The Secret to Independent Publishing... Series! Part 2

Last week I talked about my journey through independent publishing learning what was working and what was not.  I had started with writing non-fiction and one-off novels, and found that the promoting of them was very difficult, particularly because, once I had promoted them, I was done.  There was no series which I could build over time.

What I’ve done with this blog post, in splitting it up, is illustrate part of what works.  If you can generate some interest and say the story will continue, that draws an audience in.  It also helps because it’s spread over two areas.  Some of you will undoubtedly see this post first, and go back to the last one to see where I began while many of you will have seen that first, and come here.  This is called casting a wider net.  If I had another one come out next week, some people would undoubtedly see that and trace it back to see where it all began.  And when people make sure to read all the way through, that counts as three views to my blog per person rather than just one.

In short, having a series builds an audience over time, something independent authors desperately need.  The more reasons you have to post about your series, the more opportunities others have to find it.  And by having multiple books come out, you can have something new to talk about regarding your series as time goes along.  It’s especially helpful when you have short stories that take place throughout as well, as you can post and talk about those for free, and they’re tiny amounts of your story that people can digest without a huge investment of time.

In my case, I’ve chosen to do my series Relic Worlds, about an anthropologist searching for ancient artifacts in the ruins of distant planets to learn what happened to alien civilizations in the galaxy.  Sort of Indiana Jones in space, if you will.  This series has a novel once a year, and a bunch of short stories in between each novel.  There are also games, choose your own adventures, and other interactive materials that come out for it all the time.

By having so many different elements, I’m able to talk about what’s happening in the series on an ongoing basis.  This is a huge departure from my other books where the only update I could give was, “book’s still out on Amazon and waiting for you to buy.”  As an ongoing tale, I can keep everyone up to date on the latest products and stories in the ongoing adventure.  And I can bring everyone along for the ride like they’re involved.

I bring them along by being a part of their discussions on Facebook, Twitter, forums, etc.  Being sci fi and adventure, those are the groups I belong to; and I enjoy the discussions.  I can get involved in what they’re saying about other sci fi and adventure stories, and I build trust and engagement with them.  So when I say, hey guys, something else has come out from Relic Worlds, I’m not just appearing out of nowhere and trying to sell them something.  Hell, I’m not even selling to them, I’m giving away most of what I’m talking about for free.

Speaking of which, it’s best to make the first book free as well.  This pulls people into the story as they’re likely to get the first book for free just to see what it is, then they’ll get curious where the characters go from there.  I made sure to end the first book by giving a sense of where everyone was going, but leaving it open-ended enough to make everyone curious.  With my one-off books, when I gave them away for free, that was it.  They had the product and didn’t need to buy anything else.

And then there’s the conventions.  While it was difficult for me to find conventions to sell my other books, with sci fi, there are plenty of conventions dedicated to just that, or to the “popular arts,” which generally includes sci fi and fantasy along with comic books.  Now, at these conventions you’ll generally spend a lot of money getting a booth and decorating it, but then you’ll hardly have any sales.  So why are they worth it?  Because that’s where you build your following.  They may not want to spend money at your booth because they’re spending it all on Batman and Star Wars paraphernalia.  But since they met you, they’ll go home and look at your stuff, and possibly buy it later.  They’re also pretty willing to join your mailing list.

This mailing list, I’ve learned, is perhaps the most important element.  By having it, I can contact them directly to remind them I exist rather than counting on people to look up my page and start following along.  Again, with a one-off book, all I can do is tell them what’s in the book and hope they buy it, or maybe tell them about new books I’m writing, which may or may not be of a genre they’re interested in.  But by having an ongoing sci fi series, they will stay connected, and follow the story that matches their interest.

So, the plan for Relic Worlds going forward is basically in two parts: online and at conventions.

Online I interact with others in their groups and on my pages, twitter, blog, etc.  I tell them what’s new in the world of Relic Worlds while interacting with them about other subjects in sci fi and adventure.  (Even throwing in a lot about real science and archaeology.)  This is all centered on the newsletter that I send out once a month to the people on the email list.

Meanwhile, I go to whatever conventions I can get to and afford, and I build my email list, as well as give out flyers to get people involved in the series.  So far it’s done well to generate some interest.  Few sales have come from it, but I’ve just started, so hopefully this will work.  I’ll post later about how it continues.

Author Events and Signings

As I was going through the pre-release promotions, one of the most important things I was trying to do was set up talks at bookstores and libraries.  I had had such good luck in my early publishing days when I offered to do signings in Nebraska that I figured it would be like this almost every time; at least when I had a big story.  Nebraska bookstores opened their doors wide to me, and I had lines going out the door of people wanting the book.  It turns out this would not be representative of all of them.

First, my premier book was about something that deeply affected Nebraskans, and I had a personal, family connection to the story.  (It was about Caril Fugate and the Starkweather murders.)  Also, people who had known me years before came out to see me because they hadn't seen me in more than 10 years.  It made everything a much bigger deal.  But now they're used to me there; and people in other parts of the country don't know me at all.  I thought that having a person who had a direct connection to the Capones would help, but for some reason it hasn't.  In fact, San Francisco bookstores, which always have loads of guest authors, haven't even responded to me.  Part of that is because of their prejudice against independent authors, (even though they pretend to be all about independent artists,) but they're also afraid that they're not going to get enough customers to justify the event.  Even in Chicago they turned me down, and apparently for the same reasons.

Some of the Nebraska bookstores are having me back out of loyalty, and because the Harts will be coming with me.  First on the list are A Novel Idea and the Bookworm, two places that have been very good to me over the years, and for whom I will be eternally grateful.  I also had an event at the Burbank Central Library, apparently the last one they will be having as they recently were placed under the arm of the Los Angeles Public Library system, which doesn't care for independent authors.

I shouldn't be too disappointed, though.  As I implied, after my initial success, the signings I've had since have been mostly empty rooms, or occasionally just a gathering of a few friends.  Ultimately, promotions online and social media are more effective.  However, I did stumble upon a better way to have events; and this one came from one of the Hart family members.

I've known for a while that it's all about going after the niches, but I hadn't really pursued this logic when it came to giving talks.  And there's no better niche than specific departments within universities.  When I was invited to speak at the University of Utah, Corey Hart and I gave a presentation to the Italian-American studies department.  This meant that not only would the university tell people who were already interested in the topic, and not only was it a good place to have an event at which we could invite people from all over town, but there would be students who either had to go, or got extra credit for going.  It was almost literally a captive audience.  Once there, I was able to win them over with the story.  There were about 50 people at the event, and almost every one of them ordered a book.  Many of them have also linked up with me on social media.

So I've come to appreciate universities for non-fiction books.  There are a few other concepts I might try, like organizations that study the specific subject.  I'll be talking to Civil War roundtables about The American Game, and local "Sons of Italy" organizations about Two Gun Hart.