The Publishing Performance Show Nat Eliason - The Entrepreneur's Approach to Self-Publishing: Direct Sales, Premium Products, and Marketing
Nat Eliason is a writer, entrepreneur, and founder of multiple successful online businesses who is now pivoting to science fiction writing. After securing a $275,000 advance for his traditionally published non-fiction book "Crypto Confidential" with Penguin Random House, Nat has chosen to self-publish his debut science fiction novel "Husk." His entrepreneurial approach to book publishing includes a strong focus on professional production quality, direct sales through his own website, and leveraging his existing audience while building new channels specifically for his fiction work.
In this episode:
- Nat's transition from traditional publishing to self-publishing
- Creating a high-quality self-published book that doesn't look self-published
- The importance of investing in professional cover design and formatting
- Using Ingram Spark vs. Amazon KDP for print-on-demand
- Leveraging an existing audience for a genre pivot
- Building a marketing strategy focused on BookTube and Bookstagram
- The value of preselling books through your own website
- Nat's process for plotting and writing his novel in just four weeks
- How Nat's background in philosophy informed his sci-fi worldbuilding
- The challenge of keeping track of complex worldbuilding details
- Strategies for launching without a fiction-specific audience
Resources mentioned:
- Ingram Spark - For high-quality print-on-demand paperbacks and hardcovers
- Shopify - For selling signed book copies directly to readers
- Story Origin - Newsletter swap platform (mentioned by Teddy)
- Book Funnel - Reader magnet platform (mentioned by Teddy)
- Google Notebook LM - AI tool for organizing book details (mentioned by Teddy)
Book Recommendations:
- "Husk" - Nat's sci-fi debut novel about digital immortality
- "Neuromancer" by William Gibson - Classic cyberpunk that inspired Nat
- "Dune" by Frank Herbert - Example of long-lasting fiction impact
Connect with Nat Eliason:
- Website: nateliason.com
- Substack: blog.nateliason.com
- Book website: huskbook.com
Connect with Teddy Smith:
- @teddyagsmith
- Website: https://publishingperformance.com/?ref=ywm3mtc
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- Pinterest - https://nz.pinterest.com/publishingperformance/
- Instagram - https://instagram.com/publishingperformanceinsta
- Youtube -https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHV6ltaUB4SULkU6JEMhFSw
- Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/company/publishing-performance/
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