This past Saturday marked author Nick Cole’s triumphant return to Geek Gab. It’s a take-no-prisoners episode in which Daddy Warpig and Dorrinal get Nick to spill all of his secrets for making Galaxy’s Edge a smash indie success.
My takeaways from the episode:
- Publishers are screwed. Not just the Big Five out of New York; any publisher bigger than a one or two-man indie operation. There are many reasons why anything resembling the old publishing model is no longer viable, but Amazon’s effective back-listing of any book that’s more than one month old is a major factor. Plus, individual authors have the advantage over publishing companies when it comes to coaxing Amazon’s algorithm.
- The pulps are back–or at least the necessity of espousing pulp-era work ethics and sensibilities if you want to earn a living writing fiction. Readers want simple, entertaining books in ongoing series, and they want them now.
- The author as brand is dead. Kindle whales–the voracious readers you need to drive your sales–aren’t primarily loyal to a publisher, or even an author. Instead, they constantly binge on books in their favorite genre. If your next book isn’t there waiting to sate readers’ hunger when they finish your last one, they won’t hesitate to move on to titles by other authors that will scratch their genre itch.
- Amazon ghettos are real, and they can make or break your book. So saith Nick Cole. Let those who are wise enough to learn from others’ experience take heed.
In case you’ve been living under a rock on Mars, Imperator, the latest from Jason Anspach and Nick Cole, is out now!
If you’re all caught up on Jason and Nick’s stuff, and you’re looking for an epic space opera series with more of a fantasy bent, check out my award-winning Soul Cycle, the last book of which is out now!
