Brandon Sanderson writes fantasy novels.
And he’s extraordinarily good at it, writing a number of profitable collection and promoting greater than 40m books. Throughout the pandemic, he used the lockdowns to write down 4 additional novels that he then provided to his followers by way of Kickstarter, elevating an astonishing $41m. (Yup, you learn that proper.)
His firm, Dragonsteel, now employs greater than 70 folks. He purchased the property subsequent door to his house in Utah and turned it into his firm HQ, constructing this OTT “underground supervillain lair”.
And lately, he guested on The Tim Ferriss Present, giving an epic three-hour interview wherein he talked intimately about how he’s achieved all this.
In case you’re all in favour of succeeding as an creator — or certainly in any form of artistic entrepreneurship — the total interview is properly price listening to. However right here’s my overview of the important thing factors.
1. Writing is sweet for you — even when you don’t make it pay.
Don’t really feel that writing is barely worthwhile if it results in earnings, or a printed e-book.
“I feel writing is legitimately simply good for folks in the identical approach that figuring out is sweet for folks.. The time you spend writing is bettering you as a author – and that’s the most vital factor. The e-book is sort of a side-product.”
2. There isn’t any proper strategy to write.
Stephen King advises writers to not make a top level view. Orson Scott Card insists writers want one. Each authors are proper, as a result of that’s what works for them. Your job? To seek out what works for you. And on your present e-book or mission.
“A whole lot of belongings you’ll study in writing you form of have to decide on one or the opposite and check out it out and see the way it works for you.”
3. Develop a writing behavior.
if you wish to attempt to be an expert author, you must write constantly. There are binge writers, Sanderson concedes, who disappear for 2 months and emerge with a completed e-book. However they’re uncommon.
“Most individuals are higher served by writing a specific amount daily actually constantly, or a minimum of two or thrice every week, and constructing a novel out of excellent habits.”
You possibly can depend the phrases you write, or the time you set in. However do your reps, and do them typically.
Early on, Sanderson was informed that his first 5 books could be horrible. So he wrote them shortly, with no considered sending them out to brokers, or getting them revealed. He was simply studying his craft: “It was weight-training for my thoughts.”
4. Know your style.
On this interview alone, Sanderson talks in depth concerning the variations between portal fantasy, heroic fantasy, epic fantasy. About construction and plot. Made-up languages. Various kinds of magic techniques: how they work, and the way they have an effect on plot and story.
He is aware of his style, and he is aware of all the important thing works in that style. (That’s how he might take over the Wheel of Time collection so effectively, ending authentic creator Robert Jordan’s final three books after his dying.)
It is best to too. You possibly can’t innovate and break the principles, until them!
5. Get comfy throwing work away.
Professionals are prepared to confess when one thing doesn’t work, and begin recent. Amateurs get extra connected.
“There’s quite a lot of causes of author’s block, however one of many most important ones.. is that you just’re writing the chapter unsuitable, you might have sufficient instincts as a author since you’ve practiced lengthy sufficient to know it’s best to throw it away. However you don’t need to, since you did the work.”
6. Be sure to get loads of downtime.
Rookie writers attempt to work for lengthy stretches with out breaks, and inevitably both burn out shortly, or get distracted. Professionals are inclined to work in focussed blocks, with intentional breaks in between. They perceive that taking a break is a crucial a part of artistic course of.
Sanderson has an odd schedule. He sleeps many of the morning, writes for 4 hours within the afternoon, then hangs out along with his household till late at night time, when he does one other 4 hours writing. It is a routine solely somebody with employees, a accomplice taking care of the children and no day-job might emulate, however that’s no the purpose he’s making, right here. It’s on the lengthy break between his two every day writing classes.
“One of the crucial vital issues I ever did was take that point and demarcate it as non-writing time.”
7. A profitable creator additionally must be an entrepreneur.
It’s essential write. However if you wish to make a residing from it, you additionally want a head for enterprise. At all times be in search of new alternatives and earnings streams.
“I used to be raised by an accountant and a businessman… And I name this my superpower. My superpower is to be an artist raised by an accountant, and I’ve at all times had a little bit of that entrepreneurial sense.”
8. Be laser-focussed.
All the things about his firm Dragonsteel is designed to permit him to do the one factor solely he can do: write his books and inform his tales. His water bottle is stuffed up by another person, an editorial workforce inserts related feedback by beta readers into his drafts for him to test whereas revising. The principle factor he must do along with his day is write.
“The extra that I can maintain out of my mind that I’ve to trace, the higher, as a result of I’m at all times setting up narrative. I’m at all times engaged on the story.”
What’s the high-value factor in your enterprise that solely you are able to do? Delegate, construct techniques, prepare the whole lot so you are able to do this — and solely this — as a lot as doable.
9. Don’t depend on gate-keepers.
Few of the normal routes into publishing work any extra. Even the route Sanderson took to his first e-book offers — going to conferences and befriending brokers and publishers to see what they’re in search of — is now largely closed.
To succeed, you must be agile. And construct your personal following, reasonably than counting on a writer to do it for you.
10. You received’t get wealthy fast.
In case you dream of instantaneous fame and fortune, writing books in all probability isn’t the best way. Sanderson’s first e-book deal earned him simply $10k, unfold over three years. His spouse supported him whereas he wrote his early books, on her instructor’s wage.
Sanderson wrote 5 books earlier than he even obtained revealed. Then he wrote and revealed 4 extra epic novels earlier than he obtained his first best-seller.
As he says, it might simply have turned out in a different way. Shelf house is at a premium, and book-sellers can’t maintain supporting you when you don’t promote. It’s straightforward for authors to fall right into a “dying spiral”. And he got here near it.
11. Don’t depend upon a single earnings supply.
Amazon is the dominant participant on the planet of books. However Sanderson discovered which you could’t depend on it after his writer quickly had all their books faraway from the location after a dispute.
So he determined to Amazon-proof his enterprise. He’s developed different earnings streams, similar to promoting premium, leather-bound editions of his books himself.
No matter your enterprise, when you’re reliant on only one distributor, shopper or earnings supply, you’re susceptible. Develop alternate options.
12. Be taught from the disruptors.
Particularly folks exterior your area or style. Sanderson offers the instance of his buddy Howard Tayler, who bought print editions of his comedian Schlock Mercenary as a way to subsidise placing a free model on-line.
As a enterprise mannequin, this doesn’t appear to make sense: why would folks pay for one thing they might get at no cost? However Tayler identified that not solely did his Kickstarter campaigns generate profits — in addition they generated welcome publicity. And Sanderson listened.
His first Kickstarter, a leather-bound version of his e-book The Approach of Kings, raised $7 million. But it surely was his subsequent one which obtained headlines worldwide: a four-book bundle that raised an astonishing $41 million. (Which, he explains within the podcast, was really nearer to $45m with the added merchandise some followers selected to additionally purchase.)
13. It’s exhausting to chop by means of the noise..
We’re overwhelmed with info, so all of us are inclined to shut out the brand new in favour of what we all know.
“In as we speak’s media atmosphere, folks’s consideration has a gravitational pull to what they’ve already been listening to. They love the issues that they love and getting the rest to realize that escape velocity, to go off and to make a splash.. is simply super-difficult.”
14. ..So at all times inform an excellent story.
Be taught to shock and delight along with your advertising, in addition to your writing. Sanderson launched his large Kickstarter with a pretend apology video, implying that he was retiring from writing as a result of he’d performed one thing terrible. As an alternative, the key he revealed have been the 4 new books he’d written through the lockdowns.
Individuals watched as a result of they have been curious. Then they have been entertained, and so they purchased into his Kickstarter.
“I’m a storyteller,” he says. “And that’s a video with a narrative. I reside for the reveal!”
Need extra from Brandon Sanderson? He has some free lectures on plotting and construction on his web site. And naturally his novels!
Need extra from Tim Ferriss? His podcast, with a deep dive into the life and strategies of a prime performer, is at all times price listening to.
Need extra from me? Join The Inventive Companion, my free weekly letter for artistic professionals (and individuals who aspire to be).
