Tag: fantasy

SFFMP 215: Working Hard, Ignoring Naysayers, and Becoming a Full-Time Author

Author Interview, Podcast

For this week’s show, we talked to return guest Jeffery H. Haskell, who first joined us in December of 2017 for the show “Successfully Launching as a New Author and Is Kindle Worlds Worth It?” (Yes, Kindle Worlds was still a thing back then!)

Jeffery is a superhero fiction author and also has a new non-fiction title out, Writing for Life: Living the Impossible Dream. We talked about superheroes and how the fantasy subgenre is doing, and we also talked about some of the mindset issues that beginning authors face and that may be holding them back from publishing and becoming successful.

Here are some of the specifics that we covered:

  • Keeping a series selling past six installments.
  • Launching a new series in the same universe.
  • The state of the superhero subgenre as of January 2019.
  • Whether traditional publishers and authors are in the superhero genre or it’s more dominated by indies.
  • The earnings potential in the superhero genre.
  • Overcoming negative feedback and challenges to pursue your writing dream.
  • Making smart decisions, working hard, and not relying on luck to succeed.
  • Whether you have to be born with what it takes to become a writer or if anyone can learn.
  • When it makes sense to bank novels and rapid release and when you should publish right away to test the waters.
  • How long an author should give a series before accepting that maybe it’s time to try something else.
  • Setting realistic expectations for your first books and series.
  • What marketing Jeff has found works well for him in the superhero genre.
  • Increasing productivity to publish more books as one shifts to full-time.

Find Jeff on his website or Facebook or check out his books on Amazon.

For inspiration, take a look at Writing for Life: Living the Impossible Dream.

 

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SFFMP 208: Improving Visibility, Launching New Pen Names, and the “Trifecta of Indie Success”

Author Interview, Podcast

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:

http://nicholaserik.com/start/

And here’s the guest post on advertising that he did on David Gaughran’s blog:

How to Advertise and Sell More Books

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.
  • Nick likes Convert Kit for managing his lists.
  • 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.

It was a jam-packed show, so hopefully you got something out of it. Make sure to check out Nick’s site, and you can also take a peek at some of his books under his name and others under his pen name on Amazon.

 

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SFFMP 188: A Successful Fantasy Series Relaunch

Author Interview, Podcast

On this week’s show, we chat with dark/epic fantasy author and podcaster Andy Peloquin. Andy got the rights back to his first series and did a big and very successful relaunch, revamping it to appeal to assassin-loving epic fantasy fans instead of the dark fantasy fans it previously targeted.

Here are some of the specifics that we covered:

  • Andy’s background as a freelance writer.
  • His first forays into publishing, including signing with a small publisher.
  • Why he decided to ask for the rights back to his first series and relaunch it himself.
  • How he redid his blurbs and covers to target a larger audience than previously.
  • Researching not just in his genre but in his specific niche (assassins, mercenaries, sellswords, etc.) and seeing what kinds of covers were selling.
  • Creating an effective epic fantasy cover with stock photos instead of paying a fortune for custom illustrations.
  • Changing the titles to hit on popular epic fantasy tropes.
  • How he contacted other authors in his niche and asked for them to plug his book when he was ready to release the new Book 1.
  • How he’s designed effective Facebook ads that don’t cost him much per click.
  • Whether his Fantasy Fiends podcast has been useful for networking with authors and making book sales to listeners.
  • How to know if it’s worth doing a relaunch for a flagging series.

You can visit Andy on his site or check out his books on Amazon, including the newly relaunched Hero of Darkness series.

You can also check out Andy’s podcast, Fantasy Fiends, on YouTube, iTunes, etc.

 

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SFFMP 183: Succeeding on a Book a Year with CW Lamb

Author Interview, Podcast

This week, scifi and fantasy author CW Lamb joined us to talk about how he got his start in 2014, how KDP Select and Kindle Unlimited helped him launch his first book to great success, and why he’s sought out an agent and is also looking for a traditional deal.

Here are some of the specifics we discussed:

  • What it was like to start in 2014 and launch into KDP Select/Kindle Unlimited.
  • Having early success in the space adventure/military SF category.
  • Keeping books selling on a relatively modest release schedule.
  • Leveraging a solid sales history into getting an agent.
  • How controversial reviews might help sell books.
  • Why Charles feels pursuing a traditional route might help him reach a wider audience.
  • The price points he’s experimented with.
  • What he’s learned since his first launch and what a book launch looks like for him now.
  • Keeping multiple series going and selling in different genres.
  • His thoughts on doing pre-orders on Amazon.
  • Why he would launch into KDP Select again now if he was a new author starting out.

You can visit Charles (CW) on his website and check out his books on Amazon. ALICE starts of his scifi series, and The Lost Ranger is the first in his new fantasy series.

 

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SFFMP 176: Launching Well as a New Author, Writing Quickly, and Keeping the Momentum Going

Author Interview, Podcast

This week’s interview features NYT best-selling indie fantasy author Jasmine Walt. She talks about how she burst onto the scene a couple of years ago with her popular Baine Chronicles series and breaks down why she think it hit big even though she was a new author at the time. We also ask her about her various collaborations and how she’s kept the momentum going with the numerous new series she’s started.

Here are some of the specifics:

  • Expectations for urban fantasy, fantasy with romance, and reverse harem fantasy.
  • Writing stories that combine a lot of elements and aren’t exactly to market.
  • When taking on a collaboration partner can make sense and mistakes to avoid in co-writing.
  • Jasmine’s process that helps her publish a novel almost every month.
  • How much outlining she does before she starts writing.
  • How her first launch went and what she did to get pre-orders and sales as a brand new author.
  • What a launch looks like for her these days as a more established author with a fan base.
  • The challenges of having success with a second, third, etc. series after the first one was a hit.
  • When it’s time to move some series out of Kindle Unlimited and try to build a readership in other stores.
  • The factors that go into deciding how long a series should continue.
  • What Jasmine does for the back matter of her books.
  • Whether hitting bestseller lists (New York Times, USA Today, etc.) are useful for marketing or just nice accolades to have.

You can visit Jasmine on her website and check out the first of her Baine Chronicles novel, Burned. It’s available in all stores. Her Dragon’s Gift series (reverse harem fantasy) and recent release Cursed by Night are available on Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited.

Also, if you listen in time and you’re interested in going to the conference Jasmine is putting on in May 2018, here’s the link for that:

http://bostonfantasyfest.com/

 

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SFFMP 155: What It Takes to Shift from Hobby Writer to Full-Time Author with Ben Hale

Author Interview, Podcast

This week, we chatted with non-fiction and YA fantasy author Ben Hale. A former business owner, he did a lot of research before jumping into self-publishing his first fantasy novels in 2012. After six months, he was able to go full-time. His recent non-fiction release, co-written with Honorée Corder, talks about the business side of writing and publishing, with tips for taking your career to the next level.

Here are a few of the specifics we talked about:

  • Researching the market and what’s working for successful authors before jumping in to publishing.
  • Why being fluent in a language may not be enough when it comes to translating your own books.
  • The changes to the market that Ben has seen since he first started publishing in 2012.
  • Creating multiple series that interlink and are set in the same world so that readers will naturally want to go from one to the other.
  • Some of the challenges of marketing to young adult readers and why some YA books appeal to adults more than others do.
  • The importance of releasing regularly — Ben tries to put out a new novel every 3 to 4 months.
  • Developing a business mindset as an author.
  • What to look at if you have a number of books out, but they aren’t selling as well as you expected.
  • How far ahead goals or visions should extend.
  • Starting out with the business mindset so that you’re ready for success farther down the road.

Learn more about Ben Hale and grab his starter library at his website, Lumineia. You can also follow him on Facebook and Twitter, and check out the helpful book that he and Honorée Corder wrote, Write Like a Boss.

 

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SFFMP 129: Using Multi-Author Boxed Sets to Hit Bestseller Lists and Jumpstart Your Career with Gwynn White

Author Interview, Podcast

This week, we chatted with fantasy/steampunk/fairy tale/memoir author Gwynn White, who has used multiauthor boxed sets to jumpstart her fantasy career and to hit the USA Today and New York Times bestseller lists.

Here are some details on what we covered:

  • The fact that you can actually sell travel memoirs as an indie author! (This is how Gwynn got her start.)
  • The challenges of selling books that are a mashup of subgenres and weren’t written to market.
  • Using boxed sets for getting your Book 1s in front of a lot of eyeballs.
  • Gwynn’s experience being in two big boxed sets that hit the USA Today and NYT lists and what she learned that she’s now applying to two sets she’s organizing.
  • Getting 20 authors involved and leveraging them for mailing list promotions and other types of marketing.
  • Utilizing pre-orders to help get the necessary numbers to hit the lists.
  • Setting your goals ahead of time: are the bestseller letters the most important thing, or do you want to make money (especially through Kindle Unlimited page reads), or are you most interested in sell-through to other books in your series?
  • Going wide with a boxed set (this is necessary if you want to hit lists) versus launching it into KDP Select/KU.
  • Using Pronoun to get a much longer pre-order period on Amazon (the usual is only 3 months) and also to be able to put huge files (such as you get with 20 novels in one ebook) through at 99 cents (Amazon tends to increase the price to $1.99 with big boxed sets).
  • Also using Pronoun because you can get 70% even on 99-cent novels.

You can visit Gwynn on her website or check out her books on Amazon. Her first fantasy novel is Rebel’s Honor.

Also, if you want to support the two boxed sets she has going now, you can grab 20+ authors for 99 cents in Dominion Rising and Marked by Fate.

Note: In a correction related to last week’s episode, where audiobooks came up, I mentioned that you can have individual titles and one boxed set per series when it comes to audiobooks for those going directly to Audible through ACX. Here’s the link to their FAQ with more information on that: How do I create a bundle version of the audiobooks I have already released?

 

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SFFMP 126: Breaking Out, Five Figure Months, and Writing in Someone Else’s World

Author Interview, Podcast

Fantasy author Justin Sloan joins us this week to talk about why the traditional “just write the next book” advice may not always be the right tactic for every author in every stage of his career. He also discusses how he broke out and went from small successes to big ones when he started reaching out to other authors for collaborations. He ended up working with Michael Anderle and co-writing a series with him in his popular Kurtherian Gambit world. Since then, he’s started selling a lot more books, and he just quit his day job to write full time.

Here are a few more details of what we covered:

  • Why Justin thinks some of his series have done significantly better than others.
  • The challenges of writing series in lots of different subgenres of fantasy instead of sticking with one.
  • How he reached out to other authors and was very proactive in finding people to collaborate with.
  • How he got into co-writing a series with Michael Anderle in Michael’s world, and what it’s meant for his career.
  • Whether face-to-face or phone meetings are necessary for co-writing or it can all be done through email and Google Docs or some such.
  • Managing the finances and accounting when writing with several different authors on different projects.
  • Why Facebook can be such a powerful marketing tool and what to post on your page.
  • Posting snippets of up-coming books to get readers excited before the release.

Please visit Justin’s website to learn more about his work and grab some free books, or like his author page on Facebook to see what he’s doing there.

Justin is also the co-author of the Creative Writing Career Podcast. Check it out if you’re looking for another show to listen to.

 

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SFFMP 121: Writing in a Niche Genre and Maximizing Kindle Countdown Deals with Robert Bevan

Author Interview, Podcast

Robert Bevan joined us this week to talk about writing in a smaller niche (one with no Amazon category) such as comedic fantasy inspired by Dungeons & Dragons. He’s published several novels and collections of short stories in his Caverns & Creatures world, with tongue-in-cheek titles such as Critical Failures, Clerical Error, and Multiple Orc Chasms. He started publishing in 2012, when he was happy to sell a few books a day, and is now able to write full time.

Here are some of the things we talked about:

  • Trying to publish wide but deciding on KDP Select.
  • Writing in a niche that isn’t well-served by traditional publishing.
  • Some of the challenges of writing humor.
  • Bucking the trend and doing unique covers versus what’s popular in the genre.
  • Publishing short stories and then bundling them to have more offerings out there (and more books to run promos on).
  • Combining Kindle Countdown Deals with Facebook ads.
  • How Robert chooses authors to target for his Facebook ads.
  • Doing Countdown Deals on multiple books at once to flood the charts.
  • Creating free adventures for the sole purpose of using sites like Instafreebie to entice readers onto your mailing list.

To learn more, visit Robert on his website (you can sign up for his mailing list here and check out the now notorious Multiple Orc Chasms adventure). He’s also active on Facebook.

You can find his books on Amazon.

 

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SFFMP 107: Writing and Selling in the Underserved LGBT Fantasy Niche with Shiriluna Nott and SaJa H

Author Interview, Podcast

On today’s show, we chatted with Shiriluna Nott and SaJa H, authors of the epic fantasy series The Chronicles of Arden. They’ve got some LGBT heroes in the story, so we wanted to ask them about some of the writing and marketing challenges (and perks!) that come with the niche.

Here are a few more details of what we covered:

  • Moving from fan fiction to self-publishing.
  • Whether there are any reader expectations with spec-fic LGBT stories (i.e. romance or graphic sex or for the sexual orientation to be a big focus in the story).
  • If it’s necessary to warn readers if there’s going to be a non-traditional relationship in the story, even if there’s nothing explicit.
  • For those with an interest, is LGBT fantasy/science fiction an underserved niche that might be less competitive and easier to get noticed in than the more mainstream spec-fic categories?
  • Are there any unique writing or marketing challenges?
  • Are there any sites that specialize in mentioning LGBT spec-fiction books? (They mentioned QueerSciFi.com.)

You can find their books on Amazon or visit Shiriluna on her website or Facebook. You can also visit Saja on Facebook.

 

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