SFFMP 154: Getting into Libraries, Urban Fantasy Launches, and Writing Tips from the Donald Maass Workshop

Science Fiction & Fantasy Marketing Podcast

English - October 18, 2017 03:52 - 43.3 MB - ★★★★★ - 120 ratings
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Previous Episode: SFFMP 153: What to Do When Your Book Isn’t Selling + Selling Direct from Your Site

Next Episode: SFFMP 155: What It Takes to Shift from Hobby Writer to Full-Time Author with Ben Hale

Today, we were joined by librarian and urban fantasy author Dale Ivan Smith who launched his first series, The Empowered, earlier this year. He talked about the challenges of writing across genres, getting into a crowded subgenre such as urban fantasy, and why he started in Kindle Unlimited and later went wide. We also asked him how one can get

Here are a few of the specifics we touched on:

Pricing your ebooks to be attractive to librarians.
Talking to local librarians and what it’s good to show them (i.e. reviews, awards) when you’re pitching your book.
Asking your readers to put in requests at their local libraries for your books.
Whether libraries cycle books out of their system based on popularity.
Whether workshops are worth the cost and travel expense.
Creating protagonists that the readers connect with right away.
The challenges of creating an antihero protagonist.
Launching an urban fantasy series as an author starting today.
Writing the story of your heart (as many authors start out doing) versus one that’s to market and perhaps more likely to sell.
Whether to launch into KDP Select/Kindle Unlimited or to take an urban fantasy series wide.
Promotion sites that accept a new author and that Dale found worth it.
Tips for other newer authors.

Please visit Dale on his website or Twitter, and you can currently get his first novel, Empowered: Agent, for free everywhere.

http://traffic.libsyn.com/marketingsff/SFFMP-154_-_Getting_into_Libraries_Urban_Fantasy_Launches_and_the_Donald_Maas_Workshop_with_Dale_Ivan_Smith.mp3