Well, hello. This is Val Campbell. And if you're like me, an author, you got started writing because you had a story to tell, not because you wanted to get involved in all the rest of the theater and pageantry and technology that you ended up getting looped into. Because once you got your book written, at least the first manuscript, then you had to learn editing. or maybe you hired an editor, but that still meant you had to learn editing, right? That's pretty much how that works.
So, once you've figured out editing, you've got your manuscript and you've got it edited and it's ready, now you want to publish it because you'd like to share it with people. I mean, isn't that the the idea? You've got a story. It's inside you and it's fighting to get out and be shared with other people because it's it's exciting and it's fun and you believe in it. But where do you go? I mean, the publishing houses aren't much help. Trying to find an agent, well, that's tough. I mean, they're all, you know, full. They're busy. They're not looking for new manuscripts. They're not looking for new authors.
And it just seemed to me that if you aren't formulaic, if you didn't have the the thing that's being pushed out there so much, you know, you you you were really swimming upstream. And so if you're off the beaten path a little bit, if you write something that's novel, right? something that's a little different because that's what you think you you you like. Let's do something that's a little different. But, you know, that's not really what they're looking for because they're just about money. They just want to they just want to turn the wheel.
So, then there's the self-publishing promoters, right? These are the people who are more able to promote themselves and sell to you the struggling to get published author and they come to you and they say look we believe we read your book and it's amazing and for five or $7,000 we will make you the next whoever right the next John Steinbeck the next great American novel year it's right there you just need us and we need your money.
And then if you're like me, you said, "This sounds really good. Give me the names and introduce me to a couple of your other authors so that I can see how well you do." No, we don't really do that, right? We'll show you the picture of the books and and that, but you know, we are not going to let you talk to the authors. Well, that's probably because the authors wouldn't really have a lot of good things to say about them. So, why would they want to use them as a referral?
So, there I sat. Nine books written because the stories are compelling. A lot of friends and family and contacts have read them and say great things about them, but I'm still not able to really engage with the audiences, with the public. I was sharing this with my son Shawn one day and he said, "You know, a lot of people listen to audios on their way to work and things these days. That's a pretty common thing." He said, "What if you created a podcast that people could use as a bridge to reach audiences.
Well, I never really thought about that because I just wanted to write books, right? I'm I'm the guy that Gary and Paige chose for some strange reason to tell their story, right? Isn't that how you feel? Well, I started thinking about this and I think, this might actually work for a lot of us. There's a lot of authors that I talk to that are in the same situation. And in fact, I went to a big convention not long ago and I sat out in front at a desk and, you know, helped represent a a writer's group that was there and I talked to a lot of authors and I asked them the same questions. How you doing? Are you able to make a living off of this? And they laughed and laughed and laughed. They said, "Oh, no. If I'm lucky, I break even with all of the conventions and things I go to trying to sell my books."
But together we can use a technology that gives us access to millions of people, millions and millions. Let me explain. I made a list of the qualities that this podcast would have to have in order for it to be successful for you and me. First off, it had to be free for the authors because I wasn't willing to get out there and promote myself as just another send me your money scam. Next, it had to take advantage of the existing platforms that people are already using. Spotify, Patreon, YouTube, right? And we had to use social media to broadcast.
Now, my wife and I have a background in social media marketing and internet marketing and we know how to produce videos and audios. So, we know how to take care of that part of it. She's a pro. As I thought about this was we have the ability to harness the power of our collective social media presence. You see, you or I individually, we might have a sphere of hundreds or even thousands of people, but together with a large group of authors contributing their content to a podcast where it can be promoted, we have access to millions of people and we can use search engine optimization. We know that to reach out to a lot of people who are searching for stories. That's why we started the first chapter podcast.
Now, we have a system that we put together and what we need are more authors who are willing to contribute and help. Let us do the work for you. All you have to do is have an interview with us and then let us help you create an audio of your first chapter of your book. We will promote that. We will put that on our podcast. We will put it on our Spotify page. We will put it on our YouTube channel. And we're going to promote that with links to where they can get a hold of you and your books. This is about you. This is about all of us. and the ability to reach through and create a place where the public can come and access new authors and new stories.
And on Spotify, they can just tune in there and listen to the first chapter of your book. I don't care if you've got 10 books. We'll do 10. It's all good because the more we share, the more we help each other, the more we reach through and the audiences then know where to listen or where to buy the rest of the book that they enjoyed on the way to work. Doesn't that sound like a great idea?
So, how do you find out more about this? Send me an email at the firstchapterpodcast@gmail.com And then we'll start a dialogue. I can send you some information on how this works. It's really pretty straightforward. And if there's any part of it that you don't know how to do, like maybe creating an audio of your first chapter, we can show you exactly how to do that very simply. It's not difficult. once you know how to do it and you got the system set up.
So, this is Val Campbell. Get a hold of me at the firstchapterpodcast@gmail.com. I think I said that before, right? And let's have a conversation so that you can use our bridge to reach new audiences. We'll talk to you soon.