Tag: Bardist

Along with everyone else, I read the Facebook clickbait (I know, shame on me) about Fox being willing to ‘reboot Firefly.’ As the article indicates, Fox would consider rebooting Firefly “if Joss Whedon himself wanted to revisit it.” Then they admit that they are in fact yanking our chain by saying: “Madden suspects Whedon is now too busy with movies, and he would not consider doing Firefly without Whedon.”

So there you have it. This is the sci-fi equivalent of Lucy going “come and kick the ball, Charlie Brown.” For all kinds of personal and professional reasons, I feel comfortable in saying that a reboot of Firefly will not happen. Not that I should have to revisit this same territory. God knows, we’ve raked over this endlessly since the show ended fourteen years ago. But let’s go over it again. Hey, it’s Friday.

Read More “Fox Will Not Reboot Firefly. Here’s Why:” »

Return to Part One …

Continuing the Authors Guide to Audience Building, I want to remind you of one important point: All artists are entrepreneurs, and all entrepreneurs are artists. Real artists ship. The game of professional creativity was never for the faint of heart. This blog series is simply about accepting the art and process of building an audience. It’s just as necessary to authors as a copy of The Elements of Style. You’ll never be in a place where you can afford to only listen to your inner creative voice. Audience building is integral to the Author Trip, full stop.

So let’s continue that discussion. Keep in mind, though, that it takes much persistent and gentle attention to build an audience. You need to understand the mechanics, but you’ll still need to apply them and everyone does this in their own way. Just like our matchstick Minas Tirith, you’ll be working at the micro level while being painfully aware of the macro. You’ll push through the ambiguity and doubt with a blind faith that your effort will lead you somewhere. After all, if you don’t believe in yourself, why should we believe in you? Let’s now consider some more ideas about audience building:

Read More “Authors Guide to Audience Building – Part Two” »

I watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy about once a year. As a fantasy series, there’s a lot to recommend. One thing I enjoy about the films are the sweeping, epic visuals of cities like Minas Tirith. Like me, you probably saw the matchstick sculpture of Minas Tirith that I use throughout this post. To me, it’s the perfect metaphor for the Authors Guide to Audience Building. As with this matchstick sculpture, you’ll find that audience building is a slow, painstaking process made out of many small pieces.

Now, before you write me off because I have less than 200 followers on Twitter, let me establish a few things: I’ve built audiences before. Before I pivoted and started the business of telling scifi stories, I had a side business in social media marketing. SEO, blogging, inbound marketing, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram … you name it, I’ve done it all. I’ve had Twitter audiences in the thousands … I’d love to tell you more but am forbidden by the NDAs that I signed. 😉

So when I started InkICan, I wanted to make sure I did the job right. No paying for clicks, no buying fake followers … I’ve watched people go this route and I’ve also watched them crash and burn. I’m an author and an entrepreneur. I’m trafficking in dreams, emotions, hopes and fears. This is too important to me. I’d rather take my time and get the job right. I apologize in advance to any of the bubbles I may be bursting with this breakdown. Please keep in mind that I have zero skin in the game, it doesn’t matter to me if you sell your book or not.

What follows are some lessons learned about the process of building that audience. It’s not a step one-step two-type process, it’s more of a state of mind. Believe me, there are plenty of “How to Build an Audience” blog posts out there that do just that. This isn’t one of them. One thing I want to stay very far away from is the formulaic ‘Do this to get 10,000 followers’ posts you often see on author blogs. Anybody can get 10K followers on Twitter or Instagram. Don’t believe me? Google ‘Buy Fake Followers’ and follow the instructions. All you need is a valid credit card. After you spend the money, you’ll quickly understand the truth: bots don’t equal audience. Let’s now cover a few basic ideas so that you can start building your own ‘matchstick castle.’

Read More “Authors Guide to Audience Building – Part One” »