Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

EP 425 - Escaping the Self-Publishing Rapid Release Rat Race with Johnny B. Truant

Jul 18, 2025

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In this episode Mark speaks to author Johnny B. Truant about THE ARTISAN AUTHOR.

Prior to the interview, Mark shares comments from recent episodes, a personal update, and a word about this episode's sponsor.

This episode's sponsor:

This episode is sponsored by an affiliate link to Manuscript Report. Use code MARK5 at checkout and save $5.00 off your own personalized report.

In the interview, Mark and Johnny talk about:

Johnny's return to this podcast (with neither of them being able to remember how many episodes he'd been on previously). Technically, this is his fourth time. Two previous episodes were interviews, and the other was Johnny's brief guest reflection spot in Episode 300
Why Johnny's new book THE ARTISAN AUTHOR is a much-anticipated and needed book in the industry
A definition of what it means to be an artisan author, which is kind of the opposite of being a "rapid release, Kindle-only eBook" author
The importance of taking away that stress-cycle of having to pump out so many books as a single prescription "how to do it" answer
Remembering an important thing that, just like there is no single "the way" neither is being an artisan author
The paradigm shift and mindset change that is required as a fundamental starting point
How readers outside of the eBook/Kindle-only marketplace aren't as focused on lower price points and are okay with higher prices
The reality of the publishing landscape in terms of the books being sold and money being earned
The misinterpretation of the book Johnny and Sean Platt released years ago called WRITE, PUBLISH, REPEAT
How there are two kinds of writers. The type who approach the business as trying to solve a puzzle and the type who approach it as a way of telling a story that they really want to share
How a call of "go slow and make art" is not nearly as sexy as a "solution"
The experience of driving off to meet a couple of long-term fans to sign and sell directly to them
Connections and humanity being a key element of the artisan author experience
The value of authentic connection, regardless of whether or not it's in person or online
That powerful experience Johnny had doing one of his first major live book signing events as an author at Author Nation in Vegas and how that led to doing a lot more in person events
The ability to adapt to a customer based on their reactions in person
Look at it as connections, and then if sales happen . . . great!
Being really generous with your time and attention
Some of the logistics of doing an in person book signing
A couple of unexpected and amusing anecdotes from selling books in person
The Kickstarter that Johnny is doing for this book, which runs July 15 through Aug 14 (johnnybtruant.com/artisan)
The additional "continuum of education" that Johnny is including in this Kickstarter (Artisan University)
The importance of authors entering into things with conscious decisions rather than just blindly following the generic advice they've found
And more . . .

After the interview Mark reflects on a few specific points from the discussion.

Links of Interest:

Johnny B. Truant is one of indie publishing's early authorities, having created and co-hosted the original Self Publishing Podcast with Sean Platt and David Wright. He is also the author of the indie cornerstone guide Write. Publish. Repeat, and hosted the Smarter Artist Summit author conference in Austin, Texas from 2015-2018 with the same two partners.

On the fiction side, Johnny is the bestselling author of Fat Vampire, adapted by The SyFy Network as Reginald the Vampire. His other books include Pretty Killer, Gore Point, Invasion, The Beam, Dead City, Unicorn Western, and over 100 other titles across many genres.

Originally from Ohio, Johnny and his family now live in Austin, Texas where he's finally surrounded by creative types as weird as he is.

The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0