Four months ago I started an experiment. I wanted to discover new ways authors could make a living doing what they love.
The experiment was a result of changes in my personal life. I spent the majority of my twenties and thrities as a freelance contractor, doing social media and digital marketing work for brands. These freelance gigs gave me the flexibility to write.
But with a new daughter and another on the way, my priorities shifted. I needed to figure out a way to make the writing work or pivot and sink my energy into a full-time job or client work. So I gave myself until January to see if I could make something happen. The experiment led to do some incredible communities. I found an amazing group of writers on Substack. A passionate group of readers on Tik Tok. It even led me to the world of NFTs and Web3, which I genuinely believe will revolutionize every creative industry.
But there were also some serious downsides. This experimentation, and the deadline I set myself, often left me anxious and unsettled. I found myself frantically clicking and reading articles hoping that the answer to my problems was one email or marketing strategy away. I was looking for a home run, some shortcut or magical path to literary success. Somehow I thought that if I didn’t earn a substancial income from my writing by January, this experiment was a failure.
Takeaway
Putting this much pressure on myself to “make it work” or “find a solution” wasn’t exactly conducive to productivity or mental health. Somewhere along the way, I forgot the most important truth about marketing. The best marketing strategy is to create a product worth talking about. It doesn’t matter if you had 1,000,000 followers on TikTok or a buzzworthy NFT project. The hype and buzz will always fade if the art isn't good.
This is especially true for fiction authors. Sure, some readers buy books based on a clever marketing strategy. But the majority of people purchase books from recommendations and reviews. If you can create an emotional response in your reader, they will share your book and write a review. That’s why some books with little to no marketing strategy or major publisher can break through the noise. Colleen Hoover’s, Verity was self-published and sold over 900,000 copies. 50 Shades of Grey started out as fan fiction. Andy Weir’s, The Martian started out as a blog. All these books had one thing in common - They got people talking.
As of right now, there are no more strict deadlines. As planned, I will release my latest novel in the Summer of 2022. I will continue to experiment, but only in ways that feel organic to where I’m at. Because the artist’s journey isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon. The goal is to stay in the race long enough to keep creating.
What’s Inspiring me
There are a lot of creatives and authors disrupting the status quo in Web3 right now. One of those authors is 11-time NY Times Bestselling Author, Neil Strauss. He became the first major author to mint his book as an NFT. Finally!
Neil released 892 copies of the book Survive All Apocalypses. As part of the experiment, Neil promised to make one of the BUYERS the actual PUBLISHER by granting them full copyright of the book.
Wow. And here’s where the part gets even crazier. When Neil was drafting up the contract with his lawyers, he left the royalty percentage the author would make on each sale of the book BLANK.
When the winner was selected, the lawyer reached out and asked the new publisher what percentage of the profits he wanted Neil to have.
The winner replied, “What do authors normally make on a book?”
The lawyer said, “15%.”
The new publisher said, “DOUBLE IT.”
Incredible.
Right now, the lowest cost for one of Neil’s books on OpenSea.com is 1.33 ETH or $3260.
That’s it for this week. Thanks for following my book launch!
PS - My latest novel is available for PRE-ORDER right now :)
4 months into the book experiment
I think your takeaway is spot on. Of course the follow-up question that a lot of us ask is "how do you get people talking?"
But the lesson I've learned with perhaps improperly chasing success stories over the years is that there is no formula to follow. We should take each success and failure that we read about (and our own) and try to learn something from it.
Also super interesting to read about Neil Strauss's NFT; interesting to see how things progress.
Yes, how do you get people taking? These days the performance art aspect of how something is published is more important than what is published! And I find that very interesting!
Neil is a good example here, though I’m sure people will read his work too. I’m very curious to see how this space evolves!