Writing Off Social: The Podcast | Build Your Platform and Grow Your Email List Without Social Media

Hosted by Sandy Cooper

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Episodes

103

Latest episode

Oct 2026

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About the show

This is the podcast for female Christian writers who want to grow and nurture their audience without social media. Are you tired of chasing the algorithm? Has social media left you feeling drained, overwhelmed, unfruitful and…trapped?Co-hosts and writers Sandy Cooper and Mary K. Tiller want you to be free to build a sustainable, profitable, and God-honoring writing career. Their vision is to empower you to confidently reject life-sucking and ineffective methods of platform growth and instead pursue purposeful strategies that play to your strengths and yield a better ROI.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

October 13, 2026Episode 10255 min

102 | Growing Your Email List by Hosting a Virtual Event w/ Gabe Cox

Think you need a big email list before you can host your own virtual event? Think again! What if hosting an event is actually how you grow your list? And what if you could do it without a huge budget, fancy technology, or an established audience? By collaborating with other writers and experts, you can introduce your work to new readers, build meaningful relationships, and grow your email list—all while creating something genuinely valuable for the people you want to serve. This is episode 102, and this week we are thrilled to welcome back to the podcast goal planning and business strategist (and our friend!) Gabe Cox, to discuss how to use collaborative virtual events to grow your audience, even if you're starting from scratch. For show notes go to https://writingoffsocial.com/102 Find our Recommended Vendor List at writingoffsocial.com/vendors -- a curated collection of businesses, creatives, and service providers trusted by our community. Every vendor featured here has been personally recommended by members who have actually worked with them and had a great experience.

October 6, 2026Episode 10136 min

101 | How Writing for Publications Can Help You Land a Book Deal w/Hannah Miller King

Hannah Miller King didn’t have a huge social media platform when she landed a traditional book deal with InterVarsity Press. Instead, she started small, writing short-form nonfiction for various publications, gradually working her way toward outlets like Christianity Today and The Holy Post. Along the way, she developed her craft, found her voice, built credibility, and ultimately caught the attention of an acquisitions editor. Her first book, Feasting on Hope, is part memoir, part theology, and part spiritual reflection—and it’s proof that there can be more than one way to build a path to publication. For show notes, go to https://writingoffsocial.com/101 Find our Recommended Vendor List at writingoffsocial.com/vendors -- a curated collection of businesses, creatives, and service providers trusted by our community. Every vendor featured here has been personally recommended by members who have actually worked with them and had a great experience.

September 29, 2026Episode 10039 min

100 | How to Find the Right Collaborator: The Writing Off Social Origin Story

Recently, during a group coaching call, one of our students told us she’d love to find someone to collaborate with in her business. Then she asked us a question: “How did you two find each other?” Well, the short answer is: It took years. And the long answer? That’s what we’re sharing today. Because this is our 100th episode! So we’re taking you all the way back to the beginning—how we met, how our friendship grew, the moment we realized we should start a business together, and what we’ve learned about choosing the right person to collaborate with. It’s story time with Sandy and Mary K. Listen in! For show notes go to https://writingoffsocial.com/100 Find our Recommended Vendor List at writingoffsocial.com/vendors -- a curated collection of businesses, creatives, and service providers trusted by our community. Every vendor featured here has been personally recommended by members who have actually worked with them and had a great experience.

September 22, 2026Episode 9950 min

99 | How I Sold My First Book Without Social Media (and plans for my second) w/ Johanna Rojas Vann

When we launched Writing Off Social three years ago, we knew in our heart of hearts that it was possible to be a successful writer and author without social media . . . we just didn’t have the social proof to point to . . . yet . That’s why, over the last several seasons, it has been our joy to invite both fiction and nonfiction authors on to the show to share their publishing journeys with you. And today’s episode, we’re sharing yet another story of success. If you’re a writer on the cusp of leaving social media, but afraid that doing so means giving up your dreams of publishing, then lean in! Today we hear how multi-award-winning author Johanna Vann landed a book deal with a big 5 publisher and sold that book without social media. For show notes go to https://writingoffsocial.com/99 Find our Recommended Vendor List at writingoffsocial.com/vendors -- a curated collection of businesses, creatives, and service providers trusted by our community. Every vendor featured here has been personally recommended by members who have actually worked with them and had a great experience.

September 15, 2026Episode 9835 min

98 | Building Genuine Community Beyond Social Media w/ The Story Haven and Jessica DeYoung

Writing can be a lonely endeavor. For years, women gathered in Facebook groups and comment threads to encourage one another. But the algorithms, the arguments, and the feeling of performing for a crowd made it more and more difficult to stay. Jessica DeYoung wanted something different, so she created The Story Haven — a free, invite-only community where Scripture, prayer, and everyday stories of God's faithfulness come first. A private, Christ-centered community for women–where you could connect with other storytellers and creatives and build the kind of community you lose when you step away from social media. For show notes go to https://writingoffsocial.com/98 Find our Recommended Vendor List at writingoffsocial.com/vendors -- a curated collection of businesses, creatives, and service providers trusted by our community. Every vendor featured here has been personally recommended by members who have actually worked with them and had a great experience.

June 30, 2026Episode 9731 min

97 | What We've Learned After 3 Years of Helping Writers Grow Without Social Media (Season 7 Finale)

After nearly 100 podcast episodes, more than 50 guest interviews, and 3 years of coaching writers, we've learned a few things we definitely did NOT know at the beginning. Some of them surprised us. Some challenged our assumptions. And a few have completely changed the way we think about writing, marketing, and platform building. It's our Season 7 Finale and we're discussing the biggest lessons we've learned after 3 years of helping writers grow without social media. Listen in! For show notes go to https://writingoffsocial.com/97 We're taking a summer podcast break and will be back in the fall with a whole new season. Find our Recommended Vendor List at writingoffsocial.com/vendors -- a curated collection of businesses, creatives, and service providers trusted by our community. Every vendor featured here has been personally recommended by members who have actually worked with them and had a great experience.

June 23, 2026Episode 9643 min

96 | How I Built My Readership Outside of Social Media w/Rachel Allord

What would it feel like to stop chasing an audience and start trusting that faithful work in small places is enough? Our guest today, Rachel Allord, has lived that question for over twenty years — through freelance writing, missionary life in London, and eventually a book deal. Her story is a permission slip for every writer who's tired of performing, and a beautiful reminder of the difference between ambition and calling. This week, we're discussing what it looks like to write with a missional mindset and let God grow the audience. Listen in! For show notes go to https://writingoffsocial.com/96 Find our Recommended Vendor List at writingoffsocial.com/vendors -- a curated collection of businesses, creatives, and service providers trusted by our community. Every vendor featured here has been personally recommended by members who have actually worked with them and had a great experience.

June 16, 2026Episode 9548 min

95 | Summer Schedules, Planner Fails, and the Best Decision We Made This Year

If you've ever color-coded a brand new planner only to abandon it eleven weeks later, set a boundary around your time and felt like you could finally breathe again, or found yourself trying to figure out how to fit writing time, summer with your kids, and cleaning your own house into the margins of your day — this episode is for you. This week we are pulling back the curtain on our current working rhythms: what's changed, what's working, and what we had to learn the hard way. Listen in. For show notes go to https://writingoffsocial.com/95 Find our Recommended Vendor List at writingoffsocial.com/vendors -- a curated collection of businesses, creatives, and service providers trusted by our community. Every vendor featured here has been personally recommended by members who have actually worked with them and had a great experience.

June 9, 2026Episode 9440 min

94 | How Writing Off Social Helped Me Identify My Pathways and Build Momentum Without Social Media w/Karla Monterrosa

If you've ever felt guilty for not posting enough, or wondered whether you're falling behind because you're not showing up consistently online — this episode is for you. We talk a lot on this show about the freedom that's possible when you step off the social media treadmill, but sometimes what we really need is to hear from someone who's actually done it and come out the other side with more clarity, more confidence, and more momentum than before. And our guest today is exactly that person — though she'll be the first to tell you she knows the pressure, the comparison, and the exhaustion of trying to keep up with a game that never quite felt like hers to play. Rather than push through, she paused, got honest about what wasn't working, and built a 90-day plan that finally gave her real momentum toward the women she's called to serve. Listen in as author, podcaster, and WOS The Course Alum Karla Monterrosa shares her story and the practical steps that brought her clarity and growth — without social media running the show. For show notes, go to https://writingoffsocial.com/94 . Find our Recommended Vendor List at writingoffsocial.com/vendors -- a curated collection of businesses, creatives, and service providers trusted by our community. Every vendor featured here has been personally recommended by members who have actually worked with them and had a great experience.

June 2, 2026Episode 9332 min

93 | When to Push Through and When to Press Pause

Lately, we have been having the same conversation over and over again with exhausted writers--women who love writing and feel a holy calling to their work… but who also love their families, their churches, their communities, and the real lives they’ve been called to steward. Women who are trying to create out of bodies, minds, and schedules that already feel stretched thin. Today we want to talk honestly about something many writers are quietly wrestling with: How do you know when to push through the resistance… and when it’s time to press pause? For show notes, go to https://writingoffsocial.com/93 Find our Recommended Vendor List at writingoffsocial.com/vendors -- a curated collection of businesses, creatives, and service providers trusted by our community. Every vendor featured here has been personally recommended by members who have actually worked with them and had a great experience.

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