Anyway, as I was saying, I interviewed Arianna Huffington last week and she loved my eco-friendly shoes so much she asked me to blog about them for the Huffington Post. So I did! You can read it here.

There’s a theory in marketing that if an artist has 1000 “true fans” she can make a living at her craft.

Lisa, Laura and I wanted to explore this theory in my guest post with an eye toward what it might mean for a teen lit author.

The 1000 True Fans theory was developed by Kevin Kelly, the co-founder of “Wired” magazine and author of the book “What Technology Wants” due out from Viking/Penguin this fall.

He posited that given the massive amount of competing content artists are creating in the Internet age it may appear as if there are only two options – pen a blockbuster or toil away in the backwaters of the Long Tail. But never fear! There is another choice. And an artist can escape obscurity by cultivating 1000 True Fans, he says.

“A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can’t wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.”

Yes, he’s talking about musicians in the above quote, but the theory applies to authors too. And 1000 actually sounds doable, right?

But how do you get there?

“You have to maintain direct contact with your 1,000 True Fans,” Kelly says. “Pleasing a True Fan is pleasurable, and invigorating. It rewards the artist to remain true, to focus on the unique aspects of their work, the qualities that True Fans appreciate…You also benefit from the direct feedback and love.”

What that means is you need to LOVE them back. I’ve talked about this notion in other columns here, such as when we’ve discussed social media, blogging and commenting on other blogs. It’s about customer service, it’s about relationships, it’s about real connections!

But does the 1000 True Fans theory work?

Well, let’s look at the theory from the position of a fan.

I am one of Elizabeth Scott’s 1000 True Fans. I read all her books, I post recommendations of her books on my blog, on GoodReads and on Amazon. I rave about her book to other writers, to teens and to anyone else looking for a good read. I’ve bought her books for friends. I also have exchanged emails and Facebook messages with her. I am confident that I have accounted for directly at least 20 sales, if not more, of her books.

If she has at least 1000 fans like me – and she has way more – then she’s generating at least 20,000 sales of each book from those true fans. Her next novel, “The Unwritten Rule,” releases March 16 (a date I bookmarked on my calendar so I can buy it at the local bookstore). It’s listed at $16.99. If it sells 20,000 copies that equals $339,800 in sales.

Elizabeth will receive some portion of that in royalties. Now, I’m not going to speculate how much exactly each author needs to quit her day job and just live on her writing. However, I do think making a living from writing alone seems doable if you cultivate 1000 True Fans.

I’m a believer in it only because I have been on the other side. I am a Fan Girl for my favorite authors. I’m playing a big role in keeping them in jammies and slippers in front of their computer all day long, rather than pounding away at a day job.

On March 10 I’ll be attending debut young adult author Lauren Oliver’s book signing for “Before I Fall.” If you have a hankering for a personalized, signed copy of her novel (it’s getting mucho buzz and I’m reading it now and it’s quite good), let me know. I will buy copies for the first three people to respond via email with a note that includes one sentence on why you want the book. I’ll buy it, have it signed personally for you and then ship the book to you!

Guess what???

Frankstein lives!

I have resurrected the monster! This monster novel that I started in May and shelved in August when it became a gigantic pile of word doody has a beating heart again!

Because the characters kept knocking on my skull. Sure, they were surrounded by heaping piles of word doody. But they had hope for themselves! They believed in their story! They wanted to be rescued! I heeded their call in late January and promptly began performing reconstructive surgery on the novel. I’m still in the operating room and it’s a grueling procedure. In fact, I’ll be here for another — 22 days — because I’m gunning for March 31 as my big fat goal to have finished the first draft! I reached 41,756 words on Sunday March 7 and am figuring at 1300 words a day I could have a first draft done by the end of the month.

That first draft will surely need much work and countless revisions. But I’m going to sew this patient up!

And here’s the winning entry!

Caitlin @ Roaming Tales:
Kisses in rain like champagne

I love that entry — it’s sweet and romantic and poetic because it rhymes! And I can picture it and feel it and taste it! Yay Caitlin!

Let’s say for the sake of dreaming big that my novels become such huge hits that neither my husband nor I have to do anything else to earn a living. If that happens, I have decided to make him a kept man!

I know, I know. It’s quite magnanimous of me. And, look, he does like his job. So I’ve had to kind of map it all out to make this offer enticing for him. Here’s my plan for his daily schedule:

8 am: He takes the kids to school and then goes to the gym for two hours.

10:30 a.m.: He returns home to pick up the dog and take her out for two hours of fun and frolicking, which will include throwing tennis balls to her in the ocean. (This dog entertainment is critical and actually is a MASSIVE motivating factor for me in making my books a success!)

12:45 p.m.: He comes home to make me a delicious grilled sandwich for lunch.

1:00-1:30: We dine together and he entertains me with tales of the dog’s escapades.

1:30-3:00: He works on marketing for me.

3:00-5:30: Free time for self-improvement including editing and/or cooking classes.

5:30 p.m.: He makes dinner for the family

This schedule would allow me to write and handle writing-related work from 8:00-2:30 and at 2:30 I’d pick the kids up from school and handle their afternoon activities and homework.

Sigh…it makes me really happy thinking about my husband as a kept man. Someday!!!