Again with the hybrid message, you say. And I answer, “Absolutely!” Because I want you all to believe us when we say being a hybrid author is the wave of the future. And you can start being a hybrid author right now. Here’s one story that might inspire you to take those first steps.
Last week I signed Hawaii-based self-published mystery writer Toby Neal as a client. Toby is incredibly savvy about social media marketing and understands the value of building a solid publishing team with a top notch editor, award-winning cover designer, bookkeeper, lawyer, and more. She has sold, mainly for $3.99 each, nearly half a million copies of her Lei Crime Series of police procedural mysteries. Think the TV show Bones in Hawaii. Socially inept cop with hunky romantic detective love interest solving nasty crimes in paradise. If you count the promo copies Toby has strategically (and for a limited time) given away of certain books in her series to sell even more books, her total number of copies consumed rises to nearly 800,000. She writes 3-4 books a year. She’s banking great money.
So what the heck does she need an agent for, you ask? Well, within 24 hours of signing her I sold a five-figure audio book deal, and am starting to explore television series action with my Hollywood co-agent. Plus my team is figuring out foreign deals, etc. Subsidiary rights sales are something I can do right away with the series as she continues to self-publish it.
But there’s more. The hybrid thing, remember? I convinced her to write a YA mystery series next. Think Veronica Mars in Hawaii. She’s excited about that series too. And I’m going to try to sell that series to a big traditional publisher in New York. That way she’ll get bookstore distribution and a lot more print sales, a much bigger audience, and better visibility. Plus it extends her brand to a whole new age demographic. And YA mysteries are white hot right now.
She’s also got multiple spin-off series in motion. She’s got more ideas than she knows what to do with at this point. Literary fiction. Romance. Nonfiction. And I am helping guide her next steps.
So while she intends to complete the Lei Crime Series, she and I are strategizing about how we can expand her audience while keeping her current readers happy. We are going to work hard to take her to the next level. And we’re using all the tools and techniques we know to accomplish that…from self-publishing for control, affordability, and speed to market, to big publishing deals for broad reach, brand augmentation, and a much bigger bottom line.
Did I mention it’s only been a week? Maybe I’ll write about Toby again in six months and see where we are.
I’ve predicted multiple times on this blog that most authors will have hybrid careers within 5 years. And I truly believe it. Hybrid authors are the new cool kids in town.
Toby Neal is cool
