Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jenn Hanson-dePaula. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Jenn , thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

My mission stems from the experience that I had from my first two jobs in the music industry in Nashville, TN. I got my start in 2000 as a publicist and I worked for two different record labels in five years. I was the only publicist at both labels so sometimes I had to hire freelance publicists to help me with the workload. At the time, most publicists would charge a minimum of $3,000-$5,000/per month for their services.

This was at the beginning of social media really taking root (around 2005) and digital resources and tools becoming available where musicians started to realize they didn’t NEED a record label to get their book out into the world. I had many friends that were independent musicians and doing everything on their own. I knew that they needed help with marketing and publicity and they were always asking me for advice. I knew there was no way they could ever afford the $3,000-$5,000 per month that publicists or marketing firms charged at the time, so I started my first company – BookEnd Media – as an affordable way to help musicians get coverage on blogs and online magazines, help them grow an audience on social media, and digital marketing.

I don’t believe that trusted information and guidance should break the bank for creatives. I don’t think that authors or musicians should HAVE to be signed to a publishing house or record label to get the promotions or marketing resources they need. Or that only those that can pay top dollar get the best information available.

My mission is to provide the best information and guidance possible at an affordable and accessible price for everyone.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Jenn Hanson-dePaula and I’m the co-founder of a book marketing agency called Mixtus Media. I help driven and ambitious fiction and non-fiction authors how to ignite consistent book sales without the hustle and overwhelm using my signature book marketing system.

I’ve been in marketing for over 23 years and have specialized in book marketing and social media for over 14 years. And I actually kind of “stumbled” into my career as it is today. I got my start in 2000 as a publicist in the music industry. This was a very interesting time because it was right before the “digital revolution” came into play. It was before social media, digital music, online magazines – it was all about to change the world.

When the iPod was released and digital music began to take over, it really put the music industry in a tailspin. I remember talking to the president of the label I was working at and he said, “We (meaning the music industry) should have been the ones to think of digital music – we should have been thinking ahead.” This really stuck with me and made me always want to be thinking ahead of what might be coming next rather than “reacting” to what IS happening.

The music industry relied on CD sales – that was a huge revenue source for them. When that went away and went to digital music, it turned everything around. I remember thinking, “This is just the beginning – this is going to impact books, movies, TV, etc.”

As the digital world started to grow it made creating music easier and less reliant on record labels, so many of my friends decided to become independent musicians and went out on their own. Knowing they would never be able to afford the $3,000-$5,000/per month marketing consulting or promotional costs, I started my first company, BookEnd Media in 2005. I focused on getting clients coverage on blogs (which were still rather new) online magazines, local press, and TV. And as social media really started to take root, I started to look at ways we could use that to connect directly with fans and promote my clients there.

The company really took off and we were getting amazing coverage for our clients. The head of a record label that I knew contacted me and said that we were getting our indie bands more coverage than the label, which was encouraging. As we grew I met more and more creative people – artists, photographers, and mostly authors. Authors started coming to me and asked if I could do for them what I was doing for musicians. Not knowing if I could, I said, “Sure!” And figured it out as I moved along.

It was actually a dream come true to work with authors. I’m an avid reader and always dreamed of working with publishing in one way or another. As I got more and more author clients, I discovered something rather interesting.

With musicians, they automatically know that they have to perform or put themselves out there in order to have their music heard. It was a natural and accepted process that they moved through.

With authors, it was a completely different story. Most authors want to hide in their writing rooms, hand off a manuscript, close the door and keep writing. The promotion and marketing doesn’t come naturally – it’s probably one of the most hated tasks that authors have to do.

But we are in a day and age where – even if an author is signed to a traditional publishing house – the author does the bulk of their own marketing, if not all of it.

So in 2010 I decided to focus our business on serving authors and helping them market their books and build a solid audience on social media, which we rebranded as Mixtus Media. And we’ve been doing that for the past 14 years, which I am very proud of.

I mostly focus on providing digital products and courses for authors to empower them with the information, tools, and guidance that they need to manage their own marketing, social media, and newsletters. It’s a more affordable way to promote their books – and more effective. Readers want an authentic and genuine connection with authors – and that is more powerful coming from the author rather than a marketing firm managing their social media.

We have an amazing monthly membership called The Author Circle that provides resources and community for authors, we also have a suite of marketing resources and courses to help authors with their marketing. I also do 1:1 services and consultations.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I got on the social media train very early on – mainly because I was also helping authors and musicians use it to promote their music and books. Since I was managing it for my clients, I decided I should start pages for my company. I’m very much a “behind the scenes” worker so I wanted the posts on my business page to be focused on providing tips or help for my ideal clients. I saw so many people posting pictures or selfies of themselves – I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to help more people.

So my focus has always been about serving my ideal customer first – that has really been instrumental and the foundation of my growth on social media. When I focused on service rather than promotion, I found my account grew like crazy organically. But I focused on talking to my ideal customer – I was very clear on who that person is and what they were looking for, what they needed help with, or how I could encourage them.

When people see that I practice what I preach on my social media accounts, it affirms that it works – and that was the best promotion I could have hoped for! :)

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

When I first left the record label and started my own company, I was always at my desk at 8:30am and I worked sometimes well past 7:30pm or 8:00pm. It was exhausting and draining. When I left to start my own business, I learned how much time was wasted and sucked up at the label.

I remember my first few days with my own company – I was fortunate that I already had several clients on board right away, so I had a lot of work to accomplish right off the bat – I braced myself for insane days. And yes, I did work hard and I did have a lot to do, but I got it done SO MUCH faster.

I never realized how much time was wasted with allllll the meetings (most of them were so pointless and could have been summed up in an email) and all of the distractions and people popping into my office. I remember many days at the label I was in meetings all day long. When I finally worked for myself and didn’t have so many pointless meetings (granted I still had to go to meetings but they took maybe an hour or two) and that was it.

So I had to unlearn that your workday doesn’t have to be so long – you can have control of your day rather than the day controlling you.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mixtusmedia.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mixtusmedia
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mixtusmedia
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mixtusmedia/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/mixtusmedia
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mixtusmedia