Here’s what I know.
I’m a good storyteller. I published nine traditional (“trad”) novels for a pretty good chunk of change. I got to write on a popular comic book. I’ve been writing in other universes, and get invited back. So I know how to do that part.
What I and most other authors are not so good at:
Marketing. Getting in front of people. Getting in front of the right people, the people who buy books.
Here’s what else I know:
I know that I’m really good at getting a group of people together to make something creative. A play, an audiobook, a short film. I’ve never had the same kind of success with these formats as I have with novels, but it also depends on what our definition of “success” is.
I have a very specific financial goal.
I also have a very specific emotional goal.
I no longer believe the two have to be exclusive.
The plan:
Write several serials at once. Failing and learning in public, per Gary Vee.
Use paid Facebook advertising to test headlines, images, and story ideas.
Use a social media scheduler to post no less than four times per day across the major platforms, with specific targets in mind for each platform (for me, Twitter/X only has good engagement on one type of post, so that’s what I’ll post. No more wasting time trying to drive traffic from a source that has a low time-ROI.)
Outline the serials to fill five or more complete novels.
Take the novels one at a time to Kickstarter.
Use book #1 in each series as a lead magnet and intro to the series.
Use newsletter swaps and paid newsletter advertising, as well as Facebook ads, to drive readers to the first book in the series.
Release for three months on Kindle Unlimited.
Then release wide, including my own storefront.
Once a book is wide and on my storefront, use that as the only link-in-bio…drive traffic first and foremost directly to my store.
…Repeat?
That’s basically it.
A lot of folks will say that’s too many irons in the fire at once. And I’d agree, except that this is how my brain works. I’ve tried all the other ways. Long gone are the days of a trad publisher offering me high five-figure advances, i.e., living wages.
If I don’t take charge now, I may never.
I’ve tried focusing on one thing at a time. I get excited by the new Shiny Thing and never go back. This way, I’ve got multiple projects that all hold my interest in varying degrees.
I get to tell the stories that have been cooking on back burners for so long.
This plan allows me to put to use many of my mentors’ ideas. For example, The Pumpkin Plan: Plant a shit-ton of seeds and prune the ones that don’t produce.
I don’t know which genre will land, but I’m not about to spend years writing a handful of novels, only to discover no one was interested. I’d rather spend one year or so writing a lot of different things, and then double down on the ones that bear fruit.
This also follows most of Gary Vee’s advice: post, post, post.
And by the way…
God help me….
It’s free.
I’ll have subscription options available for people who want more access and who want early access, yes. But otherwise, the stories will fundamentally be and stay free. My shit’s been pirated so much anyway, it’s not even worth the effort to whack every mole that pops its head up. So I may as well give it away.
I say all this with the enormous caveat that we are a two-income household, so I have a lot more room than most to manevuver. If I fail, our family won’t lose the house. This is not a process I’d recommend for someone who just stormed off the job with no safety net.
I think that’s it.
LFG.
