Dec 23, 2023Liked by Russell Nohelty, Johnny B. Truant
Great post! I do think there needs to be far more content on success strategies for the "artisanal" author, who may only publish a book or two per year (or less) and puts their heart and soul into each one. I'd much rather write a few books that end up on readers' all time favorites lists than rapid releasing ones that are consumed and quickly forgotten.
Dec 22, 2023Liked by Russell Nohelty, Johnny B. Truant
Ok, so I’ve been feeling pretty down about the state of indie publishing in general lately, and this article gave me hope.
I have never had the mental ability or even the lifestyle that would allow me to churn out a book a month. Tried that...burned out. Badly. I didn’t write for two years, and now I am writing again, but I’m incredibly gun-shy when it comes to promotion, sales, etc, because I tried it once and all I did was waste money.
I’m still not sure HOW I can find 1,000 true fans, but it gives me hope to hear that there are other authors out there like me.
Dec 23, 2023Liked by Russell Nohelty, Johnny B. Truant
Oh my goodness. THANK YOU for this piece. This is me. Completely a Forest and Completely an artist and my own brand. And to top it off a slow writer who has kids that need extra from me.
I feel reassured that that there are other Forests out there!
Dec 24, 2023Liked by Russell Nohelty, Johnny B. Truant
What I love most is the acknowledgment of the writers that want to tell stories and get it out into the world. They aren't trying to game the system to make money. The monetary return is the proof that people valued their work. For me, making back the money I put in is the goal. And I like the direction of finding the 1000 true fans approach. Write the story and cultivate a following. Build on it.
Dec 23, 2023Liked by Russell Nohelty, Johnny B. Truant
Another Forest here. Thank you for this post. I've been at this a long time and am about to publish my first book in 2024. I'd been dreading it because I knew I couldn't do the fast turnaround thing. I wanted to craft not churn.
No shade to the writers who can. I'm impressed with those who can produce a lot and still transport me through their stories.
So, maybe my playing the long game isn't so bad after all.
I love seeing this post from you Johnny - not sure if you remember us meeting way back in the SXSW and BlogWorld days, but I've really enjoyed watching your journey into publishing. Thanks for writing this!
I went down the software company path and I've been really happy with that, but like you mention in here - I've been wanting to write my first novel... and for me publishing isn't going to be replacing my current gig, so it won't be a rapid-release approach.
I've subscribed to you Substack and I'm looking forward to learning more from you and Russell as I get my first fiction book out into the world. :)
Dec 22, 2023Liked by Russell Nohelty, Johnny B. Truant
This speaks to me so much. I released five books last year and it was fun, but next year I'm shifting to a slower approach and focusing on bonus content around fewer releases. I'm doing the same slowdown in my ghostwriting business. I wrote 100 books in the last 12 years just to try to keep up and make a living, but I'd like to hit 200 over a much longer timeline.
Dec 22, 2023Liked by Russell Nohelty, Johnny B. Truant
Love it! Although it’s no less work than the faster-faster way, the goals are a lot more sustainable, and create a certain dignity about being an artist, about valuing your readers.
I have written a bunch of genre novels. I gave up on it, because I couldn't sell them without spending a fortune on ads, and fuck Zuck and Bezos. I am instead now working on real books that I care about.
YES!!!!!! This is exactly how I started ten years ago but then about five years ago I got sucked into the KU mindset. It exploded my business even more but this year I decided I want to be done with that rat race. I built my online store this year, not so that I can be like everyone else getting into direct sales but so that I can have a home base for my 1000 true fans. I’m like you, Johnny, super excited for what’s to come! Thank you for writing this article and now I’m off to devour all your other posts. So great to see you back!
Also: I have always seen mahself as an ARTIST...someone who writes a PARTICULAR kinda werk for a Particular kinda READER (therefore I charge accordingly for mah Books, upwards of $50 that Mah BIGGEST FANS have no problem PAYING...they dont give-a-fuck. They just want Mah Werk)....Then too: I Advocate for READERS over SUBSCRIBERS. Period. If U git the READERS, the PAID SUBSCRIBERS will take care of Itself.
Great post! I do think there needs to be far more content on success strategies for the "artisanal" author, who may only publish a book or two per year (or less) and puts their heart and soul into each one. I'd much rather write a few books that end up on readers' all time favorites lists than rapid releasing ones that are consumed and quickly forgotten.
Ok, so I’ve been feeling pretty down about the state of indie publishing in general lately, and this article gave me hope.
I have never had the mental ability or even the lifestyle that would allow me to churn out a book a month. Tried that...burned out. Badly. I didn’t write for two years, and now I am writing again, but I’m incredibly gun-shy when it comes to promotion, sales, etc, because I tried it once and all I did was waste money.
I’m still not sure HOW I can find 1,000 true fans, but it gives me hope to hear that there are other authors out there like me.
Oh my goodness. THANK YOU for this piece. This is me. Completely a Forest and Completely an artist and my own brand. And to top it off a slow writer who has kids that need extra from me.
I feel reassured that that there are other Forests out there!
What I love most is the acknowledgment of the writers that want to tell stories and get it out into the world. They aren't trying to game the system to make money. The monetary return is the proof that people valued their work. For me, making back the money I put in is the goal. And I like the direction of finding the 1000 true fans approach. Write the story and cultivate a following. Build on it.
Thank you!
Another Forest here. Thank you for this post. I've been at this a long time and am about to publish my first book in 2024. I'd been dreading it because I knew I couldn't do the fast turnaround thing. I wanted to craft not churn.
No shade to the writers who can. I'm impressed with those who can produce a lot and still transport me through their stories.
So, maybe my playing the long game isn't so bad after all.
Wonderful post. Love the idea of 1000 true fans. Reminds me of Anne Lamott's bird by bird theory/story. Only in this case it's "fan by fan."
And I thought 1 book a year was a lot 😅 but nonetheless, interesting article! It definitely makes me more open to thinking about self publishing.
I love seeing this post from you Johnny - not sure if you remember us meeting way back in the SXSW and BlogWorld days, but I've really enjoyed watching your journey into publishing. Thanks for writing this!
I went down the software company path and I've been really happy with that, but like you mention in here - I've been wanting to write my first novel... and for me publishing isn't going to be replacing my current gig, so it won't be a rapid-release approach.
I've subscribed to you Substack and I'm looking forward to learning more from you and Russell as I get my first fiction book out into the world. :)
I have to agree with you on this. The best authors are genres unto themselves, and those are the ones I try to emulate.
This speaks to me so much. I released five books last year and it was fun, but next year I'm shifting to a slower approach and focusing on bonus content around fewer releases. I'm doing the same slowdown in my ghostwriting business. I wrote 100 books in the last 12 years just to try to keep up and make a living, but I'd like to hit 200 over a much longer timeline.
Love it! Although it’s no less work than the faster-faster way, the goals are a lot more sustainable, and create a certain dignity about being an artist, about valuing your readers.
I have written a bunch of genre novels. I gave up on it, because I couldn't sell them without spending a fortune on ads, and fuck Zuck and Bezos. I am instead now working on real books that I care about.
Great article, thank-you! This is where I’m at.
YES!!!!!! This is exactly how I started ten years ago but then about five years ago I got sucked into the KU mindset. It exploded my business even more but this year I decided I want to be done with that rat race. I built my online store this year, not so that I can be like everyone else getting into direct sales but so that I can have a home base for my 1000 true fans. I’m like you, Johnny, super excited for what’s to come! Thank you for writing this article and now I’m off to devour all your other posts. So great to see you back!
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐧 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐑𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬. 𝐁𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍𝐍𝐘'𝐒 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝟐 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐨. 𝐈 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐃𝐚 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐦𝐚𝐡𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝟒 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐬. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐆𝐍𝐈𝐙𝐄 𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄, 𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞?? 𝐀𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅-𝐏𝐔𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅-𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐁𝐔𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐡 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐡 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐭𝐨 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐆 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐈 𝐜𝐮𝐦 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐚 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐔𝐏 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐘 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐈 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐡 𝐁𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝐰𝐚𝐬. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐘'𝐒 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐄!! 𝐔 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞. 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐩 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐌𝐒 n 𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒!! 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭.....
𝐁𝐮𝐭𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐒....𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐈 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐔𝐁𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐂𝐊: 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐨𝐫 𝐁𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌....𝐅𝐔𝐂𝐊 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐘 𝐄𝐥𝐬𝐞. 𝐄𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐅𝐔𝐂𝐊 𝐃𝐀 𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐑𝐈𝐃𝐃𝐈𝐌, 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐞!! 𝐡𝐭𝐭𝐩𝐬://𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐩𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞.𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐤.𝐜𝐨𝐦/𝐩/𝐲-𝐮-𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝-𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞-𝟒-𝐲𝐨-𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭-𝐟𝐚𝐧
𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐔𝐁𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐂𝐊. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐧 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐚𝐡 𝐄𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐋 𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐚𝐡 𝐁𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐒 (𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐮𝐦 𝐌𝐚𝐡 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐔𝐏 𝐃𝐀𝐘𝐒) 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐘 𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐭𝐨....𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐌𝐞: 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐀𝐋𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐒𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐌𝐄. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭.
Also: I have always seen mahself as an ARTIST...someone who writes a PARTICULAR kinda werk for a Particular kinda READER (therefore I charge accordingly for mah Books, upwards of $50 that Mah BIGGEST FANS have no problem PAYING...they dont give-a-fuck. They just want Mah Werk)....Then too: I Advocate for READERS over SUBSCRIBERS. Period. If U git the READERS, the PAID SUBSCRIBERS will take care of Itself.
Yes, and yes! 1000 true fans still holds true. I've banked my creative career on it. Thanks for sharing!