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

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 181: Spreading out Your Advertising Dollars for Effectiveness and Launching Well as a New Author

This week, epic fantasy/fantasy romance author Miranda Honfleur joined us on the show. She launched her first series last November and has kept book 1 selling well and sticking in the Amazon fantasy charts while releasing more books in the series. She has three out now with a fourth to follow later this summer. We asked her how she did so well as a new author and how she’s maintaining sales.

Here are some more specifics on what we covered:

  • Miranda’s road to publishing.
  • How she’s balanced writing epic fantasy that’s heavy on romance, something epic fantasy readers aren’t always looking for.
  • What she took away from the Sell More Books Show conference as a new author.
  • How she used Instafreebie to building a mailing list months before she launched her first book.
  • Creating promotions using the King Sumo WordPress app.
  • Tips for getting the most out of Bookbub PPC ads, Amazon ads, and Facebook ads.
  • Whether she’s needed to cull her mailing list, something we just talked about on last week’s show!
  • How she tries to be everywhere with advertising.
  • How much time she’s putting into Amazon ads and other marketing methods to keep her Book 1 selling week in and week out.
  • Whether Instagram may be the next place fantasy authors should have a presence.
  • Marketing to “series-adjacent” genres as part of a larger strategy.

You can find Miranda on her website or on Amazon where her books are currently in Kindle Unlimited. If you’re a fantasy fan, check out her first book, Blade & Rose. If you enjoyed fairy tales, she’s a part of the Of Beasts and Beauties boxed set.

 

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SFFMP 18: Buying Advertising, Twitter, Conventions, Book Signings, and Swag

Tonight, after Lindsay coughed her way through the introduction, we chatted amongst ourselves on a number of topics related to online marketing and offline marketing.

  • How do you measure your return on investment when it comes to online marketing? When is it time to pull the plug on a method? (We discussed social media, Wattpad, and guest posts/interviews.)
  • Does it ever make sense to abandon a series, if the sales/reviews/interest isn’t there?
  • What’s an online marketing tactic that you tried, didn’t expect much from, then were pleasantly surprised about because it was helpful?
  • What’s something everyone does and everyone recommends doing but just seems like a waste of time to you?
  • Do giveaways actually help sell books?
  • Twitter — what’s the point, guys?
  • When is it worth buying sponsored spots on book blogs/mailing lists for your books?
  • Have you done anything in your own hometown to try and sell books locally?
  • Is there any value in going to conventions or doing book signings? Investing in some author swag to give away?

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