeth 16:54

over. And I hope it gave you so much confidence as a writer that. Because I know you, you personally can get really stuck in that perfectionism, the editing and, and wanting to go back and fix this and make it just right. And forgetting that like the raw initial words are. Good enough in some settings like this one. And you got that validation by having your piece selected to share and, and like you said, you know, your marketing, you've now strengthened your connection with that bookshop because you've already volunteered with them. Now they know your name more acutely because you were one of the people selected to read. So when you have a book ready to sell, it's more likely that they will remember you, that they'll put

Stephanie 17:33

Mm-hmm.

Elizabeth 17:33

on their shelves, and then maybe some of those people who attended will recognize your name and remember your voice, even though it's a totally different story. You know, a couple weeks ago we had that episode come out with Anna Doubt, and she talked. A lot about how she doesn't use social media really to promote her book, but she shows up and she does readings and every, when she does these readings, she sells most of the books she brings with her. Like she had gone and done a reading and I think she brought 10 books and she sold eight of them that night. There's something so powerful about sharing your voice. So much so that all the big companies have started to change their marketing. This has been going on for a couple years now to where like you think you're just watching a

Stephanie 18:14

Watching the normal.

Elizabeth 18:15

where someone's sharing a story and all of a sudden you realize, oh, this is a marketing ploy. They're using story to, to sell me. You know, this supplement or this workout thing, or whatever. Because story is that powerful. And so we as writers already have that going for us because we don't have to craft a story on top of our story. We are are already the story and we are already writing the story. So it's simply about repurposing those things. You don't have to reinvent anything.

Stephanie 18:47

Well, and the other piece that I'm sure probably comes up a little bit is. That fear around, well, but if I share parts of my story what if somebody takes my idea, what if somebody, steals it? I know everybody is worried about intellectual property and I think one of the pieces to remember is that when you share little pieces. If somebody takes your idea, you've just inspired them in some way. You've just given them a starting point. They don't have the entire architecture of your book, they don't have your lived experience. That's coming into what you're writing. They don't have the dialogue that's missing from the scene. They don't have the bigger picture, the overarching idea or whatever all of those pieces are, because really when you think about it, you go into a bookstore and everything's been done, but. What hasn't been done is your way, your voice, your way of telling the story. And I think that's another point to remember. When you think about showing up for yourself and putting your story out there and putting your work out there is to not think like. Well, if I share some of my book in an email, somebody's going to take it no. The person who is connecting with you, they get excited because they're like, oh, I got a little sneak peek. Or, oh, it teases a little bit where they're like, oh, I wonder what will be shared next week or next time. Like, will I get a little bit more? And, so little breadcrumbs are dropped because let's be real. Most people out there who are consuming stuff on Instagram and Threads and all those platforms, like nobody's spending a lot of time thinking about like, oh, I'm gonna take this and I'm gonna do something with it. No, like everybody's scrolling through, it's a passive activity as they're waiting at the doctor's office or waiting in the carpool line or whatever it is where you're consuming that. And so definitely don't let this fear of, well, if I start sharing it, then it's gonna take away from what I actually publish. No, not at all. It's just laying little seeds and you're starting to grow those seeds and allowing people to connect with your voice, your idea, and that's why this idea of the Unbound story system, that there isn't a boundary from what you're already creating to what you're putting out there. It's just a seamless way and framework of thinking about, oh, I can already use the creative pieces that I am have on paper here,

Elizabeth 21:29

Mm-hmm. Yeah. And, and the other thing that I do sometimes with the content that I make is I also will share when something inspires me. So there's a lot of times I'll be watching like a Netflix movie, like there was the one that came out. Um, over a year ago about the writer and she's going on this like writing retreat and then she ended up, ends up like losing her manuscript that she's been working on. And, and so there was all sorts of struggles to the writer journey and there was all sorts of leaning heavy into the writer trope that like, you know, that, that I was able to. Play off of to make some content and talked about how it inspired me to create a backup copy of my manuscript at that point. Um, I even watched a documentary this last week that I have yet to make a reel about, but I, I plan to, and it was the new, one of the newer ones on Netflix with Noah Khan, the singer songwriter from Vermont, and how much like memoir his, his writing style is and how his family was talking about how. Like as they hear his music, they know exactly what events he's talking about, exactly what situation he's singing about because he's being so specific. But it's those specifics that are universal. Because as a listener of his music, I am not at all thinking about his family dynamics. I'm thinking about how they can compare to mine or my upbringing or the

Stephanie 22:48

Mm-hmm.

Elizabeth 22:49

home. Um, and so there's so many things that you can share too, about not just what you're doing in hopes of inspiring others, but. Even revealing what's inspiring you in the moment. Like, did you hear another reader, you know, at that, at that session that you were at Stephanie, that inspired you and made you think about something in a different way? Because, you know, you were all given the same prompt, but you got to see how everyone's brains took it in, in, in a different direction. I, I think stuff like that is also really cool and we can be sharing that as well.

Stephanie 23:23

Well, yeah, and since you mentioned the prompt, I'll just share it quickly in case anybody listening is curious or maybe you wanna take this prompt yourself. But it was an opening line to use and it was, there was a reason I wasn't supposed to open the box. And what was interesting is, there were so many different ways that different writers in the group had taken it. And while some of the stories were very similar, there were several around the ashes of somebody who had passed and opening a box that had the earn. You know, or just the plastic bag with ashes and you know, what were they gonna do with these?

Elizabeth 24:04

Hmm.

Stephanie 24:05

And so there were varying levels and so one prompt, but it brings out different stories. And I love what you shared too about Noah Khan and it makes me think about, uh, you know, how. Taylor Swift is very vocal about her writing process and recently she received an award and her thing was about working at her craft and continuously showing up and that story comes in so many different forms and using that as inspiration. I know one of the things that we've talked about in. Episodes way back. And definitely in the episode when, uh, we were reading Shelly Reed's book, go as a River that. The influence of poetry and how much that can inspire you. So, maybe there's a poem that you come across that gives you an idea and like sharing that poem even as something And like I said, there are just so many different ways that you can decide how you wanna show up. And again, for me, creating this idea around a flow between what I'm already creating and what I'm putting out there. It's light bulbs going off for some reason, reframing the language for myself, reframing the perspective, has just brought it into. A whole new lens of how I see myself moving forward, and that's what I'm so excited to share with all of you writers who are listening. And if you're interested in joining this program or learning more about it there's a link below to hop on my calendar you can reply to the email if you're on our email list or get on our email list, connect with us. And the other really cool thing is, is that you can send us text messages from your podcast app and. We can now respond to those text messages. That's a whole new feature that we just learned about in the last week or so, and it's so exciting. How easy is that? You text every day already, so why not send us a text? We've gotten some before, but we were so frustrated'cause we couldn't respond, but now we can respond to you. So that's even easier than all of the above that I just listed, like right now. In your podcast app, send us a text. We'd love to hear from you. We'd love to hear what you're thinking and happy writing.