A Fandom-Original Writer: Markers of Success

A while back, Kristine Rusch wrote about markers of success, which are entirely dependent on goals. Recently, I exchanged some dialogue on beta readers with Elle Casey and came to the realization that our goals were quite different. Her goal is to build a readership; mine is to build a fanbase. She didn't really understand the difference.

I have a pen name, my most successful one, where the goal is to sell books. The way to reach that goal is simple: write and publish more stories fitting the brand. It works. It pays my utilities bill when I get the payout.

Her goal is to draw in many new readers with each successive book. This means she'll probably have more reviews and sales overall than I do and each book probably should go through a new to her reader, as she suggests, to see how it'll go over with new-to-her readers.

My goal with Liana Mir comes straight out of fandom: I want fans. I want to write what I love and what fascinates me and know others feel the same way. That means I don't need many new readers with each release; I need to hold onto the ones I have, to make them feel something. It means that my ideal beta reader is both active in fandom and someone who becomes invested in my storyworld and can react like a fan, pointing out problems as they arise, such as the failure to sufficiently characterize Pieter. Important stuff, this. One of my favorite TV shows ever, Awake, had a relatively small viewership, but it had a devoted fanbase. I'm perfectly content with that sort of result. In fact, that's what I want. I want fans, who may or may not ever review and may be small in number but are high in engagement.

That said, my markers of success are:

• Have readers who ask questions and want more.
• Have fanwork created for my worlds.
• See an in-depth review or piece of meta from someone I don't know.
• Have readers I don't know who ask questions and want more.
• Have fanwork created for my worlds by someone I don't know.

These are my personal goals and benchmarks. I've got number one with Kingdoms and Thorn and Faeology got interest and wanting more from strangers (though I've yet to deliver, having gotten sidetracked). Number two has happened for Vardin (fix-it fic) and I got that gift from my beta in Kingdoms and Thorn. The rest haven't happened yet, which is fine as I haven't actually gotten as much into the world yet. These stories are created for my fangirl side. I actually care about canon, so if it's not quite right, it doesn't get published.

I don't pretend everyone wants this, but it's what I want. To create something that rich and awesome that if it were authored by someone else, I would fangirl it.

What are your markers?

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Originally published at Liana Mir. You can comment here or there.

Reading and Writing, October 14

This entry is part 13 of 13 in the series Daily Scribble Reports

Stage One: Assess

So today, I wrote a blog post before getting to other writing. A lot of stuff about fandom and original fiction has been hammering in my head lately and that gorgeous piece of early Yuletide goodness put me over. Of course, now I owe a Laurie fic back and that's mulling in the percolator. In the meantime, there's what to write for Nano to consider and how many ficlets I can plow through today running on a late start, to say nothing of the three I haven't read yet from thecatisacritic.

Submissions

Got a rejection letter late in the day. It was a good rejection letter and very helpful. I do have a strong tendency to write vignettes, and I'm not entirely sure I'll ever be cured of that, though curiously, this fic isn't actually a vignette. Nevertheless, the comments gave me some great ideas on where to go when I'm ready to flesh out Alliance more, as my first angles were fizzling badly (I'm apparently not that into school fic, I just thought I was), and it also made me realize something: I have come to expect rejection. I never actually want to see the response to a submission. That's a very odd thought.

Stage Two: Work

I tried to make some progress on "Everything is Blood" and I did make some, but I wasn't impressed and it's still not coming together for me, so I decided to hit Kingdoms and Thorn again instead. And there goes 184 190 198 words on Lovemark the Seasons. I was actually thinking ficlets, o muse o' mine. Please?

Oh, bother it. Sorry, thecatisacritic. I'm going to bury myself in Lovemark.

Stage Three: Count

• Fiction: 1,187 words - Month to Date: 16,629 words
• Blog: 822 words - Month to Date: 6,512 words

365 Challenge

Speaking of the challenge, what day am I on and how's the overall progress going? I'm on day 287/365 and written piece 215/365.

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Originally published at Liana Mir. You can comment here or there.