We recorded early this week, since Christmas is on a Tuesday, so we hope you enjoy the show while you’re traveling or after you’ve had fun with the holidays. The three of us answered listener questions that covered the range from what the heck is meta data and SEO to what kind of marketing we plan to try in 2019 and which advertising platforms we’ve found best for their books.
Here’s a list of the questions as well as some Bookbub-related links that Lindsay promised:
How do you market cross-over fiction such as a mix between urban fantasy and near-future-SF?
Is urban fantasy with a lighter humorous note a trend now?
What is meta data and SEO, and does it matter for authors?
How much value is there to in-house promos on the various retailers, such as prime reading on Amazon, the promo tab on Kobo, and Apple and B&N features?
What new will Jo, Jeff, and Lindsay be trying in 2019 in regard to marketing?
Are book blog tours worth your time as an author?
What should you do to build buzz and sell books if you don’t have money to spend on advertising?
Who are the guys’ favorite authors and how did they influence them?
How do you go about improving as a novelist and keeping new books from being too much like what you’ve written before?
Have you tried to publish your audiobooks on Spotify?
Do you need an ISBN for an Amazon paperback and a different one for an IngramSpark paperback?
What’s the biggest thing you learned/realized in 2018, and how will that change your approach to publishing in 2019?
How would you go about calculating ROI for advertising a series that doesn’t have a set reading order? Whenever people talk about this calculation, it always hinges on figuring out your readthrough, but if the series has multiple entry points and you can skip books, what then?
What do you find is the most effective platform for authors for ads?
What marketing avenues would you recommend for authors who aren’t big fans of marketing?
How have your audiobook sales done for your different series? Does releasing a new audiobook for a backlist book help boost sales?
Lindsay got to meet lots of cool authors at the 20Books conference in Las Vegas this fall, and today’s guest was one of those people. Urban fantasy author Ramy Vance was involved in the traditional publishing world for years, but when it came time to publish his fiction, he decided to go indie. He’s written a number of novels and started a new series this past summer, Mortality Bites, where he’s had some of his best success yet. We asked him about it and what he did right and wrong to start selling a significant number of books in the urban fantasy genre.
Here are a few of the specifics that we talked about:
How Ramy was first involved in the traditional publishing world and what it taught him about the business.
The logistics of getting into libraries and how subsidiary rights trading works.
Tools you can use to do your own public relations if you’re hoping for attention from the traditional world (he mentioned SimilarWeb as a resource for analyzing those business’s websites but also said it’s expensive and that our time, as indie authors, may be better invested in writing the next book).
Whether it’s worth jumping into urban fantasy as a newer author or if it’s tough to gain traction since it’s so competitive.
Making use of some of the popular tropes to attract regular genre readers but then doing fun and creative stuff on the side.
Ramy’s experience with going exclusive with Amazon for this series and how advertising and tactics can be different whether one is only selling books or whether selling is secondary to getting borrows and page reads in Kindle Unlimited.
How he experimented with adding a sample chapter at the end of his books and found that sales/borrows of the subsequent books were better when he took that out.
How different advertising platforms sent different types of traffic (i.e. he got more sales from Facebook and more Kindle Unlimited borrows from AMS ads).
His mailing list versus his Facebook group and what he’s prioritizing right now.
Experimenting with Instagram.
How writing six books before releasing the first one helped him to rapid release and get a leg up.
How he approached more than a dozen big-name authors in the genre and found many willing to support him at launch time.
Plans for audiobooks through Podium Publishing.
Whether to invest in advertising to direct people to your back-list books or to focus on selling the new stuff.
Not only was this week’s episode jam-packed with newsletter tips for authors but it turned out to be our longest show ever! You may want to turn it into a two-parter or at least get a beverage so you stay hydrated while you listen.
Our guest was Tammi Labrecque, author of Newsletter Ninja, along with numerous books under various secret pen names. She’s published in romance, fantasy, urban fantasy, mystery, LitRPG, and horror, so she’s got a wide range of experience as an author, but she’s also super excited to talk newsletters.
We covered a ton of great information and answered Twitter questions. Here are some of the highlights (and continue to the end for a huge list of resources that Tammi sent along to share):
Whether having two (or more) pen names is twice the work.
How Tammi got so interested in newsletters.
Why newsletters are so important for authors and why you shouldn’t listen to those people who say they’re dead.
Setting up an autoresponder sequence to send a series of welcome emails to new subscribers.
How long of a sequence of emails authors should send out and what kinds of things to cover.
Adding a tip for readers about how to “white list” your email address to the top of each email.
Which mailing list providers Tammi recommends.
How to keep subscribers engaged and how to keep your emails from going into spam or promotions folders.
How often you should be sending out newsletters.
Whether you should send out plain text emails, use images, or mix it up.
Why your “email reputation” is important to the various email providers and how to boost it.
Three things authors should pay attention to when sending out newsletters: open rates, click rates, and responses.
What realistic numbers/percentages are for those.
The most effective method for getting subscribers to forward your emails to friends.
Whether to share short stories in emails, share snippets, or just provide a link to the story on your website.
What sets one newsletter apart from another and makes people look forward to receiving it?
Should you have separate newsletters and/or landing pages if you write in different genres?
How often should you cull your list?
How can you reactivate a list you haven’t used in a long time without getting a bunch of unsubscribes?
What are some examples of engaging questions you can ask to encourage readers to respond?
We talked to return guest Mark Leslie Lefebvre this week. You may remember him as the director of author relations at Kobo, but he’s moved over to the distributor Draft2Digital. We talked about some of the new features coming online there. Mark has recently published a couple of non-fiction books, Killing It on Kobo and The 7 P’s of Publishing Success, so we asked him some Kobo-specific questions as well as his thoughts on succeeding at the non-Amazon retailers and where the self-publishing industry is going in 2019.
Here are some of the specifics that we went over this week:
Author consulting and what some of the common problems are for newer authors.
How the industry is doing as of December 2018 and whether the ebook market is truly saturated.
Whether authors need to be smarter these days to succeed.
Why the digital ebook world can present some challenges for branding and keeping fans once people find one of your books or series and enjoy it.
How social media, if you’re comfortable learning one or more of the platforms, can help you connect more fully to readers and become an author they remember.
Some of the basic things you can do to sell more books at Kobo.
Using the Books2Read site to create links that will redirect readers to their preferred retailer.
Remembering that Kobo is bigger in other countries than in the US and paying attention to global pricing.
Kobo’s distribution deal with Walmart in the US.
Whether you can “make it” wide (in the non-Amazon stores) without getting Bookbub sponsorships or spending a lot on advertising.
Tips for making readers aware of subsequent books in a series.
Tips for succeeding in the non-Amazon bookstores.
Thoughts on Google Play and whether any authors are doing well there.
Some new features coming up at Draft2Digital including print formatting and D2D Universes (something of a replacement for the now defunct Kindle Worlds).
On this week’s show, return guest Michael Cooper (author of HELP! My Facebook Ads Suck under his name and more than fifty novels in his science-fiction Aeon 14 universe as MD Cooper) gave us a lot of great information on what’s working and what’s not right now when it comes to ads for books. He first joined us on Episode 147 where we extensively covered Facebook ads. This time, Michael branched out and gave us information on Amazon ads, Bookbub ads, YouTube ads, and Pinterest ads, as well as updating us on Facebook stuff.
Here are some of the specifics that we covered:
How Michael started taking on collaboration partners to help him tell all the stories he wants to tell in his universe (and put out books more frequently).
Some of the challenges of collaboration and writing multiple series that jump around in a timeline while sharing the same universe.
Why Michael has a lot of his stuff in KU but made one series available in all of the stores.
The idea that there’s no “algorithm” on Amazon and that our fate as authors shouldn’t live and die based on whether Amazon decides to promote our stuff.
Using BookTrackR to monitor sales, rankings, reviews, etc. across all the major store sites.
When running Amazon ads, targeting authors (as keywords) who aren’t in KU to potentially attract readers who pay more for books.
Dealing with “peak author” and saturation of the ebook market going forward.
Learning to be more creative about marketing as there are more and more books out there for the same number of readers to choose from.
Advertising in print genre magazines.
Gauging sell-through for a series and determining how much you can afford to spend on advertising.
Doing Facebook video ads for cheaper clicks than regular ads.
Video Hive as a place where you can buy stock footage to use in video ads.
Using Etsy to ship paperbacks and other swag (they’ll generate shipping labels to help make it easier).
Making an art book of your covers.
How to get into advertising on Pinterest and if the ads are useful for science fiction and fantasy authors.
Choosing the right tagline for your ads and book description pages.
How Michael uses his KDP Select free days and countdown deals.
This week, we’re joined by fantasy and science fiction author Nicholas Erik, who also writes and experiments under the pen name D.N. Erikson. He’s an analytical guy who’s always observing what’s working and what’s not, both for his own work and for others. Before we jump into the details of the show, here are links to his site where he’s got some great foundational material up:
Now, here are some of the details we discussed in the show:
Reasons for launching a pen name and whether it should be secret or not.
Trying a new series and new genre when you’re not getting the results you hoped for from your first effort.
Nick’s “trifecta of indie success” — marketing, craft, and productivity.
Tips for increasing productivity and getting more novels written.
Linking writing with a certain time of day (i.e. when you get home from work or when you first get up in the morning), so it’s easier to turn it into a daily habit. Here’s a guest post Nick wrote with more details on the habit linking: https://thewritepractice.com/daily-routines
Timed writing sprints to help get the words down.
Why so many people’s marketing efforts end up failing, because the craft wasn’t there and readers didn’t continue past Book 1.
Whether you should wait to start marketing until you’ve finished your first novel or start “building a platform” while you’re still working on it.
Some of the basics of setting up a mailing list and where to find cross-promotional opportunities to start gaining subscribers.
Using Prolific Works (formerly InstaFreebie) to find promo opportunities and give away free stories for sign-ups.
Another give-away site he’s found useful is Ryan Zee’s Book Sweeps (this was down at the time of recording, but we’re including the link in the hope that it’s up again soon).
If there’s a number to aim for when it comes to acquiring email subscribers.
Whether you should have multiple lists if you write in different genres and/or under different pen names.
Whether there’s truth to Kevin Kelly’s “1,000 true fans” essay — is that all you need to become a full time author, and what’s a true fan, anyway?
If promo sites are still worth it in this age of Facebook/Amazon/Bookbub PPC ads.
Nick’s big list of promo sites and his rankings for how effective they are (updated a couple of months ago): http://nicholaserik.com/promo-sites/
Some of the fundamentals of advertising and at what point it has the potential to become profitable (it’s tough these days to even break even on a stand-alone book), assuming you do enough things right.
Debating the ideal length of a series.
The advertising advantage people in Kindle Unlimited have, from KU reads even on free books to making things appealing through Countdown Deals. (Nick mentions that there’s a lot more information on using the Kindle Countdown Deals effectively in David Guaghran’s free book, Amazon Decoded, which is a bonus when you sign up for his newsletter (sign up over at his site: https://davidgaughran.com/).
Some of Nick’s tips when it comes to Facebook ads.
This week, humorous science fiction author James R. Tramontana joined the guys on the show. He’s podcasting his Ace Tucker Space Trucker novels, and we asked him all about how he’s gaining fans that way, people who go on to buy the books.
Here are some of the specifics from the show:
What’s involved with podcasting your novel or podcasting original audio fiction (and why you might want to).
Getting set-up (equipment and software) for recording and editing.
Adding music, sound effects, etc. and creating more of a production than a simple narration of a book.
The challenges of selling niche stuff like humorous science fiction.
How James uses social media, conventions, and other methods to get the word out about his podcast.
The challenges of being found when you upload fiction podcasts, since the searches aren’t always great when you’re not using typical keywords.
Going for a comic-book vibe with humorous fiction.
Monetizing your fiction when you’re doing something more than just the written word.
Why James likes “sitcom length” podcast episodes of less than 30 minutes.
Jo and Lindsay recorded early this week, since Lindsay is off to the 20Booksto50K conference (inspired by Michael Anderle, as Lindsay said in the show, but put together by Craig Martelle, which Lindsay should have said!). While Jeff was busy packing up his house to make his move to Phoenix permanent, Jo and Lindsay offered some tips on how to do well if you choose to go exclusive with Amazon to enroll in Kindle Unlimited. They also answered some great listener questions related to the topic.
Here’s what we discussed, swiped straight from Lindsay’s notes (they aren’t too tidy; you should definitely listen to the show!):
Is KDP Select/Kindle Unlimited right for you?
Personal considerations (supporting Amazon and possibly hurting other retailers, bowing to their demands for exclusivity, having all your eggs in one basket) + can you do better exclusive and in KU than wide = your unique answer!
Lindsay’s strategy and why?
Staying wide with the back catalogue and launching new series into KU, then eventually moving them out when sales/borrows slow down. How this has resulted in a nice boost in income for her without having to have all of her eggs in one basket.
Launch strategies –
Rapid release and advantages – momentum, less reader attrition, possibly more visibility, something in the hot new releases every month, possible to get the All-star bonuses by focusing your efforts into a couple of months.
Slow and steady – maybe releasing two-four books a year on a regular schedule – we’ve had people who have kept things rolling with promos and sales and just consistently releasing new books. KU can still be useful if you’re able to keep your books selling… these folks often invest more time and money into advertising to keep from falling off the face of the planet
Pricing considerations –
99 cents vs. full price – More non-KU people may pick up a 99-center, which helps with rankings, but at that price you’re making less on a novel if people buy instead of borrow.
$4-$5 – People get away with this and are more likely to get a book to stick in KU because of the borrows buoying things up. BUT if your book isn’t to market or really going to appeal to a lot of people, this can make you sink more quickly than a 99-cent Book 1.
Launching with your 5 free days – I haven’t tried this but I’ve heard from several people now who had some good momentum by trying this right out of the gate.
Remember, if you’re doing a series, it’s about what you can earn over the course of the series, not just from one book.
Focusing on one genre and releasingfrequently or at least consistently –
This is an area where I fail a bit, and I would struggle more if I wasn’t fairly prolific. It’s also why I’ve started focusing on one series to completion – drop three quickly and then one more a month or as close as possible. This gives you some of the “sticking to one genre” advantage even if you fully plan to write in another genre next year.
Writing to a hungrymarket –
Look in the Top 100s you’re interested (Chris Fox style) and see what’s selling. What sells steadily year in and year out? What’s come on strong in the past year? Think less about trends and more why is something working – because trad publishing isn’t fulfilling a demand? There’s a possible market.
When examining potential niches, also consider looking at the Amazon AUS/CA store, etc. to get a feel for what’s selling without AMS ads, since that can really obfuscate things – you have no idea how much the publisher of that perennial bestseller is paying to stay in their Top 100.
Can niche stuff work?
Depends on the niche – is there a hungry market that isn’t being served by trad pub or is it just kind of out there? Something that’s only going to appeal to a small audience like a steampunk fantasy lesbian romance? KU isn’t going to be great for something that a large portion of people just won’t pick up because they’re not into X thing. This is the kind of case where I like going wide with a series because you can do a permafree book 1 and reach a global market (sometimes things that are hangups in one country are less of a big deal in others!), so you just have much more potential to find the people who DO want X.
However, if there’s a hungry market, it can do super well in KU even if it’s niche. You need it to be niche in a way that it’s not off-putting to the majority of readers. That’s when KU is useful. “Well, I’m not sure LitRPG is my thing, or even what it is exactly, but huh, it’s about gamers, and I gamed as a kid… enh, let’s try it.” That’s where KU is ideal because the readers can check out the books for free with their subscription, so they might pick up things they wouldn’t have bought because they’re a little outside their wheelhouse.
Making more money from page reads
Everyone wants this, but Amazon is watching for people gaming the system, so be careful not to do anything wonky with formatting or bonus material. Be safe with that stuff so you won’t be penalized, because you don’t want your attempt to earn a couple hundred extra month to suddenly result in you earning nothing.
Probably okay to add the first chapter of the next book (less than 10% bonus material) and a Q&A or afterword, something the reader will genuinely want to read. But remember the litmus test: ask yourself if you would be adding this bonus material if this book weren’t in KU.
Legitimate ways (craft stuff):
Write a page turner!
Write a sprawling epic (it still has to turn pages).
Teaser/cliffhanger endings to get them to move on to the next book.
Listener Questions:
Dale: I’m currently wide, but I’m considering KU for my next series. So, my question: What are some approaches/tactics etc for succeeding in KU when you are *not* rapid releasing?
Greg: (1) Is there a “sweet spot” for how many books to have in a series before profits/page reads start falling off? (2) Better to offer a “standalone” freebie or a more “sequel-lite” novella for funnel, list-building, etc.?
MJ: Would you lean more towards FB or AMS ads if you wanted to focus on drivin up page reads and brand building?
Tara: Pricing strategies, especially for romance, especially for books that can be read as a stand-alone. I don’t like pricing at 99c, but it seems to be the popular way to rank well.
Tara: Oh, any insight into sweet spots for word count, though I do understand that it varies by genre.
Jammie: Thoughts on current “glitches” reflecting zero or low page reads and instances of book disappearance. Seems some (usually successful) authors launch to silence or messed up promos. How do you handle Amazon’s glitches and recover from a bad launch as a result? Wait it out?
Jammie: Watching fb groups and feeling skittish as a newcomer. Investing in marketing and promos with Amazon sort of feels like playing the stock market.
Vale: If you’re exclusive to KU on a pen name but want to release a reader magnet standalone novel set in the same world as the main series, would you make it 99 cents and exclusive for the page reads or go the wide route for just that book to get Amazon to price match it to permafree?
Jon: Since KU subscribers can’t preorder, what’s a good way to get KU subscribers interested pre-launch?
Beth: How do you determine that a series has run its course for page reads and should be removed from KU to go wide?
Our guest for this week’s show is long-time podcaster and slightly less long-time science fiction and fantasy author Mur Lafferty. She is the author of the Nebula and Hugo-nominated Six Wakes, The Shambling Guides, and I Should Be Writing: A Writer’s Workshop. Her most recent publication is Solo, the Star Wars movie adaptation, which we asked her all about during the interview. She also hosts the popular I Should Be Writing and Ditch Diggers podcasts (the latter is about the publishing industry, not actual ditch digging, FYI!).
Here are some of the specifics that we discussed:
How Mur got started in podcasting in the early days and created audio versions of some of her fiction.
Whether she’s an outliner or a pantser.
How the Forest app (here’s the link) helps her avoid distractions.
Talking money, agents, experiences with publishers, and the stuff that doesn’t always get mentioned on her Ditch Diggers podcast.
Getting involved on Patreon as a podcaster and a writer.
Finding the right rewards for Patreon subscribers of different levels.
A reminder that it’s tough to make any headway on Patreon or Kickstarter without an existing fanbase.
How Mur got involved in the Star Wars universe and landed the Solo gig.
The process of writing a novelization of a movie for Star Wars.
Whether the pay for movie-tie-in stuff is comparable to a regular traditional publishing deal.
How publishers and agents look to see if you have an established platform and following before taking you on as an author.
A reminder that the publishing industry is quite small and that the professionals all know each other, so it’s important to be courteous on social media and at conventions.
Which social media platforms Mur likes for marketing.
Some of the numerous awards she has received and been nominated for and whether they’re helping to sell books.
Today, we were joined by fantasy author, Joseph Malik, who published his first novel, Dragon’s Trail, in 2016 and has managed to sell 10,000 copies over the last two years, despite being a new author and new to marketing. We talked to him about some of the things he tried that didn’t work, plus what he tried that did.
*Note: a couple of swear words slipped out in this episode, so be careful if you’re listening in the car with young and impressionable kids (or dogs).
Here are some of the specifics that we talked about in the show:
Trying out a lot of hobbies such as sword fighting and martial arts to better learn how to make your fantasy novels seem realistic.
Tips for authors who wouldn’t mind trying to learn some of the combat stuff even if they’re busy with life and not athletically inclined.
Balancing including details and strong world building with keeping the story moving along and readers entertained.
Diana Wynne Jones’ Tough Guide to Fantasyland (and why your characters probably shouldn’t be eating stew after a long trek).
Publishing on a more traditional release schedule (Joseph published his first two novels about two years apart) and keeping the books selling when it’s a while between releases.
How his experience as a panelist at NorWesCon helped a lot with book sales for him.
Why Joseph publishes hard cover copies of his books and where he sells them.
How he’s sold most of his books at full price and intends to stick with that going forward.
Some of the marketing things he tried early on that didn’t move the dial much and what did work.
If you want to learn more or check out Joseph’s books, please visit his website: http://josephmalik.com/