The Power of YOUR Story with April Pertuis

In this episode of PublishHer Podcast, I interviewed April Pertuis, and we talked all about storytelling. As authors, of course, we are all familiar with traditional storytelling. But in this episode, we talked about the type of storytelling that can be used as a marketing tool to build your platform, engage your audience, and sell your books. April also gave out actionable tips on leveraging your own story to help grow your business and get it to the next level.

April and I met last year during a business building event in Montana which was the first time I had gotten together with other people in over a year because of the pandemic situation. Meeting her was so much fun, and we bonded over margaritas and nachos.

April is a master storyteller. She is passionate about helping authors and other business leaders expertly share their stories with the world. May it be in the form of podcasts, books, stage performances, and social media content – April is the go-to expert when you need someone to engage your audience with your story. She is the CEO and Founder of LIGHTbeamers, a community dedicated to helping business owners make sense of their story and gain clarity, confidence, and connections that would help them share it with the world. April also hosts the VIP Visibility Accelerator program, where she helps women dig into their stories and use them to grow an engaged audience. She is also a best-selling author. Her first collaborative book, “Elevate Your Voice” was named one of the Top 10 Women & Business books by Amazon. April is also an accomplished podcaster. Her podcast “The Inside Story Podcast” was ranked among the Top 200 Business Podcasts on Apple Podcasts. She was a former television journalist and video producer and has spent the last 15 years in video marketing. There is no one better who can understand the importance of telling “the story,” April has the skills and the experience to harness your story and effectively communicate it for broad appeal.

“Everyone has a story.”

April firmly believes that each of us holds a story worth sharing, whether or not trauma or loss is involved. Many people have come upon April and asked for help because they really don’t know how to tell their story. At the bottom line, storytelling for April is just a way to communicate and share your journey with someone else. She also points out that effective storytelling involves picking out parts in your journey where you learned a few lessons, gained some insightful experiences, and encountered a transformation. You don’t need to tell your story in chronological order from birth until you are about 40 years old. April helps her clients understand the transformative parts of their life and use them as illustrations of light and positivity to serve as teachings for other people. As a business owner, telling these powerful parts of your story will magnetize people to you and help you build an engaged audience.

As authors, we are public figures and storytellers by nature. Every time we put out a book, there will be a story behind it. It doesn’t matter if it’s your first time getting published or if it’s your 27th book, your experiences evolve. There’s always something unique happening every time you go through that process. Storytelling also means that you have to understand that your audience wants to experience that journey with you. There might be people in your audience who are aspiring to be an author, and they might be living vicariously by listening to your stories. Behind-the-scenes stories are essential, but there are also stories about your characters, the scenes, and the motivations you had while writing your book.

“We just have to trust the process.”

Writing and sharing your own story can be difficult, but we have to trust the process. We have to remind ourselves that it is not about ourselves but the people we serve, our audience. We have to disregard our fears and insecurities and let our audience decide if our story created an impact on them. Let them decide if they could relate or if they gained any value in our stories. We must trust the process and share our own story the best way we know how – by being real and vulnerable.

Key takeaways:

Meaningful stories can come from different stages of your life. April is a master storyteller who can help you make sense of your journey and pick out the parts worth sharing with the world.
Building your audience from scratch is hard work, but telling your own story will help you grow an engaged audience.
April has a podcast with weekly episodes where she shares her own inside stories alongside the powerful stories of people, brands, and organizations and how they came to be successful.
Storytelling is not all about advertising or marketing; it’s more about making an impact. It’s about reaching people and allowing your audience to experience the journey with you.
Stephen King is known as the best horror writer of our time, but one of his best-selling books is about his writing journey. Stories are powerful, and people want to read about Stephen King’s story to experience that journey with him.
Social media is a gift. It has provided a great service to connect with our audience where we can treat them as our best friends.

Resources and links mentioned:

Connect with the master storyteller, April Pertuis: