Editor Q & A Live

Join Randy and Dan—two retired Green Berets turned authors—as they dive deep into the realities of writing, self-publishing, crowdfunding, and building a reader base from scratch.

In this episode of Editor Q&A Live, we break down the real costs of creating a book, why Kickstarter is becoming a powerful tool for indie authors, and how even small campaigns can offset editing, covers, formatting, and printing. Randy shares experiences helping authors run successful Kickstarter launches, while Dan reveals what he learned launching his first campaign for his new children’s book “The Whale and the Kraken.”

We also explore:
✔️ How Brandon Sanderson made $41M on Kickstarter
✔️ Why Kickstarter isn’t “begging”—it’s offering early supporters a deal
✔️ How to structure pledge tiers that actually convert
✔️ Using BookVault, BookFunnel, Wix, and Amazon strategically
✔️ The reality of advertising costs and efficiency
✔️ Why the best way to sell a book is to write another one
✔️ How series authors can drastically lower marketing costs
✔️ Direct sales vs Amazon—and why most readers still choose Amazon
✔️ How local events can bring huge opportunities for new authors

Later in the episode, we bring on special guest Tony, a veteran and memoir author Randy helped ghostwrite. Tony shares how he successfully pitched his book to Barnes & Noble, landed an in-store signing, and sold out copies—plus how he used AI to craft his book proposal.

Whether you're writing your first book, trying to build your audience, or exploring crowdfunding as an author, this episode is packed with real, actionable experience—not theories.

📚 Featured Topics
💠The truth about self-publishing costs
💠Kickstarter for authors (how to use it, what to expect, what NOT to do)
💠Marketing basics for new authors
💠Amazon vs. direct sales
💠Building a series strategy
💠Barnes & Noble in-store signing success
💠Tools: BookFunnel, Wix, BookVault, IngramSpark
💠Lessons learned from failure-based learning

💬 Ask Us Anything:
We record these sessions live. Drop your questions in the chat during the next stream—or leave them in the comments below and we’ll cover them in future episodes.