This is an excellent post, KM. It sounds so simple (and I appreciate how you explain it as “how I did it” not “how you have to do it”).
But I’ve been in marketing for over a decade now and let me tell you that this really is the basic principle of how to grow an audience. Love a thing, show that love, bring that to others who share it, engage and repeat. 🔁
I'm fully aware that the individual things I do won't work for everybody, because everybody's not an artist, etc. But you can sure talk about it and squeal about your characters and stuff!
Exactly! I may not be able to leverage self-made art for my fiction stories (I'm not much of a visual artist, even though I recognize custom art would in fact improve my growth and engagement). However, the bones of the process you describe here are applicable across genres, media, and platforms. It's timeless stuff. That's why you're so spot on!
Enjoy your world however you can, whether it be through art, drabbles, musing on worldbuilding, etc. And be generous! Share, share, share! I see people who want to lock away their projects behind paywalls and patreons like a dragon hoarding gold. New people will never find you there!
All my stuff is free but … I do the fan things while I’m writing them which is like, months before anyone will see the final writing product and “get” what I’m fanning about. Or does that not matter and it can just be shared any old time and maybe reshared when the … oh, the penny just dropped K.M. I have been doing this (and then sitting on it to release at a time when it dovetails into the story) … maybe I just don’t sit on it and it comes out when it’s ready, like I did with the Obsidian and Flame short story because it is going to be A While before we see those two again.
One thing that really shifted my perspective with this was listening to a podcast interview with Tim Grahl (from Story Grid). He said it’s harder to get someone to read a book than to buy a book.
1. Think about how many books you own that you haven’t read yet. Will you read them all before buying more books?
2. If there was a book you weren’t interested in and you had to choose, would you rather a) spend $20 or b) spend 20 hours reading it. Most people would rather kick a work some money than invest time in sitting down with the story.
So giving your work away for free is a great idea, especially if you think those people will actually read it. If it’s something they love, they will share it. This proliferation is so much more effective than stressing about “monetizing” your writing too early by keeping everything behind paywalls and then trying to promote your book to people who don’t know you (or it).
It's true! People have to want to read the story, and you have to get them interested in it before they'll touch it. The best marketing I ever saw was this booklet a booth was giving out at a convention. It was a YA author's upcoming book, and it was the first three chapters bound into an attractive little paperback and tied with ribbon. The first three chapters were amazing, and I held onto it for two years until the book came out. (Sadly, the rest of the book was not as amazing.) But I've never seen anybody do that before, and I've remembered it.
I, too, once enjoyed a decent fan base for my fanfic. I naively thought at the time that those fans would translate to fans of my original fiction. Ha ha, nope! It seems vastly easier to launch off of an existing fan base and build a following by producing new stories or art about something lots of people already love, than to start from zero and convince people to give something new a chance.
I floundered for years trying to get my fiction in front of the eyeballs of the kinds of readers who will love it, and I think I'm at around 250 people who will faithfully read my work (and a smaller number who will faithfully purchase my books). But that's more than I had when I started, and I seem to be having an easier time if finding my readers since I started sharing my work here on Substack.
I feel this pain! It really does take time to build up that new audience, because the fanfic readers sure don't follow you over. Persistence and enthusiasm pay off, though!
Oh! This is good, and it comforts me that I might be on the right track with my plans for Substack (and creating a free serial for it to build a fan base… and obviously, I draw lots of art for my work 🤍)
Clicked on this post because of the Sonic picture, so your strategy is definitely working. Just keep doing what you love, and the right people will find it. It's very encouraging to me as a beginning author.
Great article! Thank you for posting. I just published my debut Science Fantasy novel ("Shadows of Carath") back in May, and, apparently, getting eyes on it is the difficult part. My "universe" comprises over 100 worlds (including Earth) and 25 sophont species, and "Shadows" is a great introduction to the much wider setting. I've posted it on X/Twitter, Minds, Truth Social, Gab, and here on Substack--you're right; it doesn't work. This past week, I've started posting it on.... (gulp😱) Facebook. I've also posted excerpts from my novella "Zero Day: Catalyst" here on Substack with a few likes but no feedback. Along with the story, I posted "AI" comic book-style pictures of the characters that are better than my amateurish sketches but aren't 100% accurate (that's why we should commission real artists for the finished product). I apologize if this appears as a rant--I'm back on nightshift and running on 3 hours of sleep so I can have a "normal" day off 😁. This article was a big help, and I'm definitely taking a look at Tumblr and Pinterest.
The best thing you can do is start working on the next book. When you only have one book to promote, everybody around you gets sick of hearing about it really fast. But if you have something new coming down the pipeline, you can talk about that instead. Like, what you're researching, different characters you're chewing on, concept art, that kind of thing. The new book will build interest in the old one. Then you repeat the process with book 3. Then 4. And so on and so forth.
Thanks! I’m halfway done with Book Two (Wrathelords’ Purge), which picks up from where “Shadows of Carath” ends. My goal is to have it available by the week of October 15th, which is the date the story takes place in the year 2425. In the meantime, “Zero Day: Catalyst” will be available on March 15th, which is the date the story takes place in 2396.
I’ll post concept art of characters—there is plenty I use as references for descriptions. There are also a few anthologies that myself and a few other writers here on Substack contributed to. Those should be available within the next few months.
This is an excellent post, KM. It sounds so simple (and I appreciate how you explain it as “how I did it” not “how you have to do it”).
But I’ve been in marketing for over a decade now and let me tell you that this really is the basic principle of how to grow an audience. Love a thing, show that love, bring that to others who share it, engage and repeat. 🔁
Great stuff.
I'm fully aware that the individual things I do won't work for everybody, because everybody's not an artist, etc. But you can sure talk about it and squeal about your characters and stuff!
Exactly! I may not be able to leverage self-made art for my fiction stories (I'm not much of a visual artist, even though I recognize custom art would in fact improve my growth and engagement). However, the bones of the process you describe here are applicable across genres, media, and platforms. It's timeless stuff. That's why you're so spot on!
Write fan things? Like when I do the occasional illustration? Say more?
Enjoy your world however you can, whether it be through art, drabbles, musing on worldbuilding, etc. And be generous! Share, share, share! I see people who want to lock away their projects behind paywalls and patreons like a dragon hoarding gold. New people will never find you there!
All my stuff is free but … I do the fan things while I’m writing them which is like, months before anyone will see the final writing product and “get” what I’m fanning about. Or does that not matter and it can just be shared any old time and maybe reshared when the … oh, the penny just dropped K.M. I have been doing this (and then sitting on it to release at a time when it dovetails into the story) … maybe I just don’t sit on it and it comes out when it’s ready, like I did with the Obsidian and Flame short story because it is going to be A While before we see those two again.
One thing that really shifted my perspective with this was listening to a podcast interview with Tim Grahl (from Story Grid). He said it’s harder to get someone to read a book than to buy a book.
1. Think about how many books you own that you haven’t read yet. Will you read them all before buying more books?
2. If there was a book you weren’t interested in and you had to choose, would you rather a) spend $20 or b) spend 20 hours reading it. Most people would rather kick a work some money than invest time in sitting down with the story.
So giving your work away for free is a great idea, especially if you think those people will actually read it. If it’s something they love, they will share it. This proliferation is so much more effective than stressing about “monetizing” your writing too early by keeping everything behind paywalls and then trying to promote your book to people who don’t know you (or it).
It's true! People have to want to read the story, and you have to get them interested in it before they'll touch it. The best marketing I ever saw was this booklet a booth was giving out at a convention. It was a YA author's upcoming book, and it was the first three chapters bound into an attractive little paperback and tied with ribbon. The first three chapters were amazing, and I held onto it for two years until the book came out. (Sadly, the rest of the book was not as amazing.) But I've never seen anybody do that before, and I've remembered it.
Oh I love that technique! Makes sense to also make reading the preview a special experience.
I, too, once enjoyed a decent fan base for my fanfic. I naively thought at the time that those fans would translate to fans of my original fiction. Ha ha, nope! It seems vastly easier to launch off of an existing fan base and build a following by producing new stories or art about something lots of people already love, than to start from zero and convince people to give something new a chance.
I floundered for years trying to get my fiction in front of the eyeballs of the kinds of readers who will love it, and I think I'm at around 250 people who will faithfully read my work (and a smaller number who will faithfully purchase my books). But that's more than I had when I started, and I seem to be having an easier time if finding my readers since I started sharing my work here on Substack.
I feel this pain! It really does take time to build up that new audience, because the fanfic readers sure don't follow you over. Persistence and enthusiasm pay off, though!
Oh! This is good, and it comforts me that I might be on the right track with my plans for Substack (and creating a free serial for it to build a fan base… and obviously, I draw lots of art for my work 🤍)
This was encouraging. Thanks!
Clicked on this post because of the Sonic picture, so your strategy is definitely working. Just keep doing what you love, and the right people will find it. It's very encouraging to me as a beginning author.
I love writing my stories and I hope it shows.
I seem to have a fan base of 389 people who read what I write.
But I haven't had a comment from any of them in a while.
In your opinion, what should I do to get people to comment on the chapters?
I have no idea!
Love your insight here. Thanks for sharing!
Great article! Thank you for posting. I just published my debut Science Fantasy novel ("Shadows of Carath") back in May, and, apparently, getting eyes on it is the difficult part. My "universe" comprises over 100 worlds (including Earth) and 25 sophont species, and "Shadows" is a great introduction to the much wider setting. I've posted it on X/Twitter, Minds, Truth Social, Gab, and here on Substack--you're right; it doesn't work. This past week, I've started posting it on.... (gulp😱) Facebook. I've also posted excerpts from my novella "Zero Day: Catalyst" here on Substack with a few likes but no feedback. Along with the story, I posted "AI" comic book-style pictures of the characters that are better than my amateurish sketches but aren't 100% accurate (that's why we should commission real artists for the finished product). I apologize if this appears as a rant--I'm back on nightshift and running on 3 hours of sleep so I can have a "normal" day off 😁. This article was a big help, and I'm definitely taking a look at Tumblr and Pinterest.
The best thing you can do is start working on the next book. When you only have one book to promote, everybody around you gets sick of hearing about it really fast. But if you have something new coming down the pipeline, you can talk about that instead. Like, what you're researching, different characters you're chewing on, concept art, that kind of thing. The new book will build interest in the old one. Then you repeat the process with book 3. Then 4. And so on and so forth.
Thanks! I’m halfway done with Book Two (Wrathelords’ Purge), which picks up from where “Shadows of Carath” ends. My goal is to have it available by the week of October 15th, which is the date the story takes place in the year 2425. In the meantime, “Zero Day: Catalyst” will be available on March 15th, which is the date the story takes place in 2396.
I’ll post concept art of characters—there is plenty I use as references for descriptions. There are also a few anthologies that myself and a few other writers here on Substack contributed to. Those should be available within the next few months.
I like this. Thanks Carroll and Falden!