January 2019 – Science Fiction & Fantasy Marketing Podcast

SFFMP 218: Taking Advantage of an Underserved Niche, from Blue Collar to No Collar, and Is NINC Right for You?

January 29, 2019 SFFpodcast Author Interview, Podcast

This week, we chatted with sea-adventure author and current president of Novelists, Inc. (NINC), Wayne Stinnett. He’s been a full-time independent author for years, has written a non-fiction title (From Blue Collar to No Collar), and has been a frequent poster at Kboards where he shares a lot of wisdom with the writing community. We asked him about his niche on Amazon, how he keeps his books selling when he does about three releases a year, and what NINC can do for authors.

Here are some of the specifics that we covered:

Getting started in a less competitive category (on Amazon).
How to keeps book selling when that category gets more crowded.
When it makes sense to keep writing in one long series (Wayne is about to publish his 14th novel in his Caribbean Adventure series) versus starting a new one.
Wayne’s plans to shift from a solo writer to running a publishing company and taking on other authors.
The changes that Wayne has seen in the 5+ years since he published his first novel on Amazon.
Why he’s stuck with KDP Select (Amazon exclusivity) during that time (and why he’s thinking of going wide soon).
Whether Amazon advertising is as effective for him as it used to be.
Running ads on local TV and radio stations since he lives in the area where his stories are set.
How important budgeting is when you’re publishing two or three books a year — having great months around releases but then watching things wane until the next release.
How he keeps newsletter subscribers interested in between releases.
How he often launches into the Top 100 on Amazon with a new novel.
What Novelists, Inc. (NINC) is and why authors might want to join the organization.
The annual NINC conference and why it’s more advanced than the majority of publishing conferences.

Make sure to visit Wayne on his website, check out his books on Amazon, and see what Pyrate Radio is all about.

You can find out more about Novelists, Inc. and their annual conference on their website: https://ninc.com/

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kindle unlimited, ninc, ninc conference, radio advertising, sea adventure, tv advertising, wayne stinnett

SFFMP 216: Reaching $100K+ in Income from Writing Science Fiction with Gerald M. Kilby

January 15, 2019 SFFpodcast Author Interview, Podcast

This week, we chatted writing, publishing, and marketing hard science fiction with Gerald M. Kilby. He’s not the fastest writer, putting out around two novels a year these days, but he manages to keep his books selling well between releases, and he earned more than $100K last year. We asked him all about that, Amazon and Facebook advertising, and what he’s doing for newsletters, social media, and the like.

Here are some of the specifics that we covered:

How the ever-shrinking science fiction section in the physical bookstores helped Gerald decide to start writing his own stories.
Bypassing traditional publishing, since agents weren’t looking for hard sci-fi, and going straight to self-publishing.
Whether or not hard sci-fi readers are more nitpicky in insisting that the science be right.
Some of the mistakes he made with his first novel, a techno-thriller.
How the science fiction genre appeared to have much more potential to him.
How the popularity of The Martian seemed to help with Mars-related fiction when Gerald was starting out.
What he’s done to keep the ball rolling.
Realizing he couldn’t rely on Amazon’s algorithms to keep his books selling, especially when he had many months between releases.
Getting involved in Facebook and Amazon ads and which he likes better for what.
Having luck with letting Amazon choose automatic keywords in their ad system, instead of going in and picking them all by hand.
The challenges of maintaining a positive return-on-investment with Facebook and Amazon ads when you don’t have a huge series and can’t afford to spend as much to get a sale of a Book 1.
Changes to the Amazon advertising system of late and what authors need to watch out for with the higher suggested bids.
How he uses his mailing list and what a book launch looks for him these days.

Make sure to visit Gerald on his website and check out his science fiction on Amazon.

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amazon ads, facebook ads, gerald M Kilby, hard science fiction, marketing, science fiction

SFFMP 215: Working Hard, Ignoring Naysayers, and Becoming a Full-Time Author

January 8, 2019 SFFpodcast Author Interview, Podcast

For this week’s show, we talked to return guest Jeffery H. Haskell, who first joined us in December of 2017 for the show “Successfully Launching as a New Author and Is Kindle Worlds Worth It?” (Yes, Kindle Worlds was still a thing back then!)

Jeffery is a superhero fiction author and also has a new non-fiction title out, Writing for Life: Living the Impossible Dream. We talked about superheroes and how the fantasy subgenre is doing, and we also talked about some of the mindset issues that beginning authors face and that may be holding them back from publishing and becoming successful.

Here are some of the specifics that we covered:

Keeping a series selling past six installments.
Launching a new series in the same universe.
The state of the superhero subgenre as of January 2019.
Whether traditional publishers and authors are in the superhero genre or it’s more dominated by indies.
The earnings potential in the superhero genre.
Overcoming negative feedback and challenges to pursue your writing dream.
Making smart decisions, working hard, and not relying on luck to succeed.
Whether you have to be born with what it takes to become a writer or if anyone can learn.
When it makes sense to bank novels and rapid release and when you should publish right away to test the waters.
How long an author should give a series before accepting that maybe it’s time to try something else.
Setting realistic expectations for your first books and series.
What marketing Jeff has found works well for him in the superhero genre.
Increasing productivity to publish more books as one shifts to full-time.