SFFMP 110: Succeeding in the Super Hero Genre
Today we chatted with fantasy author Timothy L. Cerepaka who branched out into superhero fiction in 2016 under the pen name Lucas Flint. He talked about how he’s had more success with the superhero stories and believes the genre is less competitive than many of the other fantasy niches.
Here are a few details of what we covered:
- What makes a superhero novel (i.e. what are the tropes and expectations)?
- What works well when it comes to covers?
- What length of novel do people in this genre expect?
- Is this a good niche for KDP Select/Kindle Unlimited?
- How Timothy got the ball rolling in the new niche without spending much on advertising (he estimates he’s spent less than $100 all year).
- When the big superhero movies come out, does it help with marketing similar books?
- Is there a specific demographic that picks up these novels?
- What price did Timothy launch his first book at, and what are his prices for the rest of the series?
- Why he’s stopping at Book 9 and starting an all new superhero series next year.
- What are some common mistakes made by authors in the genre?
If you have questions, let us know, or if you want to learn more about Timothy/Lucas, visit him online at http://www.lucasflint.com/ or check out his first superhero book on Amazon.
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I would like to hear more from other superhero authors in the future talking about tropes and whether each book should be an origin story or if a series can be structured more like actual comic series where each book is a “volume” and carries into the next volume until its conclusion. Much like how the marvel movies are building toward Thanos.
Thanks for stopping by, Dayne! Maybe we can find some more superhero authors who are doing well. 🙂
Are any of you planning to write LitRPG?
Not sure about the guys, but I’m not at this time. The idea of readers expecting stats and a lot on game mechanics was a bit of a turnoff for me. I just play the games for the role-playing aspect. I don’t care much about that stuff. 🙂