Here at Literative, we’ve had the pleasure of interviewing a number of talented and intriguing authors. People who have carved their way into the writing world and persist on staying in it (and do it so well, mind you). However, none of them have been quite like Wade Fransson. Unusual life, diverse background, and kidnapping are just three of the things he shared with us during this interview!
But perhaps the best part about this interview is the SOOP method of publishing, which could help you.
Let’s take a look:
You have a rather diverse background, from being a former minister of the Worldwide Church of God to your current role managing technology negotiations for Kohl’s department stores and as the CEO of Something or Other Publishing (SOOP). What inspired you to become a writer and a publisher?
I have lived a very unusual life. At age 9 I was kidnapped by my father and smuggled out of the country to Sweden, where the case was finally resolved at the supreme court level. I lived in a tent in Alaska for almost a year, and the Worldwide Church of God was considered a cult by many. The aggregate of these experiences and others, in Eastern Europe, South Africa, Israel and India needed to be shared, and yet the books I wrote about these do not fit neatly into any genre. The answer was to create the kind of Publishing Company I envisioned publishing my books.
The SOOP approach to publishing is unique in that you let the audience decide what you accept for publication. Can you tell us what inspired the idea behind an audience-driven publishing company?
During my transition from Minister to high-power technology negotiations, I was a management consultant, helping large corporations implement and operationalize their strategies. In taking a look at the disruption in the publishing world I imagined an end-to-end process, with the Author as CEO of every aspect of their success. It’s a hybrid between crowdsourcing, self and traditional publishing. In other words, SOOP was built for authors like me, who wish control, are social-media savvy, but also want to have a team of people supporting them.
Are you the first to develop this type of publishing model?
As far as I know. There are a number of companies doing pieces of this, but we believe our “Author Driven Publishing” model is unique in that it covers the end-to-end process of conceiving, writing, promoting, publishing and selling a book.
You’ve gone through the self-publishing process on your own with your book, The People of the Sign, did you find that there were gaps or limitations in the process that needed to be filled by a company like SOOP, or are you trying to simplify and share the knowledge you’ve gained from your experience with others?
The People of the Sign was actually the second book published by SOOP, after Genocide Revealed. It was also the first in a string of #1 Rated Hot New Releases on Amazon.com. You’re spot-on in suggesting that gaps exist which we tried to fill, or even exploit. And with every book we publish we learn more, and become a more attractive destination. The increasing attractiveness of our brand and the lessons learned are two the reasons we raised the publication bar 100%. In 2015, we would offer you a publishing contract at 1,000 Votes. Now you need 2,000 Votes. Having twice as many votes doubles your chances for a successful launch, and also weeds out some of those Authors who just don’t have what it takes to be successful in our model.
What are the benefits of choosing to publish with a small press over trying to attract the attention of one of the Big 5 publishing companies or going it alone by self-publishing?
Control over your work is #1. Also, those who are attracted to us are probably among those less likely to be picked up by the big houses, regardless of the quality of their work. And as far as I know we pay a much higher royalty than anyone else providing even half the value we do. On the other hand, we’ve had several people use SOOP as a platform building opportunity to prove to other publishing houses or marketing companies that they have a quality product. So you can benefit greatly from SOOP even if you don’t ultimately publish with us.
What advice can you give a writer who is looking to submit their synopsis for votes on your site? How can they really make their novel pop?
We don’t recommend publishing a synopsis. It’s more like an extended back-cover Blurb. Authors know how hard it is to get that right, so we allow you to edit it as you go, even change the title of the book. What’s really important is a good cover image, though that is not the most important thing. The single most important element is you must learn how to sell, and then constantly promote your book idea. Twitter is ideal for this because you can target your audience like a laser, for free. Our “Marketing Monday” series on using Twitter to get votes shows you, step-by- step, how to use Twitter to get the votes you need to hit our top 20 in about a month. But that effort is all yours. Don’t think that just by posting your book idea people will flock to it. This is the first big lesson writers need to learn, in order to become a successful author. We often say, if you can’t get people to buy your book, don’t expect us to be able to. That is part of the Author Driven Model. Once you learn how to pitch your book idea, we turbo-charge those efforts, and you’re on your way a #1 Rated Hot New Release on Amazon. That’s the beauty of our model.
How many books have you produced through the SOOP method?
Contrary to what most people think, we actually focus on quality. It is not easy to get to the top in our model. We just published our 6th book by our 5th Author. 4 of those have been #1 Rated Hot New Releases in their genres. Small numbers, amazing results.
On average, about how many active book ideas do you have open for voting? Is there a time limit for how long a novel can be open for votes?
I’m not really sure off-hand, it’s probably around 500 active Book Ideas at this point, but we’re rapidly picking up speed – that’s one reason we doubled the vote requirement for a Publication contract—to slow things down a bit. There is currently no time limit, you can go as slow or as fast as you want.
Are you ever worried about someone trying to game the system? By paying for votes, etc?
We have safeguards for this. First of all, we’re clear up front that if there is fraud then the writer is disqualified from our program. We can tell a lot by the pattern of Votes, and at the first sign of that, we send out a questioning email. Usually, that is enough to suddenly cause a change in the voting pattern.
If a submitted novel reaches the required 2000 votes but you feel like the quality isn’t up to par, do you reserve the right to refuse it for publication or do you simply work with the author to improve it?
What many don’t know is that we have a series of homework assignments and assessments along the way. To be considered you have to not only get the votes but also, pass each assignment at each checkpoint. The last Homework Assignment is a full manuscript review. If a Writer is diligent and determined enough to accomplish not only 2,000 votes but also pass these assignments, then we are willing to make the investment in professional content and copy editing to ensure that the writer is worthy of the title of SOOP Author.
Do you have any projects in the works right now that we can look forward to? (Novels set for publication).
We’re very excited about our latest release—RED: A Love Story, which was published March 30. It’s a genre-bender, crossing over the boundaries of Young Adult Romance and Feminist Literature, with a dose of Erotica. One respected author has called it “A thinking woman’s 50 shades of grey,” and Amy Guth has featured Author Nicole Collet on her WGN Talk Radio Show. A number of great reviews have already come in, and we’re very eager to see audience reactions.
How do you find your courage (to write and to start a publishing company)? A lot of new writers are scared of putting themselves out there to be judged. So much so, that many of them never even take the first step. What advice would you give to them?
You have something worthwhile to say. Write for yourself and your audience. Do not get distracted by the haters. Ignore them. But do not ignore valid feedback and criticism. Your work is an unpolished gem, and you need professional help to cut it, polish it, and find the right setting for it.
Can you tell us a little bit about your team?
We’re virtual. My VP of Publications is a very talented screenwriter and producer, both full-feature movies and an edgy web-series called Sevvy Hounds. He and I have worked together professionally for going on 15 years now, including a failed Internet venture called GoHuman.com, from which we learned a ton. He supported us for a year from Hungary, now he’s in the LA area. My Social Media Marketing Team is in the Philippines. I use an offshore development company. My VP of Operations is the closest to me, she lives about two hours away, in Wisconsin. Our Blog Editor lives down South. So we’re all over the map, and I, for one, can’t wait until we have our first blow-out best-seller as an excuse to bring everyone together and celebrate.
You also offer marketing services. What have you found to be the best way for new authors to promote their work?
We’re still working on that. Marketing and promotion is expensive, and it’s actually really, really difficult to make money unless you’re established and you know exactly what marketing machinery to engage, and you’ve got all kinds of partnerships all getting a cut. That’s why a new Author is lucky to get anything more than a 5% royalty. Large companies invest heavily on the front-end and make it up on the back end with movies rights, merchandising dividends, and the like. Because we’re low budget, we’re working on cracking the magic code on using Social Media for Indie Authors. When we figure out the magic formula we’ll bottle it, sell it, and make millions.
You offer two paths towards a publishing contract with your company. One is a membership to your Author Driven Publishing Certificate Program for 10 per month and on is the Free route, in which you submit your story and get the same guidance after 2000 votes. Both these programs have “homework assignments” can you tell us a little more about what those involve?
Amazon.com got its start selling books online, but has never consistently made money, and today its fastest growing business is probably Amazon Web Services. We’re also extending into related areas to make our business model work, while keeping the Author front-and-center. That means we’re still building and growing the various revenue streams needed to make us successful.
When our Voting model began to take off, the free services we offer provided so much value that we would quickly go bankrupt trying to deliver that to our growing customer base for free. For example, with each assignment an expert hand-grades the work, offering specific tips on each question that reveals a gap in understanding or ability. An Author easily gets 20 times that value from it, and more, depending on what they put in. In 2015, we realized it was time to start charging $10 per month, which we implemented at the turn of the year.
The free model today provides the same opportunity and homework assignments, reviewed by the same experts, but they review it more quickly and do not take the time to add detailed notes or offer personal interaction. The Writer receives an email with an overall comment or two and a pass/fail decision. We recommend Writers pay the $10 per month, but we have no intention of canceling the free model. Our model is hard to grasp on the surface, so we need to let people try before they buy.
If you are paying for the Certificate Program, do you still have to reach 2000 votes in order to receive a contract or do you just have to complete the homework assignments in order to be considered?
If you want a contract you need 2,000 Votes and Passing Homework, whether you’re on the free or Certification path. You need to be able to master Product, Platform and Promotion to be successful as an Author today. We only want to work with successful Authors, and our program self-selects those Authors. It seems very democratic, and in a way it is. In another way, it’s a very elite path, and most people don’t get through it, for any number of reasons.
What do you find to be the best way for people to get votes on their book ideas?
We’re amazed every time an Author catapults into the Top 20. One writer had a YouTube channel with 70K subscribers. Another is a known entity in a community of gamers. But if you haven’t built a community of fans, the place to start is with our Marketing Monday series on getting votes using Twitter.
Can you tell us a little about your publishing contracts? What do they involve?
SOOP contracts have a lot in common with standard Publishing contracts. Our Authors get premium editing, book design, cover design and much more, all inclusive, at no cost to them. But the vote getting doesn’t stop, it begins in earnest. We help our Authors under contract add 3,000 to the existing 2,000 and only publish at 5,000 votes. We also require that our Authors work hard to convert their votes into purchases, continue platform building activities, and build a fan base from what they’ve already accomplished in our model. We offer “partnership marketing” in which we work with the author to craft a marketing plan in which we invest equally. All of this assistance helps Authors fill a commitment to sell 2,000 books prior to receiving any royalties, in exchange for what we believe to be the highest royalty paid by any full-service publishing house.
Is there anything else that you’d like our readers to know about your company and its services?
Most writers/authors are hesitant and skeptical. Our model is simple, flexible, and requires no commitment to us. It does require enormous commitment to yourself, your personal platform, and your book. You have to care deeply about becoming a successful, respected Author. If that is you, we can tailor our program to you, whether you are a first-time author or one with a successful series of books already published. Some have also used us to build awareness of books already published elsewhere. In fact, in the next couple of weeks, we will launch our new Marketplace, a self-service listing section of our site for publishing Service Providers, with ratings. There will be a Marketplace for existing Authors as well. So we’re always innovating and pushing the envelope.
We are very welcoming, and we believe we’re building a strong community of writers, readers, and service providers that will eventually change the face of publishing completely, putting the content creators front and center. Author Driven Publishing.
Wade Fransson is clearly great at what he does. A man who made the most of all his diverse experiences, he now uses his skills to help not only himself, but everyone willing to put in some effort and passion into their books. Our thanks go out to Fransson for taking the time out for us!
If you’d like to know more about Wade Fransson, or his unique publication method, check out these links:
Wade Fransson’s personal site: http://wadefransson.com/
Something or Other Publishing: http://soopllc.com/
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/soopllc
Or Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SomethingOrOtherPublishingLlc
And if you’d like to read The People of the Sign, remember to pick it up from Amazon!
