Posted August 25, 2022
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Author K. Webster breaks down how she has 50+ readers paying her $150 per month on her subscription, how she generates the same revenue from selling direct on her website to readers that she does from Amazon, and how she manages marketing and writing without running paid ads.
K. Webster’s Links:
Website: https://authorkwebster.com/
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/authorkwebster
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/KWebsterAuthor
#8 EPISODE OUTLINE:
0:00 – 1:45 Introduction and Context
1:45 – 4:08 How Kristi Gets Readers to Pay her $100+ Monthly
4:08 – 6:19 Physical Products and International Shipping for Your Subscription
6:19 – 8:10 Why K. Webster Started Subscriptions 8 Years Into Her Writing Career
8:10 – 11:30 Why K. Webster Started Selling Books on Her Website
11:30 – 13:36 How K. Webster Trained Readers to Buy from her Website
13:36 – 15:45 Churn Rates at K. Webster’s $150+ Monthly Tiers
15:45 – 18:06 How K. Webster fostered her Superfans
18:06 – 19:37 How Authors Can Manage and Grow Their Communities
19:37 – 22:21 How Authors Can Manage and Grow Their Communities
22:21 – 25:52 How Authors Can Utilize Content Creation to Market with No Ads
25:52 – 28:31 What It’s Like When Amazon Bans Your Book
28:31 – 31:20 Tips for Setting Up Your Digital Bookstore
31:20 – 35:15 Building a Sustainable Career as a Writer
35:15 – 38:10 How K Webster Thinks About Lower-priced Tiers for Her Subscription
38:10 – 43:19 What K. Webster Wishes She Knew About Subscriptions before Starting
43:19 – 46:50 Starting a YouTube Channel as an Author
#8 Full Episode Transcript:
[00:00:00] Michael Evans: Hello everyone. And welcome back to another episode of the subscriptions for authors podcast. Today, we are speaking with the wonderful K Webster and wow. Are we going through a lot today. We’re talking about how she from selling direct makes the same on her website in gross revenue as she does on Amazon.
[00:00:18] Michael Evans: But we’re also talking about how she has 50 plus readers paying her over $150 per month. I think in total, she has something like around 80 patrons paying her close to $8,000. at the time of recording, which is pretty wild. And we’re gonna talk about how she gets her super fans to be paying her this much a month, how she’s building this community of really avid readers who love her work.
[00:00:39] Michael Evans: And we’re gonna talk about everything from time management, to creating videos as an author and how she does all of this markets. All of her books gets all these readers without really spend. Any money on ads. So this is gonna be a wonderful podcast.
[00:00:52] Michael Evans: If you aren’t already part of our Facebook group, you should definitely join it in the description below. We have amazing authors like, K. Webster, Emilia rose, and tons of other [00:01:00] bestsellers and people killing it in subscriptions who are there to give you advice, share your insights and just a lovely community.
[00:01:05] Michael Evans: And we also have a wait list for ream, which is our subscription platform by authors, for authors. And it hopefully will make running your subscription business, talking to your readers.
[00:01:16] Michael Evans: And of course, having them read your wonderful stories, a lot easier and a lot more fun anyways. We’re gonna get into the podcast. Now in the description below, you can find K Webster’s links. She’s a YouTube channel, which she creates videos for authors as well, which will be really cool to check out. And then of course, I encourage everyone to, to look at her patron, look at her website and see just how she’s doing all this amazing stuff that we’re about to dive into all right.
[00:01:36] Michael Evans: Time to get it started. Let’s get into the interview.
[00:01:38] Michael Evans: Kristi, I wanted to kick it off, talking about something that’s quite extraordinary about your subscription. If you go to Kristi’s subscription page, which we encourage you to, if you’re interested in romance at all, you should definitely check it out and, and potentially be a part of it.
[00:01:53] Michael Evans: But what, what you’ve done is quite incredible, cuz you have 49 readers when I checked the time of recording and that was my [00:02:00] rough math paying you over a hundred dollars, a. So I’m not gonna do any more math because this is a writing podcast, but that’s kind of shocking. How did you do that? And what are you giving these readers that, you know, they’re, they’re so excited to give you, what is definitely a lot of money in return?
[00:02:16] K. Webster: Well, it’s actually grown since then. I think I have like 78 now people and it’s like over, it’s like almost to 8,000, so it’s like 7,700 a month. But The bulk of them are the higher tiers. Like that’s where most of the people are, is in the higher tiers. And, you know, it’s almost like a not really a book subscription.
[00:02:38] K. Webster: Box or anything like that, but it is like exclusive things for the people in those tier. And so, since my business, I sell a lot of paperbacks from my website. So I already have like people that like want all of my books. And so now I have the people that want, like the, the members only, you know, they, they want this version or whatever.
[00:02:59] K. Webster: And [00:03:00] so I basically made sure to. My Patreon is, is just as exclusive as I can make. It just like limited people, like the best of the best books, like the best quality paper, like the coolest things that I could ever come up with the, you know, the mast neatest little things and really make it special. And then on top of the stuff that I physically give to them, I also give them like discounts.
[00:03:25] K. Webster: My website, where they can buy more paperbacks. And I also will do like like Excerpts of whatever I’m working on. Or if I’m doing a new cover for an old book, I’ll show them first. They basically get first looks at everything. And I’m kind of not really a private person, but I don’t really tell everybody what I’m working on all the time.
[00:03:46] K. Webster: But I do try to tell my Patreon people like what I’m working at. Like they get like, you know, like we joke that they’re my besties, you know, so they get to know all the things. So I, I guess it’s just. I don’t know, like you know, a besties [00:04:00] club or something.
[00:04:00] Michael Evans: I love that. It sounds so amazing.
[00:04:03] Michael Evans: There’s so much to unpack in everything you just said.
[00:04:06] Michael Evans: Cause when you’re signing it, like giving books and physical products away that is opens up a, a can of worms because of complications of international subscribers potentially. So I actually maybe wanna start there. I know you actually do like international signed paperbacks, at least from my understanding that something, a lot of authors logistically find difficult.
[00:04:29] Michael Evans: So for you, how have you been able to work that out, especially with the shipping?
[00:04:33] K. Webster: Well, I used to do it based on their country, but then it, nobody ever chose the right thing. And so I basically went in and did. I found whatever the highest price point for whatever I was shipping would be to whatever country.
[00:04:48] K. Webster: And I just worked that price into the cost. And so instead of having, you know, whatever, this bundle it’s X amount of dollars plus shipping, it’s just a hundred dollars [00:05:00] and it includes shipping. So then they’re not worried about like the, what country they’re in or how much it is. And I just know that I’ve worked in.
[00:05:07] K. Webster: Between, you know, the different countries that, yeah, some, I might eat a little of the cost, but some, I might make a little bit of extra, but it all works out because it’s very, just streamlined, as like one price or whatever. And then, and so I opened a whole like international section on my website. For that.
[00:05:24] K. Webster: Now, as far as the Patreon goes, I, I couldn’t figure out a way to like separate it by country. I have a few people that are in other countries and I just have them on the regular price, but I have enough people in the like the $30 tier that gets nothing, except for like a sticker. Like they don’t get physical products.
[00:05:46] K. Webster: So I’m able to use. That extra to pad any offsetting of the international, if that makes sense.
[00:05:53] Michael Evans: Got it. Got it. that makes sense. I really like that. Cuz I think a lot of others like kind of [00:06:00] overcomplicate are like, oh, what do we do? And then ultimately things can get a little. Little messy because readers might enter the wrong thing and you end up spending an hour going to the post office and actually losing $30 in order, which it’s always happy that a reader gets their book, but it’s nice to not have to lose money in the process.
[00:06:14] Michael Evans: So I really, really like that. And for you, like starting Patreon, like taking this extra workload on you are someone who made a full time living before you started your Patreon. You’ve been doing this since 2014 and. You started this kind of, not like late in your career, you have a long career ahead of you, but this wasn’t like your first thing.
[00:06:37] Michael Evans: So why did you start subscriptions when you did?
[00:06:40] K. Webster: You know, I had seen people doing it and I was curious about it and I spent probably, I don’t know, six months just. Peeking at other people’s Patreons and looking to see like what, you know, reading blog posts and things like that. Because I, I did like the idea of giving [00:07:00] my readers, like something special, something unique.
[00:07:02] K. Webster: And that was the only kind of thing that I had come across that kind of fit what I wanted to do. And so you know, it, it took a while to like wrap my head around it because there was. It was just a new platform and there’s like all these different things. And I wasn’t really sure what to do. I still half the time don’t even know what I’m doing, but it it’s definitely, you know, and as each month goes on, I’m able to like build on it and tweak and change and find what works and find what didn’t work and all of that stuff.
[00:07:30] K. Webster: So, yeah. I don’t know. I kind of lost the question
[00:07:33] Michael Evans: It’s amazing how much you’ve been able to do, because for those who don’t know it, it’s not like, oh, she publishes her books on Amazon and then has this patron, like that would already be incredible. You are doing this, you have your own signed bookstore and your website, as you’ve mentioned, and you have a podcast that you run with a fellow author that’s biweekly.
[00:07:52] Michael Evans: Mm-hmm you are. In the trenches, absolutely. This like fiction empire over here. So for you, I wanna kind of [00:08:00] dive a little bit more into the timeline because I know you started publishing in 2014.
[00:08:04] Michael Evans: When did you start to make a shift to selling more books on your site? And, and now would you say that’s like a significant revenue stream for you?
[00:08:12] Michael Evans: Is that something you’re looking to make a significant revenue
[00:08:14] K. Webster: stream? Yes. Well, it started. In what? April of 2017, because the wild got banned. And I had like hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people just flooding my inbox going, well, how do I get the book I want, I want a paperback. How do I get it?
[00:08:31] K. Webster: And I couldn’t put it anywhere. So, but these readers wanted it. Like I was, I would joke, jokingly say that, you know, I’ll have to go down the back alley and sell it out of the trunk of my car because you know, these readers wanted it. And so. I got with my web designer and I was like, we gotta sell eBooks and we’ve gotta sell paperbacks.
[00:08:49] K. Webster: And so we kind of just, you know, it was such a, you know, cuz we were put under the wire, like we, there was just so much to do in a, a short amount of time with high stress and then, [00:09:00] you know, getting it all, set up, eBooks, paperbacks and all of that stuff. So I was kinda like forced into it. I wish I would’ve started.
[00:09:06] K. Webster: from the very get go where I didn’t have that pressure. I wish I would’ve just started it. But my website, it brings in like right now it’s bringing in exactly a right neck and neck with Amazon. So what I make in Amazon is what I make on my website. Mm-hmm so you have to take out, you know, with, with Amazon, you know, that’s.
[00:09:27] K. Webster: You earned all of that cash or whatever, but with your website, you have to think about, you also have shipping and you have to pay for the books and you have to pay for the swag. So you take that out and obviously it’s left less. Gross. They’re bringing in the same amount. So I feel like that’s pretty significant.
[00:09:41] K. Webster: I mean, I’ve had to hire a full-time person to help me, which is my sister, but she helps me pack with all the books and, you know, keep up with all the orders and,
[00:09:50] Emilia Rose: oh my gosh.
[00:09:51] K. Webster: That’s pretty awesome. Yeah. That’s
[00:09:53] Michael Evans: incredible. Very rare in the fiction space because, you know, I I’m aware there’ll be authors listening to us who might be [00:10:00] focusing more on non-fiction.
[00:10:01] Michael Evans: So might be focusing more on fiction and for non-fiction authors selling direct and website has been something that a lot have done. I’ve plenty of friends who they’re not rarely are they even equal, but it’s just more common. It’s very rare to, I find, see a fiction writer even selling. On their website.
[00:10:18] Michael Evans: Mm-hmm to have it equal. That’s a huge deal. How have you been able to do that? And I, I will say that I did notice doing research for the podcast when I Googled your name very basic first research, say, let me Google K’s name. Of course, we had done that before, but you know, let’s do the real research I noticed there was a Google ad.
[00:10:36] Michael Evans: For your website mm-hmm , which is also kind of an advertising format that not a lot of authors are running. I’m assuming I wasn’t making that up. Do you run Google
[00:10:44] K. Webster: ad? No, I literally just started Google. I made a Google ad for my website this week.
[00:10:50] Michael Evans: I, I saw that. I’m sorry on it though. I did you a good one.
[00:10:54] Michael Evans: I’m like not gonna, okay.
[00:10:55] K. Webster: Well, That lets me know that it’s working. So that’s good. But that’s [00:11:00] the, the first ad I’ve tried to run in a whole year, so I I’m testing it. I’m still, you know, I’m learning and trying to figure out if it’s even working, but I thought maybe it could take it to the next level and bring in more readers than I already have.
[00:11:14] K. Webster: So it’s a test,
[00:11:16] Michael Evans: it definitely brought me in, although. This is just advice to anyone. I, I try not, when I’m like perusing Amazon to click on sponsored links cuz I’m like, I know the office have to pay for it.
[00:11:25] Michael Evans: So I, I try like, you know, just search it up normally. But you know, with that Google ads being something you’re trying to do to bring readers into your website, what else have you done?
[00:11:35] Michael Evans: Because for a lot of people, I found that the word like reader training is what’s thrown around mm-hmm , you know, how do you train your readers to not buy on Amazon? Seems like you’ve done that. And, and how did you accomplish.
[00:11:45] K. Webster: Well, you know, I think it boils down to customer service. Like, I mean, when they go to my website, they’re getting a book really quickly, like, cuz I, I do the flat rate shipping, which goes in a couple of days.
[00:11:59] K. Webster: So [00:12:00] there and I, I do my book orders Mondays and Fridays and sometimes on Wednesdays if we’re like really overloaded. And so, you know, if they order a book on Friday, they might get it Monday morning. and people, I mean, this is like faster than Amazon. So people love that they love. And not only are they just, you know, they’re getting a book, that’s, you know, bubble wrapped and it’s got pins and stickers and signs swag, and then the book is signed to them and it’s, you know, a book that doesn’t have DS and, you know, whatever, like.
[00:12:30] K. Webster: I call through and get the good ones. And whereas like when you order from Amazon, they throw it in a big box and it’s just one book and it just bangs around in there and you get it and it’s all bent up and, you know, and it’s just not as cool. So I’ve, I’ve kind of let them see that, like when they order for me, they get spoiled and then they buy this one book and they, they get so excited about everything that they got or how it was packaged or how quickly it came.
[00:12:54] K. Webster: They wanna go back and buy some more and then they go back and buy some more. And I have, I literally have some readers that [00:13:00] come back every single payday, every two weeks and buy books. And I mean, I had one, one reader I looked in in one year and she had spent $1,400 that year on paperbacks. Wow. One reader.
[00:13:12] K. Webster: So my, my sales are repeat customers, just repeat customers and a lot of those repeat customer. Are in my Patreon. So yeah, they there’s definitely like a correlation there they’re like the super fans. Totally.
[00:13:26] Michael Evans: And that was, I was just gonna ask based off that, but I already am kind of guessing the answer.
[00:13:31] Michael Evans: When someone subscribes to this tier at $150, you have another tier at $200 a month. And I encourage people to go check out the specific benefits that you get for each one, but it it’s pretty incredible what you’re doing for them. When you, when they get that experience, one. are they choosing to sign up again for another month?
[00:13:47] Michael Evans: Or are you seeing high churn at those tiers?
[00:13:50] K. Webster: No, usually I had like, okay. My top tier is VIP and there, there was 10 for when I first started, there was a hundred and I didn’t even know what I was doing. And I [00:14:00] was like, this is weird. Why do I have a hundred? So I took it down to 10. And so I had like three or four people in the VIP, but when I took it down to 10.
[00:14:08] K. Webster: Boom. I filled up because then it was like the scarcity thing. Mm-hmm and so, yeah. And so they, they were like, oh, there’s only 10 spots. I gotta get it. But then I had so many people that were like, I really missed out on that VIP. I wanna get in and get in on it. So I did increase it to 20 this month. Okay.
[00:14:25] K. Webster: But as soon as I increased it to 20. All the people that were in the $150 here, like ran over here and grabbed this one and they sold out again on the, oh my God. The top one. So I know, and, and I think it’s like a scarcity thing, but and then I increased this the $150 here from, it was at 20 and then it was maxed out and then.
[00:14:45] K. Webster: I increased it to 25 cuz there was some people that were like begging to get in. And then I was like, okay, well I’m gonna increase it to 50. So I’ve increased it to 50 and it’s got like 29 right now out of 50. So but I feel like the people that are in the V [00:15:00] I P they can get the hard back. The, the, the other one gets the paper back.
[00:15:03] K. Webster: They don’t wanna lose their spot because they know there’s people like waiting to jump into their spot. And so. They, they don’t downgrade or leave really. They, once they’re in there, they kind of stay. And I think part of that is, you know, they’ll get in there and they’ll test it out to see if they like it, but then they get that they get so much value from it that they realize that, you know, I could give up some other things to pay for this because I get really cool stuff.
[00:15:28] K. Webster: I get spoiled. I get, you know, exclusive access and really cool stuff.
[00:15:32] Michael Evans: That that’s so beautiful that that’s making my heart warm. That’s just really, really cool. And I love that at the end of the day, you’re making readers so happy.
[00:15:40] Michael Evans: That’s incredible. And to have those super fans who want that obviously is like, That’s an author’s dream and you’re getting to, to live that with these fans, but how did they go from like, you know, random reader on the street?
[00:15:53] Michael Evans: You know, we love you random readers in the street, but we also love you more when you are our super fans. How did you kind of build that [00:16:00] relationship up to this point?
[00:16:01] K. Webster: Well, you know, I think it was, it kind of helped with the wild because. They had to go to my website to go buy the book. And then I did so much I don’t know, like with my eBooks, like tech support and stuff.
[00:16:14] K. Webster: So I was constantly back and forth corresponding with the, with the readers, trying to get them their stuff in the beginning, whenever I was still learning how to do all of this. And so we kind of developed. A little rapport there and they would tell other people about their experience. Like, oh, I couldn’t download my book, but K Webster answered my email immediately and she helped me.
[00:16:37] K. Webster: And then I got my book and like, who does that? You know, like they, they just really loved that customer service aspect. And then it was just kind of like grew from there. And, you know, people tell their friends and, and whenever they get their packages of their books that they ordered, they show it off on, you know, TikTok or Instagram and.
[00:16:54] K. Webster: They’re very proud about all the stickers and all the little swag and stuff that I threw in there and their pins and some [00:17:00] people even order pen or order books just to get more pins so, you know, I’ll get like a new pin style in and they’re like, oh, it’s time for me to order another book, you know, cuz I want another pen and I’m like, okay, well if that, you know, if that gets ’em then great.
[00:17:13] Michael Evans: wow. Yeah, that’s, that’s really, really cool. Just the personal experience that you can add little touches of your brand and each thing I, I love this. I, I love this and
[00:17:23] K. Webster: well, and well, I was gonna say, and it’s not just, it’s not just my store, it’s our store. You know, everything I do is our Patreon, our group, our, you know, We it’s our, it’s our little community, you know, it’s our club, you know, like I don’t want them to feel like it’s me and they’re, you know, buying things for me.
[00:17:44] K. Webster: I want it to be like, we’re, you know, I’m getting them, their goodies that they really want, you know? And it’s just, I don’t know. It’s just a different perspective, I guess. And people wanna, you know, they like. Inclusive kind of feeling. So I
[00:17:57] Michael Evans: agree. I that’s what it’s about and you’re [00:18:00] definitely doing it beautifully.
[00:18:01] Michael Evans: And you obviously have your, your Facebook group and like that community that exists that you know, is outside of the pat patron community. So how are, have you managed that Facebook group over the years and what would be your advice to other authors when they’re trying to manage and, and grow their own community?
[00:18:17] K. Webster: You know, I, I love my Facebook group. I use it to you know, share personal things, pictures, whatever. Any kind of book news, I feel like there’s always book news. And even if that’s just showing ’em a picture of the new paperback I got of one of my books or the formatting or anything like people just like to see stuff, you know, and I just.
[00:18:38] K. Webster: Give them stuff to look at, you know, and it’s not, I try to keep my Facebook group more, you know, like, like a club than like salesy. Whereas like my author page is more salesy. Like this is a teaser for this book or, you know, this is coming out soon. That’s more like, you know, buy this stuff kind of thing.
[00:18:56] K. Webster: But with my group, it’s more like, Hey guys, you know, it’s that [00:19:00] kind of thing. Like, look, what’s out, you know, look what we got now look, what’s out next, you know? And so it’s more. I don’t know, personal, I guess. And I feel like if people treat their readers group as like, you know, their little community and, and, and be responsive, and if they, you know, if you make a post and they ask questions and you answer ’em, that’s, that’s only, that’s all they want.
[00:19:21] K. Webster: So they like that. So, and that doesn’t really take too much time. I don’t think.
[00:19:25] Michael Evans: Yeah, no, totally it, but time on your plate is something that like, You have so much going on.
[00:19:32] Michael Evans: ,I’d be curious to know if you were to like, to think about like a time split in your week, where are you spending your time between like writing community management, marketing, operations, other things you have in running this truly publishing business, where is your time to devoted to in a week?
[00:19:48] Michael Evans: And, and maybe what things have you over time looked to hire out? Because you said you have your sister, I’m assuming you might have other people doing some things to.
[00:19:57] K. Webster: Yeah. You know a week for me would [00:20:00] be Mondays, my sister comes and we work basically nine to three, just on processing book orders and admin stuff. And so if I feel like writing sometimes before she gets there, I will get up early and write. And then when she leaves, a lot of times is when I will.
[00:20:17] K. Webster: Do something that, you know, work on graphics or whatever. And then Tuesday, she works for me, but from home. So she does a lot of the like scheduling for all of my posts on my. Page and all that stuff. And so she is organizing all of that kind of stuff. She doesn’t need me, but I’m there. She needs me, but then I can work on all of my other stuff.
[00:20:37] K. Webster: So I’ll like write or whatever. And then Wednesdays, a lot of times she’ll come back over and either we do the book orders or we’ll work on Patreon stuff, or, you know, as far as like. Figuring out what we need to order or, you know, numbering the books or whatever we got. We, we, we kind of work on that.
[00:20:54] K. Webster: And then Thursdays is actually my recording day. So that’s why I had makeup on. [00:21:00] That’s why I schedule you guys for today. Cuz I was already making a YouTube video and I was making TikTok videos and I was I have a course I’m creating, so I was making videos for the course and Fridays she’s back and we do more book orders.
[00:21:13] K. Webster: And I would say like the social media, a lot of times I will just do that like on break. So like if I’m eating lunch, I’ll pop up my phone and I’ll just start scrolling through and. Commenting on anybody that said anything or whatever, or same thing with TikTok, you know, I just kind of do that in between.
[00:21:31] K. Webster: So I don’t know, that’s kind of my typical week and I used to write a lot more, but this past year I’ve slowed down my writing so that I can, you know, work my back list, but also work on all these other projects that I’ve. Dying to work on like Patreon and YouTube channel and, you know, whatever. So by the way,
[00:21:51] Michael Evans: I want you check out Kristi’s YouTube.
[00:21:53] Michael Evans: It’ll be linked in the description. She has some great videos are very helpful for authors, which now I’m starting to, I was [00:22:00] wondering when I was seeing it, I’m like, wow, how is she having time for this? This is kind of wild, but I could kind of see how you’ve transitioned into doing this at this stage of things.
[00:22:08] Michael Evans: And I love it. I love it. That’s just so cool. And for you. Being like a content creator in a sense, like you’re literally taking a day out to film.
[00:22:16] Michael Evans: That’s kind of scary for authors putting yourself on camera, but yet you mentioned that readers are talking on TikTok. You’re posting on TikTok. I imagine this is driving sales for you.
[00:22:26] Michael Evans: So how has social media helped you? And as an author who might be nervous trying to navigate it, what would be your advice?
[00:22:33] K. Webster: I mean, I feel like, you know, social media, do I love it? No, I I’m like a, I would rather have my nose in a book and read and ignore everybody, but I realize that it’s a part of my job.
[00:22:46] K. Webster: And if I want to get my name out there, then I have to do it. And I don’t really run many ads aside from the one that you just saw. Like, I turned off all of my Facebook ads and all of my Amazon ads for a year now. Like I haven’t done any [00:23:00] and. I rely on organic traffic and my organic traffic is good and that’s because I constantly stay out there and keep my presence on all of the platforms, even if I don’t feel like I’m super great at whatever platform.
[00:23:14] K. Webster: So like, you know, I. I’m not super great at TikTok, but I do try to post a TikTok every single day. And so I’ll batch create them on Thursdays when I’m all made up and, you know, make 13 videos or whatever and leave them in my drafts. And then every day I’ll just drip them out. And, same thing with like, you know, Instagram, I will take tons of pictures and then give ’em all to my sister.
[00:23:37] K. Webster: And then she’s. You know, feeds them out every day. So it’s just a matter of, I feel like if people can just make a little schedule for themselves and commit to putting things out here, you know, on these certain days or whatever, and maybe just start small, but eventually try to get a presence on all of the platforms that you can, because I [00:24:00] mean, all everywhere where your name is or your book name is, I mean, that’s just one more.
[00:24:05] K. Webster: You know, thing in Google search or whatever, where they could find you. So, I mean, I’ve got stuff on Pinterest and LinkedIn and WAPA and I mean, just wherever I can get my books, my, my stuff, I, I put it out there and yes, it’s overwhelming when you try to think of it. But you know, it kind of get like in a system, you know, it’s just, you just gotta make a schedule for yourself.
[00:24:30] K. Webster: And I didn’t always have help. I did do it for myself in the beginning, but now that I have so many books that I want to like, Out there. You know, I, I basically, if you could see the schedule that I have, it’s kind of hilarious. It’s like, I want them, you know, to post on my page like six times a day and I want ’em to go through different things.
[00:24:50] K. Webster: So like talk about an audio book this time, talk about you know, a new book this time. Talk about an old book this time. Maybe show one of my [00:25:00] TikTok videos this time or whatever. So I just, and then they just set ’em all up for me. And I look and, you know, basically give ’em all the information and they set it all up for me and schedule it and then I watch and make sure when they come through that, it looks good.
[00:25:12] K. Webster: that’s lovely. So, yeah. And a lot of times you can hire people to schedule posts for you like this for really, you know, really inexpensive. So It’s not like you don’t have to have like my sister who does all the things, you could have somebody that just like a virtual PA.
[00:25:28] Michael Evans: So yeah, totally. I mean that when you’re doing so many things, it’s nice to be able to have like just greater bandwidth because someone’s taking some of that menial work off of you, which is, there’s nothing wrong with that kind of work it’s necessary, but it allows you to do more things, which is really, really awesome.
[00:25:47] Michael Evans: You know, before earlier we were talking about kind of the impetus for you switching to Amazon. And I know that you have even on your site, an entire category of band books, and really you were one of the first authors to begin writing [00:26:00] and publishing. dark romance who was able to, you know, be as popular as you, of course, dark romance is now I’d say mu much more mainstream so that so many more authors are doing, but you’ve been doing it for a very long time.
[00:26:11] Michael Evans: How has that journey for you been, especially like having literally books get banned, like that’s low key, like it’s not there’s nightmare. I know Emilia as well has like experienced some of this too.
[00:26:23] K. Webster: Yeah. It, it really is a nightmare and you know, If you can avoid getting your book band, please just do like, do a, you know, do whatever you need to do to not get it banned.
[00:26:34] K. Webster: But if you do get your book band, it’s not the end of the world, especially if you’ve set up your website and you’ve, you know, got all of this ready and in place because. I mean, quite frankly, we don’t know about some of these platforms and anything could happen. I mean, we see all the time Amazon will glitch out, you know, people, me either ranks get messed up or their whole account is gone and they don’t know why.
[00:26:56] K. Webster: And just like all these random things, their book just disappears [00:27:00] and it’s like, it doesn’t necessarily have to be banned for content. It could just be something that happens. And if you are rely. Like most of your income in that one category there, then you’re in trouble. And that when the wild got banned, it put like this fear inside of me that I didn’t like that, you know, they could control, you know, my.
[00:27:21] K. Webster: My financial outcome. And I didn’t like that. I thought, you know what? This is my book. These are my products. I want to be in control. And so, you know, that’s when I started selling from my own website and now I sell all my books, but the, you know, it started with the band books. But yeah, it, it definitely, I don’t know.
[00:27:39] K. Webster: It’s I, I don’t know why anybody would just. I mean, I get it. The ease of selling from Amazon, especially like Kendall unlimited. It’s just easy. You just put it in there and then you, you know, make your money and whatever. But even if you’re in Kindle unlimited, you can still sell paper, sign paperbacks from your website.
[00:27:56] K. Webster: Like there’s no reason why you aren’t building up that [00:28:00] other side of it, because I mean, you know, again, you you’re putting like SEO more SEO out there for you. People can search for your stuff. And you’re not just showing up on Amazon. Some people wanna read paperbacks, but they don’t wanna buy from Amazon, you know, and you’re giving them other options and some people want signed paper they’re collectors, you know, and I just really feel like everybody needs to be doing their website.
[00:28:24] Michael Evans: Yeah. I mean, I, I agree.
[00:28:26] Michael Evans: And I definitely like saying it it’s something that it’s like, oh yeah, just put your books on your website, but then you. I, I remember you in this conversation mentioned that you had a web developer, which for a lot of authors, especially like when we’re starting out or even like on the come up, making some money, web developer, even working with them.
[00:28:43] Michael Evans: A lot of that can be like, whoa, you know you know, I’m not bad yet from Amazon’s, we’re just gonna keep at it. Right. So for you, what would be some new tips after setting up this store for authors themselves, logistically setting up their own store on their site?
[00:28:58] K. Webster: Well, you know, [00:29:00] I, in the beginning, cuz I had no idea about web designer or anything.
[00:29:03] K. Webster: I had indie Sage set up my website and she, you know, I, I didn’t know anything and it was kind of like here you handle it, I’ll pay you. But then I got to where I started researching and learning things and I wanted to get in there and play. And once I started getting in on the back end of my website, I realized, you know, I can do this stuff.
[00:29:22] K. Webster: And a lot of it, all I have to do is just Google it and find the answer and, you know, find the plugin or whatever. And I still get hung up and I, I need her help and I’ll pay her to help me, you know, fix little things. But for the most part, I feel like it’s, it’s manageable. If you really want to do it, you know?
[00:29:38] K. Webster: and you’re trying to save money. So like you can do it, like, even like my sister I’m training her, how to do stuff on my website, how to add things, how to, you know, put the descriptions for the books and, you know, and so she’s, and she’s not very tech savvy and she’s like really starting to get into it and enjoy it because, you know, it’s, it’s kind of fun once you start playing with it.
[00:29:58] K. Webster: I don’t have tons of time [00:30:00] now to do that. But you know, I feel like, especially if you’re just starting out and you’ve. One book under your belt. Like that would be the perfect time because you could start small. Don’t be like me and try to add like, you know, 130 books and, and all ebook and paperback and hard back and bundles and like, By then it’s just too much, you know?
[00:30:21] K. Webster: So it’s better to start small and just add on
[00:30:24] Michael Evans: yeah, that one 30 books on a site. That’s I mean, it’s a lot, it’s a lot. I know. Robyn Crawford, who’s also a member of our community and she. For very similar reasons decide to start bookstore and, and we’ll certainly have her on the podcast at some point, but she runs this site called Eden books.
[00:30:41] Michael Evans: That’s kind of centered around steamy romance and just like, Hey, this site we’re, we’re allowing authors to express themselves. We’re creating that safe space for readers and she was not someone with Any sort of development experience either. And she did ask some friends for help and stuff, but she largely has done that on her own and learned a lot too.
[00:30:58] Michael Evans: So there’s people [00:31:00] even building their own books like bookstores that other authors can upload their books online too. So you as an author can do almost anything. If you put your mind to it, Hey, you wrote a book. So or you’re writing a book, which is the hard part, obviously. So all this is really, really amazing.
[00:31:15] Michael Evans: And, and for you over the course of. All these years, how have you been able to build a sustainable writing habit? It’s something we talk a lot about, even when thinking about subscriptions, cuz you don’t wanna start a subscription and then a year into it be like, well, I can’t keep up with whatever I promised my readers.
[00:31:32] Michael Evans: And you obviously there’s someone who’s been able to keep up and write so much over the last eight, 10 years.
[00:31:37] K. Webster: Yeah. I think it just, again goes right down to scheduling and you have to like block out time for yourself for certain things. So if I’m going to be writing on Tuesdays, then that’s all I’m doing. I’m not gonna be checking social media or trying to tweak my website or, you know, making a teaser or whatever.
[00:31:57] K. Webster: Like if I’m gonna write for, you know, if I’ve got four hours [00:32:00] and those are my four hours to write and you would be amazed how quickly. Even once a week, if you can get, you know, four or 5,000 words, I mean, like that can get you a book done pretty quickly. And so I think it’s just a matter of, you know, it doesn’t necessarily have to be like I’m gonna write every single day.
[00:32:17] K. Webster: And there are times when I will write a chapter a day for, you know, a couple weeks just because I’m in. In the groove and I maybe I’ll just do it every morning before I get started before I do anything before I check social media, before I check my emails so that I’m not distracted and I can just dive right in.
[00:32:33] K. Webster: But yeah, I think, and, and as far as like the Patreon content, that was one thing I had to like really evaluate, because if, if it was gonna be ex you know, exclusive and special and everything, I, I didn’t wanna. Over promise and under deliver. So I had to really think about, you know, cuz when you sign up for Patreon, they have like all these options, like, you know, one on one phone calls and just like all kinds of stuff.
[00:32:56] K. Webster: And I was like, yeah, I could do that. I could do that. I could do that. And then I was like, [00:33:00] maybe not . And so I like pulled everything back off and I was like, I need to really think about this cuz what am I capable of? I, I can at least make at least a post a week. Give or take maybe once or twice a month.
[00:33:12] K. Webster: I’ll do they have this thing called lens where you can, like, it’s kinda like a stories and I do that for like my higher paying tiers and they get like the lens access and and so I’ll think, okay, I’ll, I’ll give ’em a little sneak peek or whatever and updates and pictures and. I just try to like, schedule those in like, I’m every Monday I’m gonna do this.
[00:33:32] K. Webster: Or, you know, and it’s gonna take me 20 minutes or whatever. And I think it’s just a matter of really sitting down and, and I’m like really bad about this. I think that I can do way more than I actually can. and so I’m like, oh, I’ll write this book this month. And then I’ll also, you know, create a YouTube channel.
[00:33:50] K. Webster: And I’ll also, maybe I’ll maybe I’ll do a, a Kickstarter and, you know, and then it’s like, okay, wait a minute. There is like, not enough, like energy in my body to be able to even do all of this. And so. I really, [00:34:00] this past year taken a hard look at what I’m actually capable of and being realistic and then going from there and, you know, and then scheduling and, and stop trying to see how much I can cram in.
[00:34:11] K. Webster: Like, I need these empty spaces to think and come up with new ideas and. Like my sister went on vacation for a week. And so we didn’t do book orders that week. Well, I did some of ’em by myself, but she said, I, I always get freaked out. Cuz when I come back from vacation, you come up with something new.
[00:34:29] K. Webster: She’s like last vacation. You’re like, we’re gonna do a Patreon. And then she’s like this vacation, you were like, I started a YouTube channel and she’s like, every time I leave you you’ve created something because I have like time where she and I aren’t working to just sit and think, and I come up with stuff.
[00:34:44] K. Webster: So I love that. So we need that time. That’s
[00:34:47] Michael Evans: what makes you a creative businesswoman and has enabled you to do so much of what you’re doing? Of course you gotta like balance it 10 ideas at once. Can. Not be a good thing, but oh, this [00:35:00] is that’s beautiful. That’s beautiful. Yeah. And one thing I had wanted to ask you about your Paton, because that was again like a, a relatively recent project in the universe of K Webster and.
[00:35:09] Michael Evans: With that now you’ve definitely seen some great success. These higher priced tiers, a majority of your patrons are at these higher priced tiers, which is, which is incredible. And I’m curious to hear from you, cuz I know that you have plenty of more readers than, you know, 80 patrons. That’s amazing accomplishment for anyone listening, like to get to 80 readers.
[00:35:27] Michael Evans: That really is, it’s a big deal, but you. Thousands of upon thousands of upon thousands. And I’m curious for you, are you looking to bring more of your super fans to your patron at maybe lower priced or continuing to grow your higher price tiers? What is your kind of near term strategy with your
[00:35:43] K. Webster: subscription?
[00:35:43] K. Webster: Well, like I said at the beginning, like when I first started out, I had this Image that I was gonna have a hundred in my V I P and 200 in the, in the one below it. And then obviously I changed my strategy cuz I was like, I don’t know about this. And then, so now I’m back to slow, [00:36:00] slowly growing it because I mean, honestly I don’t think I could handle two and 300.
[00:36:05] K. Webster: Of doing all of these packaging and, you know, right now. So I’m kind of glad that we’re slowly growing. But I do want to grow some of the lower tiers I thought about doing like like special art and things like that to where, you know, stuff, that’s a lower cost that I could just mail, like in a letter or digital type files.
[00:36:24] K. Webster: Because that kind of stuff doesn’t cost me anything. And I could do those at a lower tier. I don’t know. It’s basically still fresh for me too. Like every day it’s like, I think of something different that we can do or, you know, and then two days later I’m like, that’s a bad idea, you know, I have to like, cancel that idea cuz I’m like, no, that’s not gonna work.
[00:36:41] K. Webster: So, and then I, I learn things too. Like what they, like, I ask them like my readers, my patrons, like what do you guys want more of? you know, and they have great ideas. Like you would be surprised and I basically feed off of what they want and then kind of go from there and [00:37:00] like, they love it. Cuz a lot of times they’ll say, Ooh, it’d be cool if we did this.
[00:37:03] K. Webster: And then like the next time they they’ve got that. And they’re like, oh I, gosh, you know, my, my, my wish was granted. So I don’t know. It’s just part of the fun and it, and it really is fun for me. And even down to like, I, I. Wrap up each book, like in this fancy tissue paper and, you know, write them little letters and stuff.
[00:37:21] K. Webster: And, it’s just like, I, every time I tell my sister was I’m wrapping up those books, I said, you know, I say like, this is really fun for me. Like, you know, cuz I it’s just, I don’t know, wrapping the books like they’re getting presents, you know, they paid for their presence, but it’s like, I’m wrapping S for them and I know they’re gonna be excited and I don’t know, it just fill my gut.
[00:37:38] K. Webster: That’s lovely.
[00:37:39] Michael Evans: and it’s a good thing. Like when you mentioned like paying for presence, You know, that’s part of being an author too. You deserve to get paid for your work. And I, I love that you’re able to, to do that, but like make readers happy. That’s the whole point of it. So that’s running an amazing business.
[00:37:53] Michael Evans: I’m very, very happy about that. And you know, when thinking about all the ideas and that you have, and that you’ve gotten [00:38:00] from your readers, I know you’ve learned a lot over the last, like seven, eight months of doing Patreon. So.
[00:38:05] Michael Evans: What do you wish you knew in the beginning that you know now about subscriptions?
[00:38:11] K. Webster: I mean, I, I feel like there’s still so much that I wanna learn, you know, and, and, and that’s why I also am a patron to other people’s Patreons. So, because I want to see what they’re doing and like, I’m in a one that’s like Like an apocalyptic prepping one, cuz I’m just curious what they’re, you know, and then I have one, that’s just another author that does, you know, basically what I do.
[00:38:34] K. Webster: And then another one is for like training authors, how to do, you know, write better or market better and things like that. So I’m, I’m trying to get like different perspectives and seeing what the different people do. I feel like that’s, that’s kind of like helps me on an ongoing basis. I, I don’t know if other people were like this, but before I even started it, like I researched and researched and researched because I just, I wanted it.
[00:38:58] K. Webster: I wanted to come out of the [00:39:00] gate. Being on fire. Like, I didn’t wanna just come out and be like, oh gosh, what’s happening. Like I wanted it to, I wanted to be prepared. I wanted people to be like, ready for this. And like, as soon as it comes out, people want it because it sounds cool. You know? And, and so that just took a lot of research and I mean, there’s that, there’s still things I don’t know about Patreon.
[00:39:22] K. Webster: Like they have. I, I don’t know, like you can do like merch and stuff through them. I haven’t figured that out. I don’t even understand it. I think I’m paying for something that’s charging me a whole lot and I don’t even know if I’m doing it. Right. So, I mean, like, it’s still, it seems like I’ve got it all going on.
[00:39:39] K. Webster: I don’t know. I don’t even know what have the buttons do. So for
[00:39:42] Michael Evans: Emilia that might, might help K Webster, which is what have you learned over the last three years that you actually think. Playing around with some of the bells and whistles being in it just a little bit longer than Kristi having a lot more of your core business on Tron.
[00:39:57] Michael Evans: What advice would you offer to her with [00:40:00] subscriptions?
[00:40:00] K. Webster: I would just say go
[00:40:01] Emilia Rose: slowly. Like there’s no need to rush. I like don’t even do the merch on pager on a lot of people do, but I’m just like, it’s. It takes more of a percentage out of my income at the end. So I don’t do, like when I started, I was doing a lot of just different things.
[00:40:17] Emilia Rose: I would like go on video calls and do like write a chapter in front of everyone and people would watch. And I’ve kind of like gotten away from that a little bit just because it takes long time for me to. Just do something like that and a lot of energy as well to like write on the spot. But yeah, I think my biggest thing, just to anyone starting subscriptions is just like, take it slow.
[00:40:37] Emilia Rose: You don’t have to do everything at one time and it’s okay to like add things as you go. I don’t know if that helped you at all. that seems like what you’re doing already, but
[00:40:47] K. Webster: mm-hmm
[00:40:47] K. Webster: Yeah, no, I totally agree. Like if, like I said, like I had all these grand ideas, I was gonna do all the options that they had, you know, do a, like, even like a discord and all this stuff. And I was like, I don’t even know how to really [00:41:00] work discord. So this is probably a bad idea. and so then, like I pulled all those things off and I’m like, okay, be realistic.
[00:41:06] K. Webster: You, you already ship books, you know, you can do that. That’s a good thing to do, you know? Far I’ve added things that I can manage, but yeah, I’m sure I I’ll add more as time goes on. Like some people have been asking me for like an audiobook here. And so I’ve been trying to figure out like what that would entail
[00:41:24] Emilia Rose: I’m also doing audio dramas, which are where.
[00:41:27] Emilia Rose: I write like these steamy one shots every week. And so I have like male narrator or voice actor, like acting out the one shot to like a female listener. And so one of the things I have in one of my tiers is whoever’s in that tier can help me vote or can vote on what voice actor they want me to like use for a specific story.
[00:41:50] Emilia Rose: So that might be like a cool, exclusive thing you could have for your Patreon.
[00:41:54] K. Webster: Yeah, that’s a good
[00:41:55] Michael Evans: idea. endless possibilities and I’ll reference two insights from prior [00:42:00] podcasts. And I encourage people to also listen to them. Vy Starlit, we just had an interview with her and she is converting her stories into visual novels, which is kind of wild and, and is then like, That she’s making them free to play, but then is also gonna offer them access through her subscription so that you can like, do choose your own adventure novels, essentially connected to your world.
[00:42:21] Michael Evans: And then Michael Chatfield he’s someone who’s been doing subscriptions since 2017 and he, we were me and Emilia were both listening to him because it was like, he’s serializing his fiction on there as he’s writing it. Yeah. And then serializing his audio and we both. Without doing that from like a narrator perspective, but then we dove into it and how he does it is he shares the one book, one is going through stories, getting serialized in ebook.
[00:42:47] Michael Evans: Then he moves to book two and then book one gets serialized as audio. And then later that audio book will go up. So he is kind of doing like. Almost like a, a factory pro production process, but of beautiful art and [00:43:00] stories, which is pretty cool. So I don’t know if that’s helpful to you or to anyone, but those are just some ideas about how you can take audio and maybe take other formats and remix them for your readers.
[00:43:10] Michael Evans: Mm-hmm yeah. Well, with all of this and all these insights for authors.
[00:43:14] Michael Evans: Also really cool that you are, have a YouTube channel where part of it’s you sharing your own insights authors. I was curious what, what sparked you wanted to do that and what kind of things that you would like to share? Because I’m sure the people listening would like to go find more of what you’re sharing
[00:43:32] K. Webster: Basically, anytime I go on any kind of live like TikTok live or Facebook live people flood asking me questions on how to publish. Like I get so many questions, just, you know, how do you market your books? How do you do your store? How do you, you know, Everything.
[00:43:48] K. Webster: And so I’m always answering those questions cuz I’m not like a gatekeeper, like I wanna share, like, you know, I’ve always liked sharing my information. And and so then I started like playing with TikTok and kind of doing that a little [00:44:00] bit with TikTok and then it’s like, okay, I have more to say than talk’s allowing me to say is too short.
[00:44:05] K. Webster: And so I thought, you know, I could do a YouTube channel and again, That’s more, you know, searchability that would tie back to my website and my stuff. And so, you know, I’m, I can, you know, do two things at once. I can help people, but then it, I can also. Put my name out there, more in another spot. And so it’s, it’s, it’s difficult because I don’t really know much about video editing.
[00:44:29] K. Webster: I’m learning as I go and watching a lot of videos and reading books and stuff. And so it’s, it’s kind of tricky and they’re, they’re kind of special, but , I’m, I’m trying, and I’ve got like a few, you know, a few followers that, you know, are enjoying the videos and they’re learning stuff. So that kind of like inspires me to keep going.
[00:44:47] K. Webster: But, and then, like I said before, like I’m working on a course and hopefully I can put out some courses that are like easily relatable, you know? Cause a lot of times things are very intimidating, you know, cuz a person is just [00:45:00] so smart and they know all the things while I want people to like learn from me and realize that I’m just.
[00:45:05] K. Webster: This person that is just winging it half the time. And then these are the tricks and tips that I learned along the way and all the things that I mess up on and all the things that worked and, you know, and it is just easier to like put yourself in those shoes than somebody that’s just, you know, Knows all the lingo about ads and everything.
[00:45:24] K. Webster: And you’re like, what? I don’t even know what she’s saying, you know? And so at least they feel like they can approach me. They can ask questions and I don’t know. That’s just, I love, it’s just
[00:45:33] Michael Evans: fun for me. So I love that’s amazing. And I wanna give anyone who’s like listening to Kristi me. Like, you know what.
[00:45:39] Michael Evans: I think I wanna get into YouTube and editing. I started YouTube like two years ago and I found this free course on skills trip. Well, I shouldn’t say free, but you signed up for the free trial and you could cancel it. And I’m only saying that, cause I want to make this advice accessible to everyone, which is Ali Abdaal has this simple course on editing for YouTube.
[00:45:57] Michael Evans: And it it’s really like bare [00:46:00] bones. What you need to know. But if you do it, you will make a good video. And it’s a great start. So if anyone’s looking for anything, I’ll, I’ll put that in the links below. And like I said, you could just sign up for a free trial and then cancel it. I don’t feel bad saying that because he himself told his followers to go and do that.
[00:46:15] Michael Evans: So feel free to go through that, but these are all just incredible insights, really seeing you converse through mediums, not. Doing advertising yet still growing this incredible community and this amazing business. It’s so inspiring to everyone because it just seems like you’re doing what you love and having a great time doing it.
[00:46:33] Michael Evans: So we’re so, so grateful to have you here today, and you can find Kristi’s links down the description below and thank you everyone for listening and happy writing