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

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sixfigureauthorexperiment.com