SFFMP 189: Succeeding in Niches and Writing and Marketing Time Travel Fiction

July 10, 2018 SFFpodcast Author Interview, Podcast

For this week’s show, time travel and steampunk author Nathan Van Coops joined us to talk about his two series and what he’s doing to keep them selling. He’s a busy guy, releasing one novel a year, but still manages to bring in a good income from his books.

Here are some of the specifics that we discussed:

Tropes of the time travel genre and whether readers expect you to stick to them.
Some of perks of writing in a smaller niche where it’s easier to rank on Amazon, along with some of the challenges inherent in being in a less popular genre.
Finding and connecting with readers of your genre, especially if you’re writing in a smaller niche, on Goodreads.
Launching a series in a different sub-genre after you’ve built up a fan base.
When it’s time to call it quits if a series isn’t performing well.
Why Nathan is still a fan of having a free Book 1 even though he’s transitioned his books into Kindle Unlimited and Amazon exclusivity.
What a launch looks like for Nathan now that he’s five years into his author career and built a large fan base.
Why he still does Facebook “launch parties” and giveaways for his fans.
Lowering the price of all earlier books in a series for a launch of a later book.
The challenge of running Facebook ads when you’re in a smaller niche and there aren’t any big name authors like you to target.
What Nathan does to keep books selling between his annual releases.
Making use of Kindle Countdown Deals.
Using bundles as another “book” to market when you don’t have many series or other book 1s to alternate around the various sponsorship sites.
Making the decision to invest in audiobook production when you’ve got long books (lots of hours of narration to pay for).
Tips for selling more audiobooks.

You can visit Nathan on his website, join his Facebook group, and check out his books on Amazon. They’re currently free to read with a Kindle Unlimited subscription.