Find Your People Before You Find Your Publisher

A late-night encounter with a fantasy novel lit the fuse, and Richie Billing walked away from law to chase the kind of storytelling that steals your sleep. We sit down with Richie to unpack the leap, the grind, and the systems that make a modern writing life possible without the smoke and mirrors. If you’ve wondered how authors really pay the bills, this candid, generous conversation gives you the roadmap and the reality check.We get specific about the money. Richie breaks down why per-book royalties rarely add up, how crowded discount markets distort expectations, and why volume alone can’t be the goal. Instead, he shows how to find your readers by leaning into comparisons, build a list with SEO that quietly compounds, and use honest, relationship-first emails to turn casual subscribers into committed fans. He also opens up about Patreon: simple tiers, low friction pricing, and benefits designed for how people actually read—downloadable ebooks, immersive web readers, and bonus audio—so support becomes recurring, not a one-off.The creative experiments are wild and smart. Richie explains how he self-published a novella with an original soundtrack—QR codes in print and tappable links in ebooks—where each character’s theme mirrors their emotional arc. He also shares “local-first” marketing tactics, from community events to QR stickers that cut through online noise. We dig into his podcast playbook, the real limits of monetizing audio without scale, and the crucial shift from making content for writers to serving readers who will buy your fiction. Along the way, we talk about writing routines around full-time work, class barriers in publishing, and why a weekly web novel can blend drafting, feedback, and momentum.Don't miss this fascinating episode, filled with golden nuggets.Send us Fan MailSupport the show📬 JOIN THE NEWSLETTERThe Storyteller Quest is  a weekly letter on writing,publishing, and the business of books.Subscribe, and I'll send you Traditional, Self, or Hybrid? —11 pages on what each publishing path really costs, plus a7-question worksheet that tells you which one is yours.Subscribe here.