TAB050: A Different way of Running your Author Biz, with Mike Faricy

Author Mike Faricy is the guest in this episode of The Author Biz.

What are you doing to make the most of your author business?

What have you stopped doing because it isn’t working for you?

Today’s guest is mystery author Mike Faricy, and his path to becoming a full-time author took a big step forward when he did two things. He stopped spending time on tasks that weren’t working for him and began focusing his efforts on writing the next book.

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After writing five stand-alone novels, Mike hit on the idea for his Dev Haskell PI series, the twelfth of which, DOG GONE, was released earlier this month.

Mike’s path to becoming a full-time indie author has been slow and steady since he began the series four years ago.  What makes it interesting is the direction his path has taken.

He followed the same advice most authors take for his first few years as a writer.

You know the path, right? Setup your website, build a Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest / Instagram following, then start chasing what’s working right now for the authors who are selling a ton of books.

Then he decided to change his focus to what he saw was the most important thing he could do for his readers.  Write the next book and make it better than his last book.

As you’ll hear in this 51-minute interview, Mike’s focus on writing drives every decision he makes about his author business.  Everything from where he sells his books, to how he uses social media, even the choice of not currently having a website come from his focus on the next book.

Show Notes:

• Mike began making a concerted effort some time ago to stop doing what everyone said he should be doing as an author. Instead, he began to focus on what he felt was the most important thing. Write the next book and make it better than the one before.
• Mike has a mailing list for readers and uses simple techniques to grow it. The techniques are so simple they don’t require a website.
• A website is not a priority for Mike. He sees it as nothing more than a stop on the way to Amazon where people can purchase his books.
• Mike became a full-time writer within the past year.
• Mike’s Dev Haskell PI series began to reach critical mass with readers around the 5th book.
• Mike shares a simple but effective story on the value of paying attention to reader email.
• Mike believes a good consistent theme for covers within a series has been critical to the growth of his Dev Haskell series.
• Mike explains why he only sells his books through Amazon.
• A brief discussion of the changes taking place in the way KDP Select authors will be paid by Amazon.
• Mike focuses on digital sales for his books. He has done some paper, but it’s not a focus. To date, he has not done any audio versions of his books.
• Mike describes his small production team.
• Mike is starting a new series in September. He explains the story behind The Corridor Man series.

Links

Buy Dog Gone at Amazon

Mike’s Amazon Author Page

Facebook – Mike Faricy

Twitter – Mike Faricy

Subscribe to Mike’s email list.

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