Year Zero Writers Collective

By Dan Holloway

Back in May I wrote an article about the future of publishing that argued a flatter business model would emerge out of the current landscape. Writers would work directly with printers, designers, editors, techies, distributors, choosing the most suitable of each for the project in hand rather than relying on whoever the publisher had in house. And because they were in direct contact with each, they would be able to respond to the market.

A traditional publisher just can’t do that. They’re not built for it. Individual writers can. And if a collective acts like a collection of individuals, it can do it even better.

Enter my writers collective, Year Zero Writers. Here’s the Year Zero Writers Manifesto. We all write contemporary literary fiction. The kind of thing it’s (pretty much) impossible to find a publisher for as a newbie. So we took that, and combined it with the kind of social media debate instigated by Richard Nash and Kevin Kelly, and turned direct contact between reader and writer into our single core value. Uncut prose we call it. Which doesn’t at all mean unedited. It means edited the way the writer wanted it done. In my case that means 26 drafts before print.

What does a collective offers writers that a traditional publisher can’t? Flexibility. Which means a lot of things, but they can all be described in that word. It means speed to market. It means the ability to change direction and business model in an instant. It means being able to try new things and drop things that aren’t working.

I guess the fact I studied Greek literature and philosophy at uni influenced things. I’m attracted by the similarities between the possibilities the Internet offers for engagement between readers and writers and the oral storytelling of the ancient world. There’s a sense that storytelling’s alive, not frozen. That’s something I like about POD as well—you can constantly update in response to your readers. You don’t have to wait for the next run.

Year Zero is a marketing collective rather than a publishing collective. It’s basic business. Stick to the one thing you can do well, especially if you can outsource the rest. What a collective gives is a single identity, and the ability to reach your market more effectively. The key is finding replicable tasks that everyone can go out and do and make a real difference. And avoiding duplicable ones where having numbers makes no difference at all.

“We’re at a key moment in publishing, where everything’s up for grabs, and for me that means the number one thing is to get readers.”

A Collective Has to Have a Niche
First, a collective is still only a handful of people. If you spread yourself too thin with your readership, you might as well be talking to fresh air for all the good it’ll do you.

A collective is building a brand in a reader’s mind. We want people not to think of Dan Holloway or Oli Johns but of Year Zero Writers. We want them to know that if there’s a Year Zero book out, they’ll like it. It’s about building loyalty with our core customers. And that means a regular supply of books that all provide the same things. Get just one book out of step with the others and those customers will wander off. So for all our anarchy and shambolic appearance, the basic thing we’re trying to recreate is as tight as Black Lace. The imprint, not the fabric, which can apparently be quite loose.

Our books are aimed at urban Indie readers. They’re the kind of books you’d find on the couple of book shelves at Indie record stores. They appeal to students, and people who hang out in Camden in London, similar to the Village in New York. We go to the places they hang out and market there. That means independent bookstores in city centres, websites and forums based around that kind of urban lifestyle, music venues, those kind of places. In a lot of cases, we’re writing for people like us. So we’re already part of that scene.

Freemium is Our Business Plan
It’s basic common sense to me. If you’re new, you need to give people a reason not to pass you by. Why would you expect them to pay for something they have no idea about?

We’re at a key moment in publishing, where everything’s up for grabs, and for me that means the number one thing is to get readers. Even if that means no actual sales for your first book, or your second. We’re at the position we were with internet service providers almost 15 years ago. The ones who got both market share and a good reputation were then able to monetize their position. But market share came first. I think it’s the same in publishing now.

Dan Holloway is co-founder of Year Zero Writers and organizer of the Free-e-day festival. He blogs regularly about independent culture and spends too much time on twitter. The first three Year Zero Writers novels are are available to download for free from Smashwords, and to buy as paperbacks. Full details here.

Tagged as: e-books, publishing news and views, self-publishing