Each of our Backstory worlds has a management team who work together to make it as successful as it can possibly be. They are less likely to be content contributors and more likely to be organisers. If you've ever thought about setting up your own indie publishing house you might be suited to managing a Backstory world.

The management team consists of 4 (sometimes 5) people. They are the Administrator, Architect, Editor-in-Chief, and the Chief Author. The Administrator is always a member of Backstory staff, but the other 3 (sometimes 4) are members of the public, just like you.

It takes a special type of person to be a Backstory world manager. Not only do you need to be good at organising and leading people, but you need to have objective vision, and not everyone has that. As a world manager it is up to you which content gets developed and eventually published. This is a big responsibility, and the success of your team hinges on your decisions.

Backstory world management teams need to be aware of the different verticals they need to hit with their content to maximise their chances of success. They need to know how to blend different types of content together at the right time to increase sales and improve licensing opportunities.

One of your main concerns as a world manager is the types of content your team creates. A successful world will cover its bases across all 3 categories of verticals, which are genre, plot, and concept. The more verticals you hit, the more reader demographics you are likely to attract.

Franchises are your big ticket items, and your world won't succeed without them. Franchises are macro-storylines that unfold over a series of content. This might be a trilogy of novels, or a series of novellas. How you decide to structure your franchises is completely up to you and your team.

It's not just franchises you need to think about though. We encourage the creation and publication of all kinds of in-world content as well. From diary extracts to battle re-tellings and everything in between. Your team's aim is always to keep your readers engaged and immersed. To do that your world needs to help readers discover as many different facets of your world and its history as much as possible.

Our nifty world-data linking feature can help here. Backstory stories are designed to be separate in terms of storyline, but linked in terms of world-data. Help readers hop from one franchise to another through the creation of relevant in-world content.

One of the most important roles of a world management team is finding out which of your creatives work well together. To succeed at this you really need to get to know your creatives individually and understand their idiosyncracies. Some creatives are very hands-on, while others are more aloof. Recognising this and utilising it successfully increases the probability of success.

Each story that your world develops and eventually publishes requires a whole team. One person from each of the role groups fills a slot, and together they make magic. You will need a manager, an author, an editor, a builder, and sometimes an artist. Choosing the right combination of creatives can be crucial to success. Knowing who works well with whom is integral to a well run world.

When producing content for readers you need to make sure you're covering as many verticals as possible. While your world's setting might be low fantasy, you will need creatives who understand how to create different kinds of genres of content. Your world will include romance, adventure, action, and crime just to name a few. Your team will need to include creatives suited to each of these genres.

One of the nice features about our community is the ability for potential creatives to advertise themselves. As a manager you have access to creatives' profiles from all across our community. You can reach out to prospective creatives you think are a good fit for your team. At the same time you can also allow potential creatives to apply to join your world's team and review their profiles that way.