Month: August 2018

SFFMP 196: Writing Tips, Selling Short Fiction, and What SFWA Can Do for You with Cat Rambo

Author Interview, Podcast

This week, fantasy author and SFWA president Cat Rambo joined us on the show, and we grilled her about writing and selling short fiction, her experience at the Clarion West Writers’ Workshop, what SFWA is doing for authors these days, and her latest novel, Hearts of Tabat. Among other things!

Here are some of the specifics we covered:

  • How Cat got serious about writing when she quit her day job at Microsoft and attended the six-week Clarion West Workshop.
  • How workshops can help a writer grow.
  • Whether you have to worry about having your voice altered in the process.
  • Some of the workshops Cat recommends and what to watch out for if you’re considering a less well known one (especially an expensive one).
  • Her Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers where she helps new genre voices emerge via on-demand and live classes aimed at writers working in fantasy and science fiction (scholarships available for those short on funds).
  • Getting started with short fiction.
  • Tips for writers who tend to go long when they try to write short stories.
  • Mistakes writers make when submitting to magazines and anthologies.
  • How crowdfunding such as Kickstarter has made anthologies more doable.
  • How Cat ended up publishing her first two Tabat novels through Kevin J. Anderson’s Wordfire Press (which he talked about when he was on Episode 194 and Episode 138) and how marketing goes when working with a small press.
  • Some tips from her recent non-fiction publication Moving from Idea to Finished Draft.
  • What’s been going on at SFWA since we had MCA Hogarth on the show back on Episode 20 (more than three years ago!) and why both trad and self-published may find a membership useful.
  • What it takes to qualify for SFWA membership.
  • Benefits that come with SFWA membership and how the Nebula convention has changed over the years to have helpful panels for all.

If you enjoyed the show, you can follow Cat on her blog and check out her newest novel, Hearts of Tabat. You can also sample her short fiction in Near + Far and Neither Here Nor There.

 

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SFFMP 195: Kindle Unlimited, All-star Bonuses, YA Fantasy, and Reverse Harem Fantasy

Author Interview, Podcast

Fantasy author Alex Lidell joined us on the show this week. She started her publishing journey with YA fantasy when her first novel, The Cadet of Tildor, was picked up by Penguin after being a finalist in Amazon’s Breakout Novel contest. After that, she turned to self-publishing with her YA fantasy TIDES series, and she recently jumped into reverse harem fantasy with her Power of Five series, where she’s had a lot of success on Amazon.

Here are some of the specifics we discussed and links to books and resources mentioned in the show:

  • Alex’s experience with the now-defunct Amazon Breakout Novel contest.
  • How she got picked up by Penguin for her first book and what the editing process was like.
  • Why she decided to switch to self-publishing and how you have to be willing to learn to think and act like a small-business owner when you do.
  • The states of YA fantasy and reverse harem and if there’s room for newcomers hoping to sell well.
  • Whether there are expected tropes in YA fantasy and what the ones are for reverse harem.
  • A recommendation for Orson Scott Card’s Characters and Viewpoints for authors looking to hone their craft for YA (or any genre/audience).
  • 3D-character rendering as an alternative to illustrations for cover art.
  • Marketing in the traditional publishing world (and being an “ambassador for your brand”) versus marketing as an indie author.
  • Why Alex is in Kindle Unlimited and her brief flirtation with wide for a Bookbub ad.
  • What time of the month she launches her books to have a better shot at earning an All-Star Bonus in KU.
  • Getting the paperback version of a book up before the ebook so people can post reviews ahead of launch day.
  • Using ACX for audiobooks and her experiences with paying up front per finished hour versus doing a royalty split with a narrator.
  • Getting more exposure and reviews for audiobooks through Audiobook Boom.

You can find Alex on her website and on Facebook, and her novels are available on Amazon, including Air and Ash (Book 1 of her TIDES series for YA fantasy lovers) and The Power of Five (Book 1 of her reverse harem series).

 

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SFFMP 194: Selling Books and Networking at Conventions and Finding the Balance Between Writing and Marketing with Kevin J. Anderson

Author Interview, Podcast

This week, Kevin J. Anderson joined us from a remote cabin in Colorado where he’s sequestered to do some work (and talk to us, naturally). The internet connection wasn’t the best for the first few minutes, and we had some lag, but things get steadier about ten minutes in. Kevin talked to us about his experience as a new professor directing the Certificate in Publishing program at Western State Colorado University, about the 22 conventions he went to last year, and about why he’s taking more time just to write this year. We also discussed the marketing he does for his books and the other authors he publishes through Wordfire Press.

Here are some of the specifics of what we covered:

  • Teaching students about publishing in today’s quickly changing environment.
  • The challenges of working with the slower schedule of traditional publishing.
  • The challenges of all you have to learn to be successful as an indie author.
  • Tips for successfully selling at conventions.
  • Using conventions to meet other authors in your peer group.
  • Advice for first-time authors interested in going to conventions.
  • The challenges of keeping backlist titles selling while working on publishing new titles.
  • What kind of advertising Kevin is regularly doing and finding effective.
  • Advice to new indie authors on branding and how to find fans.
  • Books Kevin recommends for speculative fiction writers: Writing the Blockbuster Novel, David Farland’s Million Dollar Outlines, and his own World Building: From Small Towns to Entire Universes.

You can find Kevin on his website, on Facebook, and on Twitter, among other places. If you want to check out some of Kevin’s work, he just published a collection of his short stories called Selected Stories: Science Fiction. He also has a new novel out with Sarah A. Hoyt: Uncharted.

 

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SFFMP 193: Marketing and Publishing Advice for Newer Authors

Group Discussion, Podcast

This week, Lindsay, Jo, and Jeff geared the show toward newer authors getting ready to publish their first books or with a few titles out. They answered some questions and tried to offer advice based on what’s working for folks getting started now.

Here are some of the specifics that were touched on:

  • More options for photoshop fantasy and science fiction covers with models from NeoStock and Period Images.
  • Google Play coming on strong as a contender.
  • Profiting from AMS advertising.
  • Moving from CreateSpace to KDP Print.
  • What to do to gain traction when you move from KDP Select and out into the other stores.
  • What to do when your first book is cross-genre and doesn’t fit well into the current categories on Amazon and other stores.
  • How do you find a good editor?
  • Should you try to save up three or more books for rapid release when you’re a new author?
  • The importance of having realistic expectations.
  • What you can do to start building up a list of buyers before you launch your first novel.
  • What are some low-cost advertising options.
  • What can you do for marketing if you’re shy?
  • If you’ve written three books in a series and haven’t had much success, should you pull the plug?
  • What are some of the best marketing services for space opera/SF?

 

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