swag – Science Fiction & Fantasy Marketing Podcast

SFFMP 192: Instagram, Swag, Book Boxes, and Launching Your First Book Without Spending any Money

July 31, 2018 SFFpodcast Author Interview, Podcast

This week, we chatted with YA science fiction author Jessica Pierce who launched her first book, Atlas Fallen, in April of this year. She didn’t spend a lot of money on her launch, relying instead on the fan base and contacts she’d accumulated on Instagram. We talked to her about how to acquire a following and build book buzz on the platform and also about some creative things she’s done with swag and launch boxes.

Here are some more specifics and links from the show:

What it’s like starting out as a new author in the YA market right now.
Overcoming the challenges of selling books to a young adult audience.
Common tropes that might be addressed in YA science fiction (or YA in general)
An introduction to book boxes.
All the kinds of swag you can make as an author for contests or to help with a book launch.
Doing magnetic bookmarks, custom book sleeves, and swag that goes beyond the typical book plates and bookmarks.
Hanging out where your target audience is.
How Instagram is a huge place to reach teenage/young adult readers.
The importance of using the hashtags on Instagram including the popular #bookstagram tag.
What to post on Instagram as an author to build buzz.
Why Jessica hired artists to do character art for her who happened to also have large Instagram followings.
If every author should be on Instagram or if it’s more ideal for those targeting younger readers.
Making sure your cover and your blurb are tailored to your target audience.
Society6 for creating swag.
PackLane.com for creating custom shipping boxes.
UPrinting.com for other print-on-demand swag needs.

You can visit Jessica on her website or (of course!) on Instagram. She just enrolled Atlas Fallen in KDP Select/Kindle Unlimited, so you can find the ebook on Amazon.

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book boxes, book launches, instagram, Jessica Pierce, science fiction, swag, ya science fiction, young adult fiction

SFFMP 22: Book Bundles, Marketing Successes and Failures, and Creating Author Swag

March 19, 2015 SFFpodcast Group Discussion, Podcast

We’re late getting a show up this week, but we are here! Tonight Jeff, Lindsay, and Jo chatted amongst themselves, covering a number of topics such as…

How Jeffrey had good luck boosting his sales by tinkering with keywords on Amazon.
How Jo making his first book temporarily free helped boosted sales of his Book 2 preorder.
How Lindsay increased sales on her omnibus by redoing the cover and blurb.
A few marketing/publishing things that ended up being a waste of time, or at least not very profitable for the time invested.
Our experiences with multi-author book bundles of which we’ve been a part.
Can too many authors make a multi-author bundle less effective? Can too few sabotage the potential? What’s the right number?
How Lindsay got a lot more interest in one of her series by putting together a bundle of the first three books.
Why the guys decided to put together a permafree epic fantasy book bundle with a few other authors
Jo’s experiments with creating 3D book swag on Shapeways.com and ordering blook plates for signings from Bookplate Ink.

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book bundles, marketing, marketing tips, swag

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

February 17, 2015 SFFpodcast Group Discussion, Podcast

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?