We caught up with the brilliant and insightful A Ruth Proctor a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, A Ruth thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

Self-publishing was hard work, at times I wanted to give up and table it but I pushed past my fears; 2020 was my year. I went from writing my book out on paper then typing it out on the computer to printing and editing. Then I went through edits with my editor and then a proofreading process. I’m still fine tuning things, I notice each time I read it but all in all I’m happy with the finished product. This has been a learning lesson for me. I will be prepared this next go around; educating yourself on the process is key.

A Ruth, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

When I began to tell my story and observed how it affected others, that’s when I knew I needed to tell my story. People would always say “You need to write a book”. I would hear that so much and once God put it on my heart, I began to journal. The journaling translated into the book. I started journaling first then began writing the book. I used that negative energy to push past my environment! I wanted more for my siblings and myself. I dreamed of better and I kept working and continued to advance wherever I worked. That pushed me to want more for myself. I used my pain to push me to level up higher when things seemed bleak. God is definitely where my strength comes from as well as my daughters. I found my strength in my broken place.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Frequently, I would visit my mom in a jail-like psychiatric facility. I would enter, sign in, and then be greeted by security, nurses, and other personnel. While there I would tell her how things were in foster care. I protected my mom by not telling her things I knew she could not control. I knew she could not control my living situation or that the boy in foster care was touching me. I would always tell her the good things. We would sit and talk for about an hour each session. I could only come during visitation times, while there we would sit in a conference like room with others visiting their family members. The visits were good, we enjoyed that time with each other, but I always knew I had to leave, and she had to stay. When it was time to leave, watching the bars shut with my mom on the opposite side was one of the toughest things I have endured. Leaving with pottery in tow that she created for me reminded me that she still cared, She always made sure I left with something to inspire me. My mom always wanted me and my brother to know she loved us. The drive back to the plantation house would be unbearable. I never knew when I would see my mother again.”

How did you build your audience on social media?

Having a marketing strategy and a social media presence is important regardless of whatever business you plan on getting into. To market my book I use Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube. The key to gaining a bigger social media presence is being consistent with your posts and interacting with your followers. This process can take time but you have to be patient. Another way I market I Survived; You Can Too is by emailing bookstores, magazines and other vendors to try and get my book featured. It’s imperative that the emails are structured correctly and professional as possible. Press Releases are another marketing strategy I utilize that has proved to be useful. Advocating for yourself is a big part of this and you can’t be afraid to reach out to people. Public speaking and appearances on podcasts, radio, and TV also play a big role in getting the word out about my book so I advise you all to take full advantage of those opportunities when they present themselves.

To keep your readers attention you may want to offer other things like merch. I provide my readers with tshirts, stickers, and bookmarks. Again a graphic designer is going to come in handy when making stickers, bookmarks, etc. I took the design from my cover and made all my merchandise. Cutting out the middle man was useful in making my merch because it allowed me to have all the control. Because I dealt with all the designs and the production of everything I sell I had to make sure I was doing everything right. This is where researching comes in because you want to make sure you are getting labelers and printers of good quality. Once you make your merch you want to make sure you are pricing everything reasonably. When deciding how much you want to charge, you want to take into consideration how much money you spent to produce the item, how much time it took to make the item, and the quality of the item.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ARuthProctor.com
• Instagram: A.RuthProctor
• Facebook: A.RuthProctor
• Linkedin: A.RuthProctor
• Twitter: A.RuthProctor
• Youtube: RuthProctor