October 1, 2025 • 24 mins
Have you ever wondered how some authors create such passionate fan bases that readers literally buy everything they release—sometimes multiple times? Welcome to the world of fandom architecture, where understanding the psychology behind superfans can transform your writing career.
In this inaugural episode of Feral Fandoms Podcast, host Onley James (gay romance author and self-proclaimed "fandom architect") shares the surprising story of how Glee fanfiction on Tumblr became the unexpected blueprint for her seven-figure writing career. Alongside her assistant Shannon, who admittedly "knows nothing about fandoms" (but secretly does), James reveals how she went from contemplating quitting her nursing job to building a rabid reader base that includes 4,000+ Patreon subscribers and a six-figure merchandise store.
The core insight? "Readers buy books, but fandoms buy everything." James breaks down how she applied her psychology background to create characters that readers become obsessed with, so obsessed that they create fan accounts for her fictional characters and often correct her about her own world-building details. She shares the exact moment she decided she was "tired of writing books that get five stars and are immediately forgotten" and how that led her to reverse-engineer popular fandoms to build her own.
Throughout the episode, we explore essential fandom terminology (from OTP to stanning), the psychology behind why super fans purchase multiple copies of the same item, and preview upcoming episodes that will break down specific fandoms like K-pop Demon Hunters and Twilight to extract actionable strategies for authors.
Whether you're a writer looking to build your own reader community or simply fascinated by the psychology of fandom, this podcast offers an unfiltered, occasionally profane, but always insightful look into what makes fans go from casual readers to passionate evangelists. Join our Discord community of 700+ writers and fans, and check out our Patreon tiers for extended episodes and exclusive fandom-building resources!
Want the uncut chaos + bonus episodes? Join us inside the cult at Patreon.com/TheBurnedOutMuse. Or find everything else (Discord, socials, freebies) at linktr.ee/theburnedoutmuse.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Glee made me a millionaire.
Glee, the actual show, made me amillionaire.
We got this.
Hello, and welcome to the firstepisode of the Feral Fandoms
Podcast.
I am only James.
(00:21):
I am a gay romance author,fandom architect, and creator of
courses that I'm hoping that youwill actually be taking.
Yay! And with me, I have.
SPEAKER_01 (00:35):
Hi, my name is Shannon Ezel.
I am an author personalassistant for Solely Only James.
And I know nothing aboutfandoms.
And that's the gag.
SPEAKER_00 (00:47):
That's why she's here.
So this podcast I created sothat we can help authors break
down popular fandoms and reverseengineer their own fandoms.
Because readers buy books, butfandoms buy everything.
Like everything.
And Shannon can attest to thatbecause she has to sell or send
(01:11):
all the stuff out to my fans.
SPEAKER_02 (01:13):
You you bitches buy everything.
Twice.
Twice, twice.
SPEAKER_01 (01:18):
Sometimes I have to message you like, hey, you know
you own this already, right?
That is true.
SPEAKER_00 (01:24):
That's the whole point.
That was the impetus forcreating this podcast because I
have a course where I break downexactly how I did the exact same
thing by using my love of fanfiction, K-pop, BL, and all
kinds of ships to reverseengineer my own fandom.
(01:47):
And I guess I'll start bytelling you how I did that or
why I did that.
So we're gonna go back in time.
After my failed YA career in2019, I switched to writing
romance novels.
(02:08):
And luckily, I had friends inthe romance community who helped
me get seen right away.
But even then, I was just doingokay.
I wasn't doing well enough toquit my day job, which was
nursing.
And so I just loped along for acouple of years.
And then one day I was sittingin the parking lot of my job and
(02:29):
I was contemplating jumping offthe roof.
And I was like, I shouldn't dothis anymore.
So I sat down and I meditated.
I swear to God, I lit a candle,I sat and I meditated, and I was
like, what do I do?
And then woke up the nextmorning and I quit my job.
And I was like, And then whathappened?
SPEAKER_01 (02:50):
And then I knew what happened.
Don't forget to tell them whatyou started.
Guys, she actually manifestedCOVID.
I did not.
SPEAKER_00 (02:57):
Don't you listener?
I did not.
And then COVID hit.
So the 401k that I had plannedon living on for a year was
basically cut in half.
So then I had no options but tosucceed.
But then I got sick and it tookforever to finish the book I was
working on, the last book in aseries.
(03:18):
But I eventually got it out.
But I was stumped as to what todo next.
So I asked my readers, my 12readers, what do you want to
read from me?
And they said they wanted morepsychopaths.
I had one character that was asociopath.
Anyway, they wanted morepsychopaths.
So I was like, okay, but I'mtired of writing a book and it
(03:39):
gets five stars, and the readersimmediately forget it exists.
I want people to make fanaccounts.
I want people who are feral overmy characters.
I want them to know everythingabout them.
I want them to just eat, sleep,and breathe these characters.
And we're about to get realdark, guys.
Sorry.
But when my mother was dyingback in 2013, I fell down a
(04:05):
Tumblr rabbit hole.
I mean deep down a tumblerrabbit hole.
Like 20 out of 24 hours a day, Iwas scrolling on Tumblr.
And I was part of the most lamefandom in history.
I was a glee.
Glee made me a millionaire.
Glee, the show, made me amillionaire.
Because I got sucked intoreading about Kurt and Blaine,
(04:30):
the gay couple on there.
And then that led me to thesteric fandom, and then that led
me to the Dusty L fandom, andthen that led me to K-pop.
So I saw how easily people couldget sucked in to this community.
And that's what I wanted.
So I took my psychologybackground and I started
researching like who justresearch fandoms for a living.
(04:53):
And so I figured out what it wasabout fandoms that I loved and
that other people loved.
And I decided I was going togive them seven psychos, and
they were all going to be gay,and I didn't care if anybody
cared about that.
And I was going to make thishuge Dexter Meets the Umbrella
Academy series.
And either it was going toskyrocket or it was going to
(05:18):
crash and burn.
And the day it released,everything went wrong.
And I was almost positive thatit had, in fact, crashed and
burned.
But then it didn't.
And then it took off.
And now within five years, Iwent from 32 patrons to at last
count 4,000 patrons.
And I have a six-figure merchstore and a seven-figure career,
(05:41):
all because my readers areabsolutely insane.
Most of my author friends areafraid of them.
SPEAKER_02 (05:47):
Love them so much.
I love them.
SPEAKER_00 (05:49):
Shannon loves my readers.
She loves them.
She likes babies them.
But yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (05:55):
Even when they're mad at me, I'm like, baby, no,
don't do this.
Come on.
SPEAKER_00 (05:59):
I'm so sorry.
I didn't mean to do it.
So yeah, I want to teach otherpeople how to do what I did
because it is talent, but a lotof writers have talent.
And you'll see it.
People have five-star reads.
I had plenty of five-starreviews with my other books, but
immediately people forgot themafterwards because readers just
gobble up everything.
And I wanted people to remembermy characters.
(06:20):
I wanted them to fixate on them.
And now I have fan accounts thathave fake finstas for my actual
characters.
SPEAKER_02 (06:29):
Actually, correct her about her characters.
They'll be like, um, actually?
Yeah.
Actually.
SPEAKER_00 (06:34):
Yeah.
If I had really plotted myseries out like I should have, I
would have mathed properly and Iwould have actually thought
about how old the characterswere when they were adopted, how
old they are in the series, whatthe age gap is.
I didn't know any of that.
And my readers bring it upconstantly.
And imagine them like, you knowthat meme.
SPEAKER_01 (06:56):
I think it's from It's Always Sunny in
Philadelphia, where they're liketracking it, like they're like
tracking everything like amurder board.
That's how I feel like they're.
And we always have to tell them,like, hey guys, just let's have
a good time.
SPEAKER_00 (07:05):
Yeah, I'm like, look, I don't math.
They can be however old you wantthem to be.
That's the beauty of this.
SPEAKER_01 (07:11):
Whatever you want.
SPEAKER_00 (07:11):
It's all up here for you, baby.
Whatever you want.
Yeah.
And they want to know what thecharacters look like.
I'm like, look, I have Pinterestboards, but they can look like
whatever you want them to looklike.
It doesn't matter.
It's completely up to you.
But yeah, that is the impetusbehind the podcast.
And I brought Shannon becauseShannon is funny.
Be funny, Shannon.
Right now on command.
Peace out.
Be funny.
(07:32):
Do something funny.
But I am really bad on camera,which you will find.
SPEAKER_01 (07:38):
Uh I will I think she looks so cool and I look so
lame.
Shut up.
Your background, the whole vibe.
And I'm just like.
SPEAKER_00 (07:47):
When I'm by myself, I feel like I'm talking to
myself, which is weird, eventhough I do talk to myself.
So I figured I'd have Shannonbecause Shannon really doesn't
understand.
Well, if that's not true.
Shannon knows a lot aboutfandoms, but like the fandom
she's interested in.
She's a Swifty, she's a recentcat's eye fan.
So she knows something coffee,my little uggs.
SPEAKER_02 (08:07):
I'm just a stupid little bitch.
SPEAKER_00 (08:09):
I'm sure.
I'm sure when we get to theTwilight fandom, she's gonna
have plenty to say.
And when we break down K-popdemon hunters next week, I'm
sure she's gonna have plenty tosay.
My children, her daughter, isobsessed with K-pop demon
hunters.
I should tell you that we havezero filters.
(08:29):
So this isn't a podcast forchildren.
We tend to swear, we tend to bea little loud and aggressive,
and sometimes we veer politicalaccidentally.
So just so you know, it happens.
Oopsies.
It's up seven o'clock, guys.
Don't worry.
I am gonna edit some of this.
So if you want the extended,unfiltered, we have a$5 tier on
(08:51):
Patreon where you get theextended cuts, the ad-free cuts,
all that good stuff.
So you can do that if you wantto hear all the ramblings that
we do.
But also, we do have a$10 tierfor baby authors who don't know
some of the stuff that nobodyever teaches you, like how do
you load your stuff onto Amazon?
(09:12):
How do you format a book?
How do you use Vellum?
How do you copyright a book?
So we'll have all of that on the$10 tier because my right hand
is going to be doing coursesthat will teach you guys how to
do all of the newbie stuff.
And then at the top tier,$25,you get all of that and you get
(09:33):
me.
And I will be breaking down allof the stuff we talk about on
the podcast, but also extrastuff in my weird witchy way
that I do.
And our Patreon is called theBurned Out Muse, which owns the
Feral Phantoms podcast.
And yeah, that's all of thehousekeeping stuff.
Oh, and if you like this,please, please, please, please,
(09:53):
please rate, review, subscribebecause we would like to
actually have more than fivelisteners.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (09:59):
And if it's just five of you, I love you.
SPEAKER_00 (10:01):
Yes, we love all five of you.
Don't get it twisted.
We do.
We're so happy to have you.
SPEAKER_02 (10:05):
You're my favorite.
SPEAKER_00 (10:06):
But you already have right there.
You're my favorite.
We already have 10 patrons.
People that just think we'regonna follow through with some.
I know like we're here.
They're like, we just want to bein on the ground floor.
And if you do get in on theground floor as a founding
member, we'd lowered the pricefor that.
SPEAKER_01 (10:24):
Fun fact, you have a Patreon who's on your top tier
for only for your regular one,who doesn't actually want any of
the perks.
She just wants to give you ahundred dollars a month.
Every time I accidentally sendher special stuff, she'll be
like, hey, quick reminder, Idon't actually want any of this
stuff.
I already own it.
That's insane.
That's insane.
SPEAKER_00 (10:44):
But thank you.
Thank you.
I know I keep forgetting though.
I'm annoying her with the extrastuff because I keep forgetting
she doesn't want it.
That reminds me of like whenthey like don't want to deposit
checks in the bank because likethey're like, Did you actually
deposit this or is somebody elsedepositing it for you?
Who fucking cares?
If somebody wants to depositmoney in my account, let them.
Where's the waiver?
(11:04):
Where's the waiver?
If there's a waiver, please, forthe love of God, just let people
put money in my account.
What the hell?
Money, please.
I'm sure everybody knows what afandom is.
It's basically just a communitycoming together over a love of
one specific thing.
But I thought I would quizShannon a little bit on some of
the lingo because I was told bysome of my readers that they
(11:25):
have no idea like what some ofthis stuff means.
So I definitely won't.
I know, I'm excited.
All right, so let's see.
Do you know what OTP stands for?
SPEAKER_01 (11:40):
You're down with OTP?
I'm showing my age.
Yeah, you know, I'm down withOTP.
I would say other top person,other top person.
SPEAKER_00 (11:51):
It's like on top.
It stands for one true pair.
And that's if you have onecouple you ship above all
others.
Yes, exactly.
If you have one couple that youship together over all others,
do you know what ship is?
SPEAKER_01 (12:05):
Yeah, ship.
I know what ship is.
I said relationship.
But it's usually made up.
Yes.
True.
Yes.
Ships are usually not usuallycanon.
Correct.
SPEAKER_00 (12:13):
Oh, look at you go.
In the literary space.
I know she's so good at this.
But yeah, so ships are usuallyfake.
Some people say I don't ship, Isupport because they're not
fake.
Canon means it's actuallyhappened in the world of the
narrations, things that happenedin the show, the book, the
(12:34):
movie.
Fanon.
Our fan theories that the entirefandom has adopted is true, even
though it's not.
Let's see.
Oh, let's switch to K-pop alittle bit.
Do you know what bias means?
Bias?
SPEAKER_01 (12:51):
Yeah.
Does it mean I prefer a biastowards you?
I know what the word bias means.
You would be shocked how manypeople don't know what that
means in the world.
I was just gonna be onlyassuming that I actually am
illiterate.
SPEAKER_00 (13:09):
Do you know what alt bias means?
I have an alternative bias.
So your bias is your favorite ina group.
Your alt bias is your favoriteoverall.
So if you're like amulti-shipper and you like five
different K-pop groups, your altbias is like that number one
person in all of those groups.
I choose.
Yeah, I'm a stray kids stan forthe most part.
(13:31):
I do like ATs too, but like forthe most part, I'm a stray kids
stan.
So my bias and my alt bias arethe same person.
Han.
I'm really boring in that way.
But oh now we have moodlighting.
Whenever I don't move enough ofHan, the spirit of Han is with
(13:51):
you and supports you.
SPEAKER_01 (13:53):
Compelling your podcast endeavor.
SPEAKER_00 (13:54):
Whenever I don't move enough, my office thinks
that I'm not here.
So it just shuts my light off,which usually is a great thing
because I don't want to be inthe light.
I like to be in the dark.
But today is not a good thing.
There we go.
SPEAKER_02 (14:07):
Uh I'm working.
SPEAKER_00 (14:09):
But yeah, so Alt Bias is like who you love above
all others.
Do you know what stanning is?
SPEAKER_01 (14:16):
Yeah, it's like the ultimate fan.
I stan you.
I'm your fan.
Yeah.
I'm a stan.
SPEAKER_00 (14:22):
Do you know where the term stan comes from?
Uh M M?
Yes.
Yes.
Am I am I fucking killing this?
You are.
I'm really killing this.
You are on for the fire.
Number one fan.
This is Stan.
I think I'm just old.
No, I never put two and twotogether until a couple years
(14:42):
ago.
And then I was listening to thesong Stan, and I went, that
can't be where that comes from.
And then I Googled it and itwas, and I was like, damn, M
made more of an impact than weactually think that's and made
his own term.
Yeah, that's crazy.
That's next level.
But he is next level.
He used to be kind of hot.
(15:04):
Listen, him and I are the sameage.
To me, he's still pretty hot.
And now he's a grandfather, justlike I'm a grandmother.
SPEAKER_01 (15:10):
Listen, I recently discovered Bad Bunny.
I don't know if you guys know.
SPEAKER_00 (15:14):
I'm a little bit like feral.
Bad Bunny is hot.
Like, I honestly, I'm not gonnalie.
This is how out of this is howout of the loop I am on like
American music.
I thought it was a woman untilsomebody showed me a picture.
SPEAKER_01 (15:30):
Yeah, yeah.
TikTok recently was like, hey,here's a beautiful Puerto Rican
man shaking his junk on stage.
SPEAKER_00 (15:37):
And I was like, who's this?
I'm recently obsessed withYoungblood.
Have you seen him?
He's British.
He is like one of those uhsingers who is so in love with
his own fandom.
Oh, the Ozzie Osborne, the newOzzie Osbourne.
SPEAKER_02 (15:56):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (15:57):
He is so magnetic.
I don't even know how else toput it.
When he talks to people, hemakes that deep eye contact, he
holds their hands.
You know what?
That's a K-pop thing.
If you ever watch K-pop starswith their fans, when they do
the face-to-face meet andgreets, they hold their hands,
they got that intense eyecontact, they flirt with them,
(16:19):
and that is all part of themagic.
That is all part of the reasonthese women are handing over
their money, and sometimes men,but mostly women.
Like, it's the reason they'rehanding over their money.
And that is also something youcan steal.
The women are the ones spendingthe money.
They really like trains.
I'm not gonna lie, I probablyhave about$7,000 worth of manga
and uh K-pop stuff.
(16:41):
Of what?
SPEAKER_01 (16:41):
Manga?
I thought you said manga, and Iwas like, what?
Like a you gotta hit outsomebody?
What the fuck?
SPEAKER_00 (16:47):
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Manga.
Manga.
Yeah.
Comics, Korean comics.
Manga.
SPEAKER_01 (16:54):
Graphic novels.
SPEAKER_00 (16:54):
Yes.
Did you know I read graphicnovels?
I bet you didn't.
SPEAKER_01 (16:58):
I did not know that.
SPEAKER_00 (17:00):
And you're my name.
SPEAKER_01 (17:01):
I didn't know you had time to read anything.
Yeah.
Oh, also we're related.
And we're lovers.
SPEAKER_00 (17:05):
It's a picture book.
Oh God, please don't bring thatback from the podcast.
Princess.
They're picture books.
I have time to read them becauseit's mostly pictures and little
tiny bubbles.
It's much easier to read than afull book.
I don't have time for fullbooks, but I do have time for
falling in love with each other.
Reading picture books together.
(17:26):
Yes, they're not allowed to lookat my picture books though,
because mine are much moregraphic.
My kids aren't even allowed inmy garage anymore.
I'm like, kid out of the garage.
Oh god, after the coloring book,yeah.
Oopsies.
They were super little though.
They were so little and theywere so cute.
They're in love.
They're in love.
They're happy.
SPEAKER_01 (17:44):
Get rid of that.
SPEAKER_00 (17:46):
There is nothing more terrifying when you work
with a gay romance author thanhearing your two toddlers say,
Oh, they're in love.
SPEAKER_01 (17:54):
Yeah.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (17:55):
When you can't see them.
SPEAKER_01 (17:57):
Or when he told his teacher that what does mommy do
for work?
She ships books with sad boys onthe cover.
SPEAKER_00 (18:04):
I want to know why.
He thinks my boys on the coverlook sad to him.
SPEAKER_01 (18:10):
They're not smiling.
And when he takes a picture, hesays tease.
Oh, that makes sense.
SPEAKER_00 (18:15):
Yeah.
No, they're all very smising.
They're smoldering.
They're smoldering, yes.
Tyra Banks.
Mega, yes, not MAGA.
Bringing it back.
And it's also sometimes calledManoa.
SPEAKER_01 (18:27):
Manoa sounds like a spell book.
Let me go grab my grimoire, mymemoir.
SPEAKER_00 (18:32):
In Thailand, it's called Why.
You know what?
Fair.
Yeah.
It is pretty spicy.
I definitely fall into thatcategory of a fan or a super
fan.
I buy every Stray Kids album,all copies.
So for their last album, Ibought both versions of the same
(18:54):
album as well as the two recordsof that album.
Every single release of StrayKids, I pretty much buy four to
five copies of the exact samething, and I never listen to
them.
I just own them.
I was gonna say everything'sdigital.
Yeah, I just own them.
And they're so smart for the waythey market these things because
(19:14):
the FOMO you feel if you don'tbuy all of the versions is real,
especially for somebody like mewho will not let me know
something exists out there thatI don't have.
And so that's why I have anaffinity for fandoms because I
think as a super fan, I now getit psychologically why it's so
(19:38):
you're in it.
Yeah, you're in it.
I am so in it.
And it's funny, I'm more intofandom than probably the people
who will listen to this podcast,but I'm not into my own fandom.
Never deal what you do.
Listen.
SPEAKER_01 (19:52):
Never deal what you do, folks.
SPEAKER_00 (19:53):
Yeah, because I could tell you Han Jisong's
eyebrow from any other eyebrow.
I'll tell you Adam's birthday.
Yeah.
Don't quiz her on that Mulvaneybirth years, okay?
Yeah, no, I have a fan accountthat I've become friends with,
and I will ask her questions.
(20:14):
Mulvaney media?
Yes, I will ask her.
Shout out Mulvaney Media.
Yes, I love her.
I love her.
Uh I will ask her questionsabout my own characters.
I'll be like, did I ever mentionFelix's mom?
Did I say what her name was?
And she'll be like, Yes, girl,you said her name.
And I'm like, We have a bookBible for her now.
She has a book Bible now.
(20:34):
Yes, I do, I do, I do.
I finally did it.
I finally did it.
I still don't look at it as muchas I should.
Next week we're gonna break downK-pop demon hunters.
And when I say next week, I meanas soon as I hit stop, we're
gonna just record the next one.
So if we're wearing the sameoutfits, we have more than one.
We're just recording on the sameday.
SPEAKER_01 (20:51):
I don't.
I'm poor.
Subscribe, please.
I need a multi shirt.
Spend all my money on K-popdemon hunters for a
four-year-old.
I'm scared of her.
I'm terrified of her.
SPEAKER_00 (21:06):
My favorite thing is watching people discover K-pop
demon hunters.
My new crack is just watchingpeople who be like, uh, I don't
want to watch it.
And then they're just like, oh.
And they just get so sucked in.
I love it.
Great movie.
SPEAKER_01 (21:20):
I'm so glad that that's the movie we're playing
over and over, and it's notfrozen or anything better than
that.
SPEAKER_00 (21:25):
Music fucking slaps.
So I can't wait to talk about itnext.
And then we're gonna beswitching to Twilight.
We're gonna go a little oldschool.
Can't believe Twilight is oldschool, but it is old school
because I remember takingMikhaila to see New Moon for her
11th birthday, I think it was.
It was like a pre-tiny one,yeah.
Yeah, it was like I remember wegot there late, so we were just
(21:48):
basically just staring up theirnoses.
Skin of a killer, Bella.
Yeah, that's gonna be great.
I can't fucking wait for thatone.
We're going to talk about thePhantom.
I'm going to break down whatpeople really liked about it,
like what kind of things you cansteal.
You'll see a lot of that on thePatreon.
I have worksheets and nine-pagebreakdowns of things you can try
(22:10):
for yourself.
We also have a Discord that'sfree.
You can hop on the Discord.
There's already 700 people inthere.
Phantom writers.
Writing sprints, we've gotastrology babes, we've got
everything you could possiblyimagine if you're a fan or a
writer.
So check that out.
It's free.
You can find us link treel-inktr.ee slash the burned out
(22:32):
muse.
And that will get you to ourDiscord, our Patreon, and our
website, which will be up by thetime this actually drops on the
first.
It's coming.
Don't worry about that.
It's coming.
It's coming.
Um, I think we should wrap it uphere.
Yeah, 35 minutes.
Yeah.
I swear we'll be more structuredfor the next one.
(22:53):
We will go off on a tangent andthere will be a lot of gossip.
But yeah.
So yeah.
I've got all the tea all thetime.
I'm excited.
I'm ready.
So yeah, rate, review, subscribeif this is your thing, or if you
just want to support us.
If you just feel sorry for usbecause we're not good at this.
We'll take a pity follow, a pitylie.
(23:15):
I will take anything.
I'm not above it either.
At this point, I'll bribepeople.
Like, I'll give you five dollarsif you give me five dollars.
Giving you guys money.
Don't listen to her.
No.
All right.
So we'll see you in fiveminutes.
We're dropping three podcasts ata time.
So you will see us in fiveminutes, hopefully, if you give
us a still hated this.
Then you're like never comingback.
SPEAKER_01 (23:37):
Yeah.
They're like, what was that?
All right.
Bye.
SPEAKER_00 (23:51):
Glee made me a millionaire.
Glee, the show made me amillionaire.
Because I got sucked intoreading about Kurt and Blaine,
the gay couple on there.
Glee made me a millionaire.
Glee, the show, made me amillionaire.
Because I got sucked intoreading about Kurt and Blaine,
(24:13):
the gay couple on there.
Glee made me a millionaire.
Glee, the actual show, made me amillionaire.
We got this.
Hello, and welcome to the firstepisode of the Feral Fandoms
Podcast.
I am only James.
(00:21):
I am a gay romance author,fandom architect, and creator of
courses that I'm hoping that youwill actually be taking.
Yay! And with me, I have.
SPEAKER_01 (00:35):
Hi, my name is Shannon Ezel.
I am an author personalassistant for Solely Only James.
And I know nothing aboutfandoms.
And that's the gag.
SPEAKER_00 (00:47):
That's why she's here.
So this podcast I created sothat we can help authors break
down popular fandoms and reverseengineer their own fandoms.
Because readers buy books, butfandoms buy everything.
Like everything.
And Shannon can attest to thatbecause she has to sell or send
(01:11):
all the stuff out to my fans.
SPEAKER_02 (01:13):
You you bitches buy everything.
Twice.
Twice, twice.
SPEAKER_01 (01:18):
Sometimes I have to message you like, hey, you know
you own this already, right?
That is true.
SPEAKER_00 (01:24):
That's the whole point.
That was the impetus forcreating this podcast because I
have a course where I break downexactly how I did the exact same
thing by using my love of fanfiction, K-pop, BL, and all
kinds of ships to reverseengineer my own fandom.
(01:47):
And I guess I'll start bytelling you how I did that or
why I did that.
So we're gonna go back in time.
After my failed YA career in2019, I switched to writing
romance novels.
(02:08):
And luckily, I had friends inthe romance community who helped
me get seen right away.
But even then, I was just doingokay.
I wasn't doing well enough toquit my day job, which was
nursing.
And so I just loped along for acouple of years.
And then one day I was sittingin the parking lot of my job and
(02:29):
I was contemplating jumping offthe roof.
And I was like, I shouldn't dothis anymore.
So I sat down and I meditated.
I swear to God, I lit a candle,I sat and I meditated, and I was
like, what do I do?
And then woke up the nextmorning and I quit my job.
And I was like, And then whathappened?
SPEAKER_01 (02:50):
And then I knew what happened.
Don't forget to tell them whatyou started.
Guys, she actually manifestedCOVID.
I did not.
SPEAKER_00 (02:57):
Don't you listener?
I did not.
And then COVID hit.
So the 401k that I had plannedon living on for a year was
basically cut in half.
So then I had no options but tosucceed.
But then I got sick and it tookforever to finish the book I was
working on, the last book in aseries.
(03:18):
But I eventually got it out.
But I was stumped as to what todo next.
So I asked my readers, my 12readers, what do you want to
read from me?
And they said they wanted morepsychopaths.
I had one character that was asociopath.
Anyway, they wanted morepsychopaths.
So I was like, okay, but I'mtired of writing a book and it
(03:39):
gets five stars, and the readersimmediately forget it exists.
I want people to make fanaccounts.
I want people who are feral overmy characters.
I want them to know everythingabout them.
I want them to just eat, sleep,and breathe these characters.
And we're about to get realdark, guys.
Sorry.
But when my mother was dyingback in 2013, I fell down a
(04:05):
Tumblr rabbit hole.
I mean deep down a tumblerrabbit hole.
Like 20 out of 24 hours a day, Iwas scrolling on Tumblr.
And I was part of the most lamefandom in history.
I was a glee.
Glee made me a millionaire.
Glee, the show, made me amillionaire.
Because I got sucked intoreading about Kurt and Blaine,
(04:30):
the gay couple on there.
And then that led me to thesteric fandom, and then that led
me to the Dusty L fandom, andthen that led me to K-pop.
So I saw how easily people couldget sucked in to this community.
And that's what I wanted.
So I took my psychologybackground and I started
researching like who justresearch fandoms for a living.
(04:53):
And so I figured out what it wasabout fandoms that I loved and
that other people loved.
And I decided I was going togive them seven psychos, and
they were all going to be gay,and I didn't care if anybody
cared about that.
And I was going to make thishuge Dexter Meets the Umbrella
Academy series.
And either it was going toskyrocket or it was going to
(05:18):
crash and burn.
And the day it released,everything went wrong.
And I was almost positive thatit had, in fact, crashed and
burned.
But then it didn't.
And then it took off.
And now within five years, Iwent from 32 patrons to at last
count 4,000 patrons.
And I have a six-figure merchstore and a seven-figure career,
(05:41):
all because my readers areabsolutely insane.
Most of my author friends areafraid of them.
SPEAKER_02 (05:47):
Love them so much.
I love them.
SPEAKER_00 (05:49):
Shannon loves my readers.
She loves them.
She likes babies them.
But yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (05:55):
Even when they're mad at me, I'm like, baby, no,
don't do this.
Come on.
SPEAKER_00 (05:59):
I'm so sorry.
I didn't mean to do it.
So yeah, I want to teach otherpeople how to do what I did
because it is talent, but a lotof writers have talent.
And you'll see it.
People have five-star reads.
I had plenty of five-starreviews with my other books, but
immediately people forgot themafterwards because readers just
gobble up everything.
And I wanted people to remembermy characters.
(06:20):
I wanted them to fixate on them.
And now I have fan accounts thathave fake finstas for my actual
characters.
SPEAKER_02 (06:29):
Actually, correct her about her characters.
They'll be like, um, actually?
Yeah.
Actually.
SPEAKER_00 (06:34):
Yeah.
If I had really plotted myseries out like I should have, I
would have mathed properly and Iwould have actually thought
about how old the characterswere when they were adopted, how
old they are in the series, whatthe age gap is.
I didn't know any of that.
And my readers bring it upconstantly.
And imagine them like, you knowthat meme.
SPEAKER_01 (06:56):
I think it's from It's Always Sunny in
Philadelphia, where they're liketracking it, like they're like
tracking everything like amurder board.
That's how I feel like they're.
And we always have to tell them,like, hey guys, just let's have
a good time.
SPEAKER_00 (07:05):
Yeah, I'm like, look, I don't math.
They can be however old you wantthem to be.
That's the beauty of this.
SPEAKER_01 (07:11):
Whatever you want.
SPEAKER_00 (07:11):
It's all up here for you, baby.
Whatever you want.
Yeah.
And they want to know what thecharacters look like.
I'm like, look, I have Pinterestboards, but they can look like
whatever you want them to looklike.
It doesn't matter.
It's completely up to you.
But yeah, that is the impetusbehind the podcast.
And I brought Shannon becauseShannon is funny.
Be funny, Shannon.
Right now on command.
Peace out.
Be funny.
(07:32):
Do something funny.
But I am really bad on camera,which you will find.
SPEAKER_01 (07:38):
Uh I will I think she looks so cool and I look so
lame.
Shut up.
Your background, the whole vibe.
And I'm just like.
SPEAKER_00 (07:47):
When I'm by myself, I feel like I'm talking to
myself, which is weird, eventhough I do talk to myself.
So I figured I'd have Shannonbecause Shannon really doesn't
understand.
Well, if that's not true.
Shannon knows a lot aboutfandoms, but like the fandom
she's interested in.
She's a Swifty, she's a recentcat's eye fan.
So she knows something coffee,my little uggs.
SPEAKER_02 (08:07):
I'm just a stupid little bitch.
SPEAKER_00 (08:09):
I'm sure.
I'm sure when we get to theTwilight fandom, she's gonna
have plenty to say.
And when we break down K-popdemon hunters next week, I'm
sure she's gonna have plenty tosay.
My children, her daughter, isobsessed with K-pop demon
hunters.
I should tell you that we havezero filters.
(08:29):
So this isn't a podcast forchildren.
We tend to swear, we tend to bea little loud and aggressive,
and sometimes we veer politicalaccidentally.
So just so you know, it happens.
Oopsies.
It's up seven o'clock, guys.
Don't worry.
I am gonna edit some of this.
So if you want the extended,unfiltered, we have a$5 tier on
(08:51):
Patreon where you get theextended cuts, the ad-free cuts,
all that good stuff.
So you can do that if you wantto hear all the ramblings that
we do.
But also, we do have a$10 tierfor baby authors who don't know
some of the stuff that nobodyever teaches you, like how do
you load your stuff onto Amazon?
(09:12):
How do you format a book?
How do you use Vellum?
How do you copyright a book?
So we'll have all of that on the$10 tier because my right hand
is going to be doing coursesthat will teach you guys how to
do all of the newbie stuff.
And then at the top tier,$25,you get all of that and you get
(09:33):
me.
And I will be breaking down allof the stuff we talk about on
the podcast, but also extrastuff in my weird witchy way
that I do.
And our Patreon is called theBurned Out Muse, which owns the
Feral Phantoms podcast.
And yeah, that's all of thehousekeeping stuff.
Oh, and if you like this,please, please, please, please,
(09:53):
please rate, review, subscribebecause we would like to
actually have more than fivelisteners.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (09:59):
And if it's just five of you, I love you.
SPEAKER_00 (10:01):
Yes, we love all five of you.
Don't get it twisted.
We do.
We're so happy to have you.
SPEAKER_02 (10:05):
You're my favorite.
SPEAKER_00 (10:06):
But you already have right there.
You're my favorite.
We already have 10 patrons.
People that just think we'regonna follow through with some.
I know like we're here.
They're like, we just want to bein on the ground floor.
And if you do get in on theground floor as a founding
member, we'd lowered the pricefor that.
SPEAKER_01 (10:24):
Fun fact, you have a Patreon who's on your top tier
for only for your regular one,who doesn't actually want any of
the perks.
She just wants to give you ahundred dollars a month.
Every time I accidentally sendher special stuff, she'll be
like, hey, quick reminder, Idon't actually want any of this
stuff.
I already own it.
That's insane.
That's insane.
SPEAKER_00 (10:44):
But thank you.
Thank you.
I know I keep forgetting though.
I'm annoying her with the extrastuff because I keep forgetting
she doesn't want it.
That reminds me of like whenthey like don't want to deposit
checks in the bank because likethey're like, Did you actually
deposit this or is somebody elsedepositing it for you?
Who fucking cares?
If somebody wants to depositmoney in my account, let them.
Where's the waiver?
(11:04):
Where's the waiver?
If there's a waiver, please, forthe love of God, just let people
put money in my account.
What the hell?
Money, please.
I'm sure everybody knows what afandom is.
It's basically just a communitycoming together over a love of
one specific thing.
But I thought I would quizShannon a little bit on some of
the lingo because I was told bysome of my readers that they
(11:25):
have no idea like what some ofthis stuff means.
So I definitely won't.
I know, I'm excited.
All right, so let's see.
Do you know what OTP stands for?
SPEAKER_01 (11:40):
You're down with OTP?
I'm showing my age.
Yeah, you know, I'm down withOTP.
I would say other top person,other top person.
SPEAKER_00 (11:51):
It's like on top.
It stands for one true pair.
And that's if you have onecouple you ship above all
others.
Yes, exactly.
If you have one couple that youship together over all others,
do you know what ship is?
SPEAKER_01 (12:05):
Yeah, ship.
I know what ship is.
I said relationship.
But it's usually made up.
Yes.
True.
Yes.
Ships are usually not usuallycanon.
Correct.
SPEAKER_00 (12:13):
Oh, look at you go.
In the literary space.
I know she's so good at this.
But yeah, so ships are usuallyfake.
Some people say I don't ship, Isupport because they're not
fake.
Canon means it's actuallyhappened in the world of the
narrations, things that happenedin the show, the book, the
(12:34):
movie.
Fanon.
Our fan theories that the entirefandom has adopted is true, even
though it's not.
Let's see.
Oh, let's switch to K-pop alittle bit.
Do you know what bias means?
Bias?
SPEAKER_01 (12:51):
Yeah.
Does it mean I prefer a biastowards you?
I know what the word bias means.
You would be shocked how manypeople don't know what that
means in the world.
I was just gonna be onlyassuming that I actually am
illiterate.
SPEAKER_00 (13:09):
Do you know what alt bias means?
I have an alternative bias.
So your bias is your favorite ina group.
Your alt bias is your favoriteoverall.
So if you're like amulti-shipper and you like five
different K-pop groups, your altbias is like that number one
person in all of those groups.
I choose.
Yeah, I'm a stray kids stan forthe most part.
(13:31):
I do like ATs too, but like forthe most part, I'm a stray kids
stan.
So my bias and my alt bias arethe same person.
Han.
I'm really boring in that way.
But oh now we have moodlighting.
Whenever I don't move enough ofHan, the spirit of Han is with
(13:51):
you and supports you.
SPEAKER_01 (13:53):
Compelling your podcast endeavor.
SPEAKER_00 (13:54):
Whenever I don't move enough, my office thinks
that I'm not here.
So it just shuts my light off,which usually is a great thing
because I don't want to be inthe light.
I like to be in the dark.
But today is not a good thing.
There we go.
SPEAKER_02 (14:07):
Uh I'm working.
SPEAKER_00 (14:09):
But yeah, so Alt Bias is like who you love above
all others.
Do you know what stanning is?
SPEAKER_01 (14:16):
Yeah, it's like the ultimate fan.
I stan you.
I'm your fan.
Yeah.
I'm a stan.
SPEAKER_00 (14:22):
Do you know where the term stan comes from?
Uh M M?
Yes.
Yes.
Am I am I fucking killing this?
You are.
I'm really killing this.
You are on for the fire.
Number one fan.
This is Stan.
I think I'm just old.
No, I never put two and twotogether until a couple years
(14:42):
ago.
And then I was listening to thesong Stan, and I went, that
can't be where that comes from.
And then I Googled it and itwas, and I was like, damn, M
made more of an impact than weactually think that's and made
his own term.
Yeah, that's crazy.
That's next level.
But he is next level.
He used to be kind of hot.
(15:04):
Listen, him and I are the sameage.
To me, he's still pretty hot.
And now he's a grandfather, justlike I'm a grandmother.
SPEAKER_01 (15:10):
Listen, I recently discovered Bad Bunny.
I don't know if you guys know.
SPEAKER_00 (15:14):
I'm a little bit like feral.
Bad Bunny is hot.
Like, I honestly, I'm not gonnalie.
This is how out of this is howout of the loop I am on like
American music.
I thought it was a woman untilsomebody showed me a picture.
SPEAKER_01 (15:30):
Yeah, yeah.
TikTok recently was like, hey,here's a beautiful Puerto Rican
man shaking his junk on stage.
SPEAKER_00 (15:37):
And I was like, who's this?
I'm recently obsessed withYoungblood.
Have you seen him?
He's British.
He is like one of those uhsingers who is so in love with
his own fandom.
Oh, the Ozzie Osborne, the newOzzie Osbourne.
SPEAKER_02 (15:56):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (15:57):
He is so magnetic.
I don't even know how else toput it.
When he talks to people, hemakes that deep eye contact, he
holds their hands.
You know what?
That's a K-pop thing.
If you ever watch K-pop starswith their fans, when they do
the face-to-face meet andgreets, they hold their hands,
they got that intense eyecontact, they flirt with them,
(16:19):
and that is all part of themagic.
That is all part of the reasonthese women are handing over
their money, and sometimes men,but mostly women.
Like, it's the reason they'rehanding over their money.
And that is also something youcan steal.
The women are the ones spendingthe money.
They really like trains.
I'm not gonna lie, I probablyhave about$7,000 worth of manga
and uh K-pop stuff.
(16:41):
Of what?
SPEAKER_01 (16:41):
Manga?
I thought you said manga, and Iwas like, what?
Like a you gotta hit outsomebody?
What the fuck?
SPEAKER_00 (16:47):
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Manga.
Manga.
Yeah.
Comics, Korean comics.
Manga.
SPEAKER_01 (16:54):
Graphic novels.
SPEAKER_00 (16:54):
Yes.
Did you know I read graphicnovels?
I bet you didn't.
SPEAKER_01 (16:58):
I did not know that.
SPEAKER_00 (17:00):
And you're my name.
SPEAKER_01 (17:01):
I didn't know you had time to read anything.
Yeah.
Oh, also we're related.
And we're lovers.
SPEAKER_00 (17:05):
It's a picture book.
Oh God, please don't bring thatback from the podcast.
Princess.
They're picture books.
I have time to read them becauseit's mostly pictures and little
tiny bubbles.
It's much easier to read than afull book.
I don't have time for fullbooks, but I do have time for
falling in love with each other.
Reading picture books together.
(17:26):
Yes, they're not allowed to lookat my picture books though,
because mine are much moregraphic.
My kids aren't even allowed inmy garage anymore.
I'm like, kid out of the garage.
Oh god, after the coloring book,yeah.
Oopsies.
They were super little though.
They were so little and theywere so cute.
They're in love.
They're in love.
They're happy.
SPEAKER_01 (17:44):
Get rid of that.
SPEAKER_00 (17:46):
There is nothing more terrifying when you work
with a gay romance author thanhearing your two toddlers say,
Oh, they're in love.
SPEAKER_01 (17:54):
Yeah.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (17:55):
When you can't see them.
SPEAKER_01 (17:57):
Or when he told his teacher that what does mommy do
for work?
She ships books with sad boys onthe cover.
SPEAKER_00 (18:04):
I want to know why.
He thinks my boys on the coverlook sad to him.
SPEAKER_01 (18:10):
They're not smiling.
And when he takes a picture, hesays tease.
Oh, that makes sense.
SPEAKER_00 (18:15):
Yeah.
No, they're all very smising.
They're smoldering.
They're smoldering, yes.
Tyra Banks.
Mega, yes, not MAGA.
Bringing it back.
And it's also sometimes calledManoa.
SPEAKER_01 (18:27):
Manoa sounds like a spell book.
Let me go grab my grimoire, mymemoir.
SPEAKER_00 (18:32):
In Thailand, it's called Why.
You know what?
Fair.
Yeah.
It is pretty spicy.
I definitely fall into thatcategory of a fan or a super
fan.
I buy every Stray Kids album,all copies.
So for their last album, Ibought both versions of the same
(18:54):
album as well as the two recordsof that album.
Every single release of StrayKids, I pretty much buy four to
five copies of the exact samething, and I never listen to
them.
I just own them.
I was gonna say everything'sdigital.
Yeah, I just own them.
And they're so smart for the waythey market these things because
(19:14):
the FOMO you feel if you don'tbuy all of the versions is real,
especially for somebody like mewho will not let me know
something exists out there thatI don't have.
And so that's why I have anaffinity for fandoms because I
think as a super fan, I now getit psychologically why it's so
(19:38):
you're in it.
Yeah, you're in it.
I am so in it.
And it's funny, I'm more intofandom than probably the people
who will listen to this podcast,but I'm not into my own fandom.
Never deal what you do.
Listen.
SPEAKER_01 (19:52):
Never deal what you do, folks.
SPEAKER_00 (19:53):
Yeah, because I could tell you Han Jisong's
eyebrow from any other eyebrow.
I'll tell you Adam's birthday.
Yeah.
Don't quiz her on that Mulvaneybirth years, okay?
Yeah, no, I have a fan accountthat I've become friends with,
and I will ask her questions.
(20:14):
Mulvaney media?
Yes, I will ask her.
Shout out Mulvaney Media.
Yes, I love her.
I love her.
Uh I will ask her questionsabout my own characters.
I'll be like, did I ever mentionFelix's mom?
Did I say what her name was?
And she'll be like, Yes, girl,you said her name.
And I'm like, We have a bookBible for her now.
She has a book Bible now.
(20:34):
Yes, I do, I do, I do.
I finally did it.
I finally did it.
I still don't look at it as muchas I should.
Next week we're gonna break downK-pop demon hunters.
And when I say next week, I meanas soon as I hit stop, we're
gonna just record the next one.
So if we're wearing the sameoutfits, we have more than one.
We're just recording on the sameday.
SPEAKER_01 (20:51):
I don't.
I'm poor.
Subscribe, please.
I need a multi shirt.
Spend all my money on K-popdemon hunters for a
four-year-old.
I'm scared of her.
I'm terrified of her.
SPEAKER_00 (21:06):
My favorite thing is watching people discover K-pop
demon hunters.
My new crack is just watchingpeople who be like, uh, I don't
want to watch it.
And then they're just like, oh.
And they just get so sucked in.
I love it.
Great movie.
SPEAKER_01 (21:20):
I'm so glad that that's the movie we're playing
over and over, and it's notfrozen or anything better than
that.
SPEAKER_00 (21:25):
Music fucking slaps.
So I can't wait to talk about itnext.
And then we're gonna beswitching to Twilight.
We're gonna go a little oldschool.
Can't believe Twilight is oldschool, but it is old school
because I remember takingMikhaila to see New Moon for her
11th birthday, I think it was.
It was like a pre-tiny one,yeah.
Yeah, it was like I remember wegot there late, so we were just
(21:48):
basically just staring up theirnoses.
Skin of a killer, Bella.
Yeah, that's gonna be great.
I can't fucking wait for thatone.
We're going to talk about thePhantom.
I'm going to break down whatpeople really liked about it,
like what kind of things you cansteal.
You'll see a lot of that on thePatreon.
I have worksheets and nine-pagebreakdowns of things you can try
(22:10):
for yourself.
We also have a Discord that'sfree.
You can hop on the Discord.
There's already 700 people inthere.
Phantom writers.
Writing sprints, we've gotastrology babes, we've got
everything you could possiblyimagine if you're a fan or a
writer.
So check that out.
It's free.
You can find us link treel-inktr.ee slash the burned out
(22:32):
muse.
And that will get you to ourDiscord, our Patreon, and our
website, which will be up by thetime this actually drops on the
first.
It's coming.
Don't worry about that.
It's coming.
It's coming.
Um, I think we should wrap it uphere.
Yeah, 35 minutes.
Yeah.
I swear we'll be more structuredfor the next one.
(22:53):
We will go off on a tangent andthere will be a lot of gossip.
But yeah.
So yeah.
I've got all the tea all thetime.
I'm excited.
I'm ready.
So yeah, rate, review, subscribeif this is your thing, or if you
just want to support us.
If you just feel sorry for usbecause we're not good at this.
We'll take a pity follow, a pitylie.
(23:15):
I will take anything.
I'm not above it either.
At this point, I'll bribepeople.
Like, I'll give you five dollarsif you give me five dollars.
Giving you guys money.
Don't listen to her.
No.
All right.
So we'll see you in fiveminutes.
We're dropping three podcasts ata time.
So you will see us in fiveminutes, hopefully, if you give
us a still hated this.
Then you're like never comingback.
SPEAKER_01 (23:37):
Yeah.
They're like, what was that?
All right.
Bye.
SPEAKER_00 (23:51):
Glee made me a millionaire.
Glee, the show made me amillionaire.
Because I got sucked intoreading about Kurt and Blaine,
the gay couple on there.
Glee made me a millionaire.
Glee, the show, made me amillionaire.
Because I got sucked intoreading about Kurt and Blaine,
(24:13):
the gay couple on there.
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