What Storytelling Collective is Helping 12,000 RPG-Writers to Unlock Their Creative Process

Ashley Warren fell in love with stories when she was an infant. She was either submitting her stories from her own imagination to the local library's competition, or writing for the school's newspaper She knew she wanted to become an author in some way.

The dream she had of hers into college where she studied English literature. She went on in graduate school, when she earned a master's degree in literary studies. Throughout her educational journey and into her professional writing career, Ashley discovered that she valued the intersection of writing and learning above all -- she felt happiest and most at home as a "lifelong student".

"In my soul, I always knew that I'd like to find my way back to the happy middle. I'm passionate about providing education opportunities beyond the conventional school system since, particularly for adults, there's no reason why we can't keep learning and develop," she says.

Ashley was a teacher of English at a local community college for a few years and was able to help her students fall in love with writing in an environment which didn't always possess a passion at first for it. Although she didn't know it at the time, but this experience laid the basis for something much from her.

"I learned how to create through the artistic process, which provided me with an excellent foundation which I could eventually translate into online learning programmes. Online learning is such an excellent tool because I have an education background, as well as a traditional and non-traditional method of writing and learning I was able to create such opportunities for a global public ."

The realization sparked the idea of Storytelling Collective, an immersive online education program specifically designed for those who are creative. It was only when Ashley began RPG (role-playing game) writing for Dungeons and Dragons that she discovered her powerful niche.

Since 2018, Ashley has welcomed over 12,000 people into her Storytelling Collective community -- and the demand for her courses is increasing dramatically. How did she do it.

    She took up her new area of expertise    

In the midst of her personal Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) experience, Ashley realized that no structured RPG-writing program existed. At this point, she had started building a large D&D crowd, however she was eager to push her game to the next step.

Many people had emailed me asking for tips like, 'How do you start and complete a task? How do you start getting your foot in the door? What is your advice for writers?' "I started to understand that it seemed people needed resources in this niche field," she recalls.

"So I created an email series that was miniscule -but it was a bit informal that was inspired by my own writing style. I put it out via Twitter and said"If anybody is interested to run a summer RPG writing training, I'd love to hear from you."

Ashley was expecting a dozen people to sign up , if she had a good luck. But within a week, she had over 500 people who wanted to sign up.

"That was the moment where I was like"Oh my God, there's something here. It was an exciting, inspiring and motivating point. Everything started to click from that moment on," she says.

"I noticed that there's a need for this, specifically in that Dungeons and Dragons world, due to the abundance of information on how to teach people how to play and run the games, but not a lot of knowledge on how to write and publish those games."

Once she identified her gap in the market, Ashley didn't waste any time -- she enrolled for in 2018 and embarked on her online course journey.

"My purpose when I signed up the program was to support my students to find their own way to write in the D&D community. There are many paths you can explore -- I'm not necessarily saying that one is greater than one, but sometimes individuals want to know they are supported by someone else," she says.

"Right out of the gate, I was able to start putting together some structured seminars and emails series  which we got to our current position. The final decision to take that initial decision was based on the desire to be able to instruct in my own way which is how Storytelling Collective was born," she shares.

    She remained an active member of her audience's community    

In the difficult task of creating an organic and loyal public, Ashley started in the area she was most comfortable with -- her own community.

"I believe the most important thing that got me my following was hat I was really involved in my targeted public's network for months prior to launching educational materials. I really established myself as an artist that was always supportive of fellow creators because it goes twofold when you're networking. This isn't just about creating your own workit's about helping others in their projects," she says.

"A part of my initial organic growth is just because I was putting the time, effort and resources into the community. And so by the time I had the confidence to launch my online classes it was an audience that was active."

Then, not only did Ashley's intentional approach to audience-building promote organic growth, but it also gave her the foundation that she built Storytelling Collective on.

"I've always wanted to create an inclusive and supportive environment for writers. It's been my experience that writing can be a very isolating and insular, even when you're doing it in collaboration with others. It's lonely when you're writing your personal project in your little silo," she explains.

"Storytelling Collective tears the obstacles and gives writers access to a an international support system. Our writers are always told by our writers that we'd like to be their cheerleaders -They know there's always someone rooting for them to get their project finished and release their work and for you to release your story ."

    She translated her deliberate and community-oriented approach into her marketing methods    

Ashley's intentional approach didn't end in the beginning, it functioned as a continual thread throughout her retention methods. The early years of Storytelling Collective the founder relied on the power of word-of-mouth advertising, and was supported through her active involvement in her community.

"For every one of my methods for marketing, I believe it's not enough to drop into a community, offer the resources, then let it go. You really have to be a successful community creator and reciprocate that assistance with the programs of others as well as products" she adds.

"During our initial roll-out it was all about word of mouth. It was a great experience the extent of its success and I'm sure that it has to do with having been in that community for a while. It wasn't like I was just a uninvolved person. I'd popped in to share materials, collaborated with people before as well as been member of big projects. That's what made the advertising resonate."

After launching several writing challenges, Ashley began to roll out her own email marketing campaigns. Her email list has grown steadily over the course of the launch of Storytelling Collective, primarily because she doesn't heavily emphasize the marketing elements.

"Email marketing is something that I truly believe strongly in. I'm currently working on a second program that's based around email and is comprised exclusively of educational materials for free because I want to have an email list that's not solely focused on marketing," she elaborates.

"Even though the goal is to get people involved in Storytelling Collective's activities but I'd like to create an educational foundation that reflects the type of content that our students can expect from our community and programs. The free campaigns share the wisdom of creativity that will help the audience we target understand our approach to creativity as well as writing ."

When it comes to marketing on social media platforms, Ashley is wary of solely relying on one tactic or social media platform. She sees email marketing as an effective tool that can establish rapport and increase the retention of customers.

"Email marketing is a powerful tool, especially with the changes that are happening within the realm of social media today. It's extremely volatile, and it's difficult to depend on the one social media platform that you prefer, because you never know the moment you'll have to alter all of it. However, if you're on an email list, you're able to bring your subscribers everywhere, and you will always have a more direct way towards your audience."

When she does employ more traditional promotional methods, Ashley reiterates the importance of testimonials. Much like word-of mouth marketing, Ashley focuses on her pupils' own experiences as her main selling point.

"When you're trying to get people to commit for a month for your course The most effective way to convince them is to share someone else's story of their happiness after the course. I attempt to draw on the word-of-mouth by leveraging testimonials and the experiences of my students - it's something I can share across all platforms," she explains.

"Overall It's an approach that is multi-factor. It's always changing to see which areas our audiences are most engaged. I've performed a ton of market research and figured out where educational material is missing in certain of these storytelling communities . I've also figured out the best way to meet that demand. ."

    She used her content-marketing experience to create the "long game" sales funnel    

In addition to managing Storytelling Collective, Ashley works as an all-time content strategist. She has not only led to new levels of development in her followers, but it has also given her the tools to focus on her values within her methods of retention.

"Everything we do always comes back to a higher-level perception of education. Based on my experiences that I've had, I've learned to be a good long-term player with my audiences. If someone joins our email list, they might not necessarily instantly sign up for our email list. If I am able to maintain a constant contact with them, I'm basically establishing rapport and perspective," she explains.

"Storytelling Collective has a very particular stance regarding creativity. We take the anti-hustle approach to creativity -- our belief is that what that you do is a vital aspect of your daily life and not be something your daily grind. We want everyone to be a part of that mindset when they're part of our programs in our community ."

Ashley states that for some people, it may take some time to develop this method for them. Yet the consistent interactions she offers through her email campaigns seamlessly share Storytelling Collective's values and also help solve problems for her audience.

" We always try to create a unique problem-solving approach the focus of our marketing, for example"Here's how you can reach the end of the road and actually publish a project. We keep that messaging going until it kind of finally happens for people and they're like, "Okay I'm willing to jump into the water to the next level,'" she says.

Ashley believes that within any kind of marketing using content, it's crucial to know that it's not composed of instant sales, rather it's an exchange of perspective and building relationships. In her experience, this long game approach is vital to creating a loyal, paying audience.

"Immediate conversions via the use of social media or ads can be beneficial in marketing, but my primary goal was always retention. I want to grow our community and have our members stay and stay with us for longer than one or two programs -- rather than just stepping into our funnel only to leave once they're finished.

"I really try to think about 'What's my longer-term strategy there?' Naturally, my aim is to get someone to sign up for our programs and services, but my goal above this is to make them be a part of our community in the long run. We want them to start seeding their own creative process to find success while feeling inspired and encouraged. The end goal is that taking our course is only one part of the puzzle. ."

For those who want to take it one step further Ashley is of the opinion that prioritizing building community over sales is essential throughout the selling funnel.

"It's really important to help those feel that they're becoming a vital part of our community. Not only that, but feeling that they're part of a real community who are on the other end of the campaigns. We're not some faceless corporate enterprise at all. We're simply a tiny group of people who love what we do," she adds.

"We make every effort to help people see that this is who's at the other end. All we're really there to accomplish is to assist students reach their objectives. That is the crux of what we try to convey in all our marketing and sales ."

    She employed a project-based learning model to create her actionable curriculum    

Storytelling Collective's primary product began as an email-based series Ashley produced completely on her own -- she was able to create her original course on her knowledge as an English teacher and a experienced writer.

She shared her creative process with her growing audience through regular emails throughout the course of about a month. Ashley now refers to this first release to be the "D&D Short Story Adventure" in which she explained her process for brainstorming, detailed how she gathered inspiration through music and mood boards, and offered a feasible structure for completing a task in the span of one month.

Through this successful initial launch, Ashley quickly realized that project-based instruction was crucial to writing an an actionable curriculum that would keep students interested from start to finish.

"All of my curriculum focuses on'Here's how you can stay focused on your idea and actually see it through.' I'm a big believer in project based learning in which my students achieve a tangible product at the end of a program. It's not my belief that there's any one size-fits-all solution -- it's more so a sample method of creativity that provides students with a starting point," she explains.

In order to develop her main course further, Ashley recruited eight other experts she'd known through her D&D community. The instructors wrote lessons based upon her basic structure- eventually, it formed the four parts of her curriculum.

"The four-part model of taking people through each step of the process and giving the guidance, templates and then feedback has been a huge success for us. We've had thousands of people write their pieces at the end of the program. And again, by implementing this model of project-based learning, all of our students come out at the end of the program with something specific they can add to their portfolios of writing" she says.

    She was a strict non-passive communication model to increase her course completion rates    

To top off the incredibly effective learning method, Ashley implements a very conscious model of communication to her students all through their educational journey.

"I strongly believe in doing regular check-ins to help my students stay focused and believe they are able to achieve their next milestone. The idea of checking in using word count milestones is also extremely effective. I provide really reasonable targets to aim at because when you are able to break a huge undertaking into smaller fragments, it's a lot more doable and you're still working towards your goal," she says.

"I have also set up a small writing accountability team where we examine how well everyone's working, discuss feedback and ideas and also cheer our fellow writers up. It's really motivating to know that someone is actively anticipating reading your writing. It's so important to help my students keep their eyes on the prize while giving them the tools to overcome all creative hurdles that they run into."

Through her own experience as a writer Ashley recognizes that roadblocks to creativity are inevitable -- yet due to this she can channel her methods of overcoming these roadblocks into an actionable guide for students.

"I talk a lot about having your own set of tools to pull from in times of need. It is my goal to constantly inform my students that 'Here's an assortment of tools you could add to your toolkit. They might not all be useful, but that's why it's an instrument kit so you are able to pull together a range of diverse resources'" she explains.

"Above all, I want my students to know that I'm here for them. I don't wish them to feel as if they've been left to their own process of creativity. Rather, I'm here for each step of the way."

" has brought that goal to life."