Use content pillars to generate content for your blog, social media posts, and newsletters. Stop struggling with what to write about in your blog and your author newsletter and your social posts!
Who Is Your Ideal Reader Avatar? goes with Episode 2: Who Is Your Ideal Reader?.
Use Content Pillars to Generate Strong Content
Content Pillars Exercise downloadable pdf file
The question of the week is: What are your content pillars?
Get your free copy of the First Chapter Rubric.
Instagram: @WritingPursuitsPodcast
In the past, I have talked about blogging and
Kathrese McKee:writing newsletters for subscribers. But I feel like
Kathrese McKee:what stops most authors from getting started? Or being
Kathrese McKee:consistent is a lack of ideas. Where do you continue to get
Kathrese McKee:ideas? How do you know your ideas will interest your
Kathrese McKee:readers? What topics will work? How do you niche down? If your
Kathrese McKee:fans don't want to read about the craft of writing? What can
Kathrese McKee:you write about? Answers to these questions and more on this
Kathrese McKee:episode of writing pursuits? Welcome to the writing pursuits
Kathrese McKee:podcast where authors like you discuss writing craft, author,
Kathrese McKee:life and book marketing strategies. I'm your host
Kathrese McKee:Kathrese. McKee. I own writing pursuits and write and produce
Kathrese McKee:the weekly newsletter writing pursuits tips for authors. In
Kathrese McKee:addition, I am a speculative fiction author. Writing pursuits
Kathrese McKee:is for authors who drink too much coffee, endure judgemental
Kathrese McKee:looks from their furry writing, convenience and struggle for
Kathrese McKee:words. If you are a writer seeking encouragement,
Kathrese McKee:information and inspiration, this podcast is for you. Let's
Kathrese McKee:get to it. Hey, writing precedes authors. Welcome back to the
Kathrese McKee:podcast. For those of you who are new, I want to extend a
Kathrese McKee:special welcome. My name is Kathrese McKee. And I'm glad
Kathrese McKee:you're here. Please leave a comment a star rating and follow
Kathrese McKee:the show to help others find writing pursuits. Use content
Kathrese McKee:pillars to generate content for your blog, social media posts
Kathrese McKee:and newsletters. Stop struggling with what to write about in your
Kathrese McKee:blog, and your author, newsletter and your social
Kathrese McKee:posts. In the past, I've talked and written about blogging and
Kathrese McKee:writing newsletters for subscribers, but I feel like
Kathrese McKee:what stops most authors from getting started or being
Kathrese McKee:persistent and consistent is a lack of ideas.
Kathrese McKee:So content pillars are the solution. And if you keep them
Kathrese McKee:in mind, for every post and newsletter, you will discover an
Kathrese McKee:endless supply of topics to write about that will interest
Kathrese McKee:your readers seriously. Wouldn't it be great to have a limitless
Kathrese McKee:well of content ideas?
Kathrese McKee:So what are content pillars? Content pillars is a marketing
Kathrese McKee:term. If you Google it, you will find many articles about the
Kathrese McKee:concept stick with me and you will understand the concept well
Kathrese McKee:enough to get started. Think of a content pillar, like a silo or
Kathrese McKee:a well, basically a cylinder to hold stuff. farmers use silos to
Kathrese McKee:store grain and fermented feed called silage, the silo store
Kathrese McKee:bulk products separately. I also like the mental image of a deep
Kathrese McKee:well to draw ideas from how do you identify your content
Kathrese McKee:pillars. Each of your content pillars supports your brand.
Kathrese McKee:Your brand needs three to five pillars. If you choose five,
Kathrese McKee:then you automatically have buckets for Monday through
Kathrese McKee:Friday. kind of convenient. If you are a nonfiction author, you
Kathrese McKee:should choose your pillars based on your area of expertise.
Kathrese McKee:Actually, I think nonfiction authors have it kind of easy.
Kathrese McKee:It's a little bit tougher for for fiction authors, but don't,
Kathrese McKee:don't give up. Stick with me. So for the nonfiction author, let's
Kathrese McKee:take an imaginary tennis pro we'll call him and the love for
Kathrese McKee:our example. He might identify the The following content,
Kathrese McKee:pillars, techniques, equipment, mindset, tournaments and events
Kathrese McKee:and fitness tips. So let's five areas five pillars. Let me
Kathrese McKee:repeat those techniques, equipment, mindset tournaments
Kathrese McKee:and events, fitness tips. Okay, so fill each content pillar with
Kathrese McKee:ideas all you need is about an hour to brainstorm and a means
Kathrese McKee:to capture your ideas. After you pick your content pillars then
Kathrese McKee:fill them with related ideas once you have your list more
Kathrese McKee:ideas will come I promise. Keeping your content pillars
Kathrese McKee:full is a never ending process. As you draw out ideas put more
Kathrese McKee:ideas in be sure to capture your ideas in a permanent place where
Kathrese McKee:you can access them from now on I keep mine in a Google sheet
Kathrese McKee:that's accessible on my computer and my phone and you can put
Kathrese McKee:like the the content pillar name at the top of each column and
Kathrese McKee:then beneath the column just a list of ideas that's all you
Kathrese McKee:need to do. And then when you use it an idea maybe shade it
Kathrese McKee:you can always repeat it's okay to come back just come back from
Kathrese McKee:different angle. So let's go back to our nonfiction example
Kathrese McKee:Andy love should brainstorm as many potential topics as
Kathrese McKee:possible for each of his content fillers. He might add tennis
Kathrese McKee:elbow prevent chin and best hydration drinks and workout
Kathrese McKee:tips to the fitness tips content pillar. The topics he lists will
Kathrese McKee:serve his community of readers with important information they
Kathrese McKee:can use. I really didn't mean to make a pun, but he will serve
Kathrese McKee:his community. His topics will also support his credibility as
Kathrese McKee:an expert. When he is creating social media posts each week, he
Kathrese McKee:can choose ideas from his content pillars. He can even
Kathrese McKee:designate themes like Mindset Monday, and Technique Tuesday
Kathrese McKee:and fitness Friday. And like I said before, it's okay to repeat
Kathrese McKee:topics. Just use a different angle to keep things fresh.
Kathrese McKee:Writing pursuits is run by Kathrese. McKee, who has been
Kathrese McKee:trusted by fiction authors since 2014. To take their writing to a
Kathrese McKee:new level of excellence. Guthrie's is a three story
Kathrese McKee:methods certified editor who specializes in story
Kathrese McKee:diagnostics, coaching, and line editing to help you prepare your
Kathrese McKee:story for the journey ahead. For more information, go to writing
Kathrese McKee:pursuits.com. The link is in the show notes. And now, back to the
Kathrese McKee:podcast. What about content pillars for fiction authors? You
Kathrese McKee:are free to think of your own content pillars. For the sake of
Kathrese McKee:this discussion, I'm going to suggest five content pillars for
Kathrese McKee:fiction authors and you then you can just kind of decide what
Kathrese McKee:fits you best and knock out some and replay replace others. It's
Kathrese McKee:okay. So my five are mindset, which is about author life
Kathrese McKee:creative process, which would include things like quotes and
Kathrese McKee:art and your brand, marketing. And I think this one applies to
Kathrese McKee:all authors. This encompasses all necessary communications
Kathrese McKee:between an author and their fans. Interests, which is all
Kathrese McKee:the common ground you have with your readers, and genre, which
Kathrese McKee:is like news about movies, books and fandoms that are related to
Kathrese McKee:your genre. Let's take the mindset content pillar. The
Kathrese McKee:ideas in this silo would include your inspirations, your favorite
Kathrese McKee:movies, music, self improvement, because fans love to follow
Kathrese McKee:their author on their life journey, striking a healthy
Kathrese McKee:balance between art and life, appreciation and gratitude. All
Kathrese McKee:those things come under the mindset pillar.
Kathrese McKee:So I hope you're having some ideas kind of percolating in the
Kathrese McKee:back of your mind. Start writing them down. Okay, in the creative
Kathrese McKee:process pillar, you could include quotes, fan art,
Kathrese McKee:journaling, humor, bad lines from you know, that you've come
Kathrese McKee:up with, or that you found in other places, irrelevant poems,
Kathrese McKee:and scribbles. That's your creative process and your fans
Kathrese McKee:are interested. Every author needs a marketing column. Just
Kathrese McKee:make sure it isn't your only column. This column would
Kathrese McKee:include things like street team news, covers, back cover, copy
Kathrese McKee:polls, giveaways and events. Make sure your newsletters are
Kathrese McKee:not simply an excuse to say buy my book. So maybe make this one
Kathrese McKee:out of every five things you talk about. It should not be the
Kathrese McKee:only thing you talk about in your newsletter. That's a real
Kathrese McKee:turnoff. Okay, let's skip interests for now and consider
Kathrese McKee:the genre content pillar. This is an easy one to fill because
Kathrese McKee:you can discuss movies, old and new books in your genre,
Kathrese McKee:favorite characters, fandoms, and lore. Anything to do with
Kathrese McKee:the genre you write in? Because you know that people who have
Kathrese McKee:signed up for your newsletter are interested in that too. What
Kathrese McKee:you need to do is blend your content pillars with your
Kathrese McKee:avatars interests. All the pillars we've talked about are
Kathrese McKee:strong contenders to connect with your reader. But you can go
Kathrese McKee:deeper if you know your ideal reader avatar. Remember Marissa,
Kathrese McKee:our fictional avatar from episode two of the podcast. She
Kathrese McKee:is also featured in the blog post who is your ideal reader
Kathrese McKee:avatar, and that'll be in the show notes. In a nutshell.
Kathrese McKee:Marissa is a socially conscious, hardworking, single Moodle
Kathrese McKee:millennial. Now most can say that single millennial who loves
Kathrese McKee:clean romance and cats. If you are a romance author who writes
Kathrese McKee:for Marissa, then you could tap into the following sub topics
Kathrese McKee:for your interests, content pillar, clean romance genre
Kathrese McKee:recommendations. So you can't possibly write books as fast as
Kathrese McKee:your readers can read them. So you need to be like recommending
Kathrese McKee:other books, and they'll love you for it that's providing
Kathrese McKee:value to your readers. Funny Cat stories and photos. It shouldn't
Kathrese McKee:be all funny cat stories and photos but that's a good thing
Kathrese McKee:to add in. And fun date ideas because you're in romance,
Kathrese McKee:right? You can write about serious topics for Marisa to
Kathrese McKee:like social consciousness and single lady issues and concerns.
Kathrese McKee:So that's perfectly acceptable. The main point is to connect
Kathrese McKee:with your reader. Do you see the cross section between the
Kathrese McKee:content pillars of your author brand, and your avatars
Kathrese McKee:interests? Content pillars are a means of serving your current
Kathrese McKee:and future customers. Let's say you write military fiction. Your
Kathrese McKee:creative process pillar could include posts about military
Kathrese McKee:bases as possible settings for your next book. past heroes
Kathrese McKee:could serve as models for your story characters, your ideal
Kathrese McKee:avatar, who loves all things military is going to tune in for
Kathrese McKee:more. So the question for the week is what are your content
Kathrese McKee:pillars? Leave your answer in the comments below. Also, there
Kathrese McKee:is a content pillar exercise that you can download from the
Kathrese McKee:blog post in the show notes. On the front there are pillars with
Kathrese McKee:rooms for AI with room for ideas on the back, I am lending you an
Kathrese McKee:abbreviated example. Just to give you something to start
Kathrese McKee:with. Set aside an hour and do this exercise today. This is
Kathrese McKee:only a start. I expect you will also have many ideas your
Kathrese McKee:pillars will each grow to fill a page and start your spreadsheet.
Kathrese McKee:Keep the information in a place for reference whenever you
Kathrese McKee:communicate with your readers. And that's all I have for you
Kathrese McKee:today. Until next time, keep writing. Thank you for joining
Kathrese McKee:us today. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a comment
Kathrese McKee:and follow the podcast. If you're new around here. I hope
Kathrese McKee:you will sign up for the weekly newsletter writing pursuits.
Kathrese McKee:Tips for authors that link and all the links mentioned in
Kathrese McKee:today's episode are in the show notes at writing pursuits.com.
Kathrese McKee:Please join us on Wednesdays for new episodes and keep writing my