We recently connected with Terrance P. Elmore and have shared our conversation below.

Terrance, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

I became weary of the things I was seeing on social media and on the news. There was and still are different negative narratives about love, relationships, and life in general that I fell is my duty to change. I’m on a journey to spread love, hope, and inspiration in a world that seems to be full of discouragement, hopelessness, and hate.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started writing at a young age and fell in love with poetry when I learned about Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance. While writing my first book I decided to create a blog to share my poetry since it was a little-known fact. With my blog I share a new poem every Wednesday. I started writing lifestyle blog posts that eventually evolved into a podcast. My blog is the place where poetry meets the heart, and my podcast is the place where poetry meets conversation. I’m proud of my entire journey so far. I decided to publish my first book of poetry and from that one decision I have 2 published books and working on a third. I started a podcast and completed my first season.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I wasn’t afraid to share my content or ask my audience to share my content. It’s easy to feel like the market is so saturated that your message won’t be heard, but that’s far from the truth. Don’t be intimidated by the size of your audience compared to the audience of someone you admire or someone who’s in your same industry. Your audience is your audience, and they will find value in what you bring to the table. Always remember that your message may not be for everyone, but your message is for someone.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

I do both actually. I started selling my books on Amazon because I used KDP to publish them but after getting a lot of requests for autographed copies I decided to create an Online Store using Square. The advantage of using Amazon is that people are using Amazon every day to make purchases, so there’s familiarity and ease. Not everyone is familiar with making purchases through Square so it could present some challenges for first time users.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.TheBrownSugarCafe.blog
• Instagram: www.Instagram.com/TheBrownSugarCafe
• Facebook: www.Facebook.com/TheBrownSugarCafe
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terrancepelmore
• Other: Podcast: https://www.podpage.com/thebrownsugarcafe/
  TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@thebrownsugarcafe
  BBQ Instagram: www.instagram.com/tdubb.bbq
  BBQ TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@tdubb.bbq

Image Credits
Your World on Film