The Taylor Swift Method: Revitalizing Your Backlist Books

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Ever feel like you're trapped on the publishing hamster wheel, churning out book after book just to stay relevant? You're not alone. For years, certain corners of the indie publishing world have been pushing the "publish fast, publish often" mantra, leaving authors exhausted and overlooking a goldmine sitting right in their back pocket—their backlist.

In this game-changing episode, we explore how Taylor Swift has mastered the art of keeping her entire catalog alive, relevant, and profitable year after year. From turning a decade-old song into a cultural phenomenon to weaving interconnected stories across platforms, Taylor demonstrates that creative work doesn't have an expiration date. Your books deserve the same treatment.

We break down three powerful principles from Taylor's playbook that any author can apply: finding new hooks for old works, making every release feed the whole catalog, and playing the long game with a cohesive marketing strategy. These techniques transform your backlist from forgotten projects into valuable assets that continue generating income without requiring constant new creation.

Ready to stop treating your books like one-and-done projects and start giving them the life and sales they deserve? Discover how to identify your most profitable backlist titles, use ChatGPT to create promotional content in minutes, and automate your marketing cycles for sustainable success. Your author revolution starts now—join us to learn how your existing books can become your greatest asset, not just another digital dusty shelf.

Want the step-by-step process? Join Backlist to Bank!

For just $37, you’ll learn how to use ChatGPT to revitalize your backlist like the Taylor Swift of the book world!  👉 Grab your spot here: https://www.authorrevolution.org/offers/2ziAQFXP/checkout 

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Go forth and start your author revolution!

Episode Transcript

Carissa Andrews (00:05):
Welcome to the Author Revolution Podcast.
I'm Carissa Andrews, author andyour host, here to help indie
authors like you master mindset,harness manifestation and
embrace cutting-edge innovationto elevate your career.
Let's dive in.
Well, hey there guys.

(00:29):
Welcome back to the AuthorRevolution Podcast.
Okay, I'll admit it, today'sepisode is about Taylor Swift.
But before you roll your eyesand think I'm about to break
into all too well, 10-minuteversion, obviously stick with me
.
This is actually about yourauthor career and how you can
sell more books without churningout a brand new novel every
other month or every month.

(00:50):
For nearly a decade now, certaincorners of the indie publishing
world have been pushing therapid release mantra.
Publish fast, publish oftennever stop producing.
Basically, if you stop tobreathe, you're already behind,
and you know that.
That's not where I stand.
That's not my go-to mantra,right?

(01:10):
So here's the thing that advicehas left a lot of authors
running on fumes, myselfincluded.
Perhaps you are one of them aswell, right?
And it convinced so many of usthat the only way to make money
is to write faster.
Meanwhile, our backlist youknow the books that we've

(01:31):
already poured our hearts andsouls into are sitting quietly
in the corner like the kid whodidn't get picked for dodgeball,
and that's where Taylor Swiftcomes in.
So, no, she's not secretlypublishing cozy mysteries under
a pen name although tell me youwouldn't read those, because I
totally would but she's a masterat keeping all of her work
alive and relevant, year afteryear, and she does it in a way

(01:55):
that makes fans lose their mindsin the best way possible.
So today we're going to unpackwhat Taylor's doing, why it
works and how you can use thesame principles to breathe new
life into your own books withoutburning out.
Okay, the how.
Well, that's what my Augustmasterclass is for.
Let's start by talking about thereal problem with how we treat

(02:17):
our backlist in indie publishingand why it's time to change
that.
Now you know the indie authoradvice that sounds like it came
from the 90s motivational poster, the just keep publishing.
Or, my personal favorite,you're only as good as your last
release.
Oh, it's been circulating foralmost a decade now in certain
Facebook groups and, honestly,I'm not a fan of Facebook

(02:39):
anymore either, but it'sexhausting just to think about
it.
Right, somewhere along the line, the convention turned into
this If you're not cranking outa new book every 30, 60, or 90
days, you might as well, pack upyour Scrivener files and just
go home.
But here's the truth.
This constant push to always becreating new stuff ignores the

(03:00):
goldmine sitting in your backpocket, which is your backlist.
That book you published threeyears ago.
It still has value.
The series you wrapped upbefore your current work in
progress still valuable.
In fact, every book you've everreleased is a tiny salesperson,
except most of us have leftours in the break room with no

(03:20):
coffee and no instructions.
I see it all the time.
Authors move on from a launch sofast.
It's like they broke up withtheir book and honestly, I gotta
say I've been there.
I've done the same thing right.
There's no more promo, no freshmarketing ideas, no reasons for
readers to rediscover it.
And because we're so focused onthe next shiny project, we

(03:43):
forget that books aren't milk.
They don't have an expirationdate.
So this is where Taylor Swifthas the indie world beat by a
mile.
She understands that.
Her backlist, you know everyalbum, every song, is a part of
an interconnected web that keepsfans engaged forever, and she
doesn't just let it sit theregathering digital dust either.

(04:04):
She actively breathes new lifeinto it.
So let's take a look at whatTaylor's been up to lately,
because her latest moves proveshe's not just creating in the
moment, she's weaving everythingtogether into one big,
irresistible universe.
So if you have been anywherenear the internet lately, you
know that Taylor made herpodcasting debut on the New

(04:26):
Heights podcast with TravisKelsey yes, that, travis Kelsey
where she casually announced her12th studio album, the Life of
a Showgirl, and what's crazyabout it is that she actually
wrote, produced and sung,directed, did all the work for
this thing while she was in theEuropean leg of the Heiress Tour
.
So she was flying betweenconcert dates all the while.

(04:49):
She was also promoting andadding in the Tortured Poets
department and continuing tore-record previous albums
because she didn't yet own hermasters.
So is this savage productivityor strategic synergy?
I mean, I lean into mastermindbecause she makes it look
effortless.
Here's the thing, though, whenwe think back to all of her
works and all the ways thatshe's been reviving her music.

(05:12):
You know, every Taylor's Virginre-recording brought older
songs back into the chart mixand into fans' hearts again, and
that catalog was rejuvenatedwith intent, like think about it
, like let's remember when shetook All Too Well, which was
originally released in 2012, andturned it into a 10-minute
version in 2021.
And it was a whole culturalmoment because her fans were

(05:36):
asking her to resurrect thislong song that she just
flippantly said it was actuallya 10-minute song that she cut
down and it's literally likeresurrecting your backlist
character and having peoplestill cry about it a decade
later because this song, thisstory, this entire experience
was able to be brought to liferight.

(05:58):
And when you think about hernot going through all of the
shit that she's gone through,all of the ups and downs and
trials and tribulations, shewouldn't have had the heiress
tour, she wouldn't have had there-recordings.
If she didn't do there-recordings, she wouldn't have
had the 10-ress tour.
She wouldn't have had there-recordings.
If she didn't do there-recordings, she wouldn't have
had the 10 minute version, shewouldn't have all these extra
versions of her songs.

(06:19):
And on that podcast episode shetalked about how a lot of the
re-recordings are actuallybetter than the originals.
And it's just wild to thinkthat she, at any given moment,
can create and recreate andreweave things together so that
the relevancy that maybe peopledidn't get the first time around
is now a part of the Taylor-domversion right Now.

(06:44):
At a glance though, it mightlook like rapid-releasing mania,
but here's the genius partshe's interconnecting everything
and she has been for a very,very long time Now.
This podcast debut, the newalbum, the re-recordings, the
tour they all feed into oneanother.
It's an ecosystem levelpromotion.
I mean when you even thinkabout it like Easter egg wise.

(07:06):
Now this is me revealing mytrue dorkdom when it comes to
Taylor Swift.
But when you unscramble thefirst letters of, you know the
life of a showgirl, so that'sT-L-O-A-S.
If you unscramble them andscramble them back around into
Lotus, l-o-t-a-s, it's Life ofTaylor Ellison Swift.

(07:27):
Do you honestly think that thatwasn't something she thought
about?
I know she did, but whatever.
Do you honestly think that thatwasn't something she thought
about?
I know she did, but whatever.
Taylor's out here weavingstories across platforms while
her fans dig for clues and therest of us authors can't even
like manage to make some promoswork right.
We can do better.
So what does this mean for youand your backlist?

(07:47):
Well, pretty much everything,because if Taylor can bring new
life into an almost 13-year-oldsong, well, your books deserve
the same play.
Now here's the part where Ibring it back to you.
Indie author, you don't have astadium tour, perhaps right.
Or a boyfriend with a SuperBowl trophy and a hit podcast
with his brother, or a team ofSwifties even dissecting your

(08:09):
every move.
But you do have something justas valuable, and that is your
backlist.
The difference is most of ustreat this backlist like
leftovers in the back of ourfridge.
We know it's there, we're sureit's still good, but we never
think to serve it up again.
So I want to give you threeprinciples that Taylor uses to
make everything feel like apractically spiritual experience

(08:32):
when she's doing any kind ofmarketing.
Okay, so Taylor's principlenumber one is find new hooks for
old works.
Taylor doesn't just release analbum and walk away.
She ties it to fresh hooks adate, a number, a visual theme,
a collaboration.
You can do the same thing withyour books.
Tie a romance novel toValentine's Day In fact, I'm

(08:55):
doing that myself next year,right or even a quirky made-up
holiday.
Reframe a mystery aroundtrending tropes or a true crime
buzz that's happening within theindustry.
Relaunch a fantasy novel duringa cultural moment that fits its
vibe.
There's so many different waysto be able to take a look at
your old works, your old books,and bring new life into it.

(09:17):
And like this is justscratching the surface, right?
Okay?
Taylor's principle number two ismake every release feed the
whole catalog.
When Taylor drops somethingbrand new, she makes sure it
shines light on her past work.
Her Taylor's Versionre-releases didn't just sell
those albums, they drove streamsof her entire discography.
As an author, that could meanmentioning backlist characters

(09:40):
or events in your new releases,including backlist excerpts or
bonus scenes in your readermagnets, offering bundle deals
that pair old and new bookstogether.
Like I brought characters intonew books across all sorts of
different things.
I've laid Easter eggs and somepeople get it and some people
don't, but the whole point hereis to make it as much fun as

(10:02):
possible to live and be immersedin the worlds that you create.
Okay, taylor is a storyteller.
First, she knows how to tell agood story and weave in all of
the things that get us excited,right?
Principle number three is playthe long game.
Taylor is not on a frantic rapidrelease schedule, really

(10:24):
honestly, even though it lookslike she might be.
She's actually running acohesive, interconnected
marketing plan, and here's wheremost indie authors burn out.
We try to treat each launch asan isolated sprint instead of
part of a marathon.
Your backlist should be a partof every single marketing cycle
you run, not just when the bookis shiny and brand new, but
always.

(10:44):
The system to identify theright backlist title, create a
month of promo in minutes andautomate the process so it
happens every quarter is exactlywhat I'm walking you through in
this month's Author RevolutionMasterclass.
So if you've been ignoring yourbacklist, this is your sign to
give it the Taylor Swifttreatment.
And no, that doesn't meanputting a glittery microphone on
your cover or a lock orwhatever, unless you want to

(11:08):
right.
So if you're ready to stoptreating your books like the one
and done projects and startgiving them life and sales that
they deserve, here's how we canmake that happen.
Instead of spending weekstrying to figure it all out on
your own, you can join me for afocused, high energy training
where I'll hand you therepeatable system that I use to
monetize my own backlist and howI do it without using platforms

(11:30):
like Facebook or Instagramessentially meta, whatever it's
called Backlist to Bank.
Monetize your books withChatGPT and in one hour, I'm
going to show you how to pickthe most profitable backlist
title right now.
How to use ChatGPT to create 30plus days of promo content in
minutes.
Automate quarterly backlistpushes so that your books keep

(11:51):
selling year round without youfeeling chained to your laptop.
We go live this Friday, august22nd, at 1pm Central Time right
on Zoom, just like normal.
But if you're hearing thisafter that date or have
something going on, no biggie,the replay will be available
Either way.
Head over toauthorrevolutionorg forward
slash masterclasses to check itout, or get signed up, or even

(12:13):
to check out the rest of thebacklist catalog of
masterclasses.
See what I did there.
Now, whether you've got twobooks or 20 in your backlist,
this is your chance to starttreating your backlist like it's
the asset that it is okay.
Give it the Taylor EllisonSwift treatment and watch it
start paying you back and whoknows, maybe a decade from now,

(12:33):
your readers will still beobsessing over your version.
Let's make that happen.
So go forth and start yourauthor revolution.
Thank you.