She thought she needed to monetize.

First, she needed something to monetize.

Megan Eckman came to SMG with a delightfully contrarian idea:

Why shouldn't an author get paid while she's still writing the novel?

She had started developing PDX Spellbound, a collection of cozy romantic short stories connected to a larger novel in progress. The stories could generate revenue while she wrote... and, just as importantly, help her build the email audience she'd eventually need for the novel's launch.

There was only one problem.

At the beginning of the engagement, Megan had one finished short story, fewer than 100 active email subscribers, roughly 100 social followers, and $0 in sales.

The monetization strategy wasn't the first problem.

The product was.

1 STORY → 12-STORY PRODUCT → 925 EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS → MULTIPLE REVENUE PATHS

THE STARTING POINT

You cannot monetize an idea.

Megan already had a world.

A half-finished novel.
One completed short story.
A growing list of future story ideas.
A website, a Kit account, and a small social presence.

She also discovered something potentially useful... an old email list from a previous business.

But old contacts aren't automatically an audience for a new one. Consent, deliverability, audience fit, and trust still matter.

So we didn't start by throwing an offer at everyone Megan had ever emailed.

We started by finishing the thing people would eventually be asked to buy.

Twelve stories. One year. One new story every month.

Megan wrote every story herself.

Then, while she finished the collection, SMG began designing the commercial infrastructure around it.

You can build infrastructure while you're still creating.

But eventually... you have to finish the damn product.

The stories needed a business model.

MEGAN ECKMAN / PDX SPELLBOUND