Creative Dynamos 036 - Brian Rathbone on Fantasy, Marketing, and “Witches and Scoundrels and Fools"

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 [email protected]:00 Meet Brian Rathbone00:32 From Farm to Fantasy02:24 First Epic and Publishing Reality04:35 Print Run Mistakes and Early Ebooks06:17 Amazon Shifts and Cliffhanger Lessons07:58 Defining Success and Audiobooks12:12 Backlist Strategy and Going Wide16:33 World of Gods Premise19:19 Accidental Kids Books21:50 Unexpected Global Readers23:45 What Epic Fantasy Means26:33 Writing Accessible Series and Social Snippets29:03 Content That Feels Human30:19 Platform Wins and Flops31:49 Plotting an Epic Series32:09 Writing Like a Coder33:12 Finding the Series Ending34:26 New Historical Fantasy36:16 Duology for Marketing37:18 Shorts as Proof of Concept41:02 Pricing and Free Hooks42:16 Retailer SEO Strategy44:40 Chirp and Box Sets47:43 Collabs and Promoting Others50:23 Building Writer Community54:39 Podcasts and Approachability56:57 Where to Find Brian