kickstarter – Science Fiction & Fantasy Marketing Podcast

SFFMP 64: Rachel Caine Talks Urban Fantasy, YA, Traditional Publishing, and Rocking a Kickstarter Campaign

January 19, 2016 SFFpodcast Author Interview, Podcast

Today’s guest, Rachel Caine, has been publishing urban fantasy and YA fantasy since 1991. She’s been traditionally published throughout her career, but she recently decided to self-publish a new book in her long-standing Weather Warden series. She launched a Kickstarter to help finance the project, asked for $5,000 and ended up earning $18,000+. We asked her about the Kickstarter and also what she’s seen as far as changes in the industry, along with the differences in self-publishing and traditional publishing when it comes to marketing and more.

Some of the things we talked about were:

The state of urban fantasy today and how trends wax and wane
Creating a successful Kickstarter campaign (and some tips for how to save more of the money that people pledge to you).
Building a mailing list as a traditionally published author (she uses Mailchimp and has done giveaways with Rafflecopter).
Creating items for physical giveaways at signings and conventions (Rachel mentioned MakePlayingCards.com for doing character cards and ClubFlyers.com and Vista Print for bookmarks, postcards, and the like).
Visiting schools and marketing to librarians to help sell YA fiction
What kind of help you can expect from traditional publishers when it comes to marketing and what’s most likely going to be up to you.
The challenges of participating in such common self-pub marketing tactics as multi-author bundles and price-related promotions when your books are traditionally published
Whether social media and “having a platform” are important when it comes to getting a traditional deal
Being careful about signing a contract and watching out for rights grabs

You can find Rachel at her website, on Twitter, and you can visit her author page on Facebook.

She has lots of new books coming out for you to check out. She has a story coming out in the new X-files anthology, she has a collection of short stories from her Morganville Vampires series, and the next book in her Great Library series will be out this summer. Check out the first here (visit her site for more news and links to other stores).

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kickstarter, mailing lists, rachel caine, traditional publishing, urban fantasy, ya fantasy

SFFMP 20: SFWA for Indie Authors and Making Money from Patreon and Kickstarter with MCA Hogarth

March 3, 2015 SFFpodcast Author Interview, Podcast

You may have heard that the SFWA (Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association) is now allowing small press and indie authors in, so long as they’ve made the earnings requirements. We invited MCA Hogarth onto the show to talk about some of the changes and what they mean for indies, as well as why you might want to join.

After that, we talked a little about marketing, but Lindsay was curious about some of the extra ways MCA is making money from her work, so we also jumped into Patreon, Kickstarter, Paypal tip jars, and coloring books!

Here’s a list of what we hit on:

The SFWA, which has been around for 50 years, is now accepting small press and indie authors.
What does the organization offer and why might authors want to join? (Networking, invitations to anthologies, legal help, and more.)
What are the requirements to join?
Can you join if your book had a successful Kickstarter campaign?
Social media for marketing — Twitter, LiveJournal are MCA’s preferred spots.
How she uses her mailing list and how often she sends newsletters
How she’s making money with Patreon
How she’s making money with Kickstarter — she’s run 8 campaigns and even written a book: From Spark to Finish: Running Your Kickstarter Campaign.

If you would like to learn more about MCA Hogarth, you can follow her on Twitter or Livejournal, and be sure to check out one of her more popular novels, Mindtouch.

You can also check out this article about her in Publishers Weekly: Blazing the Self-Publishing Path.