full-time author – Science Fiction & Fantasy Marketing Podcast

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

October 31, 2017 SFFpodcast 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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ben hale, fantasy, full-time author, goals, word count, ya fantasy

SFFMP 130: Better Marketing, More Productivity, and Turning Your Writing Hobby into a Career with Monica Leonelle

May 2, 2017 SFFpodcast Author Interview, Podcast

Today, we interviewed young adult urban fantasy and paranormal romance author Monica Leonelle. In addition to writing fiction, she also blogs at Prose on Fire and writes the non-fiction “Growth Hacking for Storytellers” series. We talked about improving productivity for writers and some of the basics of marketing that get overlooked in the urgency to just make more sales.

Here are a few more details of what we discussed:

Going from writing 1,000 to 3,500 words an hour.
How doing some extensive pre-planning (world-building and creating characters) before getting started can make the writing process smoother.
Using “thematic” world building as a way to help discover motivations for characters and also various factions in your worlds.
Outlining stories and scene beats before sitting down to write for the day.
Breaking up your goals into manageable chunks (i.e. I’m going to write 15 or even 8 minutes today rather than starting out saying you’re going to write for 2 hours).
Setting yourself up to meet your goals by having a good mindset.
How important is a regular schedule for productivity?
Monica’s Spanish translation of one of her books and whether it’s been worthwhile.
When it comes to marketing, giving out samples to get new readers to try you rather than simply trying to go straight to the sale.
Moving a person from being a reader to a fan to a true fan or evangelist.
Doing things to “activate your fans” to get them to take actions to help you get the word out.
Whether you should focus your efforts on your most recent release or if the back list should always get attention.
Whether permafree is still working as a way to get “samples” out there.
Taking your writing efforts from hobby to career.

You can find Monica online on her website or at Prose on Fire. If you’ve found her advice useful, you can check out her books such as 8-Minute Writing Habit: Create a Consistent Writing Habit That Works With Your Busy Lifestyle and Prosperous Creation: Make Art and Make Money at the Same Time.

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full-time author, marketing, Monica Leonelle, productivity

SFFMP 86: Improving to a Full-Time Income, Organizing Group Promos, and Succeeding at Publishing Wide with Patty Jansen

June 21, 2016 SFFpodcast Author Interview, Podcast

We chatted with return-guest Patty Jansen this week, a science fiction and fantasy author who’s gone from a part-time income to a full-time income since we interviewed her in 2015. She’s also started running some very popular group promotions for SF&F authors, and we asked about the nuts and bolts of that, as well as if it’s been useful for improving her bottom line and selling more of her own books.

Here’s a little more of what we covered:

The challenges of splitting focus between multiple series and genres
Planning ahead (how far) and committing to publishing installments in series
Wrapping up series that aren’t huge sellers and focusing on ones that show more potential
How Patty’s big SF/F promo has evolved to have more than 500 authors and 4500 reader newsletter subscribers
The nuts and bolts of how her promos work
Curating a big promo and keeping it a good value for both readers and writers
Some of the pitfalls of trying KU, especially as an Australian author, and why Patty is staying wide for now
Whether new covers on older books are worth it
Staggering a launch to try and make a book sticky on Amazon
Trying to target less frequently targeted countries with Facebook advertising

You can check out Patty’s work on her website and sign up for the group promos here: http://pattyjansen.com/promo/.

If you want to try one of her books, you can grab the links to the various stores on her site. Here’s the information for her Ambassador series and you can also check out her new fantasy release on Amazon.