An Inspired Chat with Julie Ann of Sayulita

We recently had the chance to connect with Julie Ann and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Julie, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: What do you think is misunderstood about your business? 
Most people approach writing a book as if they’re creating a product — something to sell, something to achieve, something that earns them the label “author” or “bestseller.”
But Your Story Is Your Portal is a completely different kind of creation journey.

It isn’t about chasing validation.
It’s about remembering who you are through the act of storytelling.

When you write your story through this lens, it becomes a portal to your life purpose — a mirror that reflects your soul’s lessons, healing, and truth. The writing itself becomes a spiritual practice, a way to connect with your higher self and realign your external life with your internal wisdom.

We don’t write to impress the world.
We write to express the soul.
And in doing so, we often discover the next chapter of our life purpose.

The book is simply the by-product of your transformation.
It’s the tangible outcome of an inner pilgrimage — one that often brings clarity, confidence, and calling.

That’s why our publishing process is less about marketing tactics and more about energetic alignment, authenticity, and embodiment.
Every author’s story becomes part of a larger movement: helping others awaken through story, truth, and consciousness.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Julie Ann, founder of Influence Publishing and The Writers Villa in Sayulita, Mexico. My work revolves around helping people uncover their life purpose through storytelling. For me, a book isn’t a product — it’s a portal. I call my process Your Story Is Your Portal because I believe our stories hold the codes to our purpose, healing, and next chapter of life.

Over the past fifteen years, I’ve guided more than 300 authors to write and publish books that don’t just inform — they transform. What makes my approach unique is that I blend deep personal inquiry with structure and soul. I now host Book in a Week Retreats, immersive one-on-one experiences at The Writers Villa, where I guide writers through a seven-day journey to map the soul of their book. Together we translate lived experience into wisdom, healing, and creative clarity.

Living full-time in Sayulita allows me to curate a creative sanctuary for conscious writers — a space to reconnect, create, and birth their authentic stories. I’m currently expanding Influence Publishing’s global community of visionary authors who understand that when we share our truth, we create ripples of consciousness that uplift the collective. I offer small group retreats up to 6 writers, and I offer exclusive personal retreats, both are available this winter by appointment. We currently have casita`s available through November to April 2026.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
Growing up, I worked incredibly hard just to keep up at school. The only subject I ever got a “B” in was English Literature — and now I understand why. I’m dyslexic, though I didn’t know it at the time. Most of school was about remembering what you were taught, but English Literature allowed me to think creatively, to interpret and imagine — and that’s where I naturally thrived.

I actually discovered I was dyslexic years later while helping the Director of the Canadian Dyslexia Association write her book. She explained something that changed my life: dyslexia isn’t a learning disability, it’s a teaching disability. Our brains simply learn differently — we see connections, patterns, and big pictures that traditional education doesn’t always nurture.

That revelation led me to deliver a TEDx Talk on “The Gift of Dyslexia,” because I wanted other writers to know that you don’t have to be perfect at spelling or grammar to be a great storyteller. In fact, many of the world’s most innovative thinkers and creators — like Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, and Agatha Christie — were dyslexic. It’s all about how we use our big, creative brains to see possibilities others might miss.

My work now celebrates that. I help authors embrace their unique way of thinking and turn it into their greatest gift — their story. It dispels the myth that so many writers think, that they are not ´good enough ‘to be an author because their writing isn´t ´good enough´`

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
A few years ago, my life completely changed. I nearly died from COVID, and my fiancé was in a coma with the same illness — he didn’t survive. In the months that followed, I lost not only him but also many of my long-time publishing clients who didn’t know how to relate to me as a widow. For a while, I truly thought my publishing journey was over.

Grief took me on a deep spiritual journey. I created the `House of Influence“ in Puerto Vallarta. At first, I poured all my energy into creating a retreat space, thinking I was leaving publishing behind. But through that process, I realized something much deeper — my soul purpose had never changed.

Helping people discover their own life purpose through their story was always the thread connecting everything I’ve done. I just needed to live through my own transformation to understand it on a deeper level.

That experience reshaped everything about how I teach, publish, and hold space for others now. I don’t just help people write books — I help them transmute pain into wisdom and turn their life experiences into portals of healing and purpose. Influence Publishing became the House of Story Medicine, where our stories become medicine not just for ourselves but for others.

Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
One of the biggest lies in the publishing industry — especially in the self-publishing world — is that writing a book will make you rich and famous. There’s a whole industry built on selling that dream, and it breaks my heart to see how many hopeful authors have been misled.

Many “publishing Independants” and print-on-demand companies charge thousands of dollars, promising bestseller status, movie deals, or overnight fame. But what they really deliver is a printing service without any manuscript review and a broken dream. I’ve helped countless authors get out of contracts like that — people who thought they were getting professional guidance but received nothing more than a spelling and grammar edit.

Without real story development or emotional coaching, we’re seeing a flood of unstructured, trauma-dump stories that never reach their true potential. It’s created an illusion that anyone can self-publish without mentorship — and it’s damaging the credibility of heartfelt storytelling.

Even some big publishing houses have sold out to this model, running “writing contests” just to collect email addresses and sell expensive “publishing packages” under the guise of a prize.

At Influence Publishing, we do things differently. I believe in truth before tactics — guiding authors through a transformational process that turns lived experience into wisdom. Because real influence doesn’t come from marketing tricks; it comes from authenticity, integrity, and purpose

Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
I’m absolutely doing what I was born to do — but it took me a long time to get here.

I grew up in England following a story that wasn’t mine. I did everything I thought I was supposed to do — ticking all the boxes of a “successful” life that my parents had imagined for me. The truth is, that path bent me out of shape — quite literally. At eighteen, I underwent surgery to have my spine fused because my body had curved out of alignment, a powerful metaphor for how far I’d strayed from my own truth.

At thirty-two, I finally listened to my soul and left England to sail around the world. Seven years at sea changed everything. When I began writing about that journey, I realized the book wasn’t really about travel — it was about transformation.

That story became the seed of Influence Publishing and my life’s purpose: helping others discover that their story is also their portal to purpose. I now know that we are never truly “off course” — even the detours and heartbreaks are part of the map guiding us back to who we were born to be.

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Image Credits
Author photos by Julie Ann Salisbury

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