Tag: copywriter

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Five reasons why your customers are scared to get in touch with you

Kirsty thinking about why your customers are scared to get in touch with you.

It’s nearly Hallowe’en, so my thoughts turn to the spooky side of life. The thing is, what if your business is the scary thing? You might know that you and your business are lovely and not terrifying, but your customers could still hesitate. Here are the top five reasons your customers are scared to contact you and what you can do about them.

They don’t know what to expect

Contacting a new business can be like the first day of school; exciting but also terrifying if you don’t know what to expect. That’s why schools send out loads of information to parents and have settling-in days for the kids.

Use your marketing to share what happens when people get in touch, book an appointment or come to a class. Tell them what they need to bring or what to wear. They’re more likely to get in touch when they can see the path ahead.

They think they won’t understand you

This probably applies to you if you work in law, accountancy or anything technical, particularly with lay clients. When I was a solicitor, legal speak created a shorthand to use with other lawyers, but I never used it with my clients. Your customers might be putting off something important because they think you speak gobbledegook.

If your customer doesn’t speak the same technical language as you, don’t use it in your marketing. Show them you’re a normal human being who’ll explain things in a straightforward way.

They’re worried about pressure sales

I hate pressure selling. When I got married, we immediately rejected the photographer who offered us a 50% discount, “but only if you sign now.” Does that ever work?

If you use sales calls in your business, there’s no single way to reassure people that you won’t do this. You can share case studies and testimonials and talk about your process on your website, blog, and emails. Knowing they’ll have time to think things over will reassure people and encourage them to book a call.

They’re scared of asking a stupid question

No one wants to look stupid or feel like they’re being a nuisance. Your future customers might have a question whose answer is the difference between them booking and walking away, but they’re afraid to ask it.

The best way to deal with this is to use FAQs. You can use these as a list or a single post on any marketing platform. Answer questions that people have asked you, but make some up, too. Talk to people in your networking groups to see what they’d ask. I love coming up with questions for clients. I’ve lost count of the number of blog topics that came out of me asking a client how something works.

They don’t know you

What’s the biggest first-day-of-school fear you can think of? Yep, will the other kids be nice? Will I make friends? When you put yourself in your marketing, you help your customers get to know, like and trust you so they aren’t scared to get in touch.

Your marketing can show people who you are before they ever meet you (if they’ll ever meet you). When you write your marketing, be yourself, and you’ll ease your customers’ minds.

If you want to write content that puts your customers’ fears to rest and lets them get to know you, I can help.  I’ll write blogs, posts, emails and whatever else you need to engage your audience and encourage them to buy. If you’d like a chat to find out how it works, you can book a call here. Alternatively, sign up using the form below for helpful hints and tips straight to your inbox every month.

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How email marketing can turn subscribers into customers

I'm at my laptop typing, creating content to turn subscribers into customers.

Getting people to sign up to your email list gives you a whole load more control over what your audience sees. It’s true that your emails may end up in someone’s unopened backlog. However, they’re much more likely to see your content than if you rely on social media, so your email marketing can turn subscribers into customers.

The question is, what do you do with your subscribers once they’ve signed up? Read on to find out. (If you’d like to learn more about how to persuade them to subscribe in the first place, read this)

Create a nurture sequence

“What’s a nurture sequence?” I hear you cry. It’s the email equivalent of introducing yourself, welcoming someone into your business and showing them around. You can tailor what you offer them based on what they’re interested in (more on that in a minute), but your aim is to send around five emails to let them know what to expect from you and your business and give them an overview of your services.

Offer a low-cost product

Fear is one of the most common obstacles that prevents anyone from buying from a business for the first time. They don’t want to waste money on something that doesn’t deliver (literally or metaphorically). Offering a low-cost product to a new subscriber helps because they only take a small risk. Depending on your business, you could choose something digital or a small physical product.

Make an offer

Emailing your list can achieve several different goals. Your emails help people get to know you, let you share valuable tips and tell your subscribers how they can work with you. Don’t be afraid to share your services and tell readers how they can book an appointment or buy your newest product. You can also offer them something special…

Make them feel special

Feeling like you’re part of a community can be really special. Your emails can offer that to your subscribers, making them more likely to buy and keep that feeling going. You can make your readers feel special by offering something just for them. That could be a discount, early access to new products or subscriber-only content and events.

Involve them in your process behind the scenes

Showing your customers what’s happening behind the scenes helps them get excited about new products or understand more about your services. Case studies work well for service-based businesses or share images to show what you’re working on. Sharing with your subscribers first gives them that sense of exclusivity and lets you preview subscriber-only deals, but you can also do this on social media.

Include valuable content

It’s important to talk about what you’re selling in your emails, but your subscribers will get fed up if that’s all you do. Share content that helps them learn about what you do and DIY if they need to. Sharing a couple of blog links in your nurture sequence gives new readers quick insights and helps them get more out of your lead magnet.

Tell a story

Telling a story in your marketing helps your audience relate to you as a human being and not just a business owner. It can show them that you understand what they need or how your lives are similar. There are loads of ways to do this, but remember that it’s OK to talk about your life and experiences using your own voice.

Personalise your emails

Your email software should allow you to include someone’s name when you email them. Personalisation can go further than that with the right tools. You can segment your list and contact people interested in specific topics. It’s much easier to turn subscribers into customers when you’re only sending people information about services they’re interested in.

Don’t be shy

If you’ve ever held back from emailing your list because you don’t want to bother them, stop. They signed up to hear from you. If they change their minds, they can unsubscribe, but if they don’t know what you’re offering, they can’t buy.

If you want to write content that will turn subscribers into customers, I can help.  I’ll write blogs, posts and emails to engage your audience and encourage them to buy. If you’d like a chat to find out how it works, you can book a call here.

Do you want useful hints and tips that help you write engaging marketing content, straight to your inbox? Sign up using the form below. I don’t do spam and I’ll never share your information with anyone else.

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Does your business need digital products?

If you, like me, have a service-based business or even if you sell physical products, you might wonder whether digital products are worth the effort. After all, you offer your service because you want to do the work rather than because you want to create an online shop. I used to feel the same until the pandemic when my business was hit by homeschooling and customers who wanted to conserve their funds for essentials like keeping the lights on.

Here’s what I learned from giving digital products a try.

Digital products are cheap to create

Depending on how you go about things, digital products are incredibly cheap to create. The main cost is your time in creating the content. If you already write a blog, you can repurpose it and turn it into an eBook.

You can use free graphic design apps like Canva to make everything look good, although if you’re going to use video, you might want to invest in some kit.

You don’t have to deal with handling or delivery

When you’re first getting started with digital products, you’ll need to work out how to create an online shop. I use a WooCommerce plugin and Stripe to take payments for mine. Once you’ve sorted that, your shop can send your products by email without you being involved. No packaging costs or trips to the Post Office.

Best of all, people can buy your products and start using them when you’re asleep.

You can share your expertise

If you already offer brochures or eBooks as lead magnets, digital products can be the next step up. They help you to share your expertise and earn you some money at the same time. You can offer helpful information that goes further than the stuff you give away for free and help your customers get results.

Your products can be a marketing tool as well as an income stream.

Digital products are great for beginners

Sometimes, people will sign up for your email list or follow you on social media because they know they’ll need you eventually, but they’re not ready yet. They might need to make money first or to learn what works for them.  You can create digital products to help them get started with ideas and techniques, like my eBook ’50 blog post ideas for your business’.

It can also help you in the long run by giving you customers who know what they want when they come to you.

Your earnings aren’t limited by time

When you work with clients one to one, your work is limited by the number of hours available. When my kids were small, I could only work when I had childcare, or they were asleep. (Not ideal when you’re exhausted and still begging your tiny humans to go to bed.)

You can create digital products when you’re ready and send them automatically. You can also create courses that you deliver to a group at a time to suit you. That means your work stops being one-to-one.

Myth: you won’t have to work

I have one caveat: creating and selling digital products is still work. It’s just a different structure that can work around your life if you need it to. You’ll still need to work at creating products, building an audience and understanding what they need so you can make the right things.

If you want to share your knowledge in eBooks, checklists and guides, I’m here to help. I’ll help you to repurpose your existing content or write the words to create brand-new products to help your customers.

If you want to add digital products to your business, I can help. I’ll write new eBooks and repurpose your existing content to turn it into digital products that your customers will love. If you’d like a chat to find out how it works, you can book a call here.

You can also sign up to receive monthly emails packed with helpful content writing and marketing tips using the form below.

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How you can reuse old marketing content

Reuse old marketing content

Batch-creating content is one of the easiest ways of creating consistent marketing content when you’re busy, but it’s not the only way. If you’ve been marketing your business for a while, you might think you’ve covered every possible subject. You could be right, but there’s always a new way to address the same topic. Here’s how to reuse old marketing content and give it a fresh spin.

Choose the right content

Sometimes, you write a blog post or share something on social media, and it strikes a chord, while other things fall flat—understanding which is which can help you decide which posts to use again. When you reuse old content, make sure it’s something that worked well the first time around. Alternatively, choose an evergreen topic that won’t date.

Look at your social media statistics or Google Analytics to work out what went well.

Share something again

Reusing content can sometimes be as simple as sharing it again. If a topic is still relevant and the advice you’d give hasn’t changed, there’s no harm in reposting it. Newer followers won’t have seen it, and it can be a helpful reminder of key principles for people who’ve been with you for a while.

Think carefully about timing so your content doesn’t get repetitive. I’d recommend waiting at least six months, possibly longer, before sharing something again.

Update an old blog post

You might have a post where the subject is still relevant, but some of the information you want to share has been updated. You can reuse old content by tweaking it instead of writing a new post.

For example, a post on financial planning might have the same core advice, but you need to update it to reflect that some of the tax rules have changed.

Reuse the idea

Reviewing your old content can reveal old posts where the topic is still relevant but where you’d give completely different advice. For example, there may have been a change in the law, new research or advances in your industry, or you’ve got more experience to share.

You’ll need to write a new post, so it isn’t a quick fix when you’re short on time. However, it’s great for SEO, showing Google that your content is still relevant.

Go in-depth on a subheading

This is an easy way to come up with a new topic, but you’ll still have to find time to write a new blog post. If you’ve written a general overview of a subject, pick one of the subheadings and write a more in-depth piece.

For example, if you’ve written a post about healthy eating, you might have a paragraph on eating your five a day. That could turn into a post about the health benefits or tips on ways to eat more vegetables.

Change the format

I’ve talked about ways to make your content go further before, and there are loads of ways to do it. You can reuse old content by changing the format. That could mean breaking down a blog post, sharing the same content in a video or turning a series of blog posts into an eBook.

You can also share old content on a new platform that you want to try out.

Do you want to stop creating your own marketing content? I can help create posts that make your content go further. If you’d like a chat to find out how it works, you can book a call here.

You can also sign up to receive monthly emails packed with helpful content writing and marketing tips using the form below.

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7 tips to help you write a headline that gets you noticed

Me at my computer, creating content and trying to write a headline that'll get my marketing noticed.
Image by Julie Grant Photography

Good content marketing headlines can mean the difference between your content being read or totally ignored. (Find out why here.) Here are my tips on how to write a headline that will help you attract the right audience.

Make sure your headline reflects your content

A good headline lets your audience know what to expect. If people start reading only to find that your post wasn’t what they were expecting, you’ll lose their trust, and that’s fatal to a small business. So write a headline showing them why your content is worth your time, and ensure your post sticks to the point.

Write your headline last

If you’ve planned your post, you’ll have a good idea about what you’re going to cover, but things can change as you write. You might come up with an interesting analogy or a take on the subject you weren’t expecting. If you write a headline before you start, check it at the end. Does it still work with the finished piece?

Use numbers

If you can use a number when you write a headline, do it. Several studies have shown that using a number in your headline can increase engagement by anything from 15% to 73%. Readers like numbers because they’re specific and show you roughly how long a post will be. However, please don’t shoehorn a number in if it isn’t relevant. Your readers will smell a rat.

Write lots of different options

Writing several different headline ideas gives you options to choose from and can help you to create a headline that fits your content. Change the structure of your headline and use different synonyms. You can also think about the results your readers will get and why they’ll be interested in what you have to say. Then, when you’ve finished the piece, you can see which one is the best fit.

Put keywords at the start

Putting your keyword or phrase at the start of your headline means that your subject is clear from the start. That’s great for your readers and your SEO. However, it isn’t always possible; I think it’s better to have a headline that reads well than to put your keyword at the start and end up with a clunky sentence.

Use power words

Power words are words and phrases that encourage people to pay attention. Sometimes these can be as simple as using ‘you’ or ‘your’ in a headline. It makes your reader feel that you’re speaking to them personally. Power words are often emotional but can also create a sense of urgency. CoSchedule’s list of 180 power words will give you an idea of the kind of words that work.

Test your headlines

A good headline lets your audience know what they’re going to read but also creates an emotional connection. You might not think you can test that, but you can. If you’ve got a few different options, a headline analyser can help you to pick the best one. There are a few to try, but my favourite is the Advanced Marketing Institute’s headline analyser.

Do you want to grab your audiences’ attention and create content that speaks your customers’ language? I can help with that. If you’d like a chat to find out how it works, you can book a call here.

You can also sign up to receive monthly emails packed with useful content writing and marketing tips using the form below.

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Why are good headlines important?

A newspaper with good headlines

You might associate the word ‘headline’ with a newspaper or online article, but you use them everywhere in your marketing. They’re the title of your blog posts, the subject line in your emails and even your social media posts have a line at the top that’s the first thing your readers will see. Good headlines can determine whether your marketing hits the spot with your audience. Read on to find out why…

Headlines catch people’s attention

OK, this is the most obvious reason for creating good headlines. They’re designed to intrigue potential readers so that they want to know more. That could be because you’re offering the solution to a problem or because you’ve teased some juicy secret they must know about. It makes them look twice and tempts them to read the rest.

I have one important caveat – a good headline isn’t misleading. This brings me to…

Good headlines let your readers know what to expect

Clickbait may work for some businesses, but small businesses like ours need to build trust. A clear headline that lets your reader know what they’ll get from your content helps you do that. It also allows your audience to decide whether it’s worth their time. That way, when they click through, they know that you’re providing tips or advice they can use.

Even if people don’t read the whole post, it gives them a clear impression of what you do and what your business offers.

They can express a particular mindset

Have you ever stood and looked at a newspaper and magazine display in a shop? Each publication could be talking about the same subject or news story, but they all do it differently. The headlines they use help you understand their political viewpoint or the issues they care about.

Your headlines can do the same; they can help you attract customers with a similar worldview to you or tell them something about your personality, so they’ll know whether you’re their kind of person.

Headlines are great for SEO

Headlines work to boost your search engine rankings in two different ways. Firstly, the fact that you have a headline tells Google that your content is well-organised and likely to be helpful.

Secondly, you can include keywords in your headlines. Then, when search engines look at your site, they can immediately tell what your subject is. That means when someone asks a question with your keywords, they know your content is relevant to that search.

Good headlines = more clicks

When you create marketing, you want people to read it, and a good headline encourages them to do that. That doesn’t just apply to content you created to educate your audience. It can help you to get new sign-ups to your email list and more sales. A headline can make it clear that you’re selling something and give your audience insight into the benefits of your product or service so they click through to find out more and ultimately buy from you.

Do you want to grab your audiences’ attention and create content that speaks your customers’ language? I can help with that. If you’d like a chat to find out how it works, you can book a call here.

You can also sign up to receive monthly emails packed with useful content writing and marketing tips using the form below.

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Does grammar even matter anymore?

The image shows a woman in a black t-shirt writing on a notepad, probably wondering if her grammar is OK.
Photo by picjumbo.com: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-holding-blue-ballpoint-pen-writing-in-notebook-210661/

Every so often, a conversation will crop up in my social media feed about grammar. The person writing the post wants to know how much we all care about it and whether mistakes bother us. Aren’t we all talking more informally now? Does grammar even matter anymore? Here’s what I think.

Your audience matters

When I write my content, I’ll be thinking about you. Not in a weird way, of course. I’ll think about how you balance running a business with everything else in your life and the marketing challenges you might face. It’s the same when I write for my clients. The type of language I use depends on who we’re talking to.  It’s not so different to having a conversation when you think about it.  A chat with your friends is very different to a meeting with the bank manager.

Think about the kind of person you’re talking to and what image you want to put across. Do you need to be professional but approachable? Could you have a chat with your customers over a cuppa?

Speech vs writing

It can be easy to get the right tone when you’re speaking but writing it down can prove a bit more difficult though.  I’ve often advised people to record themselves speaking if they’re struggling to write. The trouble is, they often find that their sentences suddenly look wrong on paper.  We start to wonder whether that word is spelt right or if there should be an apostrophe somewhere.

I’ll admit that I’m a grammar pedant. Even if my clients are relaxed about grammar, I want to get it right. Having said that, there are times when bending the rules can make your message more effective because it’s the sort of language your audience would use. At the same time, I’m not going to judge anyone for getting it wrong. I know some highly intelligent and creative people who struggle with grammar and spelling. In the grand scheme of things, it’s more important to get the message across. 

When does grammar matter?

There are forms of communication where every comma matters.  Legal and financial documents must be precise.  They have a language all their own.

It’s important to strike a balance.  Say, for example, you’re a financial adviser who wants to start a blog.  You need to create the right impression.  You’re intelligent, experienced and (most importantly) you know what you’re talking about.  However, none of that will matter if your potential customers don’t understand a word you’re saying.  Your tone needs to be formal but accessible.

If you’re a mum making baby clothes to sell to other mums, they’ll still want to hear about the quality of the product but your tone can be much more conversational.  You’re having a chat with someone who shares your experiences.

Listen to people talk

Conversations are going on all around you.  Some involve you, others don’t.  If you want to start tailoring your language to your audience, start listening to how people speak.  You can start with your customers and the people you meet at networking events but eavesdropping can help too. Think about how the language you hear in a business-focused setting differs from the conversations you overhear in coffee shops or on public transport.  Ask yourself whether the person you can hear could be a potential customer. Different groups of people have very different speech patterns and learning about them can help you to write for your audience.

Is grammar important to you? If you want some help writing in a way that speaks your customers’ language, let’s have a chat. Alternatively, use the form below to receive writing and marketing tips straight to your inbox every month. I won’t share your details with anyone else and you can unsubscribe whenever you like.

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How talking about transformation in your marketing will help your customers buy

A woman lies in bed reading an article talking about transformation
Photo by Karolina Grabowska: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-reading-a-magazine-in-her-bed-6633697/

When you create marketing content for your business you’re aiming to show your future customers how each product or service will help them. You’ll do that in different ways, whether you’re writing content to build your relationship or copy to convince your audience to buy now.  Talking about transformation and how your products and services bring it about helps your audience see the benefits in action. It’s like a before and after weight loss picture with feelings.

Here’s how it works in practice.

The before

This is often the bit your audience will identify with most. Sometimes it works visually, particularly if you help your customers to achieve a physical transformation. At other times it doesn’t because you need to show that you understand how they feel. Your ‘before’ could be a feeling, like mum guilt, depression, or worry. Use those feelings as your starting point and talk about them in your marketing.

The after

Now comes the part where you show your audience where they could be with your help. You can do this in a blog post, offering general advice to help them see the benefits of your products or approach. This could be something like “why you need to hire a professional will writer” or “how accounting software saves you time”.  You can also offer tips that will give people a practical taster that your advice works and put them into free downloads to encourage sign-ups to your email list.  

The most powerful pieces of content are things like client testimonials and case studies that show your real-world results.

How talking about transformation works

The idea of talking about transformation might seem a bit obvious; you show your customers the before and after and it convinces them to buy. The thing is, it goes deeper than that. Human beings have always used stories to form communities. You’re telling someone a story when you talk them through a transformation. You’re also showing them that you understand. You stop being a business that wants to sell them something and become another person who knows what it’s like to be drowning in paperwork or how important it is to buy your mum a great Christmas present.

Two types of transformation

There are two ways that you can change someone’s life; you can make a physical difference and an emotional one. Good marketing content uses both.

Physical

When you’ve helped someone to achieve physical change, it could be outwardly obvious. That’s where those before and after photos come into play because you can show how much more toned someone is or improvements in their skin. You might not always be able to spot the difference by looking at them. Maybe you’ve saved someone time, helped them get more organised or to achieve a goal that’s only obvious to them. That’s where you need to start writing about it.

Emotional

Showing a practical transformation is great, but it only works if the person seeing it has an emotional response too. You might look at before and after photos and shrug because it’s irrelevant to you. Talking about the feelings that go with the transformation is what motivates people to take action. Get them to imagine what it would be like to feel healthier or less stressed. Show them that they can feel more confident in their parenting skills. That’s the stuff that motivates someone to make a change.

Do you need to start talking about transformation in your marketing? I can help with that. Book a call here and let’s have a chat.

Alternatively, if you’d like writing and marketing hints and tips straight to your inbox every month, sign up using the form below. I don’t do spam and you can unsubscribe whenever you like. You’ll also get a copy of my free guide with 5 easy content marketing tips to help your future customers find you online as a thanks from me!

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6 tips to make planning your Christmas marketing a breeze

Christmas marketing - the adventure begins!
Photo by Simon Migaj from Pexels

Your Christmas marketing could be all about gifts, but it can also give you the chance to show your customers what you’re about and to have some fun. You can find some ideas for things to talk about in your Christmas marketing here. When it comes to sharing them there’s more to it than social media…

Email your Christmas marketing

You might think that email marketing went out with the dinosaurs, but it’s alive and well, with 99% of email users checking their inbox every day and businesses in the UK reporting an income of £42 for every pound they spend on email marketing. The key is to be helpful, entertaining, or both. Give your subscribers easy-to-buy gift options, helpful tips, discounts or something that will cheer them up.

Gift guides

Gift guides are a brilliant marketing tool because you can use them as a lead magnet to encourage new sign-ups to your email list and send them out to your subscribers.

When you use them in your Christmas marketing you can split your products into different categories and highlight the best gift ideas. Write a short and catchy description of each product, put them into a PDF with a gorgeous image and you’re ready to go.

Put a gift page on your website

Adding a new page on your website might sound like a lot of work, but it really isn’t. It’s just another way of sharing the information you put into your gift guide. That way, if someone doesn’t follow you on social media but finds your website on Google, they can still buy from you. Just make it easy for them to search by category or price so visitors can find exactly what they want.

Social media posts that show behind the scenes

You can help your customers get to know you by showing them what’s happening behind the scenes. If you’re celebrating Christmas jumper day or are supporting a charity, let your audience know. Talk about what Christmas means to you or share a festive joke. You can build engagement by asking your customers to share a picture of their tree or what their favourite Christmas film is. You can get more ideas from this book.

Run a competition

I don’t mean something that everyone and their dog would enter, like ‘win a bottle of fizz’ (unless you’re a wine merchant, then it’s ideal). Offer something that your ideal customer would value. You can use it to attract new email subscribers or social media followers and it’ll help you to create lots of posts as you can talk about the prize itself, the build-up to the prize draw then go live to choose the winner.

Don’t forget about print

When you were a kid, did you ever go through the Argos catalogue circling the stuff you’d love to find in your Christmas stocking? Print works because it cuts through the social media noise. Your customers can keep a gift guide on the kitchen table or pin a leaflet to their noticeboard. You can hand them out at Christmas fairs or put them in the post.

Send your customers a Christmas card and you’ll give them warm and fuzzy feelings and remind them that you’re here when they need you.

Do you need some new ideas for your Christmas marketing? Would you rather just hand it over and get on with running your business? I can help with that. Book a call here and let’s have a chat. You can also get ideas for Christmas posts from 1st December to Christmas Eve by snaffling a copy of my book here.

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Do you ever feel you’re pulling yourself in different directions?

A woman going in different directions.
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

I don’t think I’m alone in having a lot of different things in my life. We’ve all got those metaphorical balls (the ones we juggle, but occasionally the other kind too). There’s all the life stuff; the home, partner, kids, family and friends. Delete or add as applicable. I keep finding myself saying ‘let’s have a catch up soon’, then organising a coffee takes about a year. That’s even before I get to the bit where I run a business too. You’ve heard all this before, I know. The only reason I’m talking about it now is because I seem to have had an influx recently. There’s been more paying work, which is extremely lovely. Conversations about self-care seem to have become a thing too. As I write this the words of a wise woman telling me I’m hearing it for a reason are floating at the front of my brain. There have been new ideas that I can’t seem to make a decision on. Then there have been people asking about my book. Have I told you about the book? Maybe I haven’t, so let’s start there.

It’s always been about the book

Before I had the faintest idea that I might write content marketing for businesses, I wrote stories. I know that we all did that at school, but I carried on. Ideas for crime novels pop into my head at regular intervals. The one I’m working on now existed as an idea for a few years before I started making some notes, writing random scenes as they occurred to me. When I was a commuter I wrote on the train. Now I’m editing; it feels as if I’ve rewritten the thing about eleven billion times but I could be exaggerating. It’s a murder mystery, set in Leicester and I’m almost ready to send it out into the world.

I think I might be scared

There’s the problem, you see. I feel as if everything has been pushing me towards this point. Even the self-care conversations, because I know I need to look after myself to deal with whatever different thing comes next. It’s also why I keep getting new shiny ideas. A bit of me wants to get on with it. A much bigger bit is utterly terrified. What if it’s rubbish? (Apparently most first novels are.) There are characters inspired by people I love and tiny snippets of my life in those pages. It feels personal. The other nagging feeling is the fact that being a published novelist is my dream. I don’t know what happens next if the dream comes true. Will my life still be my own if I take it in a different direction? Will I become a magnet for trolls on Twitter? No idea.

What shall I do next?

This is a silly question, isn’t it? I need to finish the two little edits that are bugging me and send my manuscript out for someone else to read. I’ve got friends who’ve offered and I know where to get a reader’s report. An author friend (yes, I have one of those) even got me an email address for a published crime writer who’s happy to look at a couple of chapters for me. So, I know the answer to my own question. I just need to get on and do it.

Why am I telling you this story? It’s because I’m a writer and that’s what I do. I can help you find the right story to tell in your marketing so you can attract wonderful new customers. If I can help you with that, let’s have a chat.