Venturing into self-publishing a massive world

[Draven Grey]

I've written four flash fiction stories that are about to launch along with The Silent Still's website in the next couple of weeks. I also had friends across the world read them into audio (with the appropriate accent for the main characters), then added ambience and sound fx for what turned out to be a pretty cool enhanced audiobook experience. I'm putting them up on our website in both ePub and PDF along with the audio for $3 each.

I also wrote a comic book that was to be published on Arcana, but the artist failed to deliver on edits, which tied the whole thing up in legal limbo. Few people know, but when an artist delivers something to a comic writer, they immediately own a percentage of the copyright to that story (unless in a "work for hire" situation).

I used the snowflake method (among others) to plan out a full novel, but ultimately scrapped it because it just didn't fit. Most of my stories fit within the Supernatural/Sci-fi Thriller/Horror, and the novel, while in that same world, was starting to feel more like fantasy ala Hellboy. I have some cool characters and story though, with thoughts on how to use it otherwise that I'm sure I'll mention in a bit.

Last night, I spent some time with Held for Ransom's incredible market research method and thread:
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/hello-from-denver-self-publishing-success.46006/

At first impression, my preferred market looks really profitable as long as I'm a bit particular in the type of story that I write. I haven't yet done the full assessment yet, but I'm optimistic at this point. I did notice that there are a lot of big-name authors in my genre. That could be good or bad. I'll know more after spending some good time with HFR's calculation method.

I've already began outlining another novel and several short stories. Eventually, I would love to venture into audio drama, which I think my original novel idea would fit quite well. A good friend and incredible writer is working on short films and even a couple of feature length films with my group, expanding the universe even further. We should be done with our first film around the turn of the year. I'm not sure wether to call it a short film, silent film, or music video. All I know is that it's turning out to be pretty awesome, features the band only as characters in the story (rather than a typical music video), and uses an extended version of one of our songs for the sound.

On top of the novel and short stories, one of our friends/fans has been writing and drawing comic books about the same universe, and I'm starting to work with him on finishing a few comics, as well as some art books and moving comics. Another friend/fan recently completed a short story in the same universe, and is charging forward (with or without us) in creating a live-action role playing game, card game, and table-top game.

Needless to say, this universe has HUGE potential to explode in popularity. It's already expanding faster than I can keep up with, and that's with only a small handful (a couple of hundred) of people that have the first two of my stories without the audio. We've been hard at work to get the new audio out for our freebies, including the two stories and remixed songs.

Here's a taste of the universe I'm talking about:

I write all of this here mainly just so I have extra motivation and accountability to keep writing. I'll keep it updated as I progress. I have another potential fastlane business that's currently priority and in the testing phase. However, I can't stop the writing and creative flow. So, the writing will happen regardless of other priorities. It may just take a bit longer than when I'm able to make it the main focus.

 

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[Draven Grey]

I should mention, I'm not new to self-publishing. I've been writing and selling music business related books, courses, and more for many years. Although I became an expert on the topic, it took me fifteen years before realizing what musicians and bands are truly willing to spend money on. Sadly, that's not in coaching, books, and courses. But I'm testing what I DO think it is, which is the potential fastlane business that I mentioned above. However, while my creative writing is being turned away from that industry, I've found a love (on both my own part and the fans) for the genre I'm now writing for.

 

[Draven Grey]

A Mastermind meeting last night revealed that the business that I thought had high fastlane potential isn't as lucrative as I previously thought. So, writing it is! I've never focused so heavily on writing in fiction genres before. My last seven years of writing has been in non-fiction. This should be a lot of fun!

Next steps:

• Automating the process that Held For Ransom laid out for his market research.
• Figuring out how to recreate that process for audiobooks and eventually other media too.
• Truly nailing down the genre that's selling within the world I'm writing -- word count, keywords, descriptions, etc.
• Re-learning Market Samurai for keyword and market research within this industry. I know it VERY well for product research.
• Most importantly, WRITING. I've been using The Snowflake Method, and love it. I also use Scrivener, which has increased my speed and love of writing.

To help pay the bills in the mean time with fun things that don't occupy very much time:

• Previously released nonfiction music business books, courses, coaching, etc.
• Teaching vocals
• Radio Commercial Voice Overs
• My wife's graphic design

 

[Draven Grey]

• My father, who is an expert in data mining and software engineering, took interest in helping me automate the process Held For Ransom outlined. We're improving upon it as well, and seeing how we can make it useful for more than just authors. We're discussing it at length this weekend. There's a potential business there that we're still testing, but rather than divide my focus, I plan to be mostly in a support role for that one and one more that's pretty similar that my father wants to take on. I'm extremely excited that my parents finally read TMF !!
• I mentioned earlier that I'm focused mainly on writing, but I honestly only see it as one part of the whole that is The Silent Still. Another member is taking on responsibility for music, and another live productions, and yet another taking on film. With separate roles for the team, on top of fan collaborations, multi-tiered memberships, and the vast world of multimedia to work with, we're poised to fit the CENTS model in multiple ways, each running our own businesses in tandem.
• I've kept doing manual research on self-publishing for now, and in many ways I've found that, for the most part, my stories' genres are very promising. I just need to be sure that I focus on the specific side of my stories that are selling well. I realize that erotica sells very well, but I'm truly not interested in it. I'm determined to find the balance between using a tool like HFR outlined and writing damn good stories.
• Learning the self-publishing markets through keyword research using Market Samurai has proven challenging to figure out. But I have a solid direction there now, and think I'll be able to use this tool, which I learned to use so well for product market research, for coming up with solid SEO for my own website and books.
• Speaking of my own website. Right now I'm still paying the bills with teaching vocals, voice overs, and music business stuff. I want to turn it into an author-focused website, but for now I'm trying to figure out what that transition looks like and when.
• I've been writing a lot of short snippets of stories to find inspiration on some new stories. I have a few in mind now, and am starting to map out the characters. I'll be meeting with another author friends of mine (who's lurking on this forum somewhere) on Thursday to brainstorm ideas within the market research we've done. One unexpected source of a TON of ideas has been watching a good anime. I don't know what it is, but well written anime makes my head explode with ideas for stories. Combine that with The Silent Still Society's archives to base stories off of, and I believe I've found a treasure trove of inspiration.

 

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[Draven Grey]

After careful consideration, some market research, pooling some previous successes with a few friends, and trying to fit writing within TMF model, here's the plan:

1. Write, a LOT. This one is obvious, but with my chosen genre I don't mean writing a mass quantity of stories, but rather getting the stories in my head down on paper, refining and improving from there. This is the writer side - developing story ideas, characters, etc.
2. I have two trilogies in my head now. The first progressively opens the reader up to the universe I'm writing about, because throwing them into the middle of it is just too fantastical and confusing in my opinion. The second trilogy is a spin-off of the first, exploring a completely different but related genre within a part of the same universe. I'm open to pushing this back to being a third or fourth trilogy if the first takes off. I know, another point that is obvious for an author. So let's get to more business oriented stuff...
3. I want to sell the novels to a major publisher, rather than self-publish. I'm thinking of these like a loss-leader, at least from the standpoint of control and royalties, but with the potential to be much more. I see it as a way to effect millions. But there's still a self-publishing side to this that those millions funnel into.
4. While working on the novels, I plan to keep writing short stories like I have been, possibly even about some of the same characters. This is where self-publishing comes in. But it doesn't stop at book sellers.
5. I already committed to turn my short stories into enhanced audio books, as something my group offers to our fans and members. The first two stories that I did this with sound incredible, and I already have two more in queue for audio. These can be sold through book sellers as well, not just one our website.
6. This is where it gets really fun. I want to turn these audiobooks into a podcast. There are multiple ways to monetize a podcast that me and another author friend, who is becoming quite a successful podcaster, are considering. Right now, we're thinking of a "freemium" model, where certain ones or a certain number are released for free and the rest are paid. We haven't decided yet, but instead have chosen to just focus on the content for now and test the market before choosing the financial model.
7. Having a podcast and becoming much more familiar with that world will also help me move easily into radio-drama once money allows. I already know quite a bit about that world, and look forward to reaching that goal. There are different ways to monetize that as well, but still highly related to the books, audio books and podcasts.
8. There is a film side of this as well, but that's not as much my expertise as much as it is my friend's who's working with us on short and feature films.
9. Eventually, as money allows, I would like to take on a role more like Patterson, who has a team of writers where he acts more like a creative director. I would love to be able to outline stories, have the meat of them written for me, edit them to my liking, and then release a ton of books.

When writing this, using the word "monetize" so much really bothered me. Obviously it needs a financial model, and we are talking about Fastlane businesses here. But I chose this universe for my fans, got their feedback on what different mediums and types of stories they want, and truly just want to create awesome content for them.

As soon as my group is through this website, store, and membership launch that's consumed our lives, I'm sitting down with another member of my team to figure out our weekly schedule for producing regular content for our members. With my role (in the form of a performance agreement) being mostly focused on writing stories, I have the motivation, responsibility, and accountability to make all of the above happen, and I'm super excited!

 

[Draven Grey]

So the website finally launched! The two free short stories are in the hands of about 400 people now. We're planning a referral campaign when the second album launches along with the first novel next year. The email campaign is using launchrock.co with a carefully planned version of Harry's grooming products gathered 100,000 emails in a week. You can find out all about that here: http://fourhourworkweek.com/2014/07/21/harrys-prelaunchr-email/

I spent some time hacking the novel writing process this last week. I'm still forming the initial idea for the story, and wanted to have a streamlined process by the time I got to actually writing it. I have several short stories to work on in the mean time too. When I first started setting writing goals for myself, I was unhappy with the typical 1000 words an hour that most writers seem to talk about. So, I decided to find out how to quadruple that amount while still writing quality.

On top of that, I wanted both the most effective story building techniques and tools for writing. So far, I'm sold on Scrivener as a writing platform. I'e used it for a few projects now and love how pretty much everything is in one place and easily rearranged -- note cards, research, scenes, etc. I also came up with a hack of the Snowflake method for writing that maximizes the benefits of it, while minimizing the negative parts like zapping your personal energy levels. I would repost all my findings here, but I don't want to write another insanely long post. So, if you want to know more, I wrote a blog post about all of it here: http://dravengrey.com/hacking-novel-writing/

 

[Draven Grey]

I'm finally finishing up the massive launch I've been working on with my team at The Silent Still. This week I'll be finishing two more short story enhanced audiobooks before we come out of pre-sales. I now have the initial outline for a novel trilogy, and will be truly fleshing it out after the first of the year. I also have the initial idea for a serial podcast audiobook (the main self-publishing side of my stories), and will be meeting next week with the two people the main characters are based on.

Another member of my team will be taking the brunt of the live shows the first of the year, which will open us up to live audio drama, short story readings, short horror plays, and the like, on top of our music, characters roaming the audience, circus performers and more. Another member's taking the brunt of the music side of things too, and the second album looks as if it will almost act as a soundtrack to my first novel. The third album will end up being a remix of the first two plus a bit more, becoming the soundtrack for a silent film that fits into The Silent Still universe. I imagine the silent film will be a side story for some of the characters from the novels or podcast. Another team member handles the brunt of our film side of things, and I imagine the silent film might end up being the main project of the second half of 2015 (I'm okay if it gets pushed back a bit though). We're in post-production for our first short-film/music-video now.

While each piece can stand on it's own, I'm excited about how the stories feed into it all and vice versa. The way things are going, The Silent Still is turning into a collaboration of separate projects, almost as if several businesses working in tandem. This is exactly what we wanted, especially as we grow and collaborate more with our fans on various other projects.

 

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[Draven Grey]

Quick update:

• I'm finishing two more audiobooks for short stories this weekend. I've enjoyed having different geographic-specific voice-actors do these stories, but I'm finding that it's much faster and pretty rewarding to do them myself. With the first two in the wild for free, and now these next two being monetized, I think it more fair to do my own audiobooks as well.
• I've outlined my first audiobook podcast series, and have finally started writing it. I'm not finishing the outline for the novel trilogy until I have the drafts written for my audiobook podcast series, and have a couple of episodes released.
• I'm in serious talks to team up with another great author for the podcast, which will multiply our efforts all the way around.
• An avid cosplayer friend and fan is taking on the recreation of The Silent Still's eight-foot Shadow Creature costume. We hope to have it ready for Denver Comic Con and other conventions as we promote our stories and upcoming live event.
• We're doing our best to find our way around Adobe After Effects and DaVinci Resolve too, in order to finish post-production on a short film that features the same Shadow creature.
• Our multi-tiered memberships go live in the next 7 days, giving us a pretty good income right at launch.

 

[Draven Grey]

Quick update:

• I had my trusted, brutally honest, and successful writer friend read over my outline and first scene for the audiobook podcast. That went much better than I expected! I now feel like I'm completely on the right path with my writing style and plot. I've been diving into each scene now, writing them one at a time. It's been a blast seeing how the characters interact and react to things. I've written a lot before, but never long-form fiction. I'm really enjoying this.
• I read Nick Stephenson's "Reader Magnets" and have gone through his video course too. We talked about it at length in my last Mastermind Group, and I'll be putting up my best short story for free on Amazon soon. First, I want to overhaul our squeeze page, and make sure the download page for all of our freebies is pleasant, simple, and easy to follow as well. Nick has really helped me refine how to present my stories and gain traffic, not to mention how to continue a relationship with those who sign up to the mailing list.
• Since it looks like my other short stories are now part of the freebies (instead of up for sale like I previously talked about), I'm starting to plan a few more to put up for sell while I complete the audiobook podcast.
• It looks like we have a post-production guy for our videos now. In fact, it looks like we have a whole film company interested in working with us and helping us create some incredible short films.
• I've been spending a lot of time planning our live, modern vaudeville event with the team. From the music, theatrics, and acrobats, to cosplayers, spoken word, lights, and more, it's a type of story-telling all its own.
• We've also started work on a second music album, which will be much more rooted in our stories than the first.

 

[Draven Grey]

Things slowed down far too much for my comfort, so that I could focus a bit on paying the bills while I write. However, everything's still moving forward.

• Finalized the first scene of my novel to share with fans
• Ran into an issue with the novel being too short (about 40,000 words, when I want at least 85,000), so falling back on the method of most best-selling thrillers of looking over the shoulder of everything the antagonist is doing. I really like how that's turning out. It added conflict for the reader in ways I didn't expect.
• I finished the enhanced audio for all of my short stories
• My amazing graphic designer finished the "Reader Magnets" book ad and squeeze page design. Now working on the download page looking better.
• Figuring out which short stories to make perma-free, which to give away, which to sell (even if selling the audio while the text is free), and which to write new while working on the novels.
• Working with a friend and fan to finish up a Shadow Creature costume for Denver Comic Con, to advertise our music and stories
• My partner in the Modern Vaudeville group this is all a part of secured a two acrobat troupes (for aerial and ground), a horror theater group, and a venue for our August, Midsummer Night's Hallow show. Working on securing the rest of the staff and cast (cosplayers, go-go dancers, cigarette girls, etc), a suicide prevention charity, finishing the light show, and writing several new music features.

 

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[Draven Grey]

August's Rock • Circus • Masquerade event has taken over most of my time, leaving my stories secondary right now. Started promoting around Denver with a team and our 8-foot Shadow Creature, working on the light show with my partner, writing the final music parts, bouncing any backing tracks, meeting with live session musicians for rehearsals, helping the playwright, and working out the final details for the cast and crew. It's going smoothly and at a good pace, including getting PR, teaming up with American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and working out the kinks.

On the story front, I decided that my short stories were far too short for Amazon. So, I made all of my "flash-fiction" free for the mailing list and wrote a new 10K word one for the Amazon et al perms-free instead. It's with my editor right now. I'm outlining then writing another 10K word story to put up for sale, and then I'll be back to finishing my novel trilogies. I'm in talks with a couple of authors about teaming up for novels. Trying to secure one in-particular who has already finished a novel set in the world of The Silent Still.

The two articles below, from an old online friend, have been beyond inspiring for me with both my stories and just day-to-day productivity. I posted elsewhere about the ebooks one being essential reading for self-publishers. Both articles are amazing. I really look forward to putting more focus on the written side of this universe after our event.

• How to Practice the Art of Grind
• How I old 978 Fiction Ebooks Per Day in 2014

 

[Draven Grey]

The event was a HUGE success!

The modern vaudeville events are definitely integrated into marketing the stories side of it all, but I'm really looking forward to putting some serious focus into online publishing for a while.

We filled the room, even though no one knew who we were. We broke even on our very first multi-thousand dollar event, with everyone getting paid, lots of prizes, over $500 to our charity (which was part of the event and story too), lots of media attention, and negotiations for more events already underway!

Working today on sending out a lot of my stories and our music to our new mailing list subscribers and event attendees. I think people were a bit confused by some of the stories we told from the stage and how each piece (our 8-foot Shadow creature, theater skits, acrobats, and songs) was part of that story, but every single person we talked to was in awe.

I'm looking forward to getting back to writing stories again, and this thread being almost solely about sales numbers for those stories soon.

Here's a couple of shots from the night (one from our Master of Ceremonies, and one of the guy who's normally in the pictured costume):

 

[Draven Grey]

Quick update:

• All 5 of my flash fiction stories (up to 2000 words) are up for free for mailing list signups now, including audiobook versions with different voice actors to fit the 1st-person character. I still need to add pdf for a couple.
• I completed a 15K word, 3rd-person short story, which I plan to offer perms-free. It's ready for an editor.
• I'm about 23K words into my first 3rd-person novel. I went back through the outline, fleshed a few things out more, and added a second storyline focused on the second lead. By the outline, it looks like it will be at least 85K finished. Perfect!
• Averaging 2K words a day, 1K to 2K an hour, 3K an hour on my better days. Trying to schedule out more time to write, while building my rock voice lessons business a bit more in order to pay the bills.
• I hope this first novel will turn into a trilogy. I have a second book of the series already summarized, but not a third. I also have a completed summary of each book for second Trilogy with new characters, that explores a side of the same world that I only touch on in the first trilogy. The second trilogy may end up being a prequel of sorts.
• The plan is to offer my books, for the first 90 days on KDP Select, then expanding to other sites using Smashwords.
  
• A writer friend may have found an editor for us both. This has been a bit difficult because I learned to write a particular style from one of the top editors in the world, Jodie Renner, so I'm extremely picky about style.
• Staying on top of my online friend's methods (mentioned previously), Mike Shreeve. I plan to follow his way quite a bit at first. His methods have changed a bit since I posted the links above. But still extremely successful, very inspiring, and someone I trust.
• No news on working with co-authors yet. I haven't been pushing for it yet. I want to publish more on my own, so that I hold higher value to other authors.

Speaking of co-authors, I have several books and courses that I wrote about the music industry over the years. They were all self-published using the "expensive ebook on my website with perks" method, so not Amazon and such, I no longer officially coach bands, but I became an expert on building bands' careers. I've been tempted to convince my co-authors to publish on amazon, even if they upsell in the book to the premium versions. However, my fiction (supernatural thrillers) and non-fiction (music business) are both under the same name, Draven Grey.

How would you suggest I remedy this fiction vs non-fiction paradox?

 

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[Boozoon]

How would you suggest I remedy this fiction vs non-fiction paradox?

Definitely get a new pen name and publish your fiction books there. If you have helped bands over the years, there will be signs of success and your name "Draven Grey" is your brand. Don't confuse people and switch to a pen name asap. Inform your fans about the change and go from there. At least that's my opinion. But for me, the music branding book could be the funnel for so many job opportunities and I would make sure to have my real name on it.

 

[Draven Grey]

Definitely get a new pen name and publish your fiction books there. If you have helped bands over the years, there will be signs of success and your name "Draven Grey" is your brand. Don't confuse people and switch to a pen name asap. Inform your fans about the change and go from there. At least that's my opinion. But for me, the music branding book could be the funnel for so many job opportunities and I would make sure to have my real name on it.

Thanks for your suggestion. The conundrum I'm running into is that I've built up my reputation and resume as a musician over the years under my name, which included coaching bands as well as releasing music as guest and my own stuff on millions of albums sold. My current music project is The Silent Still, and the stories are coming from that group too, directly tied in with the music and live show. It's all connected. I'm still considering using a pen name, but I haven't yet wrapped my head around the idea, considering how everything is tied together.

 

[Draven Grey]

1. 35K words into the 1st novel now.
2. I started noticing what needs to change for the next draft. I'm excited about how much the changes will add to not just the word count, but to the experience of reading the story too.
3. I'm not happy with the slow speed this is going, so I'm starting to set harder deadlines for myself. Part of the speed issue is that I tend to self-edit as I go. Granted, this will speed up my next draft, but it also slows down my first.
4. I have two editors on the table now, and will come back to choosing one after the novel is done. Shooting for March, since I'm juggling the live event plans for next year, as well as ramping up teaching rock vocals to help pay the bills.
5. I plan to release my 15K-word short story at the same time as the novel.
6. I'm also in the process of rewriting the Rock Circus Masquerade event to be a much more immersive, story-driven experience. The Silent Still is collaborating with a couple of the same groups we teamed up with for the first, test-run event. I'm ecstatic about teaming up with them on this new story, and truly making it the perfect melding of "Masquerade Ball meets Cirque Du Soleil meets Rock Concert."
7. Still constantly keeping up with effective promotional strategies. So far, the plan laid out in my last post is still my top choice.
8. I've decided to no longer play with the idea of music business related books. I've published and have been a part of many in the past, including online courses. And while it did bring in some money, the market just isn't strong for musicians spending money on advice - no matter how effective implanting that advice has proven. It's simply not the type of value the market is looking for, and I don't have time to start the management firm yet - even though our method is fully planned out and the concept tested. I may come back to it eventually, but for now, it's just a distraction.

 

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[Draven Grey]

1. 53K words into the novel now. Had to stop and plan out some more of it. (Edit: I originally aid 45K, but looking at it again, I was further along than that. Add today's writing, and now it's at about 53K)
2. Planning out the next phase in marketing for The Silent Still brought up a need for to write a lot more flash/penny dreadful/pulp-style stories (1K to 2K words), radio drama, and lore-based writings, all for a new podcast.
3. I finished writing the new story for our Rock Circus Masquerade event, now writing music with my team and bringing on more team members.
4. Still not happy with the pace, but it's a bit of a juggle between The Silent Still and paying my bills with singing lessons, freelance studio engineering, voice overs, and the like. Beats having a job though.
5. Got new, amazing speakers for mixing and mastering audio. I feel like I have magic ears now. Although my first project with them is consulting on an album mix from the UK, and then mastering that album too, I'm looking forward to how much of a help these will be for working on The Silent Still's music, audiobooks, and the like.
6. Rebranding The Silent Still has been a bit slow. "Experiences in Dark Urban Fantasy", "Dark Urban Fantasy Productions", still tossing ideas around before interviewing our more Ideal Fans about it.

 

[Draven Grey]

1. My novel is in the editing process. Finally! It came out to around 85K words, which I imagine will change a little after the Editor notes come back. I'm also looking forward to using what I've learn about storytelling and writing in order to write the next one go much faster. I already have a lose outline for a new trilogy.
2. The flash fiction has turned into a story-based podcast. The first season is about half written, and I plan to put it out as a written version too. There will also be one-off stories released between seasons.
3. Our feature-length film has turned into a TV show script instead. I'm looking forward to seeing where the writer and director take it.
4. The rest is moving slowly as our team comes together. I plan to separate our live show updates into a separate post and the appropriate forum. However, up until now, it has been about writing the show, so it seemed to fit. We lost our Choreographer/Artistic Director last month to a fatal car accident. Only recently did we start to get back on track with a new Artistic Director, and begin finishing up the script.