Posted on December 1, 2023.
After joining the first cohort of the Six-Figure Subscription Author Accelerator, Laura Navarre has grown her subscription to 30 paid members and 25% of her overall income as a KU author. In this episode, Laura shares her story so we can all learn from her success.
Join the next cohort of the Six-Figure Subscription Author Accelerator before it closes on December 1st at Midnight ET: https://academy.storytellersruletheworld.com/subscriptions-for-authors-accelerator
Laura’s Links:
Laura’s Subscription: https://reamstories.com/witchingworld/public
Laura’s website: https://lauranavarrescifi.com/
Laura’s books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Laura-Navarre/author/B004NG6CTK
#61 Episode Outline:
0:00:00 – 0:02:51 Introduction
0:02:51 – 0:07:47 Laura’s Start in Subscriptions
0:07:47 – 0:16:09 How Laura Started Her Subscription
0:16:09 – 0:28:50 How Laura Immerses Her Readers into Her World
0:28:50 – 0:31:52 What Laura Learned When Launching
0:31:52 – 0:38:56 Why to Deal With Cancellations and Why They Happen
0:38:56 – 0:47:22 Laura’s Goals and Are Subscriptions Worthwhile for Her?
#61 Episode Transcript:
[00:00:00]
Hello, everyone. Welcome. This episode is gonna be a ton of fun. It’s all about how to make a hundred dollars a month in your subscription to get there and go beyond that. But most importantly, making your first hundred dollars a month. And we have a very special guest. Laura Navar, an author who’s done an incredible job at launching her subscription in the past year.
She writes Paranormal Why Choose Spicy Romance, and not only does she write incredible stories, but she’s also been able to build an amazing subscription. And you’ll find out how she’s done this while, one, having a full time job that’s pretty demanding, having a family, and [00:01:00] also writing books in Kindleloaded, and she’s still in Kindleloaded, and KU is a great revenue stream for her, but now her subscription is 25 percent of her income as an author, which is so, so cool.
So amazing. Her subscription is going to be significant portion of her business and she’s going to share with us how she did it. She’s going to share with us everything. And it’s just gonna be amazing. If you are listening, and you also want to potentially grow your subscription, like Laura, then there’s a really cool option for you.
It’s called the Six Figure Description Author Accelerator. Cohort 2 actually closes in 24 hours from when this is going to be uploaded. So, if you want to join Now’s your chance. We’d love to have you. We’ll be doing live sessions throughout January and February. When you join, you get immediate and lifetime access to all the recordings for cohort one and over 70 sessions that me and Amelia filmed to help you start and grow your subscription.
If y’all don’t know Amelia, Amelia Rose is an amazing six figure description author who helps run this [00:02:00] podcast with me and helps run the community. So I can’t wait to hopefully see a lot of you inside. Laura actually took the first cohort. She was a founding cohort member in the six figure description author accelerator.
And well. I think her journey has been accelerated, but I’ll let her share a little bit more about her story. How she marked her description, why she got into it, what her tears look like now. Her tears are fascinating and also not too hard to make. Like, they’re fun for her and they feed her life rather than taking away from it, which is what we want to do.
Feed your life with some awesome information. So we’re gonna get to this podcast. Huge thank you to Laura for not only coming on but for being a part of the cohort and just doing such a fantastic job. You’re an inspiration. You seriously were so inspiring. Your energy makes me just want to give you a hug.
And we’re so lucky to have people like Laura in our community and so lucky to have you listening. All right, let’s get into this one.
Michael Evans: Laura, I’m so excited to be reunited. It’s been some time since we’ve chatted in this [00:03:00] format, but I’ve been so proud of you and all that you’ve accomplished with your subscription. But before we talk about where your subscription is at now, I’d love to start with what got you interested.
In starting a subscription, especially as someone who a lot of times we talk about authors and fiction platform starting a description. That wasn’t your case. Talk a little bit about, like, was your background as an author and why did you want to start a subscription?
Laura Navarre: Yeah, absolutely. Well, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a convoluted background because I’ve been publishing for a long time.
I started as a traditional author. So I was writing for some of the largest mass market publishers in the world. I was writing for Dorchester before they folded, then I was writing for Harlequin and I was writing traditional male, female historical romance. And I started a PhD program a few years ago.
I wasn’t supposed to be writing creatively at all. So I’m like, Oh, I’m not going to write for five [00:04:00] years till I’m done with this PhD program. And then the pandemic happened and I ended up writing. This really hard pivot away from anything I had written before. I, I was on an overnight flight to the Philippines, and I was watching the latest Star Wars trilogy, and all this, like, delicious angst between Kylo Ren and General Hux, and I thought, oh, it would be awesome if those two guys just fucked.
And so that led me to end up writing this very steamy, like, Star Wars and stuff. It’s an inspired sci fi, why choose romance series and it was, it was four books long. It was this main big thing and I finished it and I called my agent who’d been my agent for over a decade. And I’m like, I wrote this thing and she’s like, I want nothing to do with it.
And you know, Harlequin is not going to want anything to do with it either, which was of course was right. And so you know, my husband said, well, why don’t you just, you know, publish it yourself? Just, you know, go indie and publish it yourself. And so. I ended up doing this really hard pivot to India.
Started my own publishing company, Ascendant Press. We launched these four [00:05:00] books, and I eventually found my way into the Kindle Unlimited space. That’s where a lot of wide shoes readers reside. And so I was publishing primarily in Kindle Unlimited, this incredibly steamy wide shoes. And then I also had these traditional, you know, historical male female books, of which Harlequin still has several.
And I realized that I wanted to have a deeper relationship with my readers. I wanted to be able to connect with them more closely. I wanted to be able to reach as many readers as possible. And the more indie publishing I did, The more I began to appreciate the degree of control that it gives you, I’m definitely somebody who likes to have the steering wheel firmly in my grip, and so I don’t like being told how I, how I can or can’t engage with my readers, what I can or can’t publish, where I can publish, and, and so I was a bit at being as [00:06:00] reliant on it.
Kindle Unlimited has been great for me, but there are a lot of constraints. Any KU author will tell you. And I really wanted to have more freedom in terms of being able to engage my readers directly, being able to engage in different ways. And I found myself becoming very interested because I do write, now I’m writing paranormal, spicy, paranormal, why choose romance?
I found myself becoming very interested in creating an immersive intimate. Experience for my readers and for myself. And I stumbled across your book on subscriptions somehow a year or so ago. And that was how I first became exposed to the idea of the subscription model, which I didn’t even really know was a thing.
And the more I heard about it, the more I thought. This could really be a good thing. I would love to be able to connect with my readers. I would love to be able to diversify my income. I would love to be able to have a different ways of, of accessing and connecting with and, and engaging my readers.
And so I did your subscription accelerator course which was incredible, [00:07:00] incredible in all ways. And you know, I, I was still kind of planning to start a subscription, but nervous about it. And as you recall, when you and I started talking to each other, I was, you know, I travel all over the world.
I have another job and I’m writing job and I, you know, I, I’m, I’m calling from Uzbekistan, you know, into my subscription classes and I’m, I’m going on. Safari for three weeks and I’m gonna be living on a 10. And it, it just didn’t seem conducive to launching a subscription, but you’re like, no, you should go for it.
And you can, you know, you can, you can schedule your post ahead of time. And so I did. I, I launched and you know, it, it was insane. I mean, it, it really. I mean, by orders of magnitude, it exceeded any expectation that I had. I don’t want to like go on and on about it, but I can talk about the, this, the experience of launching.
If you want, it was just it was really mind blowing for me.
Michael Evans: Wow. Okay. No, I mean, first of all, it was really cool in multiple ways to be there with you for, for most of the story and see your launch, but before we even get to the launch, you know, if someone [00:08:00] goes on Amazon and looks at your books, you’ve done.
You’ve done really well there. And the one question that we all get, but it’s, it’s important, is like, how have you marketed your books? You know, you, you, Kinoland is a great program. We’ll talk about how you do KU and subscriptions because you are doing both, which is amazing, but how did you first gain a readership and find readers with your books in KU?
How do you market it?
Laura Navarre: You know, it really came down to making connections with other authors who were writing what I was writing and kind of doing what they were doing when I released this you know, sci fi why choose series. It’s it’s. Such a tiny niche and I started wide and I had so many things working against me.
The fact that it was a really small niche, the fact that I was trying to publish wide and most of the why choose readers are, are reading, you know, Kindle Unlimited. And so I sort of fumbled my way over to Kindle Unlimited. And then I met this group of authors that were all spicy. paranormal why choose authors who are all going to be releasing first in [00:09:00] series spicy paranormal adult academy why choose books in summer of 2022 and i was invited to join them and i would never have written an academy book honestly i it had never even occurred to me but i’m like oh you know I went to Catholic school.
I can write this, you know, and so I wrote one and it took off. It took off. And part of the reason it took off is because I was, you know, with these other authors and we were releasing back to back all summer and we were all promoting each other. And so all the books got a lift. We all got a lift from it.
But I also, I just managed to write a book that that hit at the right time, and it was only supposed to be a standalone. I mean, for me, originally, this was my way of saying, I’m going to go back and write this sci fi stuff that nobody’s reading, but I’m just going to do this 1 book to see how it goes. And it exploded.
And so now I’ve just published the 3rd in series and the 4th is up for pre order and number 5 is coming. And so So it was unplanned in that way, but I was lucky. I read somewhere early in my writing career, and I do think it’s [00:10:00] true, that there are three factors that go into an author’s success. There’s talent, there’s hard work, and there’s luck.
You need two of the three. You need two of the three to be successful and I do work hard and, and I was lucky. So yeah.
Michael Evans: Wow. No, that’s such a cool story and you’re new, like it’s, yeah, that’s what, what a journey. And now you have book three out, book four. It’s very exciting. And I know that part of those books you’ve been offering for early access to your subscription, which like, let’s, let’s talk about this subscription and launching.
But before we even get to that how did you plan out what you were going to do in your subscription when you were first getting started? Like, what was your thought process and being like, okay, before I’m ready to launch, you have to know what you’re launching. How do you figure out the what?
Laura Navarre: Right.
Well, I know from taking the Accelerator class with you that there are these different [00:11:00] models. There’s, you know, exclusive access where you’re creating things in your subscription that, that they can only be read in your subscription. There’s early access where you’re releasing things early in your subscription and then you’re pulling them out and, you know, maybe going into KU or doing something else with it.
And then there are other like community based. And I decided, because I do write sort of slowly, I, you know, have a very intense non writing job that takes a lot of my time. Running the publishing company, the non authoring side of publishing takes a lot of time. And so I, exclusive access was not really going to work for me because I can’t write that fast.
And so I figured I would do early access. And I was just starting to write. The third Gemini book in the third book of my series Gemini Wild, which just came out and I had built this readership from the last two books that were waiting, you know, someone impatiently waiting because I write slowly and so I decided, yeah, I was, I was going to wait like we talked about and then you and I had a conversation and you encouraged me to think about like the minimum [00:12:00] viable subscription and can’t I just you know, it would be okay for me to like not wait until the end.
You know, I felt like everything was just perfect, but just to try to get dollars in the door as soon as I could for my subscription. So I, I, it was the right time for me because I was writing this new book and I had these readers that were waiting and I decided I would do the early access model. I have a little bit of exclusive content in there.
I have a steamy novella with some of the characters that are more popular in my series that it’s not available anywhere else right now. And I have readers who are not in my subscription who are incessantly saying, like, when do we get our hands on that? And I’m like, well, you got to join in order to get access to it.
So I had that, but it really, the main focus was early access. And so. I figured I would just post a chapter every 7 to 10 days. You encouraged us in the class to think about you know, kind of. Different goals, like what would be like the minimum goal that would be successful, you know, what would be good and what would be great.
And so I’m like, well, if I get 5 subscribers, I will have a minimally [00:13:00] viable subscription. That’s something to go on with. If I have 15, that’ll be like good. That would be like a really solid, great start. And if I have 25. That would be heading out of the park. And so I did this long pre launch period. I’ve been studying launches.
And so I, you know, did a lot of communicating with my newsletter people. My reader is talking to people on Facebook, got them to go to. sort of a Google form to say, you know, I guess I want my open sesame so that I can get into the witching world, which is them consenting to let me market to them. And so I, you know, would, would then be able to send them, you know, sort of targeted and this it’s coming and here are some new bonuses that are going to be added.
And so then when I finally launched, I had 30 people that had, you know, filled out their open sesame and 25 of them, 25 of them actually subscribed. And so you know, that was like. You know, that was like the great scenario that was, you know, well above anything that I expected and they mostly stuck around.
You know, I had you know, occasional person drop, but then somebody [00:14:00] else would add. And so my goal was by the end of the year. I mean, I launched in June before my Safari and the goal was at the end of the year. That I would you know, if I were really successful, I’d have 25 subscribers and two tiers, and I had 25 subscribers, you know, in June.
And so, this then got me thinking about, well, okay, let’s, let’s try to launch another tier. And you and I had another conversation and, and we talked about a book club model. And so I, you know, it was hard for me to conceptualize that people would pay more money than they were already paying me just to get what they’re already getting.
Plus, you know, me, me, you know, curating a, you know, a, a a a book for them to read every month, another author’s book, not my book. But I made it super niche. I, I write, you know, spicy paranormal. Why choose with lots of mail mail in it. So these are a bunch of tropes that become very specific, and it’s hard to find that on Amazon because Amazon doesn’t let you say, I’m writing why choose with [00:15:00] lots of sword crossing, they they’ll put you in the dungeon.
So you it’s hard to find. So but the readers are out there and they want it. And they’re my readers because this is what I’m writing. And so I offered, you know, this kind of book club model and a number of my subscribers upgraded. And I had a, you know, I’m just going to let a few people in because I do handwritten letters for these people who are in my book club and I can only write so many of them.
And so, you know, it was full. So I closed the door. Then I started hearing from readers saying, Could you open the door and just let one more person in? And so it just it, it exceeded my expectations. So, I mean, I’m not one of these huge subscription authors. I’ve got 31 subscribers right now across my 2 tiers.
And I don’t know, like 130 free followers, but it’s so much. More than I expected when you think about the fact that a year ago I didn’t even know what a subscription was and it was no part of my life. And now it was it’s been transformative It has changed my mindset It has transformed [00:16:00] my business model and I’m getting 25 percent of my revenue now from my subscription And so I’m just so I’m so delighted by the whole thing.
I’m really delighted
Michael Evans: by it Wow. Oh my god It’s makes me so happy. That’s so it’s such a great story and And I’m like, I mean, you’ve done so many like awesome things. Like you just, I mean, like your launch watching what you were doing was amazing. I mean, the pre launch I think is a really important takeaway for people because sometimes we feel like, you know, Oh, okay.
I’m just going to. Put this subscription on my readers. Like I’m watching a description and you’ve put all this thought into it, but they don’t see all of that thought. So they just kind of get this new link that they have to see. And they’re like, wait, what is this? And if you can build it up with some context that that can be helpful, especially if you’re launching to like a mailing list, existing audience and the book club tier.
So I, I mean, there’s so much to dive into. Let’s first start with the early access because. I, I mean, I want to emphasize that what [00:17:00] you said was you’re doing one chapter, how long, because a lot of people are like, how much chapters do I have to give to do early access? Do I have to write like a book a month?
You mentioned you’re a slow writer, but like, you’re doing how much
Laura Navarre: right now? Yeah, I mean, it’s it’s like one chapter every 7 to 10 days and I was I was really nervous when I started that I would feel pressured by the fact, you know, I mean, I’ve never released material early before and I had this like mental block about not releasing anything until it was totally perfect.
And so I had to get over that. And then I had to get over the psychological worry that like the readers were going to catch up with me or I was You know, I was going to have a pause and we we talked through that also in your class that it’s actually okay to pause and it’s it’s okay. As long as you communicate with your subscribers that, hey, I’m missing a week because something has happened.
So you know, I, I still like. It nervously wait for the readers with pitchforks and torches to show up at my door and say, you know, it’s been 8 days since [00:18:00] you released a chapter, you know, we’re gonna, we’re gonna burn you at the stake now, but that that hasn’t happened to me yet. So it really, it really has been just marvelous.
It’s so empowering to do something that you’re nervous about. And to have it go so well I mean, just that, that in and of itself is like an amazing life lesson and it’s being able to connect with my readers in this way. I think, you know, it’s not like you’re total strangers. They, they have a relationship with you and so they’re understanding.
I feel like, you know, if I do come to the point where because of my travel schedule or something, my, my, I have to go slower, this Like all hope is not lost, you know, I mean, I mean, there’s, there’s flexibility there and there’s grace there and there’s understanding there.
Michael Evans: Yeah. No, that’s, I mean, one, I’m just, I’m so happy to hear that you’re like, that you, you have had that experience because it, it’s what we see time and time again, like, [00:19:00] especially if you’re open with your readers, like, Hey, like.
You know, this is gonna, this is gonna come, you know, every 7 to 10 days ish, and we’ll see. And I think it’s really great to hear that you’re making this work as a slow writer. Because that’s, I, let’s do quotes. You, you said slow. You said you’re a slower writer. That’s, that’s really. And I’m curious because if you look at your tears, you have the, the cover of deals, the blurbs that you’re doing, you’re doing the exclusive access to some bonus content you’re doing exclusive access to some of your short story slash novellas, but then of course you have the early access.
I’m curious, like. Do you think it’s the early access that’s getting new people in? Is there like 1 benefit that’s getting people in and another 1 that’s keeping people there or how do you see that on your 1st tier? What’s bringing them in?
Laura Navarre: I, I, I assume it’s the early access. I [00:20:00] mean, I think that for me.
A benefit of having closer relationships with your readers is getting a deeper understanding of what it is about your stories that resonates with them. And for, for me, it’s they really deeply love the characters and they just want to spend time with these people. And they love the world, and they want to be immersed in that world, and so not having to wait until next summer when Gemini Wicked is released, you know, being able to start getting access to that now, like being able to see their favorite characters again You know, that I think that that’s a strong pull and I think in my book club the fact that they get a handwritten letter every month from a warlock of their choice, you know, that they like collect these letters and they post on Instagram and, you know, I’m a pen pal of, you know, the silly, the goblin, you know, and, and all of this stuff.
And so it’s, it I think that it’s what keeps them there is probably feeling like. They’re immersed in that world and they have intimate access to [00:21:00] these characters and their adventures that the ordinary reader does not have. The ordinary reader has to wait on. And 1 of the interesting things about the whole experience for me is.
You know, my, my 1st chapters, my, my 1st drafts are rough. I mean, I need to do a lot of revising to get, you know, my chapters ready for prime time. And so I’m, I’m releasing quite rough material, largely unedited material and readers are forgiving of that. They don’t care. If the sentence is, you know, that I just wrote is worthy of an MFA graduate, which I am they care about that it’s about their character that they love so much.
And you know, that, that they’re getting to see, you know, these two or three or four or five or six, because I’m writing Polly, you know, characters that they’ve been waiting, you know, four books to be together, finally be together. And they’re, they’re there for the story and they’re there for the characters.
And I think that I think that that’s what keeps them.
Michael Evans: Have you done the author personas quiz yet? No,
Laura Navarre: I have [00:22:00] to do it yet, Michael.
Michael Evans: No, you’re good. It just came out, but you’re, you’re giving me Garnet vibes now. Okay. Okay. In a good way. Let’s see. If you get Garnet, then that means maybe potentially the quiz is working, but you’re definitely talking about the types of things that a Garnet subscription author would.
You’ll love the quiz. I just, you’re just totally like speaking of that, like with your characters being the center of the brand. I think that’s so important because there’s a few misconceptions that like, to be honest, like. Like, I always, I’m always, like, in a, inspired, like, I’m really inspired right now.
One is, like, you’re getting readers, like, who normally aren’t paying you directly anything. They’re paying KU. And then you might be making, like, three ish dollars, two ish dollars on a full page read rate of the book. And those readers are now You have, you know, 30 of them, effectively, who are paying you 5, not per book, per month.
And some who are paying 10 a month. That’s, in and of itself, really, really wild. But [00:23:00] then there’s another thing, which is like, a lot of times we feel like the subscription, you have to have access to you. Like, are they going into Laura’s world? And it’s your world that you’re creating. It’s the witching world you’ve created.
But It’s about the characters and they’re actually getting close relationship with them. You’re not necessarily DMing them and being like, this is what I had for breakfast this morning. You’re too busy for that. You’re, you’re like, you know, often other countries, you know, doing like saving the world, important work.
That’s great. But you’re not showing them like, yeah, guys, this was like the, I mean, I know the nature of your job for this, like classified conversations. This is the classified conversation I had. Like, no, no, that’s not you. So it’s really cool that you’re. You’ve made this work for you and I’m just, I’m really, I’m, I’m inspired.
Thank you.
Laura Navarre: You know, it is interesting for me and you, you also talk a lot on the podcast and in other places about the fact that you iterate and you try different things with your subscription and it doesn’t have to stay [00:24:00] static. And mine is only a few months old. And so I’m, I’m still, you know, just trying to figure out what works and doesn’t work.
And in my. book club, they get a monthly zoom with me where we talk about the book that we read and you know, I’ll do some giveaways and things. And, and I thought that that would be a big draw. But I only got like a couple of the 12 or 13 who show up for my zooms. And so apparently that’s not like a huge thing.
And which is. Fine with me, you know, I mean, I, I don’t, I don’t need, you know, to, to be like adored in that way, but you just don’t know. That doesn’t
Michael Evans: surprise me. I mean, I, not to go back to the first of this quiz, but like, I, I’ve been thinking about this thing because it came out this week, like wait too many hours, but what’s interesting about it.
So there’s, there’s the five types, there’s the moonstone, the lap, lapis, there’s There, there’s Garnet, there’s Pearl, and then oh my god, I’m forgetting the other one. There’s, there’s another one that I’m forgetting, which is really funny. But, regardless of that, it’s been, it’s been a fun [00:25:00] but long day.
What you’re describing is, like, when, if I was to go to, like, a live stream, right, and go see an author. That would be because I want the relationship with them. So that’s like what we call pearls. So that, that makes sense. Like so, so what’s interesting is, I’ve seen this in Amelia’s live streams. ’cause Amelia’s not a pearl Amelia is actually a moonstone and
I know we’re getting it. I’m like, feel like I’m now talking like in a foreign language. I’m really sorry. Amelia’s not the kind of person. Who puts herself at the center of her brand. It’s typically her worlds and also her characters to a high degree too. So I’ve actually like was at a live stream call with her readers, you know, like just kind of like hanging out in the background and people showed up.
Like, don’t get me wrong. Amelia has, you know, Amelia has readers who would be into that, but it wasn’t like the thing they went crazy for. What they go crazy for is like when it’s anything to do with the characters and Amelia is not. One of her characters, she’s just the creator. So that’s what they’re more interested in.
So that’s really interesting. That’s something too, that like, maybe you decide, like, we’re not doing the live [00:26:00] stream anymore. Save yourself some time. We’re not doing the zoom call. And see if people drop off, people might not. And then that saves you time and you get to do the things that your fans actually want, which it sounds like they want the book recs.
That’s a big thing. They want your take on the actual stories they can read and they just want more access to all the characters you’re doing. So that. Maybe that’s where you spend more time and acts the livestream slash zoom.
Laura Navarre: Yeah. I think that we could be headed in that direction. I mean, every month they get a handwritten book review from their favorite warlock.
Wow. So my characters are reviewing the books and so Wow.
Michael Evans: Genius. Yeah. So,
Laura Navarre: yeah. That they seem to appreciate.
Michael Evans: Yeah, no, that, that’s like the type of thing that I bet. You could get read and they’re already posting online about it. This is where like you have readers talking about this and then readers go like who don’t know you yet and who don’t know your Scripture like wait I kind of want to handle it another from a warlock and then they start getting those hammered letters and then [00:27:00] they’re like wait I want to learn more about this warlock.
Let me read Laura’s actual books. And there you go. You have a new
Laura Navarre: reader I hope so. I hope so. I mean, I, I, it’s all still very new to me, but I’m definitely I, I definitely think that the, the, the immersion in the world and the connection with the characters is, is what’s working for my readers and, and, you know, they wouldn’t have that kind of immersion without the subscription.
So I think that, you know, it’s, it’s, it works for them for that reason. And, yeah. As we kind of look ahead to what I do in the future with the subscription, I’m planning next year to launch a higher paying tier and I’m still thinking about what goes into it, but I very much want to lean into this idea of immersion in the world and the 5 senses and, you know, being able to just layer on more, more more touchstones, touch points for them with with this world of these characters. So that’s something that the subscription makes [00:28:00] really kind of uniquely possible. I don’t know how I would be able to do that without having this platform.
Michael Evans: Yeah, no, it’s that’s what makes the subscription model really great.
And it’s something I know I’ve talked about, but it’s, it’s just, I think it’s a, it’s a mindset change. Like you said, when you have readers subscribing to you who are paying you monthly, annually, whatever it be, no longer do you have to be constantly thinking about bringing in new readers. I mean, that’s still a focus, but now you can also spend some of your time going, there’s these people who are already here.
I know it. They’re subscribed. How can I make their life better? And that opens up a whole new world.
Laura Navarre: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I just starting to think about like physical merch and some of these other, you know, kind of aspects of how, how you can make the world more real for them.
Michael Evans: Oh yeah, no, no, no. And since you’ve launched, like what has been some of the biggest takeaways you’ve had, biggest things that you’ve [00:29:00] learned about running a subscription, marketing it.
All that fun stuff.
Laura Navarre: I mean, in terms of running it, definitely, that I don’t have to submit perfect material. That they’re there for the characters, and they’re there for the stories. And they’re not there for perfectly crafted, you know, professionally edited sentences. Not that I’m throwing junk up there, I’m, you know, giving it my best effort.
It’s not the perfectly polished prose that the final book is going to have. And so the fact that they’re good with that is, is really amazing to me. And that many of them go on and buy the book despite the fact that they’ve had early access to it. I mean, that’s mind blowing to me. I think the fact that I, I don’t have to It’s, it’s very easy for me to fall into the mode of, of being a very, very much of a planner in terms of my, my year and my publication schedule.
And that there’s an element of improvisation and the fact [00:30:00] that I’m, you know, just a chapter or 2 ahead of where my readers are in my writing and that that’s okay. I think also. I had certain expectations. Based on taking the class and, you know, what little I knew about subscriptions before I launched that my, my readers were going to require, like, lots of, like, Karen feeding and interaction from me, 24 7, like, I’m a service provider.
That’s that’s always on call for them, but they don’t require that. I mean, they’re, they, they don’t I, they can be kind of quiet a lot of the time. I don’t necessarily get like. Massive amounts of commentary on, you know, individual chapters but they stick around. I mean, month after month, they continue to subscribe.
So they’re, they’re somehow getting, you know, what they’re looking for from the experience, even if they’re you know, I, I, myself am not, people always seem shocked that I’m not an outgoing, you know, extroverted person. I’m a complete introvert. And so [00:31:00] if it turns out that my readers, a lot of them are also introverts like I am, and, you know, are, are taking it in and enjoying the experience and not, don’t really need to be having like a 24 seven.
You know, conversation with me about, you know, each chapter or each post that that’s okay. So, so I’m, I’m kind of learning that as I go along. And there’s just, there’s so much to be learned yet. I know that you are in the process of adding an audio book feature to the subscription. So that’ll be something else for me to learn.
I released. My first audio book last year, I record my own audio books in my closet. And so you know, that’s, it was also a learning experience. So how do I bring that to my, to my subscription? Is that, you know, something that readers are going to be interested in being more of a part of. I mean, there’s, there’s a lot that’s still to be learned and I’m just six months into the process.
So those are just a couple of like early takeaways.
Michael Evans: Wow, no, that they’re really awesome takeaways, really, really helpful. And one, [00:32:00] one thing that I kind of want to dive into a little bit more is like, so you went in with the expectation, which is a very understandable one that like, your readers might be interacting with you.
Like, you might have to respond to a lot of comments and all that. anD you mentioned like, while they’re paying each month, right? So I guess they like it. And that’s a fair assumption. Now that you’re like happy you’re it, but when you first started when you first launched and you had paying subscribers But you didn’t see, because there’s always that period, like when someone joins, okay, they have 30 days to potentially cancel.
Right. And there could be an anxiety around that. Did you feel any sort of like, there’s nothing going on here? Does that mean everyone’s going to leave or was there a feeling
Laura Navarre: about that? I mean, every time somebody leaves, because people do leave occasionally every time somebody leaves, it’s like a knife in my heart.
Like, why, why did this person leave? What did, what did I do wrong? Is it that it took too long for me to start to release something or, you know, the writing is not what they [00:33:00] expected, but then the universe is kind to me and somebody else will join. And as I said, a lot of my folks have stayed around. And so I do have anxiety that’s associated with churn, you know, just reminding myself repeatedly that.
This is not something that I should be taking seriously. This is a fact of life for for subscriptions. 30 percent of your subscription on average might turn over in a year and people leave for a wide range of reasons that don’t have anything to do with me. People have an entire life that has nothing to do with me.
And so there are a whole suite of reasons why someone might. Stop subscribing. That is not, you know, because of something I did that’s wrong. So I am, you know, going through that process also as, as people leave and, and it’s getting. You know, a little bit easier. I mean, the first time someone unsubscribed, it was just like, you know, I, I have to try to understand why they laughed.
And the truth is, I’m not going to understand why they laughed unless I try to chase the person [00:34:00] down and ask them, which would really be beyond awkward and a violation of their privacy. And I need to just bless them and let them, you know, go off into the world. It’s. Okay. And maybe they’ll come back, you know, maybe they’re still going to buy my books on KU.
I mean, you know, maybe they’ve joined a convention, they don’t read spicy romance anymore. I mean, anything, it could be anything, you know, so
Michael Evans: it’s possible that would be a wild switch, but no, it’s very, you know, what’s interesting is there’s some platforms that allow like exit surveys and what you see almost always, most of the answers, majority of the answers.
End up being that I don’t have I don’t have the money and there’s two takeaways from that. So one is that that is actually probably the most common reason that financial reasons. And there’s, I don’t want to speak out about that too much, but I’ll turn back to that in a minute. But the second thing that also you see that affects why that’s the highest risk.
thing that people choose is there might be another reason, but we always, as [00:35:00] people, most of us want to, don’t want to hurt other people, which is actually something really nice about humans, but it’s totally true. So we don’t want to hurt, especially someone who we actually like, but maybe we just don’t like them enough.
And it’s not anything because of you. It’s because their tastes are changing, right? But they don’t hate you is the point. They don’t hate you. You did nothing wrong. Life happens, but they’ll still put the money one because it’s the easiest one. So that’s going to be. That’s kind of the data that we see on that.
But what’s interesting because you talk about churn, you said that 70 percent number. And I just want to give some people perspective on like some of the biggest subscription programs in the world. So Canada limited isn’t, they don’t release any public data on their churn or subscriber number. We have no idea.
So I can only speculate there, but similar ish programs would be something like a Netflix or Disney plus they report their subscriber numbers each quarter and their churn number. Because they’re a public company and that, well, Amazon’s a public company. They’re just opaque about KU, but these companies, that’s like core to their product, right?
And typically, it [00:36:00] depends, but like the best subscription television programs run by multi billion dollar corporations can get down to like 3 percent monthly churn. So comp at it over a year. Yeah, that’s, that’s the best. That’s the best it gets. We see that like A lot of them are around the 5 percent mark, which, which feels really stressful because if you compound that over a year, it’s like, okay, that’s a lot of people, but people come back.
We see every month, which is really cool to see now. There’s like hundreds of dollars a day on ream that are from reactivated subscribers. People who used to have a subscription, who are coming back that that’s happening. And that was not a thing we launched because there wasn’t enough time that’s happening.
So that’s another cool data point, but Yeah, I guess like to put it in perspective, like the churn is like so normal. The biggest companies in the world can’t fight it. And it has a lot more to do with individual readers and their lives. [00:37:00] Then you and I think that’s I’m very, I’m very happy that you shared how you felt about that because it’s a really it’s a it’s it’s not a fun topic, but it’s an important one.
Laura Navarre: Yeah. I mean, it’s it’s easy to feel rejected or to take it personally and writers are already. I think many of us, you know, so so sensitive to. You know, I mean, we all have to build a thick skin when it comes to all the different ways that we get rejected as, as writers that I didn’t finish the book, the one star reviews, the I, I publisher, I’m not going to acquire the book.
I agent, I’m not going to acquire the book. You know, I mean, there, there are contests you enter that you don’t win. I mean, there are just a million, a million, you know, ways that, that you, that you get rejected. And so you develop a thick skin, but. I think maybe because the subscription is a personal connection with readers in a way.
I mean, not like I’m sharing deep, dark secrets of my life, but I mean, we’re knowing each other. I’m getting to know them. That makes it all the more tempting to take it personally when [00:38:00] somebody leaves. I had one reader who was in my higher paid tier who you know, downgraded to the lower paid tier and wrote me a letter and said, I’m so sorry that I have to downgrade to the lower page here, but my life is just a mess and you read too fast for me.
And I just, I can’t keep up and it’s stressful. And so I have to go back to the lower paid tier. She didn’t have to tell me that, but you know, it’s just an example of how there are so many reasons that people You know, downgrade a subscription or leave a subscription that really, you know, that had nothing to do with me.
That was, you know, about her life and the fact that she just didn’t have time for a book club. So it’s a good reminder to just you know, put these things in perspective. Like you said, it happens to everyone and it’s. It really isn’t something that you should take personally, and it is getting a little bit easier as I go on to just say, okay, you know, that person, that person has has stepped out of the subscription and that’s okay.
Michael Evans: Yeah. No, it’s, it’s part of, it’s part of life. [00:39:00] And yeah, no, that’s amazing mindset. I’m proud of you for being there. And I want to now talk about The future. You touched on it a little bit. You’re planning on launching a third tier, but What are, what are kind of your goals as you look forward to the new year?
We’re recording this like right at the end of November. So in 2024, if you have a goal where would you like to be in your subscription? It doesn’t have to be numbered, but just what are you planning overall? What’s exciting you about your subscription future?
Laura Navarre: Well, I definitely like to continue to grow my subscription.
I’d like to you know keep engaged and happy for as long as I can, the, the subscribers that I have and invite new subscribers into my world. I. I don’t have crazy aspirational goals. I think as I think about it, I’m thinking, okay, I’ve got 31 subscribers now. If in 2024, I launch a higher paid tier of some [00:40:00] kind that maybe has some aspect of, you know book boxes, audio books, you know, what, what they’re getting now, plus some other stuff whatever that looks like.
And I get a few folks who, you know, subscribe to that. It might be best if it launches small because I have never done like physical merch before. And it might be good to just have a couple few people that I’m doing it for as I, as I’m learning, you know, time is very limited for me. And, you know, maybe I don’t want to be running around, you know, trying to assemble, you know, 900 book boxes.
So if I could get just a few subscribers into this higher paid tier who are happy and learn how to run that sort of a higher paid tier. And maybe get to, like, I don’t know, 50 subscribers by the end of next year. Is that reasonable? I mean, I really don’t know, even know what’s reasonable, but I would like to be able to have a healthy, happy subscription community across, you know, three tiers with people [00:41:00] who feel that they’re fostering a deeper connection with my characters in my world.
And that it’s another way for me to bring joy to my readers and myself. I mean, that’s all about the, my mission statement as a publisher, as an author is you know, through immersive, intimate authentic storytelling and engagement to create joy for my growing community of, of ideal readers and, and for myself.
And so I want to use the subscription to help me achieve that.
Michael Evans: That’s beautiful goal, beautiful mission statement. And I, I resonate with that a lot. I think, and I love how you, I love, I love your goals and I’m, I’m excited on, on, on the merch front. I think you’ll be excited because inside of the accelerator, we’re adding something on it that might actually come in perfect time because secretly I’ve been working on merch for the last three months.
Oh, wow. Yeah. We’re, we’re, yeah. Yeah. We’re, we’re going to have something for you. So [00:42:00] I’m, I’m excited about that. And you know, this is, this is an odd question because I think you’ve already answered it, but it’s just a question. I feel like I have to ask you because you, you’re, you’re really like in a lot of us are really busy, almost all of us, but you’re really busy.
You have a lot going on. And you know, when you think about your life, it’s like, okay, all the things to do in the author role, that’s a small slice of your overall life. And now you’re going to add a subscription onto it. It’s something that for most of us and rightfully so we should heavily question if it’s worth it.
So I want to ask you that question. Has it been worth it for you? When you look back, you didn’t even know what a subscription was until you read my book. Now, when you look back, you’ve obviously invested time into it. You’ve invested money. You’ve done a lot to. Get to where you are. Was it worth
Laura Navarre: it? It’s so totally worth it for so many reasons, so many reasons.
I I’ve talked a lot about bringing joy to my readers, being part of my mission statement and [00:43:00] wanting to create that immersive, intimate escape for them, which is like the immersive, intimate escape that I sought for myself through books and fiction and childhood, like many writers, you know, lonely, introverted child growing up.
How it felt to escape into this magical, special place, being able to create that for my readers and for myself has been so rewarding. And then also, no one likes to talk about, you know, money in any sort of obnoxious way, but it is the case that. Amazon has greatly decreased the payout for Kindle Unlimited authors, and there’s nothing we can do about it while we’re in Kindle Unlimited.
The way for me to be a you know, healthy and successful. Author who’s in control of my own destiny is to diversify my income. And so if I did not have the subscription when, you know, Amazon had had, you know, cut those payouts, I don’t know what I would have done, you know, [00:44:00] but in this way, I was able to just say, okay, well, I’ve already planning for this.
I’ve already got this other great thing that I’m doing. And so now this is just motivating me to lean into it even more to really lean into it because this is an area where I have control. I’m deciding What my readers get and how they get it and how much they pay to get it. And I’m in the driver’s seat and, you know, nobody’s going to come, you know, come and say, Oh, Laura, you know, sorry, we’re just, you know, you’re, you’re going to keep doing what you always did.
And we’re just going to, you know, cut your, your pay by 80%. I mean, you’re not going to do that to me. And so it’s, it’s so worth it and always worth it. And, and, you know, the. Yeah. The transformative mindset shift that comes with the empowerment of feeling like you know, I’m able to make choices that, that benefit my bottom line financially, that benefit me psychologically, that benefit my readers.
I really believe you, Michael. I really believe you. When you talk so often in your [00:45:00] podcast and in other places about the, the way that the world is changing for creators. And that building communities between creators and readers is the future. I really believe that. And so this subscription model is, you know, tailor made to take advantage of and help foster and encourage this really important and positive and healthy evolution in the publishing industry.
Michael Evans: Laura, I’m, yeah, blown away by how You’re, you’re so articulate in a very beautiful way, which I guess makes you a great writer. You’re awesome. And obviously I know I, I, I’ve seen your subscription. I’ve seen everything you do, and I love it. But for people who want to go check you out, people who want to go learn more about the world of Laura.
Where can we go?
Laura Navarre: Yeah, so absolutely. Of course, my subscription is on Reem, so reemstories. com slash witching world [00:46:00] is my subscription. You can, so you can be a free follower and get, you know, some bits and pieces of things. Also I’m, of course, you know, on Kindle Unlimited my breakthrough book was Gemini Queen.
That’s my first in series, like Very spicy, naughty queer Hogwarts. So if, if that, if that sounds like something you might like, like, you know, if all the Slytherin were fucking, I mean, that’s, that’s what I’ve written. So so, so do definitely check that out. And that I guess I do have a website.
You can go to my website and join my newsletter learn of our sci fi. com. But really the best way to connect with me is, is on ring because you know, that’s where I am the most often and where I’m able to be the most interactive. So you know, that, or that, or KU, I guess. Wow.
Michael Evans: Wow. Okay. That’s amazing.
I love, what an amazing way to describe your book. I don’t think Facebook would allow that in like a Facebook ad or something like that. Oh, no, definitely not. But like, Oh, that was. That, that, you know, like just click, but anyways you’re amazing, Laura. I am so grateful for you. Like just that our lives [00:47:00] have crossed and we’re going to be together for a while now because your readers aren’t going to leave your subscription.
So it seems like we’re all, we’re all here together. And I hope you have, you know, amazing rest of your day and enjoy the holidays upcoming. And thank you for sharing so much wisdom with us.
Laura Navarre: Storytellers rule the world. Thank you, Michael, for, for creating Ream and thank you for the opportunity.
Michael Evans: Thank you for doing it together.
I hope you enjoyed this podcast. If you haven’t yet checked out the Six Figure Description Author Accelerator, then we’d love to have you inside. Just click on the link in the description, you can join. Again, it’s open for just about 24 hours from when this is uploaded, and if you’re listening in the future, then we might have another cohort opening up soon.
We’ll have another one in the late spring ish, and then we’ll probably do at least another one in 2024. In the meantime, I hope you all enjoyed this podcast. Laura is just amazing. And I could, I could talk to her for hours. We’re definitely gonna be talking again [00:48:00] soon, Laura, because I’m so excited to see where your subscription’s going.
I hope everyone has an amazing rest of their day, and is enjoying as we get close to the holiday season. It’s, it’s a busy time of year, it’s an exciting time of year. And it’s hopefully one that you’re taking time to take care of yourself, get some rest in, and also get the words in. Both are important, especially because we’re coming out of Nano.
Hopefully, people had some good, good writing sprints during NaNo, NaNoWriMo I mean, which is National Novel Writing Month, but as we get into December, let’s keep the momentum going. Let’s keep the awesome words, keep the awesome stories flowing. I know myself, I’m very excited to finish up the semester of school.
I’ve got about two more weeks until I’m fully, like officially done. And I’m going to be very happy to be home at break, have some more time to write and read myself, write and read that isn’t essays and isn’t I, some of my classes have some pretty interesting readings, but it’s nice when you get to read fiction rather than academic writing.
So [00:49:00] I’m looking forward to a break and more importantly, more writing and reading myself. That’s, that’s the fun stuff. But in the meantime, have a great rest of your day. We’ll be back very soon with more episodes. Like potentially very, very soon. Depending on when you’re listening to this, cause I’m going to be uploading some extra episodes cause I’m in a good mood tonight, but I hope you have an amazing rest of your day and don’t forget storytellers rule the world. .