SFFMP 173: From Indie to Hybrid, Six Figure Audiobook Advances, and an $80,000 Kickstarter for a Novel

On today’s show, we had the honor of chatting with Michael J. Sullivan and his wife and business partner Robin Sullivan. These folks were self-publishing right at the beginning of the movement (before the kindle even became a thing), and have seen and tried a lot over the years. After finding indie author success, they accepted a deal with Orbit, and Michael is now a hybrid author, taking the best from both worlds.

Here are some of the specifics that we discussed:

• • Finding success as a self-published author in the early days of the Kindle.
  • Whether it was a hard decision to switch to a traditional publisher and if giving up some money up front was worth it in terms of reaching a larger audience and growing the fan base.
  • What indie authors signing traditional contracts should watch out for, especially if they want to keep self-publishing on the side.
  • Understanding non-compete, indemnification, and limbo clauses.
  • Why it’s hard (but not impossible) to get a Big 5 publishing deal that doesn’t give up ebook, print, and audiobook rights right now.
  • Why they’ve done three Kickstarters and how they’ve had such tremendous success with them.
  • How Kickstarter can be a form of advertising and potentially bringing in new readers who weren’t already in the fan base.
  • Whether there are any drawbacks to having a super successful Kickstarter.
  • What Michael and Robin do for marketing and how that’s changed over the years.
  • Why Michael is a big fan of Goodreads.
  • Doing AMAs on Reddit.
  • Why they say you shouldn’t feel you’re going to relinquish all your marketing to your publisher if you take a trad deal.
  • How audiobooks have become a big source of income for them and what kinds of advances are potentially achievable out there right now.
  • Why they believe audiobooks are becoming what ebooks were in 2010 and that there’s lots of room for growth.

You can visit Michael on his website, and if you’re interested in his books, you can buy the latest, The Disappearance of Winter’s Daughter, (as well as the rest) directly from his site.

He’s also releasing books in his Legends of the First Empire series, with Age of War coming this summer.

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