amazon advertising – Science Fiction & Fantasy Marketing Podcast

SFFMP 203: Staying Motivated, Advertising, and How to Market a Stand-Alone Novel

October 16, 2018 SFFpodcast Group Discussion, Podcast

This week, the guys answered a couple of questions about staying motivated and finishing projects, even when your oh-so-appealing sink full of dishes is distracting you. They talked a bit about their adventures with Amazon advertising and what’s actually working for them now in 2018. They also discussed marketing a stand-alone novel, since Lindsay recently released Fractured Stars, a new space adventure story unrelated to her other series. She shared her numbers and what she did for the launch.

Here are a few of the specifics from their discussion:

Difficulties with piracy and copyright issues.
Using CoverVault.com to create your own 3D boxed set covers.
Getting personalized video shoutouts from celebrities through Cameo.com.
Jo’s jump into Patreon and what he’s offering for subscribers.
Getting the reviews from old editions of books on Amazon when republishing all-new versions.
Tips for keeping yourself from getting distracted when you work from home.
Write or Die software and writing sprints.
What to do when the story seems boring or bad or just isn’t coming together.
The challenges of making Amazon advertising work.
Scaling AMS ads once you do get them to work.
Why the guys are still big fans of running promos on free Book 1s in long series.
How to price a stand-alone novel and whether to try KDP Select/Kindle Unlimited or start out wide.
Deciding on cover art when your book wasn’t written to any particular market so there aren’t a lot of examples.
Writing a free tie-in short story or novella and publishing it at the same time as your stand-alone novel.
When and how the guys use boosted posts on Facebook.
Using newsletter bonuses to encourage sign-ups at the end of your novel (even a stand-alone novel) so you’re not starting from scratch with the next book.
Why the mailing list trumps all when it comes to advertising and marketing and is the most valuable asset you can build.

If you want to support Jo on Patreon, you can find his page here.

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ads, amazon advertising, marketing a stand alone novel, patreon, permafree

SFFMP 108: Amazon Ads, Mastering Email Marketing, and Effective Social Media

November 22, 2016 SFFpodcast Author Interview, Podcast

Today, Jo and Lindsay chatted with Tom Corson-Knowles, non-fiction author, host of the Publishing Profits podcast, and entrepreneur. He does a lot of work with authors and has seen what’s working well for branding and improving sales, so we had a good discussion, covering everything from Amazon advertising (which has recently opened up to be available to everyone, not just those exclusive with KDP Select) to email marketing to social media.

Here are a few of the highlights of what we discussed:

What exactly Amazon ads are and how they work for authors.
How much you can expect to spend and what a respectable ROI or ACoS (Advertising Cost of Sales) looks like.
Product Display ads versus Sponsored Product Ads.
Keyword targeting and scaling up if you’re not getting enough impressions/clicks.
Making sure your cover/brand is appealing, since you’ve got to lure browsers away from the book page they’re on to click your ad.
Whether Amazon ads can make sense with a 99-cent book or a permafree one (and series starters versus stand alones).
Best practices when it comes to email marketing.
What your first follow-up message should look like after a new subscriber signs up.
The types of goodies you can give away to entice readers to sign up.
Whether you should start separate email lists if you branch into other genres.
How often you should be emailing your list as an author.
Whether you should worry if you get unsubscribes after sending out a newsletter.
If you should consider a pop-up to get more reader signups from your blog or website. (Tom uses SumoMe for handling pop-ups and signups.)
When it makes sense to ignore the common advice of “You have to be on Facebook” or “You have to be on Twitter.”
Finding ways to market online that jive with your personality and what you’re willing to do.

You can check out Tom’s courses on his site, take a peek at his books on Amazon, or subscribe to his podcast.

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amazon ads, amazon advertising, email marketing, email newsletters, social media, social media alternatives, sumome, tom corson-knowles

SFFMP 79: Epic Fantasy, YouTube Marketing, and Finding a Route to Success with Garrett Robinson

May 3, 2016 SFFpodcast Author Interview, Podcast

This week, we chatted with epic fantasy author Garrett Robinson (http://garrettbrobinson.com/) who got his start with genre hopping and serialized fiction before deciding to settle in and focus on epic fantasy. Several novels later, he’s selling a lot of books and making a great living.

Here’s some of what we talked about:

Outlining and planning when you’re building a big world with multiple series and storylines
Juggling multiple series and having publication schedules that satisfy the readers and make marketing doable
Why it took three books and a boxed set before the ball really started rolling for Garrett
What kinds of book covers are expected for epic fantasy
Live vlogging a novel as a way to interact with readers and also as an accountability tool
Creating a YouTube channel where videos actually convert to book sales
Why Garrett is sticking with KDP Select for the time being
The perks of getting a Bookbub ad while in Kindle Unlimited
Why he’s enjoying Tumblr as a social media platform
Author Platform Rocket — a resource Garrett uses for generating Facebook leads for his mailing list
Tips for Facebook advertising (don’t be shy — imagine yourself as a marketing firm that was hired to plug your books)

If you want to get Garrett’s first book for free, stop by his page and sign up for his newsletter.

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amazon advertising, epic fantasy, facebook advertising, garrett robinson, mailing lists, podcasts, serials, youtube, youtube marketing

SFFMP 77: Making a USA Today Bestseller Run, Facebook Advertising, and Kindle Scout with Michael James Ploof

April 19, 2016 SFFpodcast Author Interview, Podcast

Today we chatted with fantasy author Michael James Ploof. He’s published two YA epic fantasy series, and he’s also experimented with a pen name writing the naughtier stuff (paranormal/urban fantasy with romance).

His pen name was a recent Kindle Scout winner, and his Whill of Agora boxed set made the USA Today Bestseller’s list last year. We pumped him for information on how he sold (in one week!) the 6,000+ ebooks (including 500+ at a non-Amazon vendor) necessary to hit the list.

We also talked about how Facebook ads are an ongoing part of his sales strategy and how he’s using them + a permafree Book 1 to keep sales steady month in and month out.

You can get Michael’s first book for free on Amazon and in other stores. His pen name novel, A Cross to Bear, released last month, if you want to check that out too.