SFFMP 63: Improving Sales as Your Series Progresses with Space Opera Author Terry Mixon
Today’s guest is a former NASA employee and U.S. Army soldier who recently made the switch to writing science fiction full time. Terry Mixon is the author of two space opera series, The Empire of Bones Saga and The Humanity Unlimited Saga, and he’s also dabbled in erotica (as he informed us during the interview, he’s now making more from his sci-fi than he did from erotica, so there’s no reason not to write what you love). In addition to being an author, Terry is one of the co-hosts of the Dead Robots’ Society Podcast.
Here’s some of what we covered in the show:
- Keeping the story interesting as the series progresses
- The state of space opera currently when it comes to marketing and selling books
- The pros of starting out in KDP Select/Kindle Unlimited
- Running Kindle Countdown Deals on older books at the same time as you release a new book in the series
- Nailing your genre with your covers (making your book look like it could be on the shelf next to traditionally published novels)
- Building your mailing list — do you need to offer incentives?
- Amazon’s 30- and 90-day cliffs
- Building a fan base by publishing regularly in a series
Check out Terry’s books on Amazon, including the first book in his Empire of Bones Saga.
Subscribe to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Marketing Podcast on iTunes.
Subscribe to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Marketing Podcast on YouTube.
Subscribe to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Marketing Podcast via RSS.
Great show. Awesome to see a space opera author killing it, with a full series at $4.99. Definitely makes me rethink my pricing plans.
Makes me want to put my space opera series on the front burner, haha. Been wanting to do one forever. An ode to Firefly. 😉
I think space opera is a good genre. Lots happening and lots of opportunity. You should go for it, if that’s what you love.
Does Terry mind sharing what font he used for his covers? I really like the way it looks raised, like it’s a picture of a paperback book.
Thanks! My wife did the cover and here is what she said:
“The fonts I used on the cover are stylized (modified by me) versions of Berlin Sans FB Regular and Janson Text LT Std 55 Roman.”
Liked the show on Terry very much….and yup, went and bought one of his books too!
Glad you enjoyed it, Jim. I’m sure Terry will appreciate the support!
I do! Thanks!