Creative Dynamos 036 - Brian Rathbone on Fantasy, Marketing, and “Witches and Scoundrels and Fools" скачать в хорошем качестве

Creative Dynamos 036 - Brian Rathbone on Fantasy, Marketing, and “Witches and Scoundrels and Fools"

In episode 36 of Creative Dynamos, fantasy author Brian Rathbone discusses his path from horse training and a 35-year technology career to self-publishing, including mentally developing stories for years before writing after a 2005 layoff. He recounts early mistakes like an expensive print run with no distribution, later success selling eBooks via MobiPocket (before Amazon acquired it), and setbacks from Amazon’s 2016 algorithm and Kindle Unlimited shift. Rathbone explains defining personal success, building audience through free podcast novels, and focusing on long-term backlist sales using aggressive price rotations, SEO-focused metadata, and wide distribution, with Google Play and Chirp as key channels. He outlines his 12-book epic fantasy series built as four complete trilogies, a children’s book success (“The Silliest Dragon”), lessons on cliffhangers, community collaboration, and his in-progress historical fantasy duology “Witches and Scoundrels and Fools,” aiming for completion by year’s end. He shares where to find him at https://brianrathbone.com, on Threads as “Fantasy author Brian Rathbone,” and via email at brian@brianrathbone.com. 00:00 Meet Brian Rathbone 00:32 From Farm to Fantasy 02:24 First Epic and Publishing Reality 04:35 Print Run Mistakes and Early Ebooks 06:17 Amazon Shifts and Cliffhanger Lessons 07:58 Defining Success and Audiobooks 12:12 Backlist Strategy and Going Wide 16:33 World of Gods Premise 19:19 Accidental Kids Books 21:50 Unexpected Global Readers 23:45 What Epic Fantasy Means 26:33 Writing Accessible Series and Social Snippets 29:03 Content That Feels Human 30:19 Platform Wins and Flops 31:49 Plotting an Epic Series 32:09 Writing Like a Coder 33:12 Finding the Series Ending 34:26 New Historical Fantasy 36:16 Duology for Marketing 37:18 Shorts as Proof of Concept 41:02 Pricing and Free Hooks 42:16 Retailer SEO Strategy 44:40 Chirp and Box Sets 47:43 Collabs and Promoting Others 50:23 Building Writer Community 54:39 Podcasts and Approachability 56:57 Where to Find Brian