SFFMP 197: From Cosplayer to Full-time Fantasy Author with NM Howell

September 4, 2018 SFFpodcast Author Interview, Podcast

This week, fantasy author NM Howell (AKA Nikko) joined the guys to talk about her journey from semi-pro cosplayer (yes, that’s a thing!) and magazine creator to full-time fantasy author.

Here are some of the details that we covered:

Cosplaying and starting a magazine.
Getting into publishing fantasy under multiple names (NM Howell also writes as Nicole Marie).
Genre hopping with witch cozies, YA fantasy with dragons, and reverse harem fantasy mysteries.
The challenges of starting and maintaining multiple pen names.
Are there too many dragon fantasy novels out there now to jump in?
Starting out with Amazon exclusivity (KDP Select/Kindle Unlimited) and gradually making some series available everywhere.
How some advertising venues (Facebook, Amazon AMS, Bookbub, etc.) work better than others for different genres. Nikko likes Facebook for her fantasy romance and Bookbub for her cozies.
How she’s found success with rapid releasing the first two books in a new series.
Experimenting with permafree Book 1s.
Does marketing later books in a series work?
Whether big multi-author bundles are still worth it as far as getting readers to try more of your stuff.