Beginning Science Fiction Promotions

The biggest lesson I learned from publishing and promoting Two Gun Hart is that there is a reason the independent bestsellers are not typically non-fiction, they are fiction.  In fact, they're typically sci fi or fantasy, and they generally are in series.  So I've had to look hard into what works.

I can't say I've entirely figured it out, but I'm learning as I set it all up.  My original plan had involved a lot of concentration on pre-sales, trying to get so many people to buy before the release so the release date would look huge, and hopefully I would get into the New York Times Bestseller list.  I learned from Two Gun and from other top sellers that this isn't a goal that's good to concentrate on for independents.  People don't know us yet, so they need to learn to trust us.

That's why series work the best.  Readers want to see what we can do before they spend money.  That means seeing something for free.  And if you have only one book, you're limited on what you can show.  You can give away a chapter, maybe two, but after you've given those away, you don't have a lot more to give to get attention on another day, and audiences typically need to see you multiple times before they'll buy your work.  I think I heard the number is something like nine times before they'll consider buying your work.

So the best thing to do is to have a series where you have multiple books.  Most of the top sellers have given away the first book and the second costs some money, often still very cheap.  This entices readers in slowly but surely.  I have been coming out with short stories and giving them away to anyone who would read them to hopefully get them involved.  I always direct them back tot he website where new products are constantly being posted.

As for my plans for promotion, they go in three stages:  Pre-pre-release, Pre-release, and Post-release.

Pre-pre-release is 6-3 months before release.  This is when I send out everything that's been done before.  I'm trying to get my first book out to as many reviewers as possible, and make people aware of the series, the short stories, and the products that existed before.  I'm sort of catching up during this period.

Pre-release is beginning Christmas day, and will go until release in March, a period of almost exactly 3 months.  This is going to be when I build hype for the book coming out, and will mostly focus on how the story is directing towards the second book.  The short stories will start leading toward something specific, that something being what's in the second book.  Also, this step begins on Christmas because I will be giving away the first novel and the pick your path book that day to get people who just got a new Kindle into the series.  The pick your path book in particular leads to the second book as it's the introduction of the villains who are in it.

And finally, release.  This will be the biggest time for this.  I've found that with self-published authors, readers typically want to see what you've got, not what could be.  While it's good to generate hype leading up to the product, I've noticed that those who have done well have done so once the book's out.  The release will be happening at Wondercon, which will be the big event where we have a booth, are hosting a game, and will be doing everything we can to bring attention to the book.  Just before and after that, we'll be throwing up every advertisement we can, and appearing on every social media group possible, giving away the first book, short stories, and every manner of giveaway item we can just to bring attention to that second book, which will be available on Kindle for a low price to attract readers.  The number of downloads will be more important than the profit as these numbers get the attention of more numbers, and it's the interest in the series I'm most interested in at this time.

If it becomes popular enough, I can continue the series, and the fan base will grow for book 3.

RPG Into a Book

I’ve been thinking about a role playing video idea I've had and I know what I want to do with it.  First, I want to do my own version.  It won’t likely have as good of production value as Wil Wheaton’s, but I plan on doing something he didn’t; use miniatures.  This will bring over what I’ve already collected for my mini-wargaming show, and will hopefully bring over that audience.  It will also give a separate voice from other rpg videos already out there.  It should also look really cool.

But what will also make this endeavor work is the idea that I could make a book based on the story at the end.  The videos can generate an audience which is then drawn to the book at the end, because it’s the story they just watched unfold.  What’s more, I have had this idea for a fantasy world for a long time, but I didn’t have a specific story put together.  This will fill in that all-important part while giving me the chance to fulfill this desire to build my fantasy world.

I’ve also determined that sci fi and fantasy are a lot more likely to sell in self-publishing, and have determined to focus on that from now on, so this fits with my overall plan more anyway.

The New Schedule of Relic Worlds

After reviewing what’s been working and not working for me in publishing, and where I am in terms of Relic Worlds, I’ve reworked the schedule for the second book, short stories, and pick your path books.

The second book will now be released at Wondercon at the end of March.  The short stories will continue to be released up to that point, and the fourth pick your path book will come out on Christmas day.  In fact, the fourth pick your path book and the first novel will both be available for free on Christmas as an incentive to get people to reading them.  I might make all the pick your path books free on that day as well.  The idea is that people will be getting new Kindles on Christmas, and they’ll likely turn them on to see what’s available for free, so I’m hoping they’ll pick these up.

I plan on having a lot of events between January and March to build interest in Relic Worlds, and to generally have fun with it.  Overall, Relic Worlds is intended to be fun, so I want people to enjoy some events and games that relate to the adventure and science fiction of the story to get into the series.  Some of these will include geocaches, programming, online treasure hunts, etc.

For now, it’s time to release more short stories and continue building up the website for the immersive experience that is Relic Worlds.

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The Martian - Self-Publishing to Major Movie

After watching The Martian I was so glad to see that such a smart movie could get made.  I was particularly happy when I learned that it was based on a book that was originally self-published, though I shouldn't be surprised.  Just as it's hard to get a smart film past studio executives, it's also often hard to get a smart book past the publishers.  While people assume books are the smart form of storytelling, this notion is often mocked by executives at publishing companies and literary agents.

Here's how it seemed to have happened.  Andy Weir was a computer programmer who enjoyed writing on the side.  He began uploading a story about a man stranded on Mars to his blog in 2009.  This slowly got the attention of more and more people who asked him to publish it on Kindle.  Weir had no goals to profiting on this story, so he wanted to put it onto Kindle for free, but Amazon doesn't allow that, so he made it available for 99 cents, using his five free days to give it away to as many people as possible.

This part is critical.  First, it's important to note that this only became possible because Amazon allowed anyone to publish to Kindle.  While Weir was getting a lot of people visiting his blog, Kindle was where he would get the most exposure, and where his fans could share his work most easily.  Without this, we would probably still not know about this wonderful novel.

What's also important here is to note the fact that Weir's lack of greed for the immediate present is what made him a success in the long-run.  If he had priced the book higher and expected everyone to pay for it, it probably wouldn't have been discovered.  But since he grew his audience slowly through blogs, then gave it away for free on Amazon, tons of people saw it and became interested, then they began sharing it, and he exploded onto the scene.

He still didn't make a huge amount of money from this, but it caught the attention of a larger publisher.  They then asked to publish it with their larger promotion engine, and when all was finished, it rose to #12 on the New York Times Bestseller list.  This, in turn, got the attention of film studios, (though it probably also was facilitated by the publisher as they often try to get their books made into movies as soon as possible.)  Once that got done, now everyone knows about it and even more copies are selling.

So Andy Weir, a great example of how a lack of immediate greed can yield large long-term results.