Episode 309 – From Zero to Four Figures with Paul Austin Ardoin

Mark interviews Paul Austin Ardoin about his new book From Zero to Four Figures: Making $1,000 a Month Self-Publishing Fiction.

Prior to the interview, Mark welcomes new patrons, shares comments from recent episodes and a word from this episode’s sponsor.

You can learn more about how you can get your audiobooks distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.

During their conversation Mark and Paul talk about:

How Paul has wanted to be a novelist since he was six years oldUniversity being all about literary fiction, and never finishing that “great American novel” he kept trying to writeThe way that writing a genre he was passionate about (mystery) was what made the major difference for PaulPaul’s wife giving him a great idea for a main character, a former nurse who becomes a county coronerThe fact that there are distinct seasons in MilwaukeePaul being a pantser, or discovery writerHow literary fiction didn’t gell with Paul’s writing styleWhat is really meant by the “write what you know” advice from writingSome mistakes that can be made related to missing some of the important tropes in one’s writingHow Paul always approaches writing mysteries as a “pantser” or “discovery writer”One of the pitfalls of “pantsing” a mystery novelMaking a lot of mistakes in the past five years, and being sure to include that in his new book for writersThe definite plan that Paul believes that many authors can put into place to get to $1000 a monthHow Paul approached writing this book as something that just didn’t seem to exist for writers, offering them a way they could approach it, including an important mindset shiftThe value of series to a reader not having to go through the process of “finding something to read next”The importance of setting a more reachable goal such as $1000 a month rather than the commonly shared much higher revenue goals often pushed on writersReader expectations and why it’s such an important element for writers to pay attention toThe marketing pitfall authors can fall into when they believe their book is unique and “defies” genreSharing the many mistakes Paul has made as an author in this bookThe important question about how readers are going to find your booksPaul’s “Costco” analogy of book marketingFocusing on the entry point novelHow the “freebee seekers” are a part of the businessThe timeline that Paul lays out for this author journeyThinking about your first book as an advertisement rather than as your babyA few of the elements that are a part of this book that are mostly lacking in many of the books out there for writersThe power of being able to make changesAdvice Paul wish he’d had when he was first starting outAnd more . . .

After the interview Mark shares a few reflections about things that came up in the conversation.

Links of Interest:

Paul Austin Ardoin’s WebsiteFrom Zero to Four FiguresEpisode 300 – Celebrating 300 Episodes with Guest ReflectionsEpisode 301 – Procrastinating Partners Collaborating with Liz AndersonEpisode 166 – Wording Around with Kathy MacOther episodes with Kathy MacEpisode 280 – The Jozie PlannerThe 12 Hour Walk (Audio for Patrons) and Blog PostFindaway VoicesBuy Mark a CoffeePatreon for Stark ReflectionsBest Book Ever PodcastLovers Moon PodcastThe Relaxed AuthorBuy eBook DirectBuy Audiobook DirectPublishing Pitfalls for AuthorsAn Author’s Guide to Working with Libraries & BookstoresWide for the WinMark’s Canadian Werewolf BooksThis Time Around (Short Story)A Canadian Werewolf in New YorkStowe Away (Novella)Fear and Longing in Los AngelesFright Nights, Big CityLover’s MoonHex and the CityThe Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Paul Austin Ardoin is the USA TODAY bestselling indie author of The Fenway Stevenson Mysteries and The Woodhead & Becker Mysteries. He holds a B.A. in creative writing from the University of California, Santa Barbara and an M.B.A. in marketing from the University of Phoenix. His book Zero to Four Figures: Making $1,000 a Month Self-Publishing Fiction was published in June 2023.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0