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SFFMP 222: Do Pre-Orders Work, What Happens Between Rapid Releases, and Finding a Good Editor

March 5, 2019 SFFpodcast Group Discussion, Podcast

On today’s show, the guys answered listener questions about pre-orders, rapid releases, how they found their editors, whether it make sense to keep series in Kindle Unlimited while publishing stand-alone novels wide, and lots of other stuff. Here’s a list of the questions they got to in the show (the second half of the batch will be answered next week):

For rapid release for a 5 book series, would you recommend the time-gap between releases be 2, 3, or 4 weeks? And for somebody using it to rebuild their readership, would you recommend Amazon Marketing Ads on the first book to help train amazon algorithms?
People always ask about rapid release, but never about what happens BETWEEN series release cycles. As they’re stockpiling new titles, I assume there are months where nothing new is up depending on how long it takes for them to write. Algorithm cliff chaos? Discuss.
Since everyone is asking about rapid release. How long should you advertise or pre-launch the series before you rapid release the books? Also where does most of your traffic for book buying come from? Is it the mailing list?
On one of the shows, someone mentioned that a short preorder lead has less impact on the “spike and decline” than a long one. Can you guys talk about that?
I’ve decided to try using some boosted posts from my FB page instead of running ads. I’ve turned off my ads and will instead run the same amount of money per day over a week and see what happens. Have any of you tried using boosted posts only for adverts?
I’m planning to write both standalones and series books, is it better to take your standalones wide to help establish yourself in those markets? Or am I better off leaving my standalones in KU?
How do you guys handle health care without an employer?
How did you find a good editor and what did you do to try them out to decide they were “the one?” (The guys mentioned the Reedsy Marketplace as a possible place to look.)
Also wondering about best ways to find an editor for SF (space opera).
Thoughts about the new service, Reedsy Discovery?
If your book has reviews in non-US amazon stores, is there a way to merge all of them to US store since it’s the exact same book?
What are the most surprising/unlikely income streams you’ve developed in your writing career?
I’d like to hear your thoughts on the building and usefulness of FaceBook pages and reader groups.

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editors, facebook pages, facebook reader groups, healthcare for writers, income streams, kindle unlimited, rapid release, reedsy discovery, reviews

SFFMP 147: Mastering Facebook Advertising for Authors with Michael Cooper

August 29, 2017 SFFpodcast Author Interview, Podcast

We had a great show tonight with Michael Cooper, the author of HELP! My Facebook Ads Suck and also a science fiction author writing under M.D. Cooper. He’s been experimenting constantly with Facebook ads and had some amazing advice, a lot of it different from what we’ve heard before (Lindsay, who hates Facebook ads, is tempted to give them another try!), and the proof is in the pudding. He went from very modest sales to having months where he made $25,000+ from his science fiction novels (and no, he didn’t spend $30,000 on Facebook to make that much — Lindsay asked).

The show was so jam packed with information that we’re not going to attempt to touch on everything in the show notes here, but here’s a little of what Michael talked about:

Why you should never use your book cover (or any text at all) in the image of a Facebook ad.
Michael’s spreadsheet to help you figure out the read-through rate in your series, how much you’re earning per customer you get into your funnel, and how much you can afford to spend to acquire a reader.
The PDF file Michael mentioned: Facebook Ads for Fun and Profit v2.
Why you should start ads at $5 a day max and only increase the spend if they prove they’re doing well.
Creating a fan page to launch your advertising campaigns from instead of a business page.
Using Books2Read as a place to direct readers if you’re creating ads to appeal to readers on all platforms and not just sending them straight to Amazon.
Why Michael isn’t a fan of using Facebook ads to build a mailing list — he sends people straight to buy his books.
Doing long-form sales copy rather than simply creating a short snippet.
Why you should create different ads for different countries instead of just targeting all English-speaking countries.
Why Michael prefers to run ads on 99-cent or full-priced ebooks rather than permafree titles.
Creating character-based ad copy to appeal to female readers versus more plot-based copy for male readers.