The Daily Writer

If you talk to most writers, there is one thing they almost all universally hate: marketing. Most writers dislike the thought of promoting themselves or going through all the technical hoops they think they need in order to market well.

Do you share this viewpoint as well? Do you hate marketing? If so, it’s no wonder because almost all of our firsthand experience with marketing tells us it’s distasteful.

For example, you’ve seen the author who has an obnoxious book launch. They post multiple times a day on social media about their book. For weeks on end, they try to get other people to buy and promote their book. The whole endeavor seems completely one-sided. The author is only interested in what you can do for them.

But what if this approach was all wrong? What if we turned the concept of marketing completely on its head and made it all about other people?

On today's episode, Kent reminds us that everything you do should be focused on making great work for people and then sharing it in a way that brings joy to you and them. 

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If you enjoyed this episode, we would be grateful if you leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps more people discover the show, and the more people listen, the more we can invest into it and improve the show.

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If you recall your middle school history class, there were three distinct periods in ancient history, each one defined by the material they used to make weapons.

The Stone Age came first. These weapons of stone were of course limited because stones are very heavy. They are also hard to shape if the only other tools you have are made of stone.

Then came the Bronze age, when people began mining tin and copper and then mixing them to create bronze. Bronze weapons were lighter and stronger than the ones made of stone, but they were no match for what came next.

That, of course, was the Iron Age. Any civilization that mastered iron production could dominate those who didn’t because their weapons were superior. 

There is an interesting verse from the book of Proverbs, which was written in the Middle East during the Iron Age. Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” But what does this mean? Iron is a substance that can be made stronger when it is mixed with another material, such as carbon. Then it becomes steel. Put these two next to each other at just the right angle, and you will have a sharpening effect.

On today's episode, Kent challenges you to become a new kind of superhero.

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If you enjoyed this episode, we would be grateful if you leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps more people discover the show, and the more people listen, the more we can invest into it and improve the show.

Follow Kent Sanders:

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In September 1976, the American rock band Boston released their single called “More Than a Feeling.” The song tells the story of a young man who is listening to the radio, and a song comes on that reminds him of a former love.

What he experiences is “more than a feeling.”

But in a way, this song could also describe writers who are doing the work day by day. How many times have you heard writers who talk about the need to feel “inspired,” or how they are waiting for the Muse to show up and give them the magic words?

Seth Godin talks about the need for consistent work in his book The Practice, which focuses on helping creative people ship their work. He says, "Your work is too important to be left to how you feel today. On the other hand, committing to an action can change how we feel. If we act as though we trust the process and do the work, then the feelings will follow. Waiting for a feeling is a luxury we don't have time for."

On today's episode, Kent challenges you to put on your writing pants, sit down in the chair, and get to work.

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If you enjoyed this episode, we would be grateful if you leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps more people discover the show, and the more people listen, the more we can invest into it and improve the show.

Follow Kent Sanders:

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If you've been listening to my podcast or reading my blog for any length of time, you know that I encourage you to do things that are scary. I've been getting into short story writing recently, and I recently dug this one out of the archives and dusted it off.

This is the first time I have shared a short story publicly. I hope you enjoy it!

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If you enjoyed this episode, we would be grateful if you leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps more people discover the show, and the more people listen, the more we can invest into it and improve the show.

Follow Kent Sanders:

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/kentsanders 

When you think of ways to connect with your audience and add value to them, what comes to mind?

What usually focus on the more flashy forms of marketing such as social media, Amazon algorithms or Facebook ads. But there's a way to connect with your readers that relies on a decades-old technology we use every day. It's not flashy, it's not the new, hip thing, but it absolutely works.

Yes, I'm talking about email newsletters.

I'm excited to have a guest today who knows all about email newsletters, and he is going to help us decipher the code to using them successfully. His name is Jared Odle, and he is a missionary, entrepreneur, and freelance copywriter and marketer. 

Most of the time, he lives in Ghana, West Africa close to the city of Tamale with his wife and kids. Jared is also working on a book and podcast related to men's loneliness.

Jared and I go way, way back. We were both students at St. Louis Christian College in Florissant, Missouri back in the mid-90's. We had many, many classes together, and we also traveled together on the weekend in a music group for a couple of years.

We have seen the best and worst of each other through the years, and I am absolutely honored to call Jared one of my best friends on the planet!

Jared also has an incredibly sharp marketing mind, which is why I've invited him on the show today to talk about newsletters--an area where he particularly excels.

In this conversation, we talk about several topics related to newsletters, including why you need one, what you should include in your indoctrination series (he'll explain what that is), what to use for a lead magnet, and much more.

You can connect with Jared at his website, JaredOdle.com as well as Linkedin, or on Facebook.

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If you enjoyed this episode, we would be grateful if you leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps more people discover the show, and the more people listen, the more we can invest into it and improve the show.

Follow Kent Sanders:

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/kentsanders 

In a world of equality and opportunity, we usually talk about power as if it’s a bad thing. But power is like time, money, or any other resource. It can be used for good or for bad.

Writers don’t think about what we do in terms of power. We use words like creativity, craft, platform, audience, and entrepreneurship. But power? It’s a concept that seems a little old-fashioned, if not outright outdated these days.

Power is just influence. When you have power as a writer, you can change people’s mind. You can tell a story that has impact. You can write books, sermons, articles, or other content and know that it can influence other people.

On today's episode, Kent helps us understand what power is, and we can use it for good with our writing.

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If you enjoyed this episode, we would be grateful if you leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps more people discover the show, and the more people listen, the more we can invest into it and improve the show.

Follow Kent Sanders:

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/kentsanders 

One of the tropes that seems to follow creative types around is the myth of the “tortured artist.” The myth goes something like this: creative work is very, very difficult, and it requires the artist to give their blood, sweat, and tears to their creative work.

This tortured artist myth has been used to describe why so many creative types are depressed or otherwise messed up. And if you look at the number of popular musical artists from the 1970’s and 80’s who died from a drug overdose, it almost seems to be a real phenomenon that great artists are indeed tortured souls.

But where does this myth come from? We don’t have time for a long history lesson here, but here is one explanation for why creative types, including writers, like to perpetuate this myth. 

On today's episode, Kent challenges us to think of writing as easy, not as the work of a "tortured artist."

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If you enjoyed this episode, we would be grateful if you leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps more people discover the show, and the more people listen, the more we can invest into it and improve the show.

Follow Kent Sanders:

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Instagram: https://instagram.com/kentsanders

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kentsanders 

Do you remember what it feels like to be criticized for your writing?

Different memories come flooding back for different people. Maybe it was in junior high, when a teacher pointed out all your mistakes. Maybe it was in college when you submitted an essay to a contest, and you didn’t even place.

Maybe it was more recently, when you published a blog post or wrote a social media post that someone didn’t like … and they let you know about it in no uncertain terms.

These memories can be painful because it feels like people are criticizing us directly. They’re questioning our personal worth and stomping on our creative identity. Don’t they know how important this work is to you? Why don’t they understand that when they criticize your work, they are taking a little bit of your heart away?

But that’s precisely the problem. We are usually far too close to our work to be objective about it. What’s more, the criticism often says more about the person doing the criticizing than it does about you.

On today's episode, Kent reminds us that we all need to have thicker skin when it comes to criticism.

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If you enjoyed this episode, we would be grateful if you leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps more people discover the show, and the more people listen, the more we can invest into it and improve the show.

Follow Kent Sanders:

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/kentsanders 

If you were to make a list of the most creative people from the last hundred years, Steve Jobs would be close to the top of the list. As the co-founder of Apple, he was in large part responsible for many of the devices and apps we use today, such as the Mac, iTunes, the iPhone, the iPad, and lots of others. 

Especially in his later years, he was adored and admired for his visionary approach and his absolute refusal to go along with the status quo. But he wasn’t always the cultural icon that he is today.

In 1997, Steve Jobs has been gone from Apple for twelve years after a painful exit in 1985. Now that he was back in command trying to turn the struggling company around, there was no magic bullet, no surefire gimmick or product that would help make Apple successful again.

On today's episode, Kent reminds us that the crazy ones are indeed those who change the world.

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If you enjoyed this episode, we would be grateful if you leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps more people discover the show, and the more people listen, the more we can invest into it and improve the show.

Follow Kent Sanders:

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/kentsanders 

What does it mean to be successful as a writer?

It’s a simple question—you might say even deceptively simple. Why? Because we don’t often stop to think about how we define success. We are so accustomed to certain metrics that we seldom question our ideas of success. Like a dog chasing a car, we continue to run after it, never stopping to wonder if we should be chasing that particular car in the first place.

We typically define success in terms of achievement. When someone has a successful book launch and reaches a certain number of online reviews, we brand that as a success. When someone sells a certain amount of books, we brand that as a success. When someone gets a publishing deal with one of the top five New York publishing houses, we brand that as a success.

On today's episode, Kent challenges the idea that "success" comes only when you launch a book or achieve another major goal.

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If you enjoyed this episode, we would be grateful if you leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps more people discover the show, and the more people listen, the more we can invest into it and improve the show.

Follow Kent Sanders:

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Instagram: https://instagram.com/kentsanders

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kentsanders