Unpacking the Aquatic Archetype
The defining traits of the Aquatic
Superpowers: Huge vision, high energy, team building, brand management
Challenges: Servicing the current audience and bringing new people in at the same time, building within their means, creating things for disparate audiences
Motivations: Pleasing and serving audience to create superfans, immersive storytelling experience, creating a brand that’s bigger than themselves
Every healthy business needs a way to produce new offers, a way to grow an audience, and a way to bring in sales. Here’s what might work best for those identifying as a Aquatic:
What Would Likely Work Best For Production
Market research and trends -
Aquatics research the market differently than many of the other types. They are less interested in reported trends or even trends observed by watching who is selling on retailers. They are more interested in what trends their fans are telling them they want to see. This type rarely needs to pull reports or study successful books on retailers, because they trust their fans above all to keep guiding them in the right direction.
This type also brings their fans into the process of creating their books and is likely to share snippets, if not the whole story (through subscription-based models), before the book is officially published. Aquatics are able to take the feedback of readers and fans while they are writing (something many writers can’t do!) and incorporate it into the story to make it stronger and stickier.
By the time a book hits the market, it’s been tested and approved by the Aquatic’s fanbase, and those readers are also ardent supporters at release—purchasing, leaving reviews, and spreading the word about it to their networks.
Creating content and products -
Aquatics build big, immersive worlds, regardless of their genre. Even a contemporary romance author might build an exciting world with fantastical elements that readers can latch on to. This type is not only thinking of a story, but they are also imagining it on a movie screen poster, a custom product display at Target, and a party of cosplayers at a genre convention. Because of this, many Aquatics struggle to stay in independent publishing and instead work in film or television. Those that are attracted to writing are usually attempting to develop a huge fan base so they can bring it to other media, like television or film.
Because Aquatics have a lot to share, they usually can produce books at a consistent pace, as long as they are able to focus. One of the challenges they face is wanting to do everything but get the story into a book format! They may instead be looking up how to 3D-print weaponry or ordering samples of tea bags and necklaces to put in a book box. As long as an Aquatic can put the horse before the cart, they can build momentum on the production side.
Aquatics are able to hop around genres under one pen name easily. The brand transcends the author. And the brand will meet the fans where they are, which is exciting and builds a feeling of camaraderie. They do best and see the most success when they focus on building one world or one big brand at a time…Then extending it into other formats and product categories as their audience support allows.
Pacing and scheduling production -
Aquatics don’t really need deadlines in the way that other types might. They do need deadlines to get things done, but since they are not focused on finding readers at retailers, they don’t necessarily have a traditional launch schedule.
Instead, Aquatics are more likely to build their books and their larger world with their audience. For this reason, the serialized subscription model is ideal for them, because their fans will fuel them to get the story finished.
For Aquatics, interacting with fans is a part of the creation process. They are not writing a book, they are creating an experience with readers. In this sense, they are always creating in their minds and they are always creating out loud, too! Selling the finished book is an aftereffect of the main experience and not much of a focus for this type.
What Would Likely Work Best For Audience
Finding audience -
Aquatics must build an initial audience quickly and can do so by choosing a first project that is well aligned to the market. This isn't always easy for an Aquatic because they are usually visionary trailblazers. The good news is that they can be both—and sometimes, the world they are building and their tendency to go the extra mile for their fans can help form a community around what they want to do very quickly. This spurs an Aquatic—they thrive on having a fandom and let their audience steer them toward new experiences.
This type usually inherently understands their brand and becomes a fantastic brand manager of it from the beginning. Because of that, once they figure out who is attracted to their brand, they are able to use 1-2 platforms to bring more of those people into their world. We know Aquatics who have used Facebook ads with great effect and Aquatics who have built a fanbase entirely from networking on a fiction app. The means for finding new readers doesn’t really matter—what matters more is the Aquatic’s ability to quickly take someone from stranger to superfan. And this is one of this type’s superpowers.
Nurturing audience -
Aquatics are deeply in tune with their audience and have a currency of fan service above all. They know many or most of their active readers by name. And they treat every project as if everyone has read their entire catalog already and knows all the inside jokes.
Their audience is deeply attracted to this and enjoys it, too! This is because it triggers feelings of either belonging or wanting to belong–which is a universal human desire.
Because of this style of interacting with their audience, their audience is best nurtured by their ongoing presence and connection to others in the community. Readers want to go deep quickly, because this is the price of admission to be on the inside. Aquatics are natural nurturers and go above and beyond, which creates superfans.
Aquatics are interested in creating lots of products to further the brand, so while they might have a community like Forests do, the way they interact with them will probably be by providing new experiences to their fans, not necessarily interacting with them on a personal level.
Scaling audience -
Aquatics scale their audience by going horizontal. They build a world, a story, an experience, and then they extend it to a new format or product category. Ideally, this services their current audience while serving and bringing in a new audience—which is critical to the success of an Aquatic. To do this, this type often needs to build and work with a team of people who have complementary skill sets. It takes a lot of work to realize an Aquatic’s full vision, and they can’t do all the work themselves, nor learn all the things they have to learn to execute each project well.
Aquatics also gain word-of-mouth because they are so good at creating true fans and evangelists. One thing this type can do is find ways to activate their fans on a regular basis. This may be as simple as asking them to share something, but it could also be asking them to show up for a bigger launch.
One area that Aquatics must be mindful of is how to use their resources wisely. They must choose their projects carefully so they do not overextend themselves. If possible, finding ways to fund the project before starting it—through crowdfunding like Kickstarter or Patreon, or through partnerships—can be helpful to ease the burden and risk of new products or formats.
Famous Aquatic Authors
Stephenie Meyer, Stan Lee, George Lucas