how to build a bridge between audiences
three case studies
There are only 27 spots left in my Hype House. It will sell out today.
Many of my clients come to me after they’ve built a successful career in another field—law, tech, academia, publishing, media, or coaching. They already have an audience who knows them by reputation, but they face two challenges: first, they have to convert their current audience into book buyers, even if their book has nothing to do with their field of expertise (e.g., a lawyer writing women’s fiction, or a literary agent publishing a coming-of-age novel). They also have to build an entirely new audience of readers, if they want to sell enough copies so that they can publish their next book and continue to have a career in a brutally competitive industry.
Writers who already have a strong brand as…writers…often face a similar challenge as the experts. If they’ve done a tremendously successful job building an audience of other writers who turn to them for advice, they must figure out how to convince their audience of writers to buy their new book—if that book isn’t How to Become a Bestseller in Six Simple Steps.
Today, I want to show you how I’ve helped my clients build bridges between their audiences, and convert their audiences into book buyers.
Here are three different case studies that I hope will inspire fresh ideas for your own content strategy! If you want to learn more techniques like this from me, I encourage you to register for my Hype House before all the spots are gone.
Who: Jessica Payne, thriller author
The book: Somebody Worth Killing (Berkley, 2026), is about a mom who also happens to be an assassin-for-hire, but her life turns to chaos when her next target is her own husband
The audiences: When we started working together, Jessica had two different Substack newsletters. One was a monthly "author update" newsletter for fans of her novels (readers), and the second was a newsletter with writing and publishing advice (for writers).
The bridge: I suggested that we combine the two Substack lists, rebrand the newsletter, and position it for moms who are the target audience for Somebody Worth Killing: women who feel like all the work they do to run their households remains largely unseen, women who have to laugh at the absurdities of 21st century children's birthday parties, women who have been saying "we really should all get together" in the group chat for 18 months. Instead of "The Payneful Truth About Being a Writer," her newsletter became "One Tired Mother."
The post: Jessica and I worked hard on the first post that would go out to her new, combined email list. On her client intake survey, when I asked Jessica to write about the principles that guide her as a writer, she wrote this:
I believe that moms have the right to be (and are) more than “just moms.” In fact, I think we have an obligation to pursue the things we are passionate about, and in doing so, give our children permission to do the same as they grow up. (I remember my mom writing in legal pads on our kitchen table as a child—in a way, I think that was my permission: seeing my mom do it.) I meet so many women who feel the need to ask permission to become writers, to move beyond the person their spouse married.
The image of her mom writing on yellow legal pads in the kitchen lodged in my memory and I thought that could be a beautiful essay that would speak to both Jessica's audience of creative writers, who look up to her for guidance and advice, and fans of her psychological thrillers.
This is the powerful personal essay Jessica wrote, about the permission she received from the model her mom set for her, and the life-changing experience of having her own daughter, which catalyzed to stop waiting to pursue her own dreams of becoming a writer.
From that same paragraph, about what drives her as a writer, Jessica also wrote an essay about the discomfort of identity change.
If you are a busy mom writer in my audience, I hope you will follow Jessica on Substack or Instagram!
Who: Martha Hall Kelly, historical fiction author
The book: The Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club, based on historical events, follows two sisters who start a book club on Martha's Vineyard in the summer of 1942, when the U.S. Army arrives on the island
The audiences: When we started working together, Martha had a hugely devoted fan base who fell in love with her blockbuster debut Lilac Girls. She'd written three subsequent novels based on historical events, but The Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club was going to be her first "beach read," and it was inspired by a very personal connection to the island.
The bridge: First, we moved Martha's MailChimp list over to Substack and discussed what we'd like to name the Substack, and what kind of content would be interesting and inspiring to both fans of Lilac Girls and future fans of MVBABC. Martha told me that she was inspired to write a book that would remind people of a time when we were all in this together, and we talked about how the Substack could evoke feelings of togetherness and resilience, in hard times.
Martha is a former copywriter (bonus!) and we came up with the title "The Joys of Hidden History" and the tagline "inspirational true stories that help connect us."
With help from her web designer, we also linked her new Substack to her website, so that each new Substack post would appear as a blog post.
The post: In her client intake survey, Martha told me, "In all my books, houses are a touchstone," and I had the idea to use houses as a bridge between Lilac Girls and The Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club in her first Substack post. At her live events, Martha tells the story of visiting the Bellamy-Ferriday House in Connecticut, and seeing a photograph of a group of women on Caroline Ferriday's desk that caught her eye (and changed her life). I'll let you read the rest of the incredible true story here; we used the story of the Bellamy-Ferriday House that inspired Lilac Girls to segue into the farmhouse on Martha's Vineyard where Martha's mother grew up.
As a call-to-action, Martha invited her readers to share stories of the places that are important to their own families in the comments of the post.
If you love novels inspired by true stories from history, I hope you will follow Martha on Substack or Instagram! She has book tour events coming up on the Vineyard and in Massachusetts.
Who: Brisa Carleton, Broadway producer, entrepreneur, and debut novelist
The book: Last Call at the Savoy (Grand Central, November 2025), about a young woman with a troubled past who goes to the iconic Savoy Hotel in London to help her sister, only to uncover an influential woman from the past who's been written out of history
The audiences: On Instagram, Brisa has already built a platform of followers who know her for her work as a Broadway producer (Hamilton; Moulin Rouge) and as the founder of the book-themed vodka company Literati Spirits. Now it was time to introduce that audience to Brisa the novelist.
The bridge: We wanted to make Brisa's Broadway audience aware of her forthcoming novel, and we also wanted bookstagrammers to see bookish content on Brisa's feed and recognize her as one of their own. We narrowed down her main content pillars: Broadway, bars, and books, and different formats she could try within each pillar (e.g., posting to stories when she's at a Broadway show, or a carousel after an in-person author event).
Brisa launched a Substack newsletter titled Delightful, Delicious, De-Lovely! that combines Broadway news, book recommendations, and cocktails (of course).
The post: Right before the Tony awards, Brisa had the brilliant idea to combine Tony nominees with genre tropes... this post still makes me laugh every time I look at it. I think it's the perfect example of a bridge between audiences because it's legible to theater fans and readers! As one bookstagrammer put it to me, at a party Brisa hosted for the author Jodi Picoult, "the overlap between former theater kids and bookstagrammers is a circle."
If you live at the intersection of former theater kid and current reader of upmarket fiction, I hope you will follow Brisa on Substack and Instagram!
More examples of bridges
This plot structure post I published all about gothic fiction (my new novel is a gothic)
Everything my former client (and current friend) Ali Kriegsman is posting on Instagram to build a bridge between her audience who knows her as an entrepeneur and the audience for her debut novel The Raise, set at a girlboss startup (yes I said it)
How to work with me
I had eight weeks of content planned to promote my Hype House… but seven days after I announced it, there are only 27 spots left. (I built a solid bridge.)
Register today if you’re interested in joining us!
This is a perfect opportunity to support an independent bookstore—whether that’s your local bookstore (save on shipping with in-store pickup!) or Madison Street Books in Chicago, my pre-order partner. Everyone who orders from Madison Street will receive a collectible sheet of tarot card stickers, based on scenes from If You’re Seeing This, It’s Meant for You, by the artist Jennifer May Reiland. Watercolor paint—not AI—was used in the creation of this original artwork.
I also have 5 spots open for new coaching clients in October and November. I work primarily with authors of forthcoming books who want help with their content strategy, and with content creators who need coaching and editorial support as they finish writing books they’ve already sold to a publisher. You can find out more information about my services here.
I just registered! I'm excited! Ahh!
Leigh makes the worlds of social media and “content" accessible to all - but perhaps her truest gift is an intuition that connects writers with their readers.