SFA – 004 Tips for Diversifying and Increasing Your Income as an Author + Digging Deeper with Jo Lallo

Today, Lindsay and Andrea interviewed fellow host, fantasy author Joseph R Lallo, discussing his background as an author and talking about ways to diversify your income. He’s jumped from fantasy to science fiction over the years and has recently dabbled in the sub-genre of urban fantasy. Jo has been a successful full time author for more than five years.

Background questions for Jo:

Lindsay: What did you do before you became a full-time author, and what gave you your first taste of success?

Andrea: For those who don’t know you, how long have you been writing and when/why did you decide to self-publish? (Wish we’d asked Lindsay these questions!)

Lindsay: After 8-9 years, what have you learned, and is there anything you’re struggling with now?

Andrea: What sorts of things have you done to get better as a writer? Other than write more. Have you taken any classes on it? Any courses?

Questions on diversifying income and sources of extra income

Lindsay: What are some of your major sources of income now? Ebooks, audiobooks, print, foreign rights, etc.

Andrea: What portion of your income comes from the above? Do you feel using all of them is important? Or if you had to do it all over again, would you focus more on something over another?

Lindsay: I know you’re with Smashwords, and Draft2Digital is popular with authors too. What are your thoughts on using a distributor? Do you go direct where you can and then use them to get into places you can’t, or do you just let them do it all except for Amazon?

Andrea: How often do you try new ways to make money? When you hear of something, do you tend to jump onto it quickly, or do you wait to see if it’ll pan out?

Lindsay: What are your experiences with crowd-funding? I know you’ve got a Patreon, and have you tinkered with anything else?

Andrea: Have you tried any print formats other than standard paperback? Such as large print, hardback, or mass-market-style paperbacks? If so, how did that go? If not, do you think you’ll try them in the future?

Lindsay: Kickstarter? (I may talk a bit about this if you guys haven’t done one – Want to mention that it can be useful for small indie projects but also be super powerful for trad authors with a decent size audience who aren’t necessarily making piles. Michael Sullivan has done a few, and Seth Godin famously made 287K from the Icarus Deception in 2012 before he published it.)

Andrea: I know from listening to your previous show that you commission artwork a lot. Have you tried monetizing that in any way? Using it as download incentives? Or reader rewards? Do you think commissioned artwork helps your bottom line in anyway? (Like, keeping readers happy or interested in your series, etc.)

Lindsay: You’ve done a little more with foreign rights than I have. How did your deals come about, and has the income made it worth any hassle you might have gone through with lawyers looking over contracts?

Andrea: What do you think an author with limited time/resources should focus on first? Print, foreign translations of ebooks, audiobooks, or writing the next book. At what point is it important for an author to diversify?

Lindsay: What’s your experience so far with audiobooks? How did you get a producer? If you’ve produced some of your own, are you exclusive with ACX? (I can mention Findaway if you guys haven’t tried them yet.)

Andrea: How do you keep up on all of your streams of revenue? Are there any services you recommend? Any systems you use?

Thank you for listening, and we hope you enjoyed the show. We’d like to thank Joshua Pearson for helping us produce the show and Stephanie Neilan for putting the show notes together. Please consider posting a review to iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts. To ask a question for a future show or to leave a comment, visit 6figureauthors.com. We’d love to hear from you!

Recommended Resources:

• Ingram Spark for paperbacks and hardbacks and wide distribution
• Tracker Box – data crunching
• Findaway – audio books