KDP University @home with Michaelbrent Collings

Novelist and screenwriter Michaelbrent Collings is one of the most successful indie horror authors in the US, as well as an international best-selling thriller, fantasy, science fiction, and mystery writer. His works have been nominated for Bram Stoker, Dragon, and RONE awards.
Collings is a frequent guest at comic cons and writing podcasts like Six Figure Authors, The Creative Penn, Writing Excuses, and more.
On October 28, Collings shared with us how writing helped him gain a whole new sense of hope and how branding and event attendance can build your readership.

[Angell_Lee]

Great interviewer asking awesome questions, thank you! Also, thanks to the writer for sharing

[happinessyogateacher]

I'd really LOVE to know more about the backstory of his mechanical book publishing business. Does he have a VA, use ghostwriters, how does he choose editors? How did he write his first book?

[kit]

00:01 Intro
02:10 Getting started in writing
04:45 Horror genre
06:45 Tension and release in Horror
08:35 Plotting versus pantsing
10:25 Story rules
Do something that has been done a million times, but in a different way and better
Spend more time writing, not gaming the system by figuring out Amazon's algorithms
14:00 Figuring out book categories
17:00 Managing readers while writing in multiple categories
19:35 Establishing a reader cult
21:40 Author branding
Be nice
Practice socializing
27:40 Finding and choosing author events
30:30 Community management versus content creation
32:00 Affect of writing on depressive disorder
34:10 Going international
37:00 Identifying target audience
38:55 Gaining visibility for awards
45:25 Strategies for focusing while writing
49:10 Designing book covers
50:50 What should new writers focus on?
Writing the book
Support system
Be playfully ignorant
Work hard
Continually learn how to write
54:00 Software for book covers and writing
55:35 Upcoming books
56:40 Contact information
57:55 Accepting other authors' ARCs

[authorchuckbuda]

MBC rocks as an author and as a person.