foreign rights – Science Fiction & Fantasy Marketing Podcast

SFFMP 161: Handling Foreign Rights Yourself, When to Incorporate, and New Audiobook Options

December 12, 2017 SFFpodcast Group Discussion, Podcast

On today’s show, Jo, Jeff, and Lindsay answered some listener questions and shared their notes from the workshop that Jo and Lindsay attended in October, Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Katherine Rusch’s Business Masterclass. It was a week long workshop that covered dealing with Hollywood offers, handling foreign rights offers without an agent, increasing writing productivity, estate planning and tax stuff for authors (including when it makes sense to incorporate and which type of corporation in the US), and updates from Kobo on their plans to add audiobooks to their catalogue, among many other topics.

Here are some of the specifics of what the gang covered today:

Jo and Lindsay jumping into Patreon (right as Patreon changed their pricing structure and left folks in an uproar, of course!)
New podcasts that Lindsay is checking out: Kevin J Anderson’s Creative Futurism and Mark Coker’s Smart Author podcast out of Smashwords.
Whether NetGalley is useful for indie authors or primarily aimed at small presses.
If it’s okay to sell print and audiobooks in other stores if your ebooks are in KDP Select/Kindle Unlimited at Amazon.
Whether a pen name needs a separate social medial platform, website, and Goodreads account.
Whether an author with a new series ready to go should consider self-publishing or traditional publishing right now.
Saving money on taxes as a writer by incorporating.
The importance of getting an accountant that specializes in finances for creative people, such as authors, artists, musicians.
Keeping in mind that all the books you write are pieces of intellectual property and as such have some value.
Tips for hiring a virtual assistant (or nine).
Pricing for libraries if you’re trying to get your ebooks picked up by them.
Kobo to add audiobooks to its store.
Going non-exclusive with ACX or producing an audiobook through Findaway Voices in order to take advantage of some of the other up-and-coming markets besides iTunes/Amazon/Audible. Also being able to choose your price in these other marketplaces.
Why you may want to set up your books at IngramSpark as well as CreateSpace.
Why you don’t need an agent to negotiate on foreign rights deals.
Waiting for publishers in other countries to approach you versus methods of gaining their attention.
What to expect from foreign rights sales in terms of money and reception of your books in other countries.

That’s it for this week. Keep writing!

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audiobooks, c corporation, findaway voices, foreign rights, incorporating, kobo, taxes for authors

SFFMP 139: Marketing Basics, Launching Your First Book, Translations, and Selling More Internationally with Joanna Penn

July 5, 2017 SFFpodcast Author Interview, Podcast

We had tons of great information on the show today, thanks to our experienced guest, Joanna Penn. You probably already know Joanna from The Creative Penn podcast and blog, but if you don’t, she’s a self-published thriller author, as well as the author of several non-fiction books on self-publishing and marketing. Right now, she’s releasing a new edition of How to Market a Book, so we asked her for her advice on long-term vs. short-term strategies, selling internationally as well as at home, and whether it’s worth worrying about translations and foreign rights as an indie.

Here are a few of the specifics we covered:

Some factors authors should consider in regard to what’s most important to them (i.e. do they have one book and want to maximize income or are they establishing a brand and a career full of books) when making a marketing plan.
Marketing a book versus marketing a series.
Building a platform as a new author.
What to do if you’re starting a pen name (or two) and worry about dividing your focus and getting spread too thin.
Realizing that you don’t need to do everything to be successful. Figure out what suits you, and do that. “Strategy is not just what you do but what you don’t do.”
Is it better to focus on your newest book or to spend as much or more time marketing your back list?
The difference between tactics you use in the short-term versus building up long-term resources that can continue to bring in sales over time.
Different ways to target international audiences, such as scheduling tweets/posts for certain time zones and using Bookbub’s PPC ads with country-specific links.
Whether it’s worth it to pay for translations of your books.
When foreign rights deals can make sense, if you’re offered them.
Whether it’s worth tinkering with keywords and changing up blurbs on Amazon to keep a book “fresh” for the search algorithms.

You can visit Joanna at her non-fiction site, The Creative Penn, or her fiction site, J.F. Penn. And be sure to check out How to Market a Book, which is a great foundational marketing book that also covers some more advanced tactics.

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advertising in foreign countries, audiobooks, foreign rights, joanna penn, selling ebooks, selling more books internationally, the creative penn, thrillers, translations

SFFMP 131: When a Literary Agent Makes Sense for New and Established Authors

May 9, 2017 SFFpodcast Author Interview, Podcast

Today, literary agent Mark Gottlieb chatted with Jo and Lindsay. He’s from the Trident Media Group and represents a lot of genres, including science fiction and fantasy. We asked him about getting an agent as a newer author and also as an established indie author with some titles under your belt.

Here are a few specifics of what we discussed:

Whether print-only deals are still a thing or a likely option for indie authors who sell well.
Whether most clients are coming out of the slush pile or if networking at workshops and conventions is important for getting an agent.
What kinds of rights (foreign rights, audio rights, film rights, etc.) are useful for indie authors to know about.
Whether getting a film deal or an “option” is really that lucrative, or if it’s mostly marketing to help an author sell more books.
The role of agents in a hybrid author’s career.
Whether the traditional publishing houses are signing as many authors as they used to, and if they’re fostering young authors’ careers.
If some sub-genres of science fiction and fantasy do better with self-publishing instead of traditional publishing.
What’s been trending the last couple of years with trad publishers and what they’re looking for now in the science fiction and fantasy genres.
Whether it’s better to query with a series that’s in the middle and selling well, or if you should pitch something brand new.
If it’s possible to get an agent and a publishing deal when your self-published book or books did not sell well.
How much advertising a trad publisher is going to put behind a typical author.
How much marketing you’re expected to do for yourself when you trad publish.