Using Short Works to Grow Your Author Business

Matty Dalrymple discusses Using Short Works to Grow Your Author Business, including using non-fiction books as calling cards to other income streams and using short fiction to interest readers in longer works.

On the non-fiction front, Matty uses her own experience with her short non-fiction works (Taking the Short Tack: Creating Income and Connecting with Readers Using Short Fiction and The Indy Author’s Guide to Podcasting for Authors) to illustrate how the opportunities these open—consulting, speaking engagements, articles, contest judging—provide far greater income than the sales of the books themselves. She shares tips on how authors can best position themselves to capitalize on their short non-fiction as a “business card” for their other offerings.

On the fiction front, based on the material from Taking the Short Tack, she discusses how authors can connect with readers using short fiction, including using it as a reader magnet, as audio offerings, and as promotional material. She discusses how to use short fiction to create income, focusing on the opportunities offered by indie publishing. And she discusses how short fiction can indirectly support a creative business by enabling authors to market test new characters, worlds, or genres, or to re-start the engine of their (longer) creative work.

On both fronts, Matty discusses how authors can find, nurture, and capitalize on these opportunities by building a community of fellow creators in the writing and publishing worlds.