SFFMP 43: Bestseller Joshua Dalzelle Talks Space Opera and Selling Books Without a Website

August 11, 2015 SFFpodcast Author Interview, Podcast

Tonight we interviewed hugely popular space opera author, Joshua Dalzelle. The guy doesn’t have a website, an Amazon bio, and he’s only recently started a mailing list, but he sure sells books. Here’s some of what we discussed tonight:

How Joshua got this far without a website, and are websites/social media/mailing lists really needed, or are they overrated?
The state of space opera right now (is it more popular than ever?)
What makes space opera space opera? Versus some other type of science fiction?
Light-hearted sci-fi adventures versus darker, techier sci-fi–is there room for both?
Cover art that portrays the tone of the book as well as branding the series
AskDavid.com for getting reviews
Advertising sites that Joshua hasn’t gotten much mileage out of
Are multi-author bundles still useful for getting the word out?
How having multiple series going can help feed the sales of both
Pricing for novels — is $2.99/$3.99 a good bet or are you leaving money on the table?
Incentives for readers to get them onto a mailing list–especially if you get started with one late!