Apr 13, 2018
Stark Reflections Episode 16 – Crowd-Funding and
Audience Engagement with Natasha Bajema
Mark interviews Natasha Bajema, a fiction author who lives in
Washington, D.C. and has been an expert on national security issues
for over 18 years, specializing in weapons of mass destruction
(WMD), nuclear proliferation, terrorism and emerging
technologies.
In the introduction, Mark performs a Terrible Tongue Twister,
sponsored by Findaway Voices and also goes off on a rant about how
much time and energy authors waste worrying about Amazon’s latest
“scandal.”
In the interview, Mark and Natasha discuss:
- Natasha’s background working for the United States Department
of Defence in National Security for 18 years, specializing in
Weapons of Mass Destruction and how recent research into emerging
technologies has inspired some of the concepts in her new
trilogy
- The original nuclear conspiracy trilogy she had originally been
working on before she followed a whim to pursue the ideas behind
the novel Bionic Bug
- The challenge that a new writer faces when attempting to build
up their audience and how Natasha faced that fear of “publishing to
crickets” by engaging in crowd funding
- Nanowrimo and the roll it has played in her life as a
writer
- The conversation Natasha had with Mark at the Smarter Artist
Summit in Austin in the spring of 2017, and how that chat played a
role in the turning point she was stuck at
- The Kickstarter Project that Natasha launched and her reasoning
behind it
- The decision behind various rewards offered, including the
“uber” limited edition idea Natasha was inspired about from
listening to Joanna Penn’s The Creative Penn podcast
- Where in her life as a full-time employee she finds/makes the
time to write (which works out to about 10 hours per week)
- The book launch party at Wicked Bloom (an actual setting from a
scene early in BIONIC BUG) taking place on April 18th and how she
is dealing with that as an introvert
- Why Natasha is publishing the book, as part of a soft launch
strategy, only on Kobo and the five-star reviews the book has
already received there
- Why Natasha is going to wait much longer before releasing the
books on Amazon
- The difficulty putting aside a huge passion project Natasha had
been investing in (at least emotionally) since 2010 in order to
pursue the BIONIC BUG trilogy
- The importance of patience and discipline in Natasha’s
long-term strategy as an author, and the family traits that she
believes she inherited
- Natasha’s passion with the intersection of what is
technologically possible and what society will accept and adopt
(such as wondering whether or not Americans will ever accept a
technology like self-driving cars)
- The love Natasha has for the works of Michael Crichton and
similar styled techno-thrillers that rely on speculation about near
real-time science and technology
- Natasha’s new podcast where she will be talking about emerging
technologies similar to the things that she likes to write about
and then include an excerpt from her novel as well as insights into
the inspiration behind the writing of that chapter
After the interview, Mark reflects on the importance of the
investment that Natasha made into every single decision as she
gathered information for her publishing journey and the choices she
made related to not looking for short-term gain, but, instead, with
a focus on the long-term strategy. He reflects on how this speaks
directly to advice he admires from an author friend, James A. Owen,
and shares a short audio clip from James’ Drawing Out The Dragons
book that further illustrates this point.
Mark speculates that Natasha’s diligence and patience are going
to lead to a greater long term success as an author and applauds
her for taking this important and difficult long-term view.
Links of Interest:
Natasha’s website
Natasha’s WICKED BLOOM
Podcast
James A Owen’s website
James A Owen’s Drawing Out the Dragons
Findaway Voices