Stark Reflections on Writing and Publishing

EP 321 - Capitalizing on the Creator Economy with Ream Stories

Aug 31, 2023

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Mark interviews Emilia Rose and Michael Evans of Ream Stories, a subscription platform built by authors for authors.

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

You can learn more about how you can get your audiobooks distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.

In the interview, Mark, Emilia, and Michael talk about:

Emilia's Wattpad experience which resulted in one of her books becoming very popular on that platform
Michael's love of distopian fiction and discovery of the magnitude of the indie author realm, and his interest in the creator economy
How Emilia and Michael first met
What Ream (which launched in May 2023) is and how it works
How authors can choose to make their book free or paid on Ream, and release it serialized or all at once
The purposeful lack of exclusivity and onerous contract terms that Ream offers
The fact that it's free for authors to use and Ream keeps 10% plus a credit card processing fee, resulting in authors keeping about 85% of the revenue
Taking all the aspects of the various reading and serialzied platforms and merging them together to create Ream
Creative things that authors have done that have surprised them since launching Ream
The popularity of "author notes" and asking readers questions along the way on Ream
Advice they would offer to other writers
And more...

After the interview Mark reflects on a number of things, including how a small gesture can make a big difference, the value of bringing the best of the best of multiple platforms together into a single place, and the importance of treating readers like real people rather than objects to sell to.

Links of Interest:

Ream is the subscription platform by fiction authors for fiction authors.

The platform allows writers to build communities around their stories and charge a monthly fee that rewards your readers with early access to your stories, bonus content, access to new stories and your backlist, and even perks like signed books and merchandise.

Emilia Rose is a steamy romance author of 30 novels with over 30 million story reads online and six figures in annual subscription revenue. You can learn more about her here: https://www.emiliarosewriting.com/

Michael Evans is an author of 12 sci-fi thrillers + 2 nonfiction books for authors, serial creator economy founder, and a student at Harvard. You can learn more about him here: https://mevansinked.com/

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