From: nicky.matthews@btinternet.com
On Monday, September 15, 2014 3:37:54 PM UTC+1, Michelle Bottorff wrote:
> Nicky wrote:
>
> > > Sounds like a plan. So, um... how is one supposed to go about doing
>
> > >
>
> > > that, exactly?
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> > >
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> > With smashwords I think you can give advance notification - a kind of
>
> > 'coming soon' with other routes I don't know but you can certainly list
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> > on amazon in advance and get some sales which when they come home to
>
> > roost boost your sales figures. It is probably the same on other
>
> > platforms.
>
>
>
> I discussed this with my publisher (aka, my husband) and he says,
>
> "Sure, we can do that, all we need is the cover art."
>
>
>
> Ooops. The cover art is usually almost the LAST thing to get done.
: )
>
>
> But he says it's worth a try to see if we can't get a listing up at
>
> least a little bit in advance.
>
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>
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>
>
> > > Changing names, however, means abandoning the existing audience, the
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> > > hard-won creditials as a writer of "self-published gems", and starting
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> > > over way back down in the red with nothing.
>
>
> > No - it means having two possible income streams
>
>
> Isn't that like like saying you can sell at a loss and make up for it
>
> with volume?
>
> If I have two "income streams" that aren't actually making money...
It depends how different it is I guess. I mean I write YA historical( ish)
fantasy and I've done a couple of chick lit books. I'm working on a thriller
and the book I've been talking about here is a kid's horror novel and there is
no real overlap in
audience between them. It wouldn't be useful to me to market them under the
same name.
>
> > iff the work is already finished and ready to go and there is no cross
>
> > over appeal from one to the other.
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>
>
> Why in the world would you assume there is no cross over appeal?
>
Because sometimes there isn't. It doesn't seem to be true for you but it is
for me.
>
snip
> Besides, there is *never* no possible cross over appeal.
>
It is possible someone might like everything I write but unlikely: I don't
like everything I write!
>
>
> In traditional publishing the possiblity of cross-over appeal is *less
>
> important* not non-existant. What can be more important is positioning.
>
> They want the people looking for an urban fantasy to find... ta-dah,
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> *this* urban fantasy. Just what the reader was looking for, the cover
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> looks cool, the back cover blurb is interesting, and off it goes to cash
>
> register.
My understanding from the smashwords guy is that something similar happens in
self publishing or can happen in self publishing. He was very keen on brand
building ie writing lots of related books, and becoming discoverable via genre
listings as well.
However I've lost my notes from his lecture so I can't check.
>
> Having the author of the latest urban fantasy also be the author of a
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> high fantasy series just confuses the issue if they're trying to sell
>
> THE NEW URBAN FANTAY!!! rather than Author X.
>
>
>
> But this marketting approach does not, and cannot work for me. Nobody
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> browses my books and buys them because they are urban fantasy, or
>
> because they are high fantasy, or because they are space opera. I can
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> stick my books into those categories, but I'm waaayyyy too far down any
>
> of the browse lists to actually be *found*.
>
>
>
> Everyone who buys my books is looking, specifically, for my books. They
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> are almost only ever SEEN by someone who has typed into a search box
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> either the title, or my name.
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>
>
> So someone is more likely to find a book by my name, and buy it even
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> though its in a sub-genre they don't usually read because they know they
>
> liked other things I have written, then they are to ever even know the
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> book I have written in a subgenre they do like even exists, if they have
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> never heard my name before.
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>
>
>
>
> Um, also...
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>
>
> Writing in both fantasy and science fiction under just the one name is
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> quite common. I'm a bit surprised you can't think of anyone that does
>
> it. I start off my list with Lois McMaster Bujold, Orson Scott Card,
>
> Elizabeth Moon, Sharon Lee...
Don't be surprised I have a terrible memory for names. However these are older
authors and in my experience the emphasis on name/genre branding has become
more common recently when someone made the mistake of sending publishers on
marketing courses : /
> > You can in any case direct readers to your other identity Z
>
> > writing as Y is common enough.
>
>
> Why bother? It just gives your readers one more thing to remember. Or
>
> more likely, and far more damaging, not remember. And I'm not seeing
>
> how it helps me at all.
>
Well, in my case I would not want to exclude the tiny possibility that someone
who likes kids' horror might also want chick lit.
>
snippage
> > > I don't see how that's worth it, even if none of my current audience is
>
> > > willing to hop sub-genres with me. Being known as an author, even if
>
> > > its the author of something totally different, I think would still be to
>
> > > my benefit. And I'm sort of assuming that at least some of my audience
>
> > > will make the jump... I am keeping it all under the "speculative
>
> > > fiction" umbrella, after all.
>
>
> I'm not too worried though. I'm not playing the same game that the
>
> traditional publishers are. I've not got a lot of overhead, so I don't
>
> need a best-seller -- it doesn't matter if I don't appeal to the masses.
>
> The people who buy the most books are usually people willing to read
>
> more than one kind of book. That's my audience.
>
>Good luck - you seem to be doing all right!
Nicky
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> --
>
> Michelle Bottorff -> Chelle B. -> Shelby
>
> L. Shelby, Writer http://www.lshelby.com/
>
> Livejournal http://lavenderbard.livejournal.com/
>
> rec.arts.sf.composition FAQ http://www.lshelby.com/rasfcFAQ.html
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