In this New Year episode of The Six Figure Author Experiment, Lisa Vino and Russell Nolte are joined by David Viergutz, founder of Scare Mail and CEO of Epistolary.com, to talk about a business metric Lisa now can’t unsee: AOV (Average Order Value). What begins as a direct-sales strategy conversation quickly turns into a masterclass on premium experiences, fandom-building, and escaping the tired publishing “rat race.” David shares how he went from running ads in the 20 Books / SPS model to building a thriving story-letter empire, why epistolary fiction is story-first or die, and how authors can experiment with higher-priced offers without losing the magic. The through-line: in a world flooded with AI and noise, the advantage is human creativity, bold formats, and products that feel like experiences.
Topics Covered:
What AOV (Average Order Value) is and why it matters for direct sales
Thinking like a business owner without losing your author soul
David’s origin story: list-building, ads, and long-term strategy
Why niche audiences can still generate massive success
“Taylor Swift pricing” as a mindset shift for premium offers
Why experiences sell: readers remember how something made them feel
The birth of Scare Mail: the mailbox as a storytelling medium
Epistolary fiction basics: letters, artifacts, rabbit holes, and immersion
Why some stories should never be “novelized”
Building a blue ocean: creating a category people can’t comparison-shop
Why the most online generation craves print and human touch
How fandom deepens through participation and interactivity
“Move closer to the customer” as a modern business principle
Building a cult-level fanbase one person at a time
The “thousand true fans” concept applied to premium fiction
Author archetypes and why “aquatic” creators win by reinventing formats
Premium experiences that scale like books: create once, sell forever
The customer journey is the same for gum, books, and Teslas (attention is the difference)
Why Amazon’s rules aren’t the only axis you can play on
Why KU is not the whole market (and why authors mistake it for the whole audience)
Pricing power: increasing prices without dips when the experience is unique
The economics problem: $20 customer acquisition vs. $3.99 products
Direct sales advantages: owning the customer relationship and reducing noise
Indie presses and “algorithm rain” strategies that don’t actually market
The Fire & Ice offer: two versions, premium pricing, and upsells to raise AOV
Why customers should pay shipping (and why authors often sabotage margins)
Risk reversal: refunding + buying a competitor’s book as a bold trust play
Testing product ideas cheaply: MOQ realities and starting with paper-based artifacts
Story-letter fundamentals: hook the story first, then explain the delivery
The epistolary rule: if you can’t explain “why letters?” start over
Artifacts defined: what counts, what works, and what’s lazy filler
Examples of artifacts: polaroids, recipes, journal entries, QR codes, audio links, word searches, ribbons, puzzles
Designing artifacts to enhance story, not add envelope weight
The “scavenger hunt” model: clues, interaction, and layered payoff
Creativity as competitive advantage in an AI-saturated world
“Get weird” as strategy: uniqueness creates true blue-ocean differentiation
Where to find David and how to pitch an epistolary project
