O TYM ODCINKU
In episode 36 of Creative Dynamos, fantasy author Brian Rathbone discusses his path from horse training and a 35-year technology career to self-publishing, including mentally developing stories for years before writing after a 2005 layoff. He recounts early mistakes like an expensive print run with no distribution, later success selling eBooks via MobiPocket (before Amazon acquired it), and setbacks from Amazon’s 2016 algorithm and Kindle Unlimited shift. Rathbone explains defining personal success, building audience through free podcast novels, and focusing on long-term backlist sales using aggressive price rotations, SEO-focused metadata, and wide distribution, with Google Play and Chirp as key channels. He outlines his 12-book epic fantasy series built as four complete trilogies, a children’s book success (“The Silliest Dragon”), lessons on cliffhangers, community collaboration, and his in-progress historical fantasy duology “Witches and Scoundrels and Fools,” aiming for completion by year’s end. He shares where to find him at https://brianrathbone.com, on Threads as “Fantasy author Brian Rathbone,” and via email at brian@brianrathbone.com.
00:00 Meet Brian Rathbone
00:32 From Farm to Fantasy
02:24 First Epic and Publishing Reality
04:35 Print Run Mistakes and Early Ebooks
06:17 Amazon Shifts and Cliffhanger Lessons
07:58 Defining Success and Audiobooks
12:12 Backlist Strategy and Going Wide
16:33 World of Gods Premise
19:19 Accidental Kids Books
21:50 Unexpected Global Readers
23:45 What Epic Fantasy Means
26:33 Writing Accessible Series and Social Snippets
29:03 Content That Feels Human
30:19 Platform Wins and Flops
31:49 Plotting an Epic Series
32:09 Writing Like a Coder
33:12 Finding the Series Ending
34:26 New Historical Fantasy
36:16 Duology for Marketing
37:18 Shorts as Proof of Concept
41:02 Pricing and Free Hooks
42:16 Retailer SEO Strategy
44:40 Chirp and Box Sets
47:43 Collabs and Promoting Others
50:23 Building Writer Community
54:39 Podcasts and Approachability
56:57 Where to Find Brian
