We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nate Wagner. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nate below.

Hi Nate, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

How did I learn?

It took most of my adult life working in marketing and business development to become a consultant. But to become an award-winning novelist, I just started doing it.

I’ll never forget the day my debut novel was officially published and available for sale on Amazon. It was one of the most incredible feelings of accomplishment I’d ever experienced, and yet it almost didn’t happen.

Coincidentally, I had met a fellow author and friend for coffee the week before, and he congratulated me for joining the 8% club. To expand on this ‘rare air’ statistic, he explained that if 100 people in a room were asked if they had thought about writing a book––almost everyone would raise their hand. And for those who had thought about it, maybe 30% had started writing one at some point in their life, but only 8% actually completed the process and shared their story with the world.

Before I became an independent author, I wasn’t even in the 30% who had started writing a draft manuscript. The thought of writing a book had crossed my mind, but so did every reason not to … it wasn’t the right time; I’m too busy; and maybe I should start with a creative writing class.

Then COVID happened.

Suddenly I’m working from home on a regular basis. The time I would typically spend in my car, or in reoccurring meetings, or at networking events was now wide open to possibility.

Apparently I wasn’t alone, as a non-scientific study has suggested that 60% of Americans adopted a new hobby during the pandemic. But instead of picking up a musical instrument or perfecting a sourdough bread recipe, I found myself inspired by the subject line of a random email: Have you thought about a future in books?

Writing copy for websites, blogs, and emails was a daily task. But I had never thought about a future in books, until I began to imagine one.

So I learned by doing, and while I was doing.

I referenced some of my favorite books as a young adult, when my imagination was still pure and untainted by the cynicism of work and adulthood. This may have only been invaluable from my perspective, but it helped me remember what I liked and why.

I noticed of how some my favorite authors structured their chapters, and their unique style of storytelling. Having a better understanding of this helped me develop a style of my own.

I accepted my ignorance and naiveté, and that I knew nothing about creative writing or the process of being published. This allowed me to bash around and ask questions without ego or a position to defend.

I underestimated how much time and research needs to go into character development, referencing historic moments in time, and world building. But I adapted quickly and persisted, because critics love the little details.

I listened to the advice I sought from those I respected and admired, and discarded what I believed to be irrelevant or a barrier to getting started. Some of the best advice was to keep writing and get the story out of my head –– and not to edit while writing, as these are distinctly different phases of manuscript development.

I hired smart people to help me. Finding an editor wasn’t easy, and it took many Google searches and a willingness to interview and be interviewed. But finding the right editor, and publishing services, is just like building a team.

I remained open to feedback and constructive criticism, no matter how it made me feel. The people I hired to help me were there to do exactly that, and our shared goal was to produce the best product.

I focused on marketing. This was the one thing I did have experience in, and I quickly found out that marketing and publishing are not mutually exclusive. Everything about publishing a book is similar to launching a product … who is the audience; how will they find it; why will they buy it; and what differentiates it from everything else?

I created an achievable goal, knowing that my first novel wasn’t going to be Shakespeare. It was intended to be a fun, entertaining, easy read that appealed to my teenage son.

And overall, I did my best to not take myself too seriously. As an independent author, I’m not trying to compete with other writers who might be working with traditional publishers. This is a ‘if you liked this … you may like this’ world, and I’ve learned that readers prefer genres before they pick their favorite authors. I also think of being a writer like the game of golf, and that I’m only competing against myself to get better each time I play.

What skills were the most essential?

Self Awareness –– knowing what I could contribute, accepting what I didn’t know, and being open to critique.

In marketing, we often refer to the production triangle when scoping product development where your three options are 1) budget, 2) time, or 3) quality: Pick two.

In this new world, I realized that I had to pick two from these options: 1) keep writing, 2) help with marketing, or 3) become an expert in publishing.

Finding a hybrid publisher allowed me to subcontract the areas I needed the most help. Most publishers, including hybrid publishers, will help you with everything from researching categories on Amazon, to cover art, formatting, keywords, etc.

Copyrighting –– protecting my ideas and manuscripts, which also allowed me to share them with others when seeking help.

Discovering copyright.gov was one of the best things that happened to me during my publishing journey. Everyone wants to protect their intellectual property, and finding out how easy and affordable that is was a game changer.

Agile Project Management –– having a target date for a book launch, and working backwards on the series of tasks to get there.

Once I was able to connect with my story editor, I had a deadline to deliver my first draft. Based on the word count of your manuscript, the fee for this service is generally per 1,000 words and it can take anywhere from 45 to 90 days of getting feedback and submitting rewrites.

A copy editor is different, and their sole focus is to address grammar and formatting issues. This is ‘final polish’ of a manuscript and commonly done by someone other than a story editor, who is more focused on character arc, point of view, and plot holes.

Along the way, there is also approval of the cover art and formatting –– and then final approval of the manuscript as a finished product. All told, project management of the publishing process can take up to six months.

Campaigning –– building fans isn’t easy, and it won’t happen overnight.

To this day, I still attend book festivals and do book signings at Barnes & Noble bookstores. It provides an opportunity to connect with readers and refine my elevator pitch. I’ve met a lot of people and repeated the brief description of my book over a thousand times, and a good day is when 10% of them actually buy it.

If I had written a business book, this is where I would be positioning my work as a business card and a validation piece to get speaking engagements. Either way, campaigning is skill worth having.

Product Marketing –– sticking to the strategies and tactics that are proven to raise awareness and build a loyal customer base.

Because I’m writing a series, the product is the series and the individual books are just extensions of the product. Each book has an important role, but ultimately I want readers to be a fan of the complete series. And until I have a following of 20K or more fans, the series will be more important than my name recognition as the author.

TikTok has been an incredible platform to get the word out and promote my books. But like most social platforms, the algorithm is something to be mindful of and not to mix business with pleasure … or my author persona with my personal accounts.

Building an email database has been instrumental in promoting events, special giveaways, and seasonal offers. It is also the best way to build loyalty and have a batch of readers eagerly waiting for my next novel to launch.

What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I’ve never stopped learning, but there is only so much time in a day.

As an independent author, I’ve come to realize that there is only so much I can do by myself. And while it is helpful to hire people who can help, these services cost money.

Writing is my side hustle. My COVID hobby that has become a something that I love to do, but I need a day job to help pay for it until it starts producing enough revenue to be something sustainable.

To that end, I’ve realized that if I want to be a professional writer … I will eventually need to work with a publisher that manages everything but the creative process.

Until then, I continue to celebrate my work as an independent author, and I’m prepared to take the long road with optimism and persistence as my guide.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

It’s funny to look back on it now, but I literally knew nothing about writing a book, and even less about the publishing business when I got started.

What I’ve discovered, just like anything else in life, is that being good at something takes commitment.

There will always be distractions and something else fighting for time and energy. but what I’m most proud of is how I’ve scheduled time in my week to write, and the process is getting easier and better with each book.

The unexpected challenge: Which story should I write next?

As someone with vivid dreams, I often tell my wife about whatever entertainment my subconscious managed to produce the night before. She’s been a kind critic of this content over the years, but to be fair, there have only been a dozen or so that she’s deemed worthy enough to be written down before I forgot.

So with a journal full of notes and ideas, I have plenty of story starts for future novels. But then comes the anxieties and self-doubt of any creative endeavor, and maybe some of these barriers are completely relatable.

My first books are westerns, but I’ve always thought about being multi-genre because I also have an affinity for sci-fi, horror, mysteries, and thrillers.

But if I shift genres, will my readers follow along? Will they like it?

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Having fans.

Reading reviews is the most rewarding aspect of being a writer, with being awarded a prize for my work a close second.

Yes, my teenage son loves my stories, and so do my friends and family. But after selling thousands of books in my first year, I’ve started receiving reviews from people I’ve never met. And when someone takes the time to describe in detail what they liked about Book One and Book Two, I’ve come to realize that I now have fans.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Social media is the easiest, fastest, and best way to build an audience as an indie author … but it takes work and a willingness to create new accounts specific to your author persona.

TikTok seems to be the perfect platform for aspiring indie authors to promote their books, and themselves. But the algorithm knows what I like better than myself. Once I created my author account, I focused exclusively on following other authors and #booktok readers –– while swiping on anything that was irrelevant.

And not taking myself too seriously, I also started shamelessly posting videos on a regular basis and being very ‘top of funnel’ and ‘bottom of funnel’ with my hashtags. If I’m at an event or festival, I start with #booktok and #author at the top of the funnel for general interest, and then my book #genre and the #event for relevance at the bottom of the funnel.

It took about six months, but I’ve organically build up over 1,000 followers on TikTok and unlocked some new features.

Other social channels are really dependent on target audience. Based on genre and my targeted audience of young adults or older, I tend to stick with the channels they most frequent. The simple philosophy: Fish where the fish are.

That said, channels like Facebook over ‘blog like’ features and functionality that also play will with SEO. So I often post videos, images, and event information here just to have content working to build my name and product authority.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thesamuraicowboys.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/nathanjwagner
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/creativerefinery
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanjwagner/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Create_Refine
• Other: TikTok @natewagnerauthor