One Day at a Time with John Stange (Re-Air)

In this episode, you'll also hear:

• How John’s background as a radio announcer, pastor, and writer prepared him for the platform he would eventually build online
• Why a major publisher took note of John’s online presence
• Why John says writing a good book is only the first half of an author’s work
• What John discovered about his own internal dialogue that inspired both a book and supplemental materials
• John’s advice for the writer who feels like giving up for lack of visible results 

Experience as a Training Ground

From pastor and church planter to author to podcaster, John Stange wears many creative, ministry-related hats. Many of those pursuits, however, didn’t start out as branches of his ministry. Instead, they trace back to his childhood dream of becoming a radio announcer. 

His first full-time pastoring position was located near a Christian radio station, so when John learned that the station was hiring, he applied despite not being experienced in the field. He was hired, and even received on-the-job training to develop skills in speaking, broadcasting, and editing digital content – all things he could later use as a podcaster, speaker, and more. 

“I really didn't see the long thread of how the Lord was going to use that,” John says in retrospect. “But it definitely factored into some of the things that I’m doing now.”

John’s story is an important reminder of how God can use our present experiences as a training ground for things to come. We can only see what’s right in front of us, so we must learn to trust that God is a good Father, and that His ultimate plans and purposes for us are good – even when we don’t understand them. 

Like his dream of becoming a radio announcer, John’s desire to write a book had been around for a while by the time he actually put one together and self-published it. Even then, it was several more years before he started self-publishing more content and building an audience. Between self-publishing and voiceover work – something else he learned at the radio station – John was able to support his family through financially difficult seasons of church planting. 

As John’s online platform and audience continued to grow, he eventually started up a website to house his various creative endeavors. 

“That’s what ultimately caught the attention of a major publisher, when they saw that this was multifaceted,” he explains. “But this developed over the course of many years, and I had no idea that this would result in a traditional publishing deal. As I felt led to work on one particular thing, I worked on it. And then I added the next piece as I felt led to do it. And then, before I knew it, I could step back and look, and there's a whole kind of system here in place, almost like its own media channel.”

Marketing = Relationships

As John has learned, cultivating a relationship with your audience is crucial. In fact, marketing is more similar to everyday relationships than you might think! It doesn’t happen overnight, but when you put in the work to build relationships and consistently put out valuable content, eventually all those pieces come together. 

“A lot of times people think that the work of an author is just to write a good book,” John says. “And that's the first half. And then the second half is actually letting people know that the book exists. Because you could write good content, but if no one knows about it, no one's going to read it.” 

Like many aspiring authors, John says he used to hate the idea of marketing. He didn’t want to annoy people or push them away. But over time he learned that marketing – when done well – isn’t annoying. It’s an opportunity to share the message you’re passionate about. 

When you truly care about your message and the difference it can make in people’s lives, and when you’ve taken the time to cultivate relationships with the audience who