October 2016 – Science Fiction & Fantasy Marketing Podcast

SFFMP 104: Competing in the Crowded Urban Fantasy Genre with Domino Finn

October 25, 2016 SFFpodcast Author Interview, Podcast

Tough guy urban fantasy author Domino Finn joins Lindsay and Jeff this week to analyze urban fantasy, talk about why his series took off, why others don’t, and what some of the expected tropes are in the genre.

Here’s some of what we covered:

Analyzing the market to figure out why your books aren’t selling, then readjusting and launching a new series that’s more in line with expectations.
Finding an underserved market within a very popular and competitive genre.
Launching a book and having it stick on Amazon even without a lot of advertising dollars behind it.
Why Domino broke the mold and went with a first-person blurb for Dead Man.
Writing to market versus writing something that’s original and you with some marketable elements.
Can posting on forums actually help sell books?
Domino’s experiences with going wide, and why he’s sticking with KDP Select/Kindle Unlimited for now.
Putting together an anthology/boxed set with other authors writing the same type of UF and contributing original content.
Predictions for where the genre might go next.

You can visit Domino Finn at his website and check out his first Black Magic Outlaw book, Dead Man, on Amazon. If you’d like to try the anthology he’s in with several other authors, it’s only 99 cents right now on Amazon: Full Metal Magic.

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domino finn, marketing, urban fantasy, urban fantasy tropes

SFFMP 103: From Spy Thrillers to Bestselling Military Science Fiction with Richard Fox

October 18, 2016 SFFpodcast Author Interview, Podcast

Military science fiction author (and former spy thriller author) Richard Fox joined us on the show today. We talked about his early books and his thriller series, which never impressed him hugely with sales, and then how he moved onto a different genre last year. In June, 2015, he published his first Ember War military sci-fi title and has since gone on to publish a total of 8 novels in the series. They’ve sold great, and he has over 400 reviews of his first book.

Here’s some of what we covered:

Transitioning from historical fiction to spy thrillers to space adventure novels (and whether those audiences will cross over at all).
What made Richard decide to genre hop over to science fiction.
How he learned from some of his mistakes on his first series to have a solid launch with the Ember War books.
How he’s used his military experience in his novels.
Finishing one series and starting a spinoff as another entry point for potential readers.
Using Facebook ads on a slow trickle to keep sales up of a Book 1 that’s been out for a while.
How Richard’s Kindle Unlimited borrow money compares to his book sales and why he hasn’t gone wide.
What Richard’s first launch looked like, and what he’s doing with new books today to get his readers to buy right away.

You can visit Richard on his site or say hello to him on Facebook. Try the first book in his Ember War series on Amazon.

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military science fiction, richard fox, scifi, space opera, spy thrillers

SFFMP 102: Facebook, Twitter, and Blogging to Build Your Author Platform (and sell books)

October 11, 2016 SFFpodcast Group Discussion, Podcast

Today, Jo, Jeff, and Lindsay talked about a few things they’ve been meaning to cover for a long time, building an author platform (and selling books) through Facebook, Twitter, and an author blog.

Here are some of the highlights of what they touched upon:

Is it better to have a Facebook page or use Facebook groups for appealing to fans?
What do you post about on Facebook anyway?
How can you naturally get more likes and interaction on Facebook?
Can a Facebook page actually help you sell books?
When does it make sense to pay for a boosted post?
Have the guys had any success with Facebook ads?
Twitter — What’s the point of Twitter?
Is it possible to sell books on Twitter, and, if so, how?
Being a content provider on Twitter versus just doing a lot of RTing.
Using the If This, Then That service for some automated posting.
What are the best practices for starting an author blog?
Should you host a blog on your own site or use a free site?
What should you blog about as an author?
How to get more traffic from the search engines (and how long it takes to build up a site and start seeing that traffic).
Is blogging really worth the time?

If you’re interested in writing for Kindle Worlds, in Lindsay Buroker’s Fallen Empire space adventure universe, shoot Lindsay a note for more details. You can reach her through the contact form on her site (http://www.lindsayburoker.com) or poke her on Twitter (https://twitter.com/GoblinWriter). She’s happy to provide the books for free to any authors who might be interested!

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blogging, building a platform, Facebook, twitter

SFFMP 101: Getting an Agent After Self-Pub Success and a Print Only Deal with Annie Bellet

October 4, 2016 SFFpodcast Author Interview, Podcast

On today’s show, we chatted with return guest, urban fantasy author, Annie Bellet. She first visited us on show 33. Since then, she’s published her earnings on her blog (she made over $250,000 in 2015) and taken on an agent and a publisher for a print-only deal (she kept her ebook rights).

Here are some of the things we discussed:

Leveraging self-publishing success to get an agent
How to choose an agent if you’re lucky enough to get some nibbles (and when you might want to pass)
Whether traditional publishers are open right now to print only deals
Whether trad publishers are currently likely to be interested in series that were previously self published
What stats/bragging rights you should have prepared to share that might interest an agent
Keeping a series alive and selling even when releases aren’t as frequent as you’d like
Whether permafree or 99-cent Book 1s are still working to help get people into a series
Staying wide in all the stores vs. dabbling in Kindle Unlimited
Running Facebook ads for boxed sets
Whether Annie’s publisher has handled marketing for the new paperbacks and hardbacks or if she’s responsible for that
Conversion and what’s good sell through in a series
The challenges of keeping a pen name active and selling

You can grab Annie’s first 20-Sided Sorceress ebook for free in all the major stores (Amazon link here) and also check out the new print omnibus of the first four adventures.