EP 325 - Reflecting Back: 3 Things That Are Wrong With Indie Publishing

09/28/23 • 50 min

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Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

In this episode Mark reflects back to Episode 6 of this podcast, which was released on Feb 6, 2018.

He shares clips from that episode, in which he outlined three of the things that bothered him about the indie publishing world.

Reflecting back, he comments on a few things that have changed, and what is consistent more than 5 years after the initial broadcast.

This episode is sponsored by the Patrons of the Stark Reflections Podcast.

Links of Interest:

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

In this episode Mark reflects back to Episode 6 of this podcast, which was released on Feb 6, 2018.

He shares clips from that episode, in which he outlined three of the things that bothered him about the indie publishing world.

Reflecting back, he comments on a few things that have changed, and what is consistent more than 5 years after the initial broadcast.

This episode is sponsored by the Patrons of the Stark Reflections Podcast.

Links of Interest:

Previous Episode

EP 324 - The Asset of Attention with Joe Solari

In this solo episode, Mark interviews Joe Solari about his new book May I Have a Moment of Your Attention?

Prior to the main content, Mark shares comments from recent episodes and then reflects on the reasons why he canceled a trip he was supposed to take to Florida to attend NINC (Novelist's Inc.)

This episode is sponsored by the Patrons of the Stark Reflections Podcast.

In their conversation, Mark and Joe talk about:

Joe's winding experience path, the long journey he has been on, and how there's no way you could possibly train for the job that Joe does
The daily roadblocks that Joe had to overcome as he was beginning to learn about the complex writing and publishing business
The importance of not assuming that the person on stage actually knows what they're talking about
Also not assuming that what you "need" is what you're seeing presented on that "stage"
Joe's very first 20BooksVegas conference (which he has been to since the very beginning of it)
How Joe feels that we're still in the early stages of the entire self-publishing landscape
Understanding different formats, like audio, where the consumers aren't necessarily readers, but do enjoy story
The value of recognizing the assets in your business, which includes the asset of AUDIENCE and the related importance of DEMAND
How ads aren't scaleable, but that audiences are scaleable
Joe's latest book MAY I HAVE A MOMENT OF YOUR ATTENTION and how it's only available to buy direct from Joe
How the book was created, and how, in part of Joe building his brand is NOT just putting the book up everywhere
The audit statements in a survey that Joe asks readers of the book to complete
The way this survey and other assets help the reader get to "know, like, and trust" Joe and then be willing to purchase from him
How traffic to your Amazon page can be one of the worst things you do if that traffic doesn't convert to sales
The value of a customer retention system
The importance of feeling a special part of a brand's community
Focusing on serving your ideal reader rather than trying to sell more books
How author Chris Kennedy allows his fans to incorporate their own fan club about the worlds he has created and written
The way that people who spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on merchandise, cosplay, etc, are not even thinking about how much a book costs
Joe telling authors to try out his author marketing audit survey and to pay attention to it and see how they can steal his ideas for their own branding and marketing efforts
The free 20 minute calls that Joe offers
The critical importance of focusing on your audience, and not on what other authors are doing

After the interview Mark reflects on a couple of the things Joe talked about, including the advice on assumptions made about the person "on stage" offering advice, and on the critical value of focusing on how you can serve your ideal reader rather than focusing on trying to sell more books.

Links of Interest:

Next Episode

EP 326 - Rebranding and Relaunching with E.L. Williams

Mark interviews author E.L. Williams about her writing life, about her books, about rebranding one of the books in her series, and more.

Prior to the main content, Mark shares comments from recent episodes a brief personal update, welcomes new patron T. Thorn Coyle, and shares a word about this episode's sponsor.

This episode is sponsored by the Patrons of the Stark Reflections Podcast.

In their conversation, Mark and Emma talk about:

How it took Emma about ten years to write her first book
Getting slightly "bullied" into going to a writer conference from a fellow author
Publishing her first book during Halloween season in 2020
How the global pandemic changed enough things with her day job that allowed her the opportunity to get the book finished and published
The "Murphy's Law" events that piled up with the launch of book two, which led to a signifcant health issue that had to be dealt with
The decision to change the title and cover for book two after realizing it wasn't hitting the market properly
Being a great believer in learning by doing
Rolling back on the unrealistic expectations Emma set herself up with and learning to enjoy the process and take a more relaxed approach
Emma's ideas involving merchandise in relation to her book and how that led to collaborating with Deadweight Brewing
The book "relaunch" party Emma planned out including the beer and book cakes
The social media "long shot" that Emma took on Instagram asking if the beer book branding thing had ever been done before
How social media can be a bit like marmite
Beginning to check out experimenting with TikTok by doing a video a day
Advice Emma has for other writers who haven't taken the plunge yet
And more....