We recently connected with Jason Lancour and have shared our conversation below.

Jason, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

Contrary to what may be a popular belief, it is exceptionally unlikely for an author to make a living exclusively from their writing and writing-related activities, given the current state of the book publishing industry. Unfortunately, my situation currently sits within a statistically expected range for an independent author/publisher. This quote from Andrea Fleck-Nisbet, CEO of the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), encapsulates the upheaval the publishing industry has experienced within the last decade: “It has never been easier to publish a book, (and) it has never been harder and more confusing to sell a book.”

To look closely at what this means, before the advent of direct publishers such as Amazon and Ingram Spark, to be published in any sort of viable way, an author needed to secure a deal with one of the five major publishing houses, and the only way to seriously pursue that was to secure a literary agent. If your work was not easily identifiable as being obviously profitable, you were out of luck. Consequently, very few authors found their way to a book deal. Fast forward to today, anyone can publish anything directly to Amazon at exactly zero cost. Being published and instantly available worldwide is relatively simple. However, with the floodgates now open (Amazon posting well over 1 million titles every year), having anyone notice your book at all has become a herculean task.

Bookstat (an entity that monitors the publishing market as a whole) reports that of the 2.6 million titles sold in 2020, 96% sold fewer than 1000 copies. Only 268 titles sold more than 100,000 copies. And, in the transcription of the Department of Justice antitrust case against the merger of Penguin Random House (PRH) and Simon and Schuster, of the 58,000 titles published by PRH, 50% of those books sold fewer than 12 copies in a year.

To look at how that translates to income, a traditionally published author may receive 15% of a book’s cover price, whereas direct publishers might earn as much as 70% (but likely sell fewer copies). So, one can see that in the statistically unlikely event that an author manages to sell 10,000 copies, that is still well below enough profit to be considered a living wage.

While these statistics are no doubt discouraging, they lend clarity of purpose and emphasize the advantages of understanding the publishing industry and, above all, the value of marketing.

Jason, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Jason Lancour, and I am an author of speculative fiction – specifically High Fantasy. I have two novels currently published and available on most online platforms; a third is nearing completion. I am also an independent publisher and book editor. I’ve had a “mostly finished” novel in some stage of revision for quite some time, but it wasn’t until the pandemic that I could dedicate the time to finish a project and focus on publishing. After carefully reviewing the dizzying array of publishing options available at the time, I chose to publish directly, or as some would say, “Self-Publish” (though the term has some misleading connotations).

While my novels are considered High Fantasy (set in a world separate from our own with its own unique cultures), I try to give the reader a sense of familiarity with more modern-feeling social structures and vernacular. I also avoid heavily used tropes common to the genre; you won’t find a simple farm boy destined by prophecy to battle the dark one or any such theme. I like the reader to be able to identify with my characters and their dilemmas, so I tend to lean toward a more realistic development of plot points. You won’t see the “greatest hero of all time” vanquishing a hundred foes through his unmatched prowess, either. (Anybody outnumbered by that much is in serious trouble, no matter how skilled.)

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

In the current state of affairs within the publishing industry, writers are generally responsible for their own marketing efforts. Whether one is traditionally published through a major publishing company or self-published, the fact is the same. The bread and butter of the “Big Five” publishing companies is celebrity books, where the audience is already established, and marketing costs are minimal. First-time authors with no established platform will receive little or no marketing support (which was a driving force behind my decision to self-publish.)

So, in addition to approaching the publishing industry with no experience, I also dove into book marketing, knowing nothing at all. Mistakes were made. The importance of a strong social media presence is often overstated. The fact that a creator can generate a lot of interaction with various social media posts does not necessarily translate into actual sales when the chips are down. You can get a giant pile of “likes” on your post about a book release, but very few of those will translate into followers reading your book. Upon reviewing statistics for my most recent book release, I saw the sales numbers land at around 6% of my social media followers. Clearly, there is value in multi-pronged marketing endeavors. Amazon allows sellers to bid on specific keywords, sort of like an auction, where higher bids will be placed higher in the search results, charging sellers only when a potential customer clicks on their product. I discovered rather quickly that it is possible to absolutely incinerate money this way, and if one does not review the data, the cost can far outweigh the profit. There is a formula to generate a return on investment, and meticulous attention to data is required to come out ahead.

There are also book marketing firms that provide a host of options and platforms – reviews, newsletters, book clubs, and third-party website traffic are just a few examples. I have learned through trial and error (lots of error) which efforts produce tangible results and which ones are less profitable.

Does your business have multiple or supplementary revenue streams (like a ATM machine at a barbershop, etc)?

Through the process of publishing my first two novels, I gained a skill set that I felt was marketable in and of itself, so I began Wandering Bear Creative, my own publishing imprint. Through Wandering Bear, I offer an array of publishing services, ranging from simple proofreading to developmental story editing. I also provide consulting for the publishing process as a whole and have partnered with other vendors for book cover design, audiobooks, and other artistic services.

My goal behind opening Wandering Bear Creative was not only to provide supplemental income in addition to my book sales but also to offer my knowledge to the writing community. The world of publishing is more complicated than ever before, and in talking with fellow writers, I have learned that many find the idea of moving their manuscript from final draft to published work to be so intimidating that they never take that last step. This is a tragedy I would like to help prevent if I can.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jasonlancour.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasonlancourauthor
• Other: https://linktr.ee/jasonlancour
  https://www.amazon.com/Jason-Lancour/e/B09KVJK8QS

Image Credits

All photos my me