# What's your role in your reader's life?

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/ann-kroeker-writing-coach-4430/what-s-your-role-in-your-reader-s-life
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/ann-kroeker-writing-coach-4430/what-s-your-role-in-your-reader-s-life.md
Podcast: [Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach](https://stenobird.com/podcast/ann-kroeker-writing-coach-4430)
Published: 2025-12-02T12:55:00+00:00
Episode link: https://podcast.show/the_writing_life/episode/150387653/
Audio file: https://media.blubrry.com/the_writing_life/content.blubrry.com/the_writing_life/whats-role-readers-life-ann-kroeker-writing-coach-12_1_25_12_01_PM.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/ann-kroeker-writing-coach-4430/episodes/what-s-your-role-in-your-reader-s-life
Duration seconds: 561

## Resource

What's your role in your reader's lifeRelease Date: December 2, 2025 In this episode, Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach, explores how clarifying your role in a reader’s life transforms your tone, structure, and connection on the page. Using real-world analogies and examples from Anne Bogel, Annie F. Downs, and Lisa TerKeurst, Ann shows how to choose and calibrate a voice readers trust—whether you’re a knowledgeable friend, a teacher, a tower of authority, or a fellow traveler in the field. In This Episode You’ll Discover: Why defining your role makes writing more intuitive and effective How to spot a voice/role mismatch that’s holding your manuscript back The “knowledgeable friend” approach that helped Anne Bogel find her flow How Annie F. Downs’ “coffee with a friend” brand guides tone and content Lisa TerKeurst’s 4 voices for authors: Tower, Teacher, In the Field, and In the Pit When to avoid the “In the Pit” voice (and what to do instead) Practical tone tweaks: contractions, anecdotes, sentence fragments, vulnerability A quick exercise to test multiple voices and choose what fits How to align structure, examples, and word choice with your chosen role Ways to iterate based on reader response ⌚️Timestamped Notes 0:00 - Introduction and welcome from Ann Kroeker 0:26 - Episode topic: What’s your role in your reader’s life? 0:40 - Roles professionals play and their impact 0:57 - Why writers should understand their role for better connection 1:10 - Identifying your reader-facing role: friend, expert, or fellow traveler? 1:17 - The impact of a tone-role mismatch for writers 1:35 - How tone, structure, and writing style change when role aligns 1:45 - Aligning roles for authenticity and effective voice 1:50 - Writers Anne Bogel, Annie F. Downs, and Lisa TerKeurst refine their roles…

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