As a relatively new author, one thing I’m constantly focused on is how to build the most compelling worlds for my readers. This means not just things that are cool or make you say “Wow!” when you’re supposed to be sleeping, but all the details that make a story and its characters feel real and thus relatable. So, here are some of the rules I try to follow…as originally published by Reading Cafe on March 5, 2022.
Ten Sci-Fi World-Building Rules
As with all systems, you can probably come up with a hundred rules for world building, some vital, some trivial, and spend the rest of your writing life making sure you’re doing things “right.” There is no absolute right in science fiction world building, but there are pretty basic rules that will help you avoid obvious issues that will cost you readers.
The following are ten of those rules, which are a bit random because they reflect where I am in my writing career and process. A year ago, I probably focused on more basic issues. A year from now, I’ll be worried about something else, like what to do with all this money (buy one gumball, or two?). These are the ten that most concern me in my current WIPs.
1 / Know why you’re building worlds in the first place
All of my published works take place on Earth within 100 years of the present, in locations you can find on a map today (or close). The world building for these books was therefore the minimum necessary to encompass new technology, politics and the occasional alien invasion. I wanted this proximity to reality because each book is clearly about today’s society and/or warnings for things to come. You, however, might want to escape the planet, solar system, universe and time-space continuum entirely. Which is great. Just keep in mind that the more you leave the known, the greater obligation you have to build a world the reader can understand…and appreciate.
So ask yourself, are you building a world because it’s a cool way to procrastinate, and it’s fun, or because that’s what you need to tell the story? Neither answer is correct, but the more time you spending building the less time you spend writing…unless you’re building a world that will be used for multiple works, in which case, build away.
2 / Be internally consistent
Whether you’re writing fantasy or science fiction, the structure and behavior of your world should remain consistent by whatever set of rules you’ve defined for that world. If they’re not, you’re going to lose readers and, if you care, get worse reviews.
In Dune, there are rules about (not having) computers and artificial intelligence that allow for the semi-religious power dynamic of the books (not to mention the dependence on spice for navigation in space). Frank Herbert can’t then have robots magically appear later on to solve some poorly thought-out plot issue.
In Star Wars, you can’t jump straight from one point to another in space without running into things, which at least retroactively explains why the Kessel Run record was expressed in distance and not time (using the shortest safe route). The same franchise runs into massive consistency problems in later installments when, for instance, we learn that you can fly any ship into another at “lightspeed” (which in Star Wars is much faster than the speed of light) and destroy it, making it obvious that you could have obliterated the Death Star or anything else just by ramming it with a small ship. This breaks the plotline of almost every Star Wars film.
So, if you give readers a rule, you need to follow it unless there’s a clear and rational reason not to, and all other rules should make sense in that context. To understand how hard this is, look at Marvel’s Avengers. It’s practically impossible to keep clear which superhero has which relative power because they keep changing according to the needs of a movie or scene. We overlook this because we love the movies, but you probably won’t be as lucky in your books…
3 / If it’s in the near future, there should be a clear path from here to there
In writing Run Lab Rat Run, I had in mind a series of prequels that explained how the world got to where it was (as a hierarchical genetic dystopia), and thus left a lot of this backstory out of the book. A few readers asked how all this madness happened, and I realized that (absent the prequels), I’d left the backstory too vague. I can’t fix that now, but in future novels, this will be a key checklist item for me. Meanwhile, the prequels are coming!
4 / If it’s in the distant future or after a disaster that breaks the connection between the past and present, that should be clear
This is rarely a problem, as authors love to write about disasters / end of the world / plagues / meteors / viruses / invasions / loud noises that result in the rapid decline of society so they can talk about a woman and her dog lost in the radioactive wastelands of wherever, but it’s vitally important that you as an author understand what happened, when, why and how it impacts the world of your story–and communicate enough of this to give the reader an anchor.
Don’t get me wrong; sometimes this horrific event is the very thing you want to hide. In Planet of the Apes, the surprise is that the planet of brainy but mean apes is …Earth! Spoiler? Hmm. Anyway, you might be intentionally hiding parts of the world’s history to allow for this type of reveal, but it should still be very clear how the world got from A to B (at least by the end). I’m assuming the apes drank too much Red Bull.
5 / No matter what the world looks like, your story should be more about people / beings and the obstacles they face than the technology itself
I remember reading Larry Niven’s short stories, including one about how someone died inside an allegedly impenetrable General Products hull. But even with a black hole, killer gravity, an invincible ship and concerns about warranty violations, the story is still about a guy trying to solve a problem before he dies. Which is basically the same story as The Martian, where we care about Mark Watney a lot more than the technology he’s trying to salvage.
6 / You should have a massive backstory that never goes in your book
Because this gives your world a feeling of fullness / richness that you don’t get if there’s just a skeleton and no flesh. In world building articles, they’ll often talk about this in terms of hard vs. soft world building, which is different from hard vs. soft science fiction. Hard SF concerns itself heavily with science and the details of technology, while soft SF tends to use technology and science as (important) background that’s not central to the story. Hard world building is about how much of the world you know and show to the reader (a lot), whereas soft world building means more is implied and less is shown. I tend to think that even if you’re writing soft SF and doing soft world-building, you should still know far more about the world than the reader does.
The challenge here is, of course, that you’ve built this cool world and you want to show it to everyone. Trust me, almost no one cares. Share the parts that move the story forward and hide the rest. If you want to add adjunct materials to your website, great (I have a massive glossary for Run Lab Rat Run), but leave it out of the book. The story will move faster, the reader will stay more engaged, and your books will do better.
Why develop all this if you’re not showing it? Because you need to know how, when, where and why things happen even if the reader doesn’t. Otherwise, you’ll have trouble fleshing out the story and remaining internally consistent (See #2).
7 / The same is true of characters
Meaning, you should know the backstory of your characters even if the reader doesn’t need to. Where did they go to space laser college? Did they graduate with a minor in Babble Fish? What’s the scar from? Is they cybernetic right arm haunted or just made by the lowest bidder? Do they have past trauma their working through, and how does it affect them in your story? Do they prefer Twizzlers or Red Vines (there is a right answer, and it rhymes with lead mines).
Whenever I read something by Margaret Atwood, for instance, I know she knows way more about the characters than she’s telling, and that brings them to life. You know, until they die horribly. And then you’re really sad about that.
8 / If you’re doing hard science fiction, get your science right
Let me correct that: If you’re writing anything that is based on fact, even if it’s only the facts in your world, get it right. Don’t leave the reader picking up your bad math, physics, chemistry, laser optics or (in fantasy) spells. That’s not their job. This is especially true if you’re writing in areas that have…hobbyists. Enthusiasts? For instance, never screw up military ranks, military history, guns (even space guns), gravity, relativistic math, time travel paradox magicology, genetics, etc. At least one of your readers is going to have a PhD in that thing, and they’ll let everyone know you screwed up.
9 / In soft SF, the feel of your world matters more than the details (but see #2)
And because the feel of your world and its characters matter more than detailed scientific exposition, I’d suggest changing the minimum number of things from present reality and culture to tell your story. If having nineteen genders isn’t relevant or important, then leave it out. If you’re not comfortable changing languages and dialects, don’t. Tell your story using the world you build; don’t let the world take over your story. For instance, I love the lingo in Clockwork Orange and Blade Runner, but I try to minimize linguistic quirks in what I write so I’m not constantly explaining what a word means. Change a few things that matter, and move on. A little goes a long way.
10 / Minimize jargon, abbreviations, acronyms, etc.
One thing I know is technically “wrong” about Run Lab Rat Run is that there will be far more changes in language than I present in the book (whether my predicted future comes to pass or not). The reason is simple; if you’re not a native of that future world, you’ll need a while to learn the language, culture, usage, etc., and you don’t have time for full-immersion language class in the middle of your book. Your novel isn’t Lord of the Rings (sorry), where you can spend time developing entire languages and the reader will go along for the ride. They probably won’t. They won’t even look at a glossary if you put it in the book. You’ll just frustrate and lose your audience. For instance, I used “WIP” in the intro paragraphs (for Work in Progress). Many probably knew what it meant, but many didn’t, and I didn’t gain anything by using the acronym.
11 / Have a Little Fun
World building is a blast, and a great way to procrastinate. Don’t focus just on the serious stuff. What changes / new things are in this world that your reader will find humorous, disgusting or both? Put some of that in there. Science Fiction is about imagining alternate worlds and futures, including all of their glorious absurdity. If your dominant species is dogs, there should be some butt sniffing and dry humping because that’s what dogs do. If it’s about genetic engineering, like some of my books, then there’s going to be some random, stupid, irresponsible genetic experimentation that’s worth a joke or two (e.g., the sex model references in RLRR). Include eleven items in a list of ten. Get crazy.
In Blade Runner’s infamous “I only do eyes scene,” a replicant eyeball is placed on a man’s shoulder. It’s disturbing, threatening, and darkly funny, but it also reveals how truly synthetic the replicants are. In The Martian, we learn that you can’t grow potatoes on Mars without poop, which is both funny and pretty essential to not dying. If you’re enjoying your world, your readers will too. Unless they’re Vogons, in which case, run before the poetry starts.
Other Resources
It might surprise you to know that I’m not the first one to write about world building in science fiction. Here are some other articles that do a good job, especially the John Fox one. Most of them conflate SF with Fantasy as if all speculative fiction is just one big blob, but the rules are pretty much the same (just replace magic with science or vice versa).
This is a reproduction of a guest blog post for ReadingCafe on Dec 5, 2021.
Much has been written about believability in science fiction. We live in an age where everyone writes and publishes and there is no more gatekeeper to the digital world than a keyboard and momentary inspiration. There was nothing new under the sun long before the internet, and now a million people prove it every day. We live in the golden age of the derivative. So perhaps it’s time to dispel of one great myth about good speculative fiction–that it has to be believable. It does not and, honestly, I can think of nothing less interesting.
Speculative fiction traditionally comprises science fiction, fantasy and horror, and perhaps magical realism. All fiction is, in some sense a lie; you’re telling a story about something that never happened, never will happen, and probably couldn’t happen. With speculative fiction, the lie is bigger; in science fiction, you might have to accept that spaceships might someday span the vast space between stars; in fantasy, that elves exist and are magical; and, in horror, that monsters might be real.
What makes us read these deceptively woven threads of impossibility is not that they’re believable, but that we want to escape to a world that is far from this world–another place that does not exist, where different rules apply, and we can run through fields of man-eating plants as werewolves howl at the twin moons in dismay and confusion and alien satellites burn across the darkling sky. It is not believability we want, but a lie told with elegance and respect for our intelligence so that we feel transported rather than merely deceived.
This is pretty obvious if you think about it. No one watches Star Wars, Star Trek,Alien or even Arrival because they believe they’re based on scientific reality. The Force is just magic by another name, beaming is suicide combined with impossibility introduced for budgetary reasons (and don’t get me started on Tricorders), the face-eating alien might as well be a demon for all the logic of its behavior and indestructibility, and a language for time travel? Wondrous. Glorious. But as far from believability as feldspar is from gold. Also…spoilers?
Even if you read Hail Mary and love the hard-science wrappings, Mark Watney v2.0 is still flying around in a spaceship discovering new civilizations and saving them by being Space MacGyver. It’s cool, compelling, smart and fun reading. But believable? Not so much, and it doesn’t have to be because it’s brilliantly true-to-expectations. Which is more than good enough.
And that is really the truth of good speculative fiction; it delivers on readers’ expectations as framed by the genre and the promise made on the book cover and blurb. In the case of science fiction, this means a well-constructed world or universe based on at least passingly explained technology wherein characters behave in a manner consistent with that world. In other words, it’s not believability we seek, but consistency, credibility and wonder. Nothing is really explained in Annihilation, and who cares? It’s a wild freakin’ ride.
If you read hard science fiction, credibility is based on detailed explanations of technology and how it applies to the world occupied by our main characters (e.g., The Martian or Jurassic Park). In softer science fiction, it’s about the feel of a world defined by new but less laboriously explained technologies (e.g., Star Trek or The Broken Earth).
For sub-genres, credibility depends on more specific expectations. In time travel books, you’d better explain how traveling through time is possible and make at least a passing nod to paradoxes (e.g., Looper). For space opera, there needs to be vast political intrigue constrained by the limitations of future technologies (e.g., Foundation, A Memory Called Empire or The Interdepency). When you hear the term “true to genre,” it’s not about writing a formulaic novel by a set of rigid rules; it’s about delivering the reader what they expected, or close enough to feel you’re respecting their needs as a sentient human being. Or, and this is a rare thing, subverting those expectations with such grace and brilliance the reader is grateful for the ride (e.g., most Cormac McCarthy books, but especially No Country for Old Men or The Road).
If you look at the best science fiction of the past and today (The Time Machine, Frankenstein, Stranger in a Strange Land, Foundation, Childhood’s End, Dune, Ringworld, Broken Earth, Annihilation, etc.), literally none of it is even close to believable–it would be boring if it was–but it’s compelling, internally consistent and tells a great story. Credibility is a measure of how well you draw the reader in and keep them there, not whether you can explain how genetic engineering works in Blade Runner (hint: it makes no damn sense…and almost no one cares).
So stop trying to make your books believable. Instead, ask yourself what the reader expects, think of them as intelligent beings looking for escape and enlightenment, and then write a book that shows them respect, gives them joy, and every once in a while causes an exclamation of surprise or bark of laughter. Preferably both. If you do this with a compelling world and empathetic characters, you’re already delivering more than most speculative fiction today.
With regard to respecting your audience, nothing, and I mean nothing, will destroy your reader’s confidence in your world and writing more than inconsistency or blatant disrespect. Game of Thrones was never believable even as fantasy, but it was hella compelling as a TV series until the showrunners forgot about the rules of the universe–and the very spirit of George RR Martin’s books–and drove the show off a cliff. In contrast, The Expanse is (so far) consistent, the characters are real-ish people, and I’ve never once felt forced to swallow something absurd or ignore a glaring plot hole. Fingers crossed for the last book and season six (Please don’t screw it up. Please don’t screw it up. Please don’t screw it up). GoT lost its fans by the millions because HBO stopped caring about the story, and started caring more about how to suck money out of its nominally captive audience. So, you know, don’t do that.
Instead, write for the smart and curious child inside every reader that wants to escape to an incredible new world for a few minutes or hours, learn something new, imagine things never before seen, and generally not care whether it’s all believable or not. I don’t believe the sand worms in Dune are even vaguely plausible, but god I love that they exist on the page and in my mind. I’ll be forever grateful for that.
And my only hope is that sometimes I write well enough to make a few readers feel this same joy and gratitude for even a fleeting second of the time they’ve given me. When I wrote Beasts of Sonara, it never once occurred to me to that it should be realistic or believable. These things can’t happen. The world just doesn’t work like that. But wouldn’t it be awesome if it did?
This is a reproduction of a guest blog post for ReadingCafe on Dec 5, 2021.
The question of how to help independent authors is not a new one. Self-publishing a book, successfully, is one of the most challenging aspects of being an author in this freakishly crowded market. The focus of this post is on how friends and family can help their independent author friends, the people they care about, to find success despite the many challenges we all face. It’s also about gratitude. I don’t think any of us can succeed without the help of others, and yet it’s incredibly hard to ask for that help. So, however you choose to help your independent authors, thank you.
We’re all busy. So the focus in this section is on things that take mere seconds or minutes, but which can still make a big difference.
Put Yourself in Their Shoes
It’s probably hard for most people to understand the isolation and challenges faces by independent authors. I mean, you just put it on Amazon and the money rolls in, right? Sadly, no. There are hundreds of thousands of new books published every year in the US alone. Rising above the resulting noise is challenging at best.
Success for independent authors depends on a combination of marketing investment (money), constant hard work and self-promotion, the quality of their product and, of course, a great deal of luck. Normally a large percentage of marketing resources would come from a publisher, but independent authors have to do all of this on their own. So even assuming the independent author has produced a great book with a great cover, there’s no way they can succeed on their own (unless they’re rolling in $$$ already). They need the help of friends, family and fans. In other words, they need you.
But no one likes to ask for help. At least, few of us do. It’s humbling and awkward and honestly we’d rather just be writing the next book. So understand that even if your author friend doesn’t ask for help, he or she would still appreciate it. And honestly, unsolicited assistance is such a great karmic gift that it’s almost better that way. Thank you in advance for even considering it.
Understand that Self-Publishing is Real Publishing
Most of us probably grew up with the idea that “traditional publishing” (via agent / editor / publisher / bookstore) is the way real writers do things, and independent or self-publishing (via vanity or hybrid publishers or doing it all on your own) is for losers. I’m just being candid; there is a stigma associated with independent publishing that needs to go away. Indie publishing is probably the way of the future, not a second-best option or aberration, so we need to elevate independent authors and systems as much as we can.
A lot of this has to do with indie authors themselves. Due to the relative ease of publishing via Amazon KDP and other services, many writers have published poorly written, badly plotted, barely edited and just plain terrible books. That makes us all look bad. But indie authors who are committed to their craft publish books that are just as well written, edited and formatted as traditionally published books. The majority of us invest vast amounts of time and money (for professional editing, cover art, etc.) into producing the best book for you that we can. You’ll have to be the judge of this in each case, but I can assure you self-publishing is not a second-best option. It’s often the only option, especially for underrepresented authors, and it’s not going way.
Thanks for understanding this, and for your help in dispelling misconceptions about independent publishing.
Buy their Books
This probably goes without saying, but the easiest way to help new or indie authors is to buy their book–even if it’s not in your regular genre. This helps the author in a number of ways: (1) obviously, the purchase itself is great (2) it shows online bookstores what books are selling and should therefore rise in search results and (3) this means more reviews, which means higher ranking, which means more sales.
There are of course authors who don’t really care about sales; they’re in it for the art or to reach a few friends and family members, or it’s just a hobby. But for many others who hope to make some tiny bit of a living off of their writing, they need to sell books. Every purchase helps.
Caveat: If buying the book is a financial issue for you, don’t; no author that I know wants to put their friends or families out. There should be no pressure here. It’s just appreciated if you can do it.
Share the Books on Your Social Media Channels
Most authors frankly suck at social media. I know I do. There are also some who are great at Facebook, have a thousand followers on Instagram or Twitter, or know what the heck is going on with TikTok. Posting a link to the authors book on your social media site with a nice comment is invaluable, and among the best types of word-of-mouth marketing. If you made a TikTok book review video of my debut novel, Run Lab Rat Run, I’ll probably die of happiness. But everything helps, and it just takes a few seconds in most cases.
Example: “I really loved [book title]. If you like [genre] and [something cool about the book], you’ll love this book!” [book purchase link] [#SomeHashtag] #ImAGreatFriend
It’s that easy.
Caveat: Don’t share a book you’re not comfortable with. Your social media presence is part of your personal brand, and authors understand that. If your friend wrote an erotic or hard sci fi book you just don’t think your friends would care for, great, don’t share it. If you’re not enthusiastic, your other friends will see that in your post, and that doesn’t help anyone.
Help Build their Ongoing Social Media Presence
This isn’t that hard, and it’s basically the same as the previous step on an ongoing basis. Just like, love, share or retweet the author’s posts. This helps them gain followers, buzz, and maybe a fan or two.
Share the Book in Targeted Social Media Groups
There are thousands of online groups specific to genre (e.g., science fiction), topic (e.g., politics), activity (e.g., underwater basket weaving) with members that be interested in a related book. If your friend’s book is a good fit for these groups (make sure it is), and you’re comfortable endorsing the read, share the book in the group. This is especially important since many of these groups won’t allow authors to promote themselves (for good reason).
Caveat: Don’t spam groups with books that aren’t relevant, especially if commercial links are not allowed. It’s everyone’s benefit to respect the ethics and rules of online communities. Sometimes, it’s just not a good fit.
2. More Easy Stuff
Okay, none of this is technically hard, but items here start to take up a little more time. Your time is valuable. So, here are some things to do if you a few hours and want to help even more.
Beta Read their Books
In industry jargon, “beta reading” means reading a book at any point prior to publication so that you can give feedback to the author. Is the book poorly structured or tightly architected? Do the characters come alive or lie dead on the page? Is the dialog realistic, the writing active and compelling, etc. What can the author do to improve his manuscript? All of this is invaluable feedback in the drafting process. We’d much rather screw up in private than publish something terrible for the whole world to see. So if you love a genre and your friend is writing in that area, offer to beta read their books. Not everyone has the time, but if you do, this is incredibly helpful. Thank you.
ARC Review their Books
An ARC is just an “Advanced Review Copy” of a book, usually the semi-final draft of a manuscript. ARCs are provided for free to advanced (pre-publishing) readers in order to generate ratings and reviews as quickly as possible after the book is published. Reviewers like you win by getting a free copy of the book. Authors win by building momentum for their new books starting before the book even goes live. There are numerous sites for this (if you are interested in signing up for ARCs generally), but your friend might like you to be part of his or her ARC group less formally. If you have the time and think the book might be interesting, sign up to do a review.
Caveat: Amazon seems to reject most reviews from obvious friends. So if you’re Facebook friends with the author, plan to publish your review on Goodreads or other non-Amazon sites if possible. The author should be able to let you know which platforms the book will launch on.
Read the Books (Once Published)
Seems obvious, right? But many of us have less time than we’d like. For me, personally, talking to friends about something I’ve written is even more important and validating than a simple purchase. We put hundreds or thousands of hours into these books, and it’s great to be able to hear what other people think of them. What characters did you love or hate? What themes resonated? What got you laughing or crying?
Caveat: Not every book is for everyone. Don’t feel pressured to read a book you don’t like or that doesn’t resonate with you. It’s supposed to be fun. If the author bugs you about it, tell them to knock it off. It’s about helping each other out, not feeling obligated to do something you don’t want to do.
Rate & Review the Books
Rating a book is a surprisingly simple step that many readers skip. Rating a book (without a review) on Amazon and other ecommerce sites is often a matter of seconds, and requires no additional thought. High ratings bring higher rankings, which bring more sales, and so on. A positive review would be even better, but even a quick rating is appreciated.
Caveat 1: If you don’t like the book, that’s fine, but don’t feel the need to leave a negative rating or review. This doesn’t really help anyone. If there are things the author needs to know, let them know in person so they can improve the next book.
Caveat 2: Amazon is notorious for not publishing reviews of friends and family. If you’re friends with the author on Facebook, in particular, you might not want to bother with a rating or review on Amazon, as it won’t appear and the author might get dinged for it (it’s not yet clear to me how this works). You can still leave your review on Goodreads and other platforms.
Pro Tip #1: Don’t feel the need to limit your reviews to Amazon and other bookstore platforms. Post your review to your social media feeds or other groups. Many groups discourage or even forbid self-promotion by authors, so this might be the only way group members will ever hear about their book. And there are groups that focus on book reviews that are hungry for new content.
Pro Tip #2: A review doesn’t have to be long. Two or three enthusiastic sentences will do just fine: “I couldn’t put this book down. I loved the characters and couldn’t wait to get to the end. Highly recommended!” Or something like that.
Share the Books on Your Blog or Website
I mean, if it’s relevant. Then what better way to share a friend’s work than on your own blog? This usually takes a little more thought and time, but the SEO and marketing value is huge, and it can be great content for your site as well.
Share the Books with Your Friends & Family
There is no better endorsement than giving a book to someone you love but, again, only if you feel comfortable doing it. And honestly, if you give books to people who aren’t into the genre or “that sort of thing,” it leads to bad reviews. No one likes bad reviews. So, share with care.
Share Author Online Promotions
Even if you’re already bought the book (thank you!), the author is always out there trying to find more readers. They might be doing temporary discounted or free book promotions, contests and who knows what else. If you think people in your network might be interested, let ’em know.
3. Still More Easy Stuff
The following items either take a little more time or require more social commitment and outreach, and that’s not for everyone. Some people prefer to be quiet allies, and that’s 100% fine. But if you’re a little more social or want to be…
Pick the Book for your Book Club
If the book’s genre fits the group and you think they’ll enjoy it, suggest away. Just make sure everyone knows it’s a friend’s book so there’s no resentment. And whatever feedback you get, good or bad, pass it on to the author. We’re always learning, and honest third-party feedback can be really helpful.
Attend Author Events
You know, when we’re allowed to see each other in person again. Nothing is lonelier for an author than showing up at a bookstore for a signing and having no one show up. Drop by to say hi, grab a coffee, browse the stacks and give your friend a high-five. You’ll probably get a free bookmark out of it. Unless the event is online, and then you’ll still get a nice digital tan.
Suggest Local Book Stores Carry the Books
If you frequent a local bookstore, take a moment to suggest to the manager or staff that they carry the book. This won’t work in all cases–the book would have to be available via their acquisition channels, and who knows what their acquisition policies are–but even if it works a small percentage of the time, this is a fantastic help.
Suggest Local Libraries Acquire the Books
Some libraries are open to this, others not so much, but they all find books one way or another. You might just help them find the next great all-American novel. Or at least a good educational read. And since libraries are often the only informational resource for some people, it helps your friends reach a whole new audience of readers.
Suggest Other Ideas
Are you a marketing or SEO professional? Do you have specific experience in online advertising, keyword selection, PR or anything related to product sales? Help the author out. It’s not like most of us have degrees in marketing and, if we do, it’s probably not focused on book promotion. It’s a crazy, crowded and fast-changing industry. If you know ways to rise above the fray, let us know. I’m not going to say there’s no such thing as a bad idea–there are many, many bad ideas–but it can’t hurt to suggest something. It’s great that you’re even thinking about it.
4. Do it All Again
A successful book needs constant love. After launch, attention tends to fade but the need for promotion doesn’t. If you know your friend’s birthday, re-post your book recommendation on social media every year on that day. Set a reminder for yourself. Or whatever. Ongoing, recurring support would be freakin’ awesome.
5. Thank You (!!!)
Just reading this post is more than most people will ever do to help indie authors. No one expects you to do all or even most of the above, and it’s not your job to help authors sell their books, but every little thing helps. Thanks for taking the time. Thanks for thinking about us. Thanks for caring. You rock.
A Note to Authors
Don’t forget to be grateful to the people that help you. Sign that book. Give them some tchotchkes. Or just be sure to say thank you. A lot.
Other Resources
There are several other good lists out there with suggestions for how to help self-published authors. Here are just a few of them:
Independent Book Review, “10 Ways to Support Indie Authors:” An excellent list, including a good introduction to the indie publishing world.
This Run Lab Rat Run launch plan is largely for my tracking of the initial release on Amazon, which is my first book release of my debut self-published novel. I doubt anyone will ever read this article, but if anyone does, perhaps there will be a few helpful tidbits here for those starting off on their self-publishing career.
I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m relatively intelligent, experienced in online marketing, have what I believe is a quality novel, but I know I’m going to get most of this wrong the first time. So, my goal is to fail fast, learn fast and try as many different things as a I can on this first launch. Pretty obvious, but helps to put it in writing.
My goal is specifically NOT to make a lot of money on this first book, though that would be nice. I want to sell a lot of books, get reviews, and build a reader base. If I can come close to breaking even, that would be a miracle (even if you only count hard dollars and exclude all writing and editing time).
From this learning and reader base, I hope to know enough to start making some income on the second books and so on. But I still realize this is a challenging goal that almost no self-published (or traditionally published authors) ever reach. So, difficult but not impossible. Publishing this book will helpfully tell me how realistic these goals are…
Creation & Design
Writing & Editing
This includes everything from the basic writing to beta reviews and editing.
Step & Details
Status & Next
Various Drafts The usual pantser process. Editing included use of Word spelling and grammar checker and the free version of Grammarly, which I find moderately useful but inflexible esp. with regard to my writing style (which uses sentence fragments and avoids use of Oxford commas).
Done
Various Beta Reads
Great feedback from many. Thank you! Substantial improvements to drafts.
Done
Shortening & Simplification
Cut from 130k+ to 115k, removed many acronyms and abbreviations, etc. This was largely for querying agents, which did not pan out (though there were a few full manuscript requests).
Done
Professional Copy Editing & Proofreading
Friend I met at a conference is doing this. Exceptional skills and insight. Great comments and changes provided and made. Also did some sensitivity checking on one item and updated as a result.
Done
Final Draft Complete
Do final read, check all dates and stats, check all chapter headings, etc. Include internal to new title and remove reference to anything else. Check all typographical items including widows, etc.
Done
Final Title
The original title was Modified, which is now the book series (presumably). Also considered Dead Girl Running (which was taken) and The Dreams of Weak and Fragile Things, which was too literary. Run Lab Rat Run worked better for a a number of reasons. Should have had this finalized before starting work on cover.
Done
Book Parts (Front and Back)
Finalize all front, back and cover matter:
Graphical Cover Page (Done)
Text Cover Page (Done)
Copyright Page (Done)
Secondary Cover Page (NA)
Dedication (Done)
Email Solicitation (NA)
ToC (eBook Only). Decided to leave contents out of paperback to save pages, $ and formatting issues.
Acknowledgement (Done)
About the Author (Done)
Coming Soon: Beasts (Done)
Done
Foreword from Laz
Done and included. I’m so appreciative that he did this, given how out of his normal wheelhouse this book is. Yet another example of how Laz rocks.
Done
3D Course Map (Optional)
Asked for pricing on Fiverr. Would probably be helpful, but could be expensive. Found someone will to do for $150, but still not sure it’s worth it until there are more sales. Maybe next time, or if the book does really well, do online or in second edition.
NA
Chapter Header Art
Probably not.
NA
Modified Hierarchy Art
Done, but won’t be in book. On site only.
Done
Miscellaneous Early Items
You know, other stuff.
Step & Details
Status & Next
Attend Writing Conferences This was more about learning industry and making contacts than the book per se, but it was a great experience and resulted in winning the “Best Science Fiction” at the show in 2020, my first writing award. This was nominally helpful in the query process and allows me to say “award winning author” on the eventual cover.
Done
Select Publishing Name Going with my name vs. pen name for simplicity, but we’ll see how that works out. I might have gone with SCButler, but the domain was taken.
Done
Pick Initial Platform I’m going to go with Amazon KDP for both ebook (Kindle) and paperback versions for simplicity and cost reasons. Depending on how book sells, I may add other platforms after the 90-day Amazon exclusive to be in Kindle Select. I’d love to not be so dependent on Amazon, but it’s just a monster…
Done
Get ISBNs for Both Versions I don’t want to be stuck with Amazon’s free versions (which limit sales to Amazon), so I’ll by a pack of ten (10) for RLRR, Beasts and future books. Used Bowker for this.
Done
Pricing for Amazon Kindle & Paperbacks
I’d always wondered by Amazon Kindle vs. Paperback pricing was so different depending on self- vs. trad-published books, and know I know. The cost of on-demand printing at my page count (around 380 pp for 115k words) means the paperback has to be < $13.99 to make it worth selling. So I picked $15.99 for paperback and $4.99 as initial target for Kindle, but will start at $0.99 with free promos to boost sales.
Done
Cover Design & Artwork
You know, that thing on the outside of the book in the real world.
Step & Details
Status & Next
Figure Out What I Like
Poked around at what works in fiction, science fiction, etc., and knew quickly I didn’t want the usual melodramatic SF cover (nor did I think I could afford one that looked unique. Saved some on Pinterest.
Done
Cover Art (6″ x 9″) I started using Canva (free or $119/yr) to come up with some book cover ideas, thank God, because my initial ideas were frankly terrible (See Pinterest board). I was still reluctant to go with the $700+ standard cover services, so used Fiverr to test a $50 option. This worked surprisingly well and resulted in the final cover choice, saving me more than $700 or so. Take a look these guys ($600) for next time?
Done
Cover Art Change (5.5″ x 8.5″)
After the 1st paperback proof, I did some more research and realized I could use this trim size w/o changing page length and get a better look. Paid $20 on Fiverr for updated PDF / PSD files and a slightly updated title font.
Done
Cover Art Market & A/B Testing
Did not do this, though I can see why people do. Got feedback from friends and used gut instinct. Cover seems professional enough as compared to most other SF covers, though it’s not going to win any awards. See here ($50+) or one related service for future reference. See more cover design suggestions here.
Done
Typesetting & Versioning
Think of this as how everything inside the book looks and feels.
Step & Details
Status & Next
Various eBook Typesetting Rounds
I spent a LOT of time formatting the initial ebook version to remove Word artifacts, get things to work on Kindle, etc. the primary issue was that the default styles needed to be changed but couldn’t be without losing direct formatting (lesson learned). I also learned to use page-breaking sections in Word rather than page breaks in order to get header formatting to work in all chapters.To test changes, I loaded versions into KDP and used the Amazon preview tool to see how things looked. I also emailed these versions to my Kindle to confirm formatting. This was free, fast and resulted in greater confidence about final output.
Done
Generating eBook Formats (ARC, etc.) This was harder than it should have been, due to me using an older PC with an EOL operating system (Windows 7) on which the standard eBook conversion tool (Calibre) wouldn’t work. So, I used a web tool and then SmashWords to do the sample versions, but I’m not a fan of any of these tools; they just feel quirky, overly complicated and sometimes auto-insert branding information I didn’t like. Still more to learn here, but was able to get everything I needed for the ARC versions (See reviews, below). In the end, I got a solid epub and PDF versions without much trouble (ignoring several hours of missteps and learning).
Done
Final Kindle Format
After final edits, I’ll update Word source doc to include:
Possible interior cover copy page (Done)
All caps on chapter starts (Done)
Final chapter titles / formats (Done)
Chapter graphic (NA)
Single spacing + paperback fonts (Done)
Reference to resources (Done)
Etc.
Done
Various Paperback Formatting Rounds This was substantially different typesetting and font from what I used in the eBook, but I think the final paperback version will work better in both.Again, I loaded into KDP (along with cover) to use Amazon preview tool several times before ordering a proof. while the tool is a bit slow, it was great to evaluate final look and feel.
Done
Book Proof #1 (Paperback)
Received and reviewed (cost was about $10 from Amazon KDP). Several things I’d like to improve, including font, spacing, cover layout (minor), etc. Not much I can do about quality of paper (it’s thick and a bit coarse).I would like to see what page implication is of smaller font to allow for smaller trim. Went from 12 pt TNR with single spacing to 10 pt Garamond with 16 pt spacing. Overall page count didn’t change much, but it seems more readable. Also might try white paper with standard font color on Amazon vs. B&W on cream. Need a better SS font for headers, but I’ll try Calibri for now.
Done
Book Proof #2 (Paperback)
Second proof with new formatting, font & size, chapter headers & font, pagination, internal cover art, etc. Did not wait for final front / back matter or back cover changes.Great improvement vs. #1. Almost there, but font is probably too small and need to disable widow protection and do manually. Should be interesting.
Done
Book Proof #3 (Paperback) Test just to see if changed margins, font size (11), spacing of header, and paragraph spacing still looks good. If so, all that’s left is to repeat in final version.
Done
Final Paperback Version
See publishing details below. Remember to order author copies to sign and send to beta readers, family, etc.
Done
Amazon Kindle (KDP) Final Checks
This eBook manuscript will be the foundation used to produce the paperback, so everything done here is also done in support of the paperback. The following is far more detail than anyone else would possibly care about, but…here you go.
Step & Details
Status & Next
Final Skim
Check first section (done), all Easter Eggs (done), front cover graphic (done), cover page (done), legal text (done), dedication (done), update final TOC (done),
about the author (done), acknowledgements (done)provi and coming soon (done).Plus: ISBNs (done) and hyperlinks (done) to this site
Done
Final Text Cleaning
Check for double spaces (done), double paragraph returns (done) and untrimmed spaces (done).Plus: Finalize decision on indenting (done). I decided to remove 1st paragraph indents as per industry standard, even if I don’t like it (it’s odd when the starts is a few words or dialog). Looks fine.Plus: Finalize section break formatting with graphic indicator and indent removal, or not (done). I put in a single centered asterisk and paragraph formatting. Seems to work pretty well
Done
Final Header Cleaning
Check all spacing (done) inc. chapters with compound headers (done), all Obstacle details paragraphs (done) and all section headers (done).
Done
Final Text Formatting & Spell Check Check all primary text single-spaced (done), all paragraphs end in Section (Page) Break (done), and do final spell check (done).Plus: Remove page numbers (done) and format TOC to include chapter indents.
Done
Final decision on custom imprint Decided juice wasn’t worth the squeeze on this one.
Done
Apply Kindle DRM? Based on articles like this, I decided to leave it OFF.
Done
Initial Amazon Keywords & Categories
This was based on fairly rudimentary research, but does seem to match similar books on Amazon.
Done
Semi-Final Amazon Load & Preview Check
Visual check of all breaks, formatting, etc. Skim only, with focus on catching obvious issues. Looks fine in tablet, phone and Kindle views.
Done
Quarter-Final Email to My Kindle
Just another way to check how file appears.
Done
Strip Extra Returns on Chapter Breaks
Do this AFTER confirming preview of paperback version using single returns! LOL, kinda jacked up the order here, but it worked out.
Done
Semi-Final Email to My Kindle
Just another way to check how file appears. Found a few errors, so, tried again.
Done
Publish on Amazon
Push. The. Button. Only took a few hours to publish, rather than 24-72 hours: Amazon Profile Page
Done 8/9
Amazon Paperback (KDP) Final Checks
This uses the eBook as its foundation, so all checks applicable to the electronic version also apply here (and were already done).
Step & Details
Status & Next
Strip out Section Break Double Returns
Once this is done, preview on Amazon to assure that chapter-ending paragraphs still format properly.
Done
Remove TOC
This isn’t necessary in the paperback version.
Done
Page & Margin Setup Set margins to template (done), trim template (done), alternating mirror pages (done), different section first pages (done), remove widow/orphan control (done) and reformat interior cover graphic to margins (done).
Done
Add Paperback Items & Formatting Add in alternating pagination (done), normal font 12 to 11 (done), paragraph spacing exactly 14.25 (done), quote text spacing exactly 13 (done), header spacing (180/45 to 90/30) (done) and remove hyperlinks (done) and verify paragraph indents 0.2″ (done).
Done
Semi-Final Preview Check Load to Amazon and test out. This is the last step prior to verifying visual appearance of new font / spacing in Proof #3.
Done
Final Cover Check Do final review of cover, blurb, bio, etc.
This is all that platform stuff you’re supposed to have in place prior to launching, ideally with pre-existing traffic, etc. I had the website in place (you’re on it), and the social media accounts, but very little confidence I can drive any traffic via the latter; I don’t have that many followers and little interaction. So, work to be done is on (a) growing the audience and (b) increasing interaction.
Get Domain
Decided to use shawncbutler.com because, well, that’s my name and scbutler.com was taken. Picking a pen name thus became a backward step of using an affordable domain, which is fine.
Done
Pick Service (Platform)
Already use Word Press, so that was easy. Used same theme as for other sites, but this may change.
Book Resource Pages Due to the complexity and backstory, I plan to have several additional pages here instead of bloating the book itself. These include the following, none of which are required pre-launch (except the glossary, which is referenced in the book):
Book Promo Sidebar
This is too show up on every page. I don’t have a footer in this theme, so I’ll use this instead. I’ll need final cover art before launching.
This site was intentionally built, in part, to be a promotional platform for any running or hiking related books, and anything relating to the Barkley–which of course RLRR is.
Step & Details
Status & Next
Get Domain
Decided to use shawncbutler.com because, well, that’s my name and scbutler.com was taken. Picking a pen name thus became a backward step of using an affordable domain, which is fine.
Done
Pick Service (Platform)
Already use Word Press, so that was easy. Used same theme as for other sites, but this may change.
Done
Book Landing Page
NA. This is on shawncbutler.com
NA
Book Sidebar This is designed to route traffic to book page and/or purchase sites including both sets of links.
Create Account
Done. Some work done on building audience, but not much. Very little interaction. Around 450 followers as of end of June 2021. Probably need closer to 2000.
Done
Build Followers Or at least try…
Done
Kinda
Various Activities
I’ll need to come up with regular posts, calls to action, etc., etc., all of which is TBD.
Create Author Account
I have a person account, but not an author one. Submit new author (Done 8/11), Submit new book (Done 8/11)
Done
Build & Profile Setup and done.
Done
Various Activities
TBD. Not sure what’s useful here. Need someone to add my book to lists for me, as I can’t do it myself.
In Progress
Other Profiles & Pages
I’m sure there are many others to come. I’ll probably do a book link page on Books2Read (done).
Marketing & Marketing Services
One thing I learned quickly by listening to other self-published authors an watching some videos on YouTube (of course) is that there was a lot I don’t know about promotion, mailing lists, Amazon Ads, review solicitation and far more. Some of that in listed here.
Social Media Marketing Services
Paid Book Promotion Gigs & Services
Step & Details
Status & Next
Bublish
Do contract work for authors. Probably pricey, but checking.
Pending Phone call pending
Fiverr Gigs I had no idea this existed, but interesting. See list toward bottom of this linked page. Try this one (book must be FREE). See by platform, below.
Given my lack of a mailing list or desire to create my own list, I’ll probably need to use one of these (though it’s not really a replacement). Adds some $$$ to budget, but we’ll see. Apparently the recommendation here, money dependent, is to do multiple such pushes.
Step & Details
Status & Next
BookBub Pricing for services is high. For science fiction, a Featured Deal would cost $754 if priced at $0.99 or $2,640 if priced at $4.99. Clearly, this is only affordable or me at the lower level, if then. They claim to have 1.7m SF subscribers and an average download count of 1,180. They also have a New Releases for Less feature ($?). Free user (subscriber) resources include recommended Books
In Progress
Claim Author Profile when on Amazon?
Partner Account
User Account
BookDoggy
They have an $20 promotional newsletter for authors. Appears to require existing book online for at least X days, and then sign up for promotion? Books submissions reviewed and not guaranteed for selection.
Done
Running 9/821
FreeBooksy / BargainBooksy
Has both free and bargain book pricing. Promises email to 119k SF readers for $40. Dates appear to be available about a week out. No review requirement but editorial process.
Done
Using Bargain Booksy
Not great results
See Milestones
Fussy Librarian Appears to be best for using free promos when you have more than one book, and the others are not free (to boost sales.
Some interesting ideas in here about how to setup and prep for free book promotions in sync with Amazon Unlimited free days:
Book Review Services
These include services like Booksprout (with a free option) and paid options like Kirkus. Lots of options, but thankfully far fewer than with book promo sites.
ARC & Newsletter Management Platforms
These two functions are blended together, largely because getting ARCs and collecting newsletters both depend in these models on giving away free copies.
Step & Details
Status & Next
BookSirens
Offers paid marketing via their own newsletter a’la the paid promotion of Booksprout. I’ll definitely look at this if StoryOrigin doesn’t work out.
Done for Now Rejected 7/??/21
Applied 7/20/21
Booksprout
Seems to have a free version worth trying. Next level is $10/mo or $120/year, so I’ll have to see how free version works. I’ve read that (a) the free version is not protected and (b) doesn’t really work anyway. So on hold for now.
NA
BookFunnel A little pricier than Booksprout w/no free option, BF seems to have higher rates / more positive feedback online esp. because of spam blocking and book protection. Primary focus is on getting newsletter subscribers, NOT reviews.
NA
Insta Freebie
Old name for Prolific Works. Also with poor reviews.
NA
NetGalley
Another ARC platform, originally for trad published authors but also with a free-based structure for self-published books.
NA
Prolific Works
Very similar to BookFunnel, focused on getting newsletter subscribers. Based on online reviews and comments, not using for now.
NA
StoryOrigin
Much like BookFunnel, but with a free offering. Seems to be the rising star. In both cases, the $100/ yr offering seems best for my needs. Based on the combination of cost, documentation, feedback and features, I’m going with SO for the launch of RLRR.
My initial impression is that trying to reach (free) book bloggers is a colossal waste of time, with the effort and costs high, the probability or a review low and probably far out in the future, and the value questionable. I may change my mind if I learn more about this, but for now, I’m not putting any energy here. I’ve submitted to a few bloggers just to see if anything comes of it. For reference, Reedsy has a list of book review bloggers, filterable by genre, which includes both paid and free reviewers.
Book Reporter(113k v/m)
Cool site, but only published and rarely indie.
NA
Maybe post-launch
The Reading Cafe(20k v/m)
Free book review blogger, nice vibe, probably inundated, but does review SF.Update: Kindly responded in hours with interest. Cynicism reduced. 🙂
In Progress Interview 9/4/21
Confirmed 8/6/21
Q&A Sent 8/4/21
Response 7/15/21
Submitted 7/15/21
No idea how to approach these, but I assume there’s be a convoluted process involving video breadcrumbs and Star Trek references. Off to dig around YouTube for specs of information. In all cases, I’ll try to reference one of their reviews I especially liked. Just as with “regular” bloggers, my expectations here are low.
Step & Details
Status & Next
Kalanadi
Cool reviews, but “I do not taking reading requests and I am currently not accepting books for review.”
NA
SFF180 (Web)
Famous and established SFF reviewer, major stuff, so no idea if interested, but worth a shot.
In Progress Bounced 7/17/21
Submitted 7/16/21
Becky M
Nice, quirky reviews and similar tastes. Says she’s too busy for now to take on the review.
Rejected 7/15/21
Submitted 7/15/21
Dan Greene (50 million views)
Popular, cool guy, lots of energy, low probability of interest.
No idea how to approach these Instagram influencers, so research pending. A fellow author recommends using a paid marketer for Instagram, so I’m going to try to approach this using Fiverr gigs at first.
There are many. See this list, this Publishers Weekly list, and others. Debating value of these sites, as I’m not sure why readers would value paid reviews. Maybe to jump start unpaid reviews? We’ll see.
Step & Details
Status & Next
Bookish Elf(30k views / mo)
Thought this was a free book review blogger, nice vibe, probably inundated, but does review SF, but turns out it’s a paid service starting at $75.
Indie Reader
Much like Kirkus, but $275 for a review and have a “purchase in advance” option to save $50, bringing it down to $225 if you buy 5 weeks in advance of publishing. Turn-around in any case is 5-9 weeks.
Amazon Kindle Deals
Unlimited, Select and others. RLRR eligible if exclusive for 90 days from launch, which is planned.
In Progress
Select 1: 8/9 – 11/9
Facebook Ads
TBD
TBD
Launch Plan
Some additional details by date. Much of this was covered above.
Before Launch
One Month Prior to Launch
Pretty much everything done above, with some notable scheduled items here. Most of this was tracked above or…not.
Step & Details
Status & Next
Start Sending ARC Copies Start sending ARC versions to readers, and keep looking for new possible reviewers.
Done
Many Other Things
Just not tracking them here.
Done
Two Weeks Prior to Launch
This covers all work to be done the fourteen-to-seven days prior to the planned launch date. Didn’t track this here. See above.
Step & Details
Status & Next
Start Sending ARC Reminders Meaning, start sending notes to ARC readers about finalized date, and being very damn grateful.
In Progress Launch Note 8/13 Date Reminder 8/6
One Week Prior to Launch
This covers all work to be done the seven days prior to the planned launch date, with a focus on delivering a professional product, having reviews lined up, and hitting launch day running. I didn’t track much of this here (see above).
Step & Details
Status & Next
Finalize Initial Amazon Keywords
Done, based on use and frequency, with some focus on very long tale phrases since “Dystopian Science Fiction) is not exactly unique.
Done
Finalize Book / Profile Blurb Done, though can always improve.
Basic: Cover, Amazon (Done)
Add review snippets: Amazon (Done)
Add CRISPR text: Amazon (Done)
Done
Day of Launch – August 13
This is the day of formal launch on Amazon.com, publishing early AM to leave time for debugging and checking. Get it all done, and then have a damn beer.
Step & Details
Status & Next
Publish eBook & Paperback on Amazon
Check link and book profile pages (Done)
Purchase copy to ensure process works (Done)
Start tracking book stats on Amazon (Done)
Order author copies to sign & deliver (Pending)
Related Social Media Steps
Announce on Twitter (Done 8/11)
– Request retweets by friends (Done)
Announce on Instagram (Done)
– Request likes by friends (Done)
Announced on LinkedIn (Done)
– Update LinkedIn Profile (Done 8/11)
– Post LI book announcement (Done 8/14)
Announce on Facebook
– Post in feed (Done 8/11)
– Post in writers helping group (Done 8/11)
– Post in family group (Done 8/11)
– Request post in Chico 86 group (Pending)
– Post on author page (Done 8/11)
– Request friend post into FB BFC group (Done)
– Request friend post into TAUR
– Request post in Fiction (NA)
– Request post in Science Fiction (NA)
– Post in bargain eBook groups (Done)
Post on primary blog update page, new post? (Done)
Post on secondary blog (C2C) including “inspiration” (NA)
ARC / Review Steps Goal = TBD (Need to Revise) – Announce publication to ARCs / reviews
– Request review postings to Amazon / GR ASAP
– Start confirming reviews
In Progress
Post Launch
Week After Launch
Everything to be done for the week after launch, starting on day two. Key to make sure everything is setup properly, fully tested and edited, started tracking stats on promo sites via book sale / review stats / etc,
Step & Details
Status & Next
Amazon eBook & Paperback Pages Check tracking book stats on Amazon (daily)
Update book profile(s) w/critical praise
Related Social Media Steps
Post best reviews on Twitter (multiple varying hashtags)
Announce on Facebook
– Post in feed
– Post on author page
– Request post in Fiction
– Request post in Science Fiction
– Post in bargain eBook groups
The following were helpful in developing this launch plan, and might be helpful to other writers looking to launch their first book on Amazon. It’s a pretty random selection.
First Page Rankings by Dan McBeth
This is a pretty elementary set of suggestions for launch on Amazon, but I liked the simplicity and clarity of goals, some of which I adopted as my own. I’m not sure I buy everything he says, but nothing seems unreasonable or too costly. I like the idea of testing higher prices to find the right price point…
Pretty basic and overlapped with other resources and lists shown here, but good summary of 34 strategies to work on. She suggests getting a professional author head shot, which…I don’t wanna do, but probably will. A press kit is suggested, which seems very far down the road. Generally, her suggestions seem fit for people with lots of time who are great at social networking.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha3m3D4oqTM
The Self Publishing Checklist
This is a simple interactive checklist that contains MANY great useful items, even if you don’t use them all.
Five Book Marketing Services on Fiverr by SP with Dale
Just a video comparing book marketing services on Fiverr. Kinda interesting, mostly in that it shows how immature the market is. There is really no trackback to actual sales, so it’s subjective feel on impressions (ish) offered.
Blog posts like this (Run Lab Rat Run Milestones) are just for my own tracking and, hopefully, to provide some insight to other authors starting the publishing journey. Given that Run Lab Rat Run is my first published book, there’s bound to be a lot of silly nonsense here.
This also went up quickly, probably around 24 hours.
8/12 – Goodreads Book / Author Profile
Run Lab Rat Run didn’t appear at first. I think what happens is that you need to enter your author information first, then GR scrapes Amazon for books by that author. No point in entering the book before your author info is posted on GR. I had the order wrong here, but it fixed itself quickly enough.
8/10 – 1st Sale on Amazon
According to the KDP reports dashboard, this happened almost immediately after I posted the launch on FB. One of my friends, no doubt.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. I found myself really feeling for the main character, and cheering her on as she progressed throughout the story line. I could feel her aches and pains as she ran the race. The character building really helped keep you close to the heart of the story, a dystopian future where modified vs natural humans co-exist (not for long) and compete. I cannot wait for the next in the series so I can continue with Media on her journey. Shawn Butler has told an excellent story and I’m eager to see what is next.
Genetic manipulation and all it’s [sic] controversies is always interesting. I was not expecting to be pulled in to the world of marathon races as well. I was surprised at how compelling and exciting every minute was. At times I actually felt as if I were in the race with Media, willing her to keep pushing, not to give up, feeling exhausted and exhilarated right with her. The obstacles were thrilling, the race was grueling, and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to keep up with every turn. I really enjoyed this book and am already looking forward to the next one. I want to know so much more!
8/12 – Fiverr Marketing on Instagram
This was Instagram posting done by SADesign4 on Fiverr, largely an experiment on my part. The post garnered several hundred likes, but hard to tell if there was any interaction beyond that.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CScm2WFr44L/
8/13 – 1st Rating on Goodreads (2*)
My first rating on Goodreads was apparently some troll who just leaves 2-Star reviews on everything, often dozens a day. No idea what the point of that is. I assume this is just grist for the publishing mill.
8/13 – 2nd Fiverr Marketing Experiment
After seeing what happened with Instagram, I thought I’d check out the equivalent experiment on Twitter, Facebook, a blog and Pinterest (all one effort) by Melrock. Thus far, this has yielded little interaction and I’m not sure how much value there is to these cookie-cutter efforts (they’re cheap for a reason). But Melrock has plenty of followers and traffic, so it’s interesting to see how things work.
I was off hiking when this posted, so didn’t catch a typo or two. If I were to do this again, I’d submit a custom text block, tweet, etc., rather than letting the marketer do them.
8/14 – 1st Bad Rating on Amazon (2*)
Another troll? Two-stars, no review, doubt they even read the book. Interesting. I wonder why people do this?
Fantastic Read! Another beta reader review. Very appreciated. Most ARC readers haven’t posted yet. Still working on how to do reminders there.
I’m not one for either genetic experimentation or extreme sports stories, but WOW. The race itself is interesting, Media is both hilarious and relatable, and my only complaint is that the second book isn’t already out. I loved every aspect of the world and the underlying forbidden romance. The character development is on-point, too, which is hard to find. I’m wildly excited to see what happens next!
8/20 – Researching Amazon Kindle Unlimited Royalty Model
The deals of the program are here. Less a milestone than needed step. I’ll wait for 30-60-90 days to try to calculate royalties in KU as compared to actual sales at $4.99 Kindle list price.
8/23 – Book Raid Email Marketing
This is my first CPC marketing effort, and just curious how it works. Cost is $0.60 per click, max of $60, with no guarantee of any conversion; however, it does appear to be pushing some Kindle sales.
We’re pleased to report that ‘Run Lab Rat Run (Modified Book 1)’ was successfully promoted today (August 23, 2021) for free in the BookRaid Newsletter! The effects of a promotion will usually last a couple days, but when the dust settles we’d love to hear how things went on your end. Did the promotion move the needle for your book in a big way? – Sincerely, the BookRaid Team
I think in retrospect I did this promo wrong. I should have used a KDP promo day to make the book truly free instead of only free using Kindle Unlimited. Would probably have gotten far more (non-KU) downloads and eventual reviews and stats, rather than 10 attributable Kindle sales from 500 clicks (which is FAR more than I expected). Glad about the purchases, but would have preferred more distribution and sales stats / ranking on Amazon. Still, a great deal either way from a marketing perspective. No way to see permalink for posting on their blog, but it’s under Aug 23 post for SF.
8/23 – Setup & Launch 2x Amazon Ads
Experiment with one ad focused on ultra running generally, and science fiction generally (many keywords), and another focused on the Barkley Marathons with different ad copy. This is purely for learning, and I doubt it will have much impact on sales. Campaigns run until 9/30.
Lisa left a great four-star review from the ARC read:
A thriller that brings to the light the potential nuances of human genetic modification. While the naive among us may think of eliminating horrible genetic diseases such as sickle cell anemia and cystic fibrosis with genetic modification, let’s face it, in a world where we cannot agree providing adequate health care for poor people, the scenario presented here is completely believable. The rich elite get genetic modifications. Everyone else just suffers in a dystopian world.
Feisty Media is an employee/test subject for TTI Labs. She lives a limited, highly constrained life in the lab, in a time when wealthy people purchase genetic enhancements such as super-human strength, endurance, fighting ability and all-around insane mental abilities that are tested on our heroine. Despite being dealt this poor hand of cards in life, Media is a lively optimist determined to make the best of things. She is actually quite enjoyable to spend time with, even if she is fictional.
Through a series of events, Media is given a chance to run in a bonkers ultra-marathon-ish race. This is where the book gets fun, even for us non-modified, borderline couch potatoes. Lots of entertainment here: weirdly modified super animals, increasingly difficult obstacles to overcome, violent competitors, morally ambiguous villains/heroes, family loyalties, a forbidden romance and some possible internecine corporate strife.
I recommend this book to most. Haters of science fiction wouldn’t enjoy this, nor would those who profoundly dislike competitive sports. I’m not a big science fiction fan, but will read the odd dystopian novel, so this book worked quite well as viable entertainment for me.
I’m knocking off one star, for a 4/5 star review, as I would have liked greater background on how this dystopian society came to develop. I realize that many people enjoy a more streamlined thriller, but heck, I read Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies for fun, so it could just be my preference. At any rate, I recommend this book as quality escapist literature with the added brain candy of how genetic modification could play out in a dystopian, barely regulated society.
8/23 – Goal: 50 Copies Sold
Sixty-six (66) ebook and paperback units sold by 8/23, mostly paperbacks by my friends (thank you!), including 10 ebooks from the BookRaid promo. I have no idea how many KU units have been downloaded, and there doesn’t appear to be any reporting on this (?); you just see pages read, which is how you’re paid.
No clicks or displays. I suspect bids are too low to match generic bids in same categories. Will let it run for a few more days before adjusting. So far, $0 spent, which is not good.
First newsletter type promotion to SF group for $40. We’ll see how it goes. Platform appears to be on brand of Written Word Media. Not sure I set this up right, so we’ll see how it goes. Oh, it worked. This is from the email that went out:
Since they offer no reporting on the promo, unlike BookRaid, there’s no way to know how many people clicked on the link. Which is weird. I think I can attribute two (2) Kindle ebook sales and some KU downloads to them, but that’s it and that’s being generous. Also noted that my book was last on the list in the email, which means more scrolling. I wonder how you get placed higher?
Added Free Book Profile on Awesome Gang. Not sure of value.
8/27 – Updated and Added Amazon Ad Campaigns
I had impressions but no clicks, so tried adding (A) SF campaign (B) auto campaign and (C) campaign focused on products (similar books) rather than keywords.
8/29 – Various Minor
Added Universal Book Link. This is a service of Books2Read, affiliated with Drafts2Digital. Updated landing page link to include UBL.
Submitted for New Releases promo (probably little value) on SFF Book Bonanza for $5. Will appear here. They have a number of other promos possibly worth looking at.
8/30 – Goal: 1st Review by Stranger on GR or Amazon
This is a review by someone I don’t know, not from ARC or beta program, and not a friend. Really looking forward to a truly unbiased review…or several. And…here’s the first one, on GR, technically from the ARC program on StoryOrigin (4-star):
Run Lab Rat was a great book, I would totally recommend.
Feisty Media is lively and interesting to read about, and the plot is great, I really enjoyed it. This dystopian society is interesting, and I found it very engrossing.
Which…sounds like they copied part of Lisa’s review. So, whatever. Not exactly great insight, but milestone reached. This may not appear for a day or two, as GR has some weird caching problems on different platforms.
8/30 – Removed “Series” from RLRR on Amazon
I hadn’t realized some people don’t like to buy books in a series until they’re all published. Not sure this matters, but no point in series until Book 2 is out anyway. This takes up to 72 hours to propagate.
Scheduled Kindle to be free for ONE DAY to test service. Should get samples of posts by email: Facebook Page; Facebook Group; Twitter; Tumblr; pending on Pinterest and others. Don’t see it shown here, where it’s supposed to be (maybe 1/2 day?).
By 9:30 am PT, 21 free ebook downloads were reported on the KDP dashboard (not fantastic, but not bad) which really makes me wonder how many I would’ve gotten with a BookRaid promo and a free book. Lessons learned.
By the end of this 24-hr promotion, 112 free books were downloaded and RLRR was momentarily a “best seller” in the “free” category for Extreme Sports (#1), Running (#1), Humorous SF (#4) and Genetic Engineering SF (#8). Not sure it means much, but I suppose I can now call it a bestseller :). Will update details page for book (slightly) based on this, but not sure how many of the 112 will read or review the book. Still not bad for $15 bucks.
August Sales
So, not sure there’s much point in obsessively tracking this, but here goes. And yes, most of these sales are friends and family. So, thanks! 🙂 All figures shown are net sales after returns.
Paper-Back
Kindle Paid
Total Paid
Free Kindle
Total Units
KENP Pages
54
17
73
110
183
3,566
The KENP figure equates to roughly 10 full reads. To put this all in perspective:
The average U.S. book is now selling less than 200 copies per year and less than 1,000 copies over its lifetime. – Publisher’s Weekly via 10 Truths
I’m assuming this is sales vs. giveaways (freebies), so my numbers seem okay so far…if I can maintain sales after friends and family are done. Not exactly setting the world on fire, but okay for a start. Interested to see how the Kindle Edition Normalized Pages (KENP) works out, but glad people are actually reading the book.
Good little write-up. Wish it was five, but still good details and almost all of her reviews are four-stars, with some 3.5-3.75 and the occasional 4.5. Also appeared on Goodreads. I assume this is in anticipation of 9/4 interview (below). This brings me to nine (9) ratings on Amazon and four (4) on GR. From the review:
RUN LAB RAT RUN is a cautionary tale; a complex, thought-provoking and twisted story of specieism and discrimination, competition, power and control. My only complaint would be the lack of background information regarding the Chrome Wars, the environmental disasters, and the history as to how and why the world of enhanced human modifications came to be.
Which is great feedback. Due to this book coming out before events it depends on are published in other novels, I can totally see the point. This will be addressed in subsequent releases, which should organically fix the issue for those reading the series in chronological order (by date, not publication date).
9/1 – Sent Books to Laz
After surprise delivery of author copies yesterday, sent 2x copies to Laz. He confirmed receipt and will be using RLRR in the future… 🙂
9/1 – Review Amazon Ads Spend & Results
Was starting to get impressions after 8/29 changes, but no purchases. Now I have far more impressions, some clicks, and one sale. Let it run until Friday or so…then probably kill some campaigns and change bids. This is clearly not ROI positive.
9/1 – Goal: 7-10 Amazon Reviews 4+ Average
Done. Made this goal with 8+ reviews, 4.4 average, but didn’t hit the 10-review mark. Several outstanding reviews in the works…
For a minimum, you should try to get 20 reviews within the first two months after your book release date. That shows your book has traction with real readers. At around 50 reviews, you are probably good to go. Around that point, you have solidified the book as reputable and should continue to generate reviews. – Scribe
Probably need to ping some friends about reviews?
9/1 – Goal: 75 Copies Sold
With at least two paperback and two paid ebook sales today, total paid sales are at 77 and goal is met.
Apparently, they review products to see if their reviews are authentic are not. Mine are graded A, as in very authentic. Not sure if that translates to less risk of Amazon take-downs, but it’s a positive sign. Discovered via Reddit post.
Fakespot analyzes the reviews authenticity and not the product quality using AI. We look for real reviews that mention product issues such as counterfeits, defects, and bad return policies that fake reviews try to hide from consumers. We give an A-F letter for trustworthiness of reviews. A = very trustworthy reviews, F = highly untrustworthy reviews. We also provide seller ratings to warn you if the seller can be trusted or not.
9/2 – Free Promo on Indie Unlimited
Trying free Thrifty Thursday newsletter / blog promo. Unlikely to do much, but completely free, and appreciated support for community. Should I reach out to other bloggers?
I’m not sure if this is going to bear any fruit (probably not), but…what the heck. Some of my favorite authors might be interested in RLRR. Sending today to some of the following. It would be an honor if any of them even read it…
(Maybe) David Brin, author of The Postman and Uplift series. Also looks eerily like my friend Allen. Responded quickly and offered to possibly look at my book if sent to him, which is the most I could expect. Sent 9/13 with fingers crossed.
(Pending) Andrew Niccol, Writer/Director of Gattaca, but can’t find info. Silly famous people.
(Pending) Stephen King, but no easy way to contact w/o being in spam folder. Probably need to focus on much less famous people :).
(Pending) Vernor Vinge (see singularity essay), can’t find contact info. Same for Larry Niven, etc. No doubt enjoying their retirement.
(Yes) Fellow IR/PS alum Eliot Peper. He responded with a “maybe” and offered to put me in his next newsletter. Seems like really nice guy. Appreciated.
(Rejected) Andy Weir, author of The Martian and Hail Mary. Rejected almost immediately with personal email.
(Rejected) John Scalzi, author of Red Shirts and Old Man’s War. Rejected almost immediately with personal email.
(Rejected, but Book Sent) Peter Watts author of Blindsight.
Not sure worth the effort, but like supporting the cause. Should have the same thing done on Wikipedia.
9/8 – FREE Promo #2 (BookDoggy)
Scheduled and verified ($18). TBD on stats and downstream value. Starting to wonder if these promos (free) should only be run once you have more than one book so that potential buyers have something paid to choose from. Nearly 150 downloads by 8 am PT, and 409 total free downloads for the promotion, so good response. Have to see if it helps with purchase / review “drought” over the last few days.
This article on BookBub claims free giveaways are great, but they’re hardly unbiased. And even here, the emphasis is on how freebies increase sales in a series, which I don’t have yet.
9/8 – Some Marketing Reading
Spending some time figuring out how to do this better. Derek Murphy’s PDF on book marketing included this model for launch week (costing around $2,000):
9/9 – Launched the RLRR Easter Egg Hunt
Not sure this is a good idea? Might be great. Might suck. Spaghetti thrown at wall. Shotgun fired. Next!
Also noticed a slight uptick in “to-read” additions on Goodreads, probably from the BookDoggy promo, but if I look at those users’ lists, there are thousands of books on them. So…yeah.
Need to look at more authors under genetics, designer babies and CRISPR.
9/10 – Disabled Amazon Ads
I was getting impressions (almost 100k total), very few clicks (around 60) and zero (0) orders / sales except when it was free, which shouldn’t really count. This includes KENP pages counts (also zero). Need to rework blurb / details page?
Think I need to schedule multiple overlapping promotions based on dropping price to $0.99 rather than free. Given limitations under KU, I have to do this well in advance but schedule now so it’s clearly a drop from the promo provider’s perspective. I’ll need to update blurb at the same time, and ideally A+ content would be live (still pending). Still undecided on waiting for there to be 10+ reviews on profile. Promos to run on (not all the same day):
Phase I:
Drop price 9/10 so ready for 9/13 promo (after 9/11!), run on selected sites, then restore price to $4.99 on 9/17 to reset discount-from level by 9/20.
Phase II:
Once there are 10+ reviews on Amazon, schedule big promo, drop price, and let her rip…
BookBub (price varies); registered, profile stuck, must drop to $0.99. I am concerned about rejection by them if not enough reviews.
We’ll see how this works in practice.
9/10 – Reloaded Books on Amazon to Correct 2-3 Typos
Shouldn’t impact anything. Also, updated blurb to be more catchy, hopefully, and improved overall formatting. And added review request and Easter egg link at end of Kindle version.
9/11 – Updated eBook Blurb & Dropped Price
This should be in effect by tomorrow, with different blurb for ebook than paperback, and new $0.99 price point for M/T promotion. The new price and edited blurb were live within a few hours. All set for Monday.
Crazy to think 9/11 was twenty years today. A lifetime ago. Good to remember my boss Danny Lewin who died that day…
9/11-14 – $0.99 Promotion
Running on these sites as part of new Phase I marketing test / plan. Meant for this to be 9/13-14, but there’s no way to predict timing on KDP updates.
Trying not to be too OCD about this, but eager to see some sales again. Sigh. The grind is grindy. Screenshot from BookSliced, partner site of JustKindleBooks:
Pretty sure these site display portions of promos are borderline worthless, but hopefully the newsletter reach is better. And dig all the romance and erotica. It’s a plague. Conclusion: A total of two (2) attributable ebook sales and maybe one KU download. So, complete waste of time and money. I would not use GenrePulse or JustKindleBooks again unless I knew what happened and how to fix it.
9/14 – Various
After abysmal results on yesterday’s promo, trying one more on Book Cave before pausing and then hoping for BookBub. Hopeful that results might be better given more vetting of books and online comments. Promo would run on 9/17 ($26).
Raised price back to $4.99. When this displays, apply for Promo at $0.99 on BookSends and ManyBooks (Must be free for “best price”, hmm) (per Scribe article). The purpose of these would be to drive enough added sales to get reviews to make BookBub submission more likely to be accepted.
Based on feedback on FB (by request), I’ve updated details on books (again) to (a) reduce running-related references and (b) remove categories related to running. Park of the concern is that it might look like a non-fiction books and thus NOT CONVERT if you’re looking for non-fiction. Updates done on site (inc. this one).
9/15 – Moved Laz’ Foreword to End (Postface)
As per suggestion on FB. Bummer, but if you looked at front matter on Amazon preview, the first thing you saw was the foreword and no way to fix that w/o moving. I’ll move back to foreword once sales are higher and more established.
Also, restarted Amazon ad campaign w/limited campaigns and targeting to see if that makes any difference. And started first Facebook ads, which…I have no way of attributing other than guesswork.
And…submitted to BookBub. Nervous about that. It’s the promo tool I want…
This was a first on Amazon, not long but unexpected and awesome, from Silvia:
The development of the characters and plots kept me up longer than I should’ve been. Enjoyed reading it very much. Can’t wait for the next part.
Also go rejection on blurb from A.G. Riddle. Might change to only requesting if I see the author doing blurbs elsewhere.
9/16 – Audited & Updated Book Categories on Amazon
I wanted to make sure all changes had taken effect, so asked for audit summary of categories and got the following, which was surprising. I guess they’d put RLRR into three kindle fantasy categories and missed several paperback categories (subjects). Though they did pull it out of all running categories.
Below are the categories for the kindle version of book ""Run Lab Rat Run":
/Kindle Store/Categories/Kindle eBooks/Science Fiction & Fantasy/Fantasy/General
/Kindle Store/Categories/Kindle eBooks/Science Fiction & Fantasy/Science Fiction/General
/Kindle Store/Categories/Kindle eBooks/Science Fiction & Fantasy/Fantasy/Action & Adventure
/Kindle Store/Categories/Kindle eBooks/Science Fiction & Fantasy/Science Fiction/Dystopian
/Kindle Store/Categories/Kindle eBooks/Science Fiction & Fantasy/Science Fiction/Humorous
/Kindle Store/Categories/Kindle eBooks/Science Fiction & Fantasy/Science Fiction/Adventure
/Kindle Store/Categories/Kindle eBooks/Science Fiction & Fantasy/Fantasy/Humorous
/Kindle Store/Categories/Kindle eBooks/Science Fiction & Fantasy/Science Fiction/Genetic Engineering
/Kindle Store/Categories/Kindle eBooks/Literature & Fiction/Absurdist
Below are the categories for the paperback version of book ""Run Lab Rat Run":
/Books/Subjects/Literature & Fiction/Genre Fiction/Absurdist
/Books/Subjects/Literature & Fiction/Action & Adventure
/Books/Subjects/Science Fiction & Fantasy/Science Fiction/General
/Books/Subjects/Science Fiction & Fantasy/Science Fiction/Genetic Engineering
Updates were requested in both cases. Pending update.
Not sure why this didn’t occur to me sooner. He wrote the book on my grandfather’s idiotic sperm bank and should be sympathetic to issues of eugenics. The first email bounced (from link above), so resent via Twitter.
Also sent notes to Edwin Black, Adam Cohen and Dr. Minna Stern (positive response/w purchase & read) (writers of books on eugenics). I’d keep trying this, as there is an obvious value to helping each other. Also try the page on Wikipedia. So odd I didn’t do this earlier.
9/16 – Started Using Asana for Project Tracking
Will restrict items here to things of more substance.
9/17 – Rejected by BookBub
Sad. No information on why, but lots of possibilities. Think I can reapply on 10/13 or so.
9/22 – More Book Review Requests
Sent to a few on this list, and a few from Reedsy as well. Got one response from Bookish Beyond, who said they’d be interested in reviewing. Book sent. We’ll see in four weeks or so…
9/26 – Eliot Peper Newsletter
Eliot was kind enough to mention RLRR in his monthly newsletter:
Not one, but two subscribers to this humble newsletter released their debut science-fiction novels this month. J.W. Galliger’s The Terminal Code is a murder mystery set in a future where the world has largely migrated to virtual reality, and Shawn C. Butler’s Run Lab Rat Run is a techno-thriller exploring the implications of genetic engineering. I’m so excited for and inspired by J.W. and Shawn.
The link here appears to have led to a few immediate ebook sales, which is great if hard to confirm. Thanks, Eliot! Someday, hope to make this list.
Also, changed price of ebook back to $0.99 in prep for Book Sends promo (tomorrow).
9/26 – Goal: Reached 10 Ratings on Goodreads
Also K.A. Fox was kind enough to read and review RLRR on GR, Bookbub and Amazon (TBD), which was great. And had first completely unsolicited, stranger five–star review on Amazon. So, cool.
Went out for $0.99 deal. Cost was $40 leading to 23 sales, so definitely okay (even if losing money) and hopefully driving future reviews.
9/29 – More Blogger EMs
And my first foreign review, from Germany: “Alles gut.” You’re damn right, alles gut! So there was that. Need to work on both traffic and conversion on Amazon.
September Sales
All figures shown are net sales after returns.
Mo
Paper-back
Kindle Paid
Total Paid
Free Kindle
Total Units
KENP Pages
Aug
54
17
71
110
181
3,566
Sep
12
45
57
411
468
3,829
YTD
66
62
128
521
649
7,395
Q4 2021
Sales have definitely slowed to a trickle. Facebook ads the only ongoing promotional effort, and those have not converted well. TBD on what’s next…
Nice interview with Isobel came out. I’m not sure it will generated much buzz for a number of reasons, but very pleased to have it out there. And it was fun to catch up with her.
10/9 – Goal: 20 Amazon Reviews 4+ Average
I doubt I’ll make this goal, as I’m at 19 on 10/8, but I’ve also stopped pushing this so hard. I realize that (a) I don’t want to be the guy pushing friends and colleagues for reviews (b) people have lives and (c) hopefully I can drive organic reviews by increasing readership (somehow). But still, 19 is pretty close to 20 reviews in two months (since release), so not too shabby.
10 / 20 – $0.99 Promo with
Promo with Book Cave (first). Sold 18 copies. Maybe some bump on KU. Not sure…
10 / 21 – 2nd BookRaid Promo @ $0.99
Didn’t really work. Three sales. Hmm. Maybe b/c repeat with same list?
This is a free promotion w/limited probable value, but still appreciated and shared.
October Sales
Things definitely slowing down, except for paid promos and KU sales. Not sure what’s driving KU at all (all ads have stopped), but at least half of paid ebook sales are from promos.
Mo
Paper-back
Kindle Paid
Total Paid
Free Kindle
Total Units
KENP Pages
Aug
54
17
71
110
181
3,566
Sep
12
45
57
411
468
3,829
Oct
3
29
32
0
32
6,640
YTD
69
91
160
521
681
14,035
11/4 – Promotion (0.99) on Fussy Librarian
We’ll see. Most of their promos are free. Interested to see how to build newsletter with them, too.
Worked well with 40 kindle editions sold at $0.99 and 600+ KENP pages attributed. Should do for Beasts ASAP.
Dec 9 – Updated Keywords on Amazon
Using Publisher Rocket. Despite the fact that RLRR was the highest ranking organic search result for CRISPR (which is kinda cool, but probably not helpful).
12/28+ – Do 2nd Book Sends Promo
Might try every 90 days…if they accept it.
12/31 – Goal: 50 Amazon Reviews 4+ Average
LOL, not even close. I think I was at 33 or so on NYE. Whatever.
December Sales
Some pickup due to Beasts promotions and launch. Probably not going to track after this (individually). Good things: more than 200 books sold in far less than a year, which beats (alleged) industry average; signs of pickup on launch of new book; new promo sites are better; no reason to do free promo anymore unless I can figure out how to make it drive sales; etc. Bad things: definitely a long road to sustainability; need constant new releases more on-market; at some point will need to go wide (off Amazon) and sacrifice KENP revenues.
Mo
Paper-back
Kindle Paid
Total Paid
Free Kindle
Total Units
KENP Pages
Aug
54
17
71
110
181
3,566
Sep
12
45
57
411
468
3,829
Oct
3
29
32
0
32
6,640
Nov
5
9
14
0
14
5,068
Dec
1
51
52
0
52
8,368
2021
75
151
226
521
747
23,905
2022+ Tracking
Probably not. Will consolidate at some point, or put only major events here. See promo tracking.
Milestones Pending
Coming soon, I hope.
Book Sold Every Day for 30 Days
Top #10 Ranking in any Amazon Category
Reached in Free categories on 8/31/2021, but waiting for non-free ranking.
Top #1 Ranking in any Amazon Category
Reached in Free categories on 8/31/2021, but waiting for non-free ranking.
Run Promos on these Sites
These are for free only:
FreeBooksy ($50 – $100); NA until value of free seen
This quick look at #SFFpit popular tweets is just my casual observations as I look at participating on July 28, 2021. It’s always good to try to learn from what’s worked for others, and since Retweets seem to be what we’re after (hopefully leading to agent likes), I spent some time looking at what posts got the most RTs. I’m not comparing anyone to anything, ranking anyone or anything, or otherwise implying competition where collaboration is best. If this is useful for you, great. If not, also great. Good luck to everyone tomorrow!
BTW, I’m picking 200 RTs as my cutoff for “lots of RTs” because I’m lazy and there are way too many to analyze if I go with 100 or even 150. There were many great / awesome / wonderful tweets that got 100+ RTs. This is not meant to say 200 is good, 199 is bad, etc. Just an arbitrary cutoff to save time.
BTW2, for hashtag definitions and content details, go here.
On February 3 of this year, #SFFpit had six tweets that earned more than 200 retweets, two of which were by the same person with the same pitch concept (with format updated). Well done, all.
Tweet Summary
Hashtags
User
Follower
RTs Likes
“Black Siren” @ 5:03 am
#YA #FA #BVM #OWN
Gabi Burton
8.9k
452
107
Eat Pray Love x Lovecraft @ 5:02 am
#A #DF #LGBT
Hester Steel
2.7k
345
109
Indian Alice in Wonderland (#1) @ 7:30 am
#MG #FA #OWN
Dr. Sara Kapadia
3.5k
233
58
Mononoke x Sanderson @ 5:07 am
#A #FA #EF
Daniel Roman
2.6k
212
11
Chinese Queer GOT @ 5:01 am
#YA #LGBT #POC #OWN
Ming
0.8k
208
81
Indian Alice in Wonderland (#2) @ 5:30 am
#MG #FA #OWN
Dr. Sara Kapadia
3.5k
200
23
NOTE: All figures shown here were from a snapshot in time. This numbers can and probably will change.
Five of the six tweets were from POC or LBGTQ+ participants, five of the six were by women (or so it appeared), and five of the six were by users with more than 2.5k followers. If there’s a lesson there, it’s that I probably need more followers–which is hardly surprising. And I need to post as quickly after 5:00 am PT as possible, so, some coffee or a timed tweet will help. Late morning and afternoon posts didn’t ever seem to get the same response (though that may just be a consequence of being up for a shorter period of time).
All of the pitched books sound like they’d be a great read, but I have no idea how many lead to agent likes (too many non-agent likes to filter) and/or agent pitches and/or representation.
“Black Siren” / 452 RTs
Very popular take on the classic Siren mythology, with a #BVM and #OWN voices update. Note that there was no summary line on this one, so “Black Siren” was taken from the text. I’m not sure the lack of a summary / title line impacted RTs one way or another, but the clear use of a diverse modification of a “traditional” trope seemed to work very well (see many of the titles below).
With a smile she can bring a man to his knees,with a song she can guide him to his grave.
A Black siren wants payback on the King who orphaned her. When the Prince falls for her without a Siren Song, she’ll risk her revenge— and her life— to save him.#SFFpit#YA#FA#BVM#own
Interesting pitch and comps. I read Lovecraft when I was younger and didn’t realize how racist it was. Never read Eat Pray Love, as I’m not quite the target demographic, but the combination of a journey of discovery and monsters sounds pretty cool. This tweet followed what seems to be “the standard” format of TITLE / text / hashtags (see below). #DF = Dark Fantasy.
EAT PRAY LOVE X LOVECRAFT It's ok to travel after a breakup. It's ok to join a secretive island commune. It's ok to take part in their rituals. It's ok to become the vessel of an eldritch force set on tearing apart reality. Do what u need to do to heal x #SFFpit#a#df#lgbt
The second very successful tweet of this concept by Dr. Sara Kapadia, with this one two hours later in the morning than the first (see below).
INDIAN ALICE IN WONDERLAND I was born under a thousand rain drops. I roam the magical kingdom where anything is possible, even the dreams of a twelve-year-old girl who wandered in from another world. I am Badal, the blue tiger. And I am waiting. #SFFpit#Own#FA#MG
Not sure if more RTs were due to timing, restructuring of text (prose vs. bullets), raising summary to top, familiarity with the concept or something else. For reference, here are the two side-by-side:
5:30 am Tweet
7:30 am Tweet
A for Alisha, the rebellious Indian girl
B for the blue tiger, her new friend
C for the magical kingdom hidden in a cave
D for the phoenix-dragon queen who threatens them all.
Together, the letters spell an adventure, an Indian ALICE IN WONDERLAND #SFFpit #MG #FA #OWN
INDIAN ALICE IN WONDERLAND
I was born under a thousand rain drops. I roam the magical kingdom where anything is possible, even the dreams of a twelve-year-old girl who wandered in from another world. I am Badal, the blue tiger. And I am waiting. #SFFpit #Own #FA #MG
Personally, I find the second tweet a little more compelling, but I’m not sure if that’s structure or the updated text.
MONONOKE x Sanderson / 212 RTs
Fantasy is really not my genre, so I had to look up the comps. Mononoke seems to be an animated Japanese TV series, so perhaps there’s an anime / manga tie-in that would draw in a large fan base. I assume Sanderson is Brandon Sanderson, an epic fantasy author. Sounds like a cool combo. The story seems very dramatic with crazy high stakes, so no wonder it was popular. Might have to read more fantasy. Structurally, this follows the standard format. #EF = Epic Fantasy
I’m definitely not the target demo for this, but I love me some GoT and the title / summary got me. I wonder how much it helped that Ming has two other books published under Joan He, implying a reader fan base and offsetting the relatively small twitter follower count (compared to others with high RTs)? Not sure. Still, seems like a great concept.
This sounds cool. I assume the phoenix-dragon queen takes the place of the Queen of Hearts. I wasn’t sure if the A/B/C/D format implied something beyond the initialism of the bullet points, so I was a bit stuck on that, and wonder if anyone else also stumbled over this while reading. Note the non-standard format, which I like for creativity, but found a little harder to read quickly. See comments on second standard-formatted version of this tweet, above.
A for Alisha, the rebellious Indian girl B for the blue tiger, her new friend C for the magical kingdom hidden in a cave D for the phoenix-dragon queen who threatens them all. Together, the letters spell an adventure, an Indian ALICE IN WONDERLAND #SFFpit#MG#FA#OWN
Obviously, this is a very, very small sample size so some of the following comes from looking at a lot of other tweets in various Pits.
1. Participate
Pretty obvious, but you can’t pitch if you’re not there. Participate even if it looks like the odds are stacked against you. For instance, it seems like users with lower follower counts get fewer RTs (for obvious reasons), the women authors do better than men (there are more women authors and readers, so maybe more participate?), and that some groups seem to do a better job supporting each other than others do (which is fine). But who knows how this all translates to agent representation, if it does at all? No matter what, it’s a chance to be seen and refine your elevator pitch, so go for it.
2. Write a Great Pitch (or Pitches)
Probably doesn’t hurt to have a great book idea with awesome comps. Brevity, emotional content, clear and very high stakes, compelling characters, all of that. In 280 characters. How hard can that be? Okay, yeah, that’s hard. Here’s a pitching guide from the SFFpit founder to help.
3. Pitch Early
The sweet spot for the most retweets appears to be between 5:01 and 5:30 am — in other words, a few minutes after the pit gets started. And all subsequent pitches should probably be made before noon, rather than evenly spaced throughout the day, but I can’t back that up with data…just an impression.
4. Use the “Standard” Structure
A lot will depend on how many characters you have available. I suspect some formats are chosen because they have fewer returns and spaces, leaving more characters free for text. But if I have the space, I’ll use this format:
SUMMARY / TITLE
Text or Bullets
#H1 #H2 #H3
Where the summary / title is in ALL CAPS to catch the reader’s eye. I’m sure there are other structures that work just as well or better, but this one seems to cover all the bases. Some examples that seem to work:
GREAT COMP x GREAT COMP
Really interesting text that tells a story.
#H1 #H2 #H3
Or something like this, if it works for your story:
TWIST OR UPDATE to GREAT COMP
Really interesting text that tells a story.
#H1 #H2 #H3
Nothing exactly mind blowing here. And if you prefer some other format, use it. There are no (few) rules here. Be free!
5. Have a Lot of Followers
Must work on this, seriously. If I want my pitches to blow up on the day, I need to build followers the rest of the year. Not my favorite thing or skill set, but that’s the way social media works.
6. Experiment
Try different pitches and formats throughout the day to see what catches peoples’ attention (withing the allowed # of pitches). That is, if your first pitch isn’t knocking it out of the park.
7. Retweet Other Pitches
I’m always baffled when I see people who pitch but don’t RT other pitches. It’s a collaborative event. If people see you not collaborating…
8. Follow Other Participants
I mean, a lot of us are in it for the long term, so why not? This also seems to help incentivize RTs and follow-backs.
9. Don’t Assume RTs or Likes Lead to Agents
They might, but then again they might not. There seems to be a lot of randomness to all this, but no matter what happens, you’ll learn what resonates and what might need a little more work.
NOTE: The etiquette is usually NOT like the tweets unless you’re an agent, and yet some tweets seem to have vast numbers of likes from random supports, while others don’t. No idea why this is, but you might want to let your base know not to click on the like button during the pit.
10. Have Fun
Because the alternative is sad.
#SFFpit Search Shortcuts
This is just so you can easily find tweet lists from past #SFFpits. Maybe you can find more insightful details than I have to help you out.
Can’t find your Facebook Notes? Facebook officially deprecated the Notes feature in late 2020, but left legacy Notes content in user feeds. This means you can’t create new FB Notes, edit them, or even find them easily, but don’t despair. At least for now, there appears to be a complex but effective way to find all your Facebook Notes.
However, there is no way to know how long this workaround will remain in place. I would strongly suggest you download all your Notes and save them somewhere else, if they are things you want to hold onto.
Find Your Facebook Notes
Because Facebook has preserved Notes as content in your feed, and not changed their content type, notes all remain in their system under the following URL:
https://facebook.com/notes/[note-id]/
However, unless you know your note’s ID, a long number, this isn’t very helpful. So, let’s find your Facebook notes. Keep in mind that these instructions are for the desktop, and might not be exactly the same on your mobile device.
Shortcut: If you don’t want to go through all the steps, I think you can just enter the following URL, scroll down, and then skip to Step 5:
Hashtags! For Writers! Okay, that’s enough exclamation marks. This collection of Twitter hashtags for writers is not a definitive list of anything. There are an infinite number of potential hashtags on Twitter, even within the much smaller community of writers or the writing industry collectively. These are just some that I’ve found useful as a novice but impatient user of social media. My hope is that it will save other writers’ time learning how to leverage Twitter for their writing process and careers. As such, I hope you’ll comment on how the list can be improved so we all have a better resource going forward.
There is nothing magical about this list, but I hope you find some of them useful. If you think of important ones that are missing and would help others, let me know.
Note that I’ve capitalized words in hashtags to make them more readable. This has no impact on how the work on Twitter. In other words, #amquerying is functionally the same as #AmQuerying, and the results are identical. So, off we go…
Whatcha Doing?
#AmEditing(I’m editing!). Not sure if it’s better to use this or #Editing.
#AmPublishing(Here comes my debut!) is generally used while or for self-publishing.
#AmQuerying (I’m querying & need beer!) is used for authors with a finished manuscript who are searching for an agent.
#AmReading(And now I’m reading) is a way of sharing books what you’re reading generally, which can help better understand what others (and other writers) are reading or to find good book recommendations.
#AmWriting(I’m back to writing!) (>300/hr) is used mostly as a way to community who are currently in the process of writing (presumably, their #WIP). It’s inevitable that sub-tags such as #AmWritingFantasy will be used to add detail, but I’m not sure if this is a better or worse case than using #AmWriting with #Fantasy in the same tweet. My OCD mind prefers the latter (as it prevents hashtag proliferation and is more flexible), but results of course depend on who ends up using what (and logically whether you care a lot about “and” vs. “or”).
Got a Question?
#AskAgent is for asking agents questions when they have time, which they’ll generally let you know individually or during scheduled events. Here’s a greatly respected agent making himself available to answer writer questions:
#AskAuthor is used to ask authors and writers questions, but is perhaps used more by non-authors (e.g., agents) to query this part of the #WritingCommunity.
#AskEditor is used to ask editors questions when they’re available. Some #AskEditor sessions are obviously held by professional editors looking for clients (nothing wrong with that).
#AskMentor is nominally useful in many contexts, but here I think it’s mostly used during #PitchWars to interact with potential mentors.
#AskWriter is like #AskAuthor, but I’m not sure which is more common.
Looking for an Agent
See also Events & Competitions, below
#500Queries is used by agents to share the reasons they passed or declined a query, but I’m not that familiar with how it works or when it’s used. I’ll do some research and update this shortly.
#MSWL (Manuscript Wishlist) is both tag and website. Both are exceptionally useful for finding agents and what they’re looking for. This is especially true now that some agents are specific about not just age and genre (e.g., Adult Science Fiction) but also authors (e.g., preferring LGBTQ+ or BIPOC writers).
#QueryRejections is one that’s not used that much but which I’m advocating as a way to share our experiences with query rejections. This is a hard business, and you’re not alone in feeling the pain of rejection while #AmQuerying. Sharing is caring.
Just got rejected so fast the web form got backlash or a concussion. Imagining agent playing query wack-a-mole. It's impressive. #amquerying#queryrejections#TGIF
I’ve not gone through this process (yet), so if you have better or additional good hashtags, I’d love to know what they are.
#BookCoversfor information on book covers and design if you’re #SelfPublishing.
#IndieAuthorsis the subset of authors focused on #SelfPublishing or publishing with small independent presses.
#SelfPublishing or #SelfPub if you’re looking for (or to share) information on self vs. traditional publishing.
Marketing Your Book
This is also something I’m not familiar with just yet, so more hashtag suggestions welcome.
#BookGiveaway is used to announce promotional book giveaways, or to thank authors for the books, and so on. This is a great way to generate reviews for your book (and hopefully, more sales). I’m not sure if used more by #SelfPublishing authors, but I assume so.
I’m sure there are many more, but here are the ones I’ve come across or participated in at some point:
#10Queriesis used by editors (exclusively?) during #RevPit to provide feedback on all or many of the queries they’ve received for evaluation, and by writers to ask questions about the process.
#DVPit (Diverse Pitch) is a pitch event for diverse and marginalized writers.
#IWSGPIT (Insecure Writers Support Group Pitch) is not an event I’ve done, but it sounds like I should.
#NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is an annual no-prize contest where writers all try to write a novel from scratch in a month. Some award-winning novels have come out of this competition, so it’s definitely worth looking at. Note that this is not actually a Twitter event, but it’s a great place to learn about it.
#PBPitch (Picture Books Pitch) is an event for authors with #PictureBooks.
#PitDark (Dark Pitch) is an event for darker themed novels, not just #Horror.
#PitMad is a Twitter event put on by the people who run #PitchWars (see below) as a quick way to find interested agents, but here are also many other “pits” including #SFFPit (Science Fiction Pitch) sponsored or organized by others. I participated recently and noted some of the more retweeted tweets here. More retweets are meant to make you more evident to agents, but it’s not clear there is a direct correspondence. Example pitch:
BREAKING BAD + GOLDEN GIRLS
After binge watching shows like The Wire & Breaking Bad, a 70 year old grandmother decides to try to enter into the world of illegal drug sales with the help of some friends at her senior citizens home and her tech-savvy granddaughter.#PitMad#BVM
#PitchWars (Pitch Wars) is a recurring event where authors compete (in a friendly way) for mentorship by successful writers, editors and others. I’m trying this for my first time this year. The same team puts on #PitMad. Here was something I put together while getting ready for Pitch Wars this year using this tag.
I put this together for my use in #PitchWars 2020, for adult mentors only (Mentors x Genres), so if you find it useful, great. If not, great. Good luck to everyone!https://t.co/c2enfKlK8J
#RevPit (Revise & Resubmit) was apparently created by a group of editors to facilitate editing-focused assistance to writers. The site Revise & Resub also sponsors related events where you can win feedback on full manuscripts, which sounds amazing. And there’s an Annual Contest. I’ve not used this tag or done the contest(s), so I can’t speak to efficacy, but it sounds cool. Also not sure how this works with or overlaps #AskEditor–but I assume the latter is less formally “managed” by the RevPit editing team.
#SFFPit(Science Fiction & Fantasy Pitch) is an event much like #PitMad, but focused exclusively on #SFF pitches. Participation in 2020 was far lower than in #PitMad, but it’s probably worth doing both if applicable. Here’s a pitch that was well received:
TheHazelWoodxNinthHouse When Morghan finds a magic cult whose rebel leader claims to have info about her missing dad, she must decide whether leaving behind her family and betraying the girl she likes to become a rebel is worth learning the truth. #YA#BVM#SFFpit#CF#LGBT
— shelly page ✨ Preorder CHARMED (@shelly_p_writes) July 29, 2020
#WMPitch is an agent pitching event for children’s fiction writers put on by WriteMentor. The 2020 event took place on Sep. 24th.
General Writing & Community Resources
#Authors is an alternative to #Writers (and presumably other related creatives) that seems to be used less frequently.
#MustRead. Hey, sometimes you get tired of writing.
#ScreenWriting is for screenwriters, who go through entirely different writing and marketing workflows.
#WiP (Work in Progress) is for discussion of what you’re working on, including challenges and triumphs.
#WordCount is pretty specific and low-traffic, but if you really want to find information about ideal word counts for your book, you’ll find plenty to talk about. To save you time, if you have to use this hashtag, you probably need to trim your manuscript.
#WritersLift (<100/hr) is essentially a request for more followers and is generally sent to the Writing Community to help build your base on Twitter. This is an interesting social feature for new users, but I’m not certain how or if it translates to more active engagement of success in competitions, marketing etc. Regardless, there are hundreds of such tweets daily and it’s something worth trying when you first join Twitter or want to build your writing-related audience.
#WritersTips nominally offers tips to writers, but in my recent experience has seemed a bit spammy. If I’m looking for tips or to post them, I’ll usually go to #WritingTips instead, but I have no idea if this is a best practice or how others use both hashtags.
#Writing (>525/hr) is about…writing. Be funny it wasn’t at all. I’m assuming there is massive overlap with #WritingCommunity.
#WritingCommunity (>500/hr) is a great way to share and gather information from other writers. Here, for instance, is one of my tweets to the community. While I don’t have many followers, it still got some traffic and response. Now that I know this hashtag is used far more than #WritersCommunity, I’ll stop using the latter tag.
What do you wish you had more of as a writer, or what should be more available to all writers? PLEASE comment with details. Thank you. #WritingCommunity#Authors#WritersCommunity
#WritingPrompt for those looking for a little help with inspiration.
#WritingTipshas some great advice for writers. Tip to myself: Work on your #WIP!
Twitter Hashtags for Writers by Genre
Yeah, there are a lot of these. This is not all of them. If I missed yours, it’s not personal, but feel free to let me know in the comments below. I’ve covered the top ten genres in fiction (Sorry, non-fiction writers!), and other random stuff.
#A (Adult) is one many hashtags that are obviously ambiguous. While #A used in a #WritersCommunity post along with #SF might clearly indicate tweet about adult science fiction, it can also mean blood-type, etc., in other contexts. So, be sure to add other hashtags when using tiny little tags like this one.
Action-Adventure is often grouped for agent and sales purposes.
#Adventure, because life is too short for the alternative.
#ChickLit is (often?) a more light-hearted sub-genre of #Women’sFiction.
#ChildrensFiction is for those younger than #MG. The readers, not the authors.
#ChristianSuspenseis presumably not what Christ’s followers felt while waiting outside the cave. Just kidding. I assume there are sub-genres like this for many belief systems and theologies.
#CommercialFiction is nominally plot vs. character driven, in contract to #LiteraryFiction. See also #UpmarketFiction.
#DarkFantasy is one I’m afraid to click on. I assume this is a great sub-genre tag, but it also feels like typing “Dark Fantasy” on Google while hoping to avoid BDSM or goth porn. #NSFW?
#FairyTale can only be used if you pay the troll a tole.
#Fantasyseems pretty obvious, but context is key that that key is probably guarded by a dragon.
#Fiction covers everything except #NonFiction…or does it?
#KidLit (Literature for Kids) is (I believe) the same as #ChildrensFiction.
#LitFict (Literary Fiction) or #LiteraryFiction is the character-driven partner of plot-driven #CommercialFiction and co-parent to their #UpmarketFiction lovechild.
#MagicalRealism, where the mystery is if it’s realistic for me to write in this genre.
#MG (Middle Grade) comes between #ChidrensFiction (#KidLit) and #YA.
#Mysteryis probably not too hard to figure out, but I’m not sure if #Mysteries will yield better results. It’s a mystery.
#NA (New Adult) does not usually mean “Not Applicable,” but I suppose it could in other contexts. So, be careful or maybe use #NewAdult? Best choice will depend on when and how it’s used. Pitch Wars, for instance, uses #NA for brevity.
#PB (Picture Books) barbecue if a picture is worth a thousand words, a book of pictures is worth a gazillion. See also #PictureBooks.
#Romanceis a huge genre. Huge! But also tender and kind. See also #RomCom.
#SF (Science Fiction) refers to #ScienceFiction but also means San Francisco, among other things, and is generally used during #PitchWars and similar events were brevity is key and characters are precious. Otherwise, it’s probably better to use #SciFi.
#SFF (Science Fiction and Fantasy) is for when you want to reach a larger audience than just #Fantasy or #ScienceFiction, but smaller than #Speculative. I think.
#Speculativein this context means (I think) #SF + #Fantasy + #Horror, but probably means both more and less than that depending how it’s used. Also refers to the current stock market and political future of the USA.
#UpmarketFiction is anything with the plot-drive of #CommercialFiction and the style or character development of #LiteraryFiction.
#WomensFictionis generally the category encompassing #ChickLit and several other sub-genres, and is massive in scope and reach.
#YA (Young Adult) or #YoungAdult, one of the top age-based genres in #Fiction.
Hashtags by Service or Platform
I’m not going to list anything here, as they’re generally obvious, but if you want to publish or learn about (say) the SmashWords e-book platform, there’s a tag for that: #SmashWords. This can be very helpful when finding out how other writers like things like Query Tracker, etc., without using the @ format that directly links to the company or site’s profile.
#WritersCafe is one you’ll see quite frequently, referring to WritersCafe.org, an online writing community portal and resource.
More Information?
If you’d like to add or correct something here, please just let me know in the comments. Thank you!
This is just a quick reference for Pitch Wars 2020 writers looking for adult (category) mentors. There are so many great mentors that it can take a lot of time to find those interested in your genre. I put this together for the adult mentors only, while looking for science fiction as a genre; however, I’ve included all genres mentioned by the mentor on their linked mentor pages. If it’s in all-caps or oddly formatted, that’s how it was on the source page (and has no other meaning).
If this is helpful, great, but PLEASE VERIFY EVERYTHING HERE before submitting anything. And if you find this sort of list objectionable for some reason, feel free to pretend it doesn’t exist. Nothing to see here.
UPDDATE (9/15): The people at Pitch Wars kindly put mentors by genre into a searchable spreadsheet here.
All information here comes from the Pitch Wars 2020 wishlist page and linked mentor pages. Any errors of translation or transmission are mine. Note that I have NOT included any Mentor information on genre specifics, including sub-genres, etc., so you’ll have to read it all anyway (some of it is included if it was hard to break out). If I was confused or unsure on correct genres, this is indicated with an “(*)” and is just due to my poor reading comprehension.
Sci-fi, romance, horror, thrillers, paranormal, adventure stories like something similar to Tomb Raider or Black Sails, and anything to do with Search and Rescue
Historical Fantasy, Steampunk, Alternative History, Fantasy, Paranormal; Contemporary (aka Urban) or Lighthearted Fantasy, Space Opera, “Soft” Science Fiction, Science Fiction with a touch of romance, Retellings, General Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Contemporary Romance
I love all flavours of sci-fi, from sprawling space opera and galactic intrigue to small, intimate narratives that take place on a single ship. I like alternate universes and parallel worlds, and science-fantasy crossovers that explore the coexistence of technology and magic.
So possible fit, but the two fight scenes might be a bit violent? Not sure yet. Need to do more research.
I want the science to be vaguely plausible. I’m not one of those people who forgets the “fi” in sci-fi and will present you with equations explaining why your premise is impossible (for a start, I can barely add up using a calculator) but I want some kind of basis behind it. For example, even though Michael Crichton’s JURASSIC PARK couldn’t actually be done with current tech, he gave a good enough explanation for how it happened in the book. That’s all I need.
Seems like a good possible fit, esp. since Jurassic Park involved genetic engineering. But no love for dystopian things. Not sure if my novel is that, but it’s not utopian. Asked this question on Twitter, and Anna seemed fine with Gatacca, so close enough. Also asked about the light animal-related violence in the book, but as Anna like’s Jurassic Park, this shouldn’t be an issue.
Seems like cool possible mentor. Gwynne’s comments on Sci-Fi:
“I’m only interested in soft science fiction. I want to be more (or at least equally) swept away by the story than by the science in it. I don’t necessarily need to know the whys and hows, only that the technology works and makes sense within the scope of the story. I’m a big Star Trek fan and have been all my life, so things on that level, where the focus is less on the precise temperature required to sustain the warp core and more on “seek out new life, new civilizations, boldly go” will appeal to me. Don’t get me wrong–I love it when people geek out about science! I do it myself all the time. But when it gets too technical, I lose interest. I’m also a big fan of fun and light-hearted science fiction where the reader can go along for a fast-paced ride. So…less doom-and-gloom apocalypse, more “Yeah, Mr. White! Yeah, science!”
But in her No categories, G. includes, “No 9/11 stories, tragic pandemic stories, or stories that are politically-based.” My book has strong political elements, so I’m not sure about G. as a mentor.
We’re especially excited for Military SF, Space Opera, space travel, and distant future stories. We’re also receptive to Science Fantasy with original concepts. We’re okay with some near future SF, especially if it has exceptionally unique elements or an interesting/original take on artificial intelligence; and some cyber punk. We’re not particularly excited about dystopian, climate SF, Superheroes, or near future SF beyond that mentioned above
Well, hmm. Among the books one or both of them like are: Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Martha Wells’s Murderbot, This is How you Lose the Time War, Exhalation by Ted Chiang, Recursion by Blake Crouch–which includes genetic, near-future, and sarcasm…so maybe a good fit? After talking on Twitter (is that really talking), Michael mentioned that, “I think near future with genetics is in our maybe range. Not something I’d jump at, but not something I’d immediately toss either.” Which sounds like I’d be unlikely to be selected. Darn.
I’m looking for all your sci-fi. I love it. I read it. I devour it. That being said what I would really love to see in my inbox is a story similar to Fringe. To give you a sense of my tastes, here are some sci-fi novels I adore: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (omg, I was lucky to have read this), Expeditionary Force series, Ghost in the Shell, The Martian (read it 5 times), Annihilation, Planetside, Seveneves and Gideon the 9th.
I like Paris’ taste in books, but wish I had more information. To the Twitter!
Sci-fi: Both hard sci-fi and soft sci-fi; Space Operas; Stories featuring robots/AI either as the main character or a very strong secondary/supporting character; Near-future settings; Time travel; Quiet stories with small casts or non-world changing stakes; Environmental/Climate change/Clifi/Biopunk–however you want to call it, I want to see it; Cyberpunk or it’s opposite, hopepunk. I will also include vaporwave inspired stories within these; Sci-fi with romantic subplots, but if it requires a good understanding of Romance genre beats it’s not for me.
All of this seems aligned with my novel, though she does say she’s not into sports (my book involves a running competition). On Twitter, says this not an issue. Great that she’s also a sci-fi writer. Maybe next time.
Not sure of the fit here. I think she’s primarily looking for not me (white cis male) as an author, so I just may not be someone she wants to mentor. Which is fine. My novel also doesn’t necessarily fit in her sweet spot:
Science Fiction (with or without a romance subplot) in a dystopia or space setting. See TV shows Sense8, The 100, 3%, Travelers, Dark Matter, The OA, Altered Carbon. See Marie Lu’s Warcross, Cindy Pon’s Want.
She’s a great contemporary romance author, but that doesn’t match my genre. So, probably not the best fit.
Overall sounds like a good possible fit. Her book on Amazon. More research needed, but personality-wise, I’m leaning toward yes.
Novels aimed at adults that fall into the science fiction and fantasy category. Though I’m a big fan of YA, your novel should be geared towards adults and deal with adult-age topics.
That’s me so far. Her references were also interesting. I liked This is How You Lose the Time War, for instance, and there is similar snark in my book. So…
My all time favorite Adult SFF books are NEVERNIGHT (Jay Kristoff), THE POPPY WAR (R.F. Kuang), CITY OF BRASS (S.A. Chakraborty), THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS (N.K. Jemisin), A COURT OF WINGS AND RUIN (Sarah J. Maas), and HOUSE OF BLOOD AND EARTH (Sarah J. Mass’ new Crescent City series book).
Which I’ll have to research more as I haven’t read most of them. In addition, she says she’s a fan of:
I’m a sucker for good warring/ fighting/ stabby scenes, and all of the books above have this too.
Which I’ve got, but:
With that being said, if the romance doesn’t end in a Happily Ever After or Happy For Now, then it isn’t for me.
What if the romance ends in a, “We’ll have to see in the next book?” state? Hmm. Seems like a really good match other than that.
In science fiction, we are looking for the softer side of things. We want space opera, near future, cyberpunk. We love tech, but we care less about the nitty gritty of how it works, and more about what the tech says about us as people and as a society. We are not the best fit for hard or military scifi. Recent favorites include: GIDEON THE NINTH, DOCILE, VICIOUS/VENGEFUL.
In sci-fi, seems open to any sub-genre, with some preferences. These closely match much of what’s in the book I plant to submit:
Feminist/female-led (especially in male-dominated subgenres like cyberpunk and military). Nuanced antiheroes and antagonists on the moral fence—crush the good vs bad dichotomy in SFF. Oh yeah. An internal struggle as big as external ones. Give me a deep dive into the psychology of “normal people”. Avant garde voice/POV/concept. Exploration of the post-human: give me the cyborgs, augments, mutants, AI, aliens, robots, human Transformers??? But not in a war against the humans that ends up making the humans look great because they have a heart etc. Characters with quirky hobbies.
Engineers, so I can live out the life I never did. Rich world building that I can see on the page but doesn’t overload the page. Bonus points for everything that’s shiny in your manuscript. Double if colourful.
But not looking for, “Setups of oppression.” I’m not sure what this means, but my book specifically deals with caste and oppression. I asked question on Twitter by referencing Gatacca, which was received positively, so now a definite maybe.
In sci-fi, he seems more space oriented than my near future plot, but we read all the same books:
I’m accepting all subgenres of science fiction; near-future and space opera especially. I’m a sucker for “grounded” science fiction, which I define as consisting of technology that “could” exist in the next 100 years. After finishing high school, I desperately wanted to become an astrophysicist like Brian Greene, Brian Cox, or Neil DeGrasse Tyson. I was obsessed with space and the regular existential crises that followed. I love thinking about humanity’s place among the stars (i.e. THE EXPANSE series by James S.A. Corey or THE MARTIAN by Andy Weir scratches this itch very well), and that’s because it makes me optimistic about where we as a species might go. If you have a story like this, I’m all for it. I’ll absolutely still accept other subgenres of science fiction, though. RED RISING by Pierce Brown and THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS by Ursula Le Guin are two of my favorite books and they’re far from grounded.
Doesn’t hurt that he’s a “fitness nut,” but he’ll probably go for space stories first.
(They/Them): Sci-fi interests include a lot of space elements (not my sweet spot), but also others:
In the SCIENCE FICTION corner, I’m especially up for THINGS IN SPACE. That could cover space opera, military SF, soft science fiction, hard science fiction… As long as that delicious dose of character is there, I’m all for it. I just really dig stories that take place in space and on spaceships. I’m a sucker for space fighter pilots à la Battlestar Galactica or Brandon Sanderson’s Skyward (not technically in space, but close enough). I also like to sink my teeth into more expansive military sci-fi along the lines of Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee. That’s not to say that I’m not also up for planetside sci-fi. Whether it’s near-future, dystopian, post-apocalyptic, cyberpunk or any other type of -punk, I’m here for it. Again, character is top of the list for me, so I’m not too concerned by the subgenre label. Earth-based SF I’ve enjoyed recently includes: Rosewater by Tade Thompson, Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller and Wanderers by Chuck Wendig. I’m overly enthusiastic for stories featuring ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, robots and especially sentient spaceships. Things like Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers, Embers of War by Gareth L. Powell, and the Culture novels by Iain M. Banks are all right up my alley, as is the aforementioned Battlestar Galactica and the general concept of Westworld.
The ethical and thematic concepts of Westworld are a possible match. Helps that they like, “humour, wit, snark and sarcasm”and “dubious protagonists and relatable villains.” Seems to like similar tropes. I may be more plot and less character than they like, but not 100% sure on that.
Sci-fi seems lower on the list for Maria, but interests include:
I’m mostly interested in softer SF that uses tech/science to look at human and social issues rather than hard SF or space opera. The more techie/space-oriented it is, the less likely I’ll be able to help. If your story could be a Black Mirror episode or flips the world order on its head like The Power, please send it my way. This includes dystopias and alternate histories.
All of which is a good fit, but more research needed. Seems like a great potential mentor given additional comments on Twitter, but seems to skew toward fantasy. I’m guessing Maria will end up with three fantasy / non-SF selections and maybe one SF. Just not sure I’d make the SF cut, so still not sure.
Space Opera, “Soft” Science Fiction, and Science Fiction with a touch of romance. I want to explore the universe with a motley crew, see alien planets, and maybe not necessarily get involved in a galactic war. I don’t mind romance thrown into the mix, but it shouldn’t be overwhelming.
Probably more interested in things in space, so, maybe not the best fit? So hard to tell. Seems more interested in fantasy.
They have many great ones. Not my category of writing, though. Go here for information on the Pitch Wars site.
Is this information endorsed by Pitch Wars?
Nope. In fact, when I asked about this on Twitter they cautioned me as follows. So caveat emptor.
Hi Shawn! We see these every year… and every single year they have incorrect information in them. We strongly recommend doing your own research with the wish lists!
PitMads are mini battles for agent representation that take place on Twitter every few months, generally tagged as #PitMad. The latest friendly war for the valuable attention of agents took place today, September 3, 2020 from 8 am – 8 pm eastern time. Here are the winners and lessons of this PitMad 2020, as far as a first-time participant and observer. Of course everyone is a winner; some just won more than others.
“#PitMad is the original twitter pitch event, where writers tweet
a pitch for their completed, polished, unpublished manuscripts.
Agents and editors make requests by liking / favoriting the tweeted pitch.” Pitch Wars
My main purpose in writing this is to track agent engagement in PitMads. My first twitter event was #SFFPit (a science fiction & fantasy event) a few months ago, and agent involvement there seemed very low. It’s already obvious that far more agents participate actively in PitMad, and rumors are that Tweets + RTs exceeded 300k. Which is a lot.
These are the PitMad tweets that worked best as of the end of PitMad at 8 pm ET. A lot of prospective authors did very well, garnering hundreds of re-tweets, dozens of likes and substantial agent interest. Note that all stats are taken sometime after the end of PitMad (and not all at the exact same time), and may have changed since. If any substantial corrections are needed, let me know.
1 / Paulette Kennedy
Paulette crushed it, with interest from a dozen or more agents for her adult historical fiction / horror novel. Her novel is a thematic mashup of Shirley Jackson‘s (The Haunting of) Hill House and Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic with a LGBT+ twist, which does sound pretty amazing.
The day I get a dozen (or more) agents interested in any of my books is the day I buy a G6. So, well done, Paulette. Note that I’ve left out interest expressed expressed by small publishers, self-publishing companies, etc. This is true for all tweets and authors.
2 / Zachary James
Zachary killed it at PitMad, pulling in mad retweets for his YA fantasy novel inspired my Mesoamerican mythology.
There are probably more, but damn. Hopefully, this means we’ll see this book in print soon. And then the movie. And then another book. And then…
4 / Chase Anderson
Chase’s adult memoir from a Black / POC / LGBT+ perspective pulled in massive likes and a lot of RT support. No comps were offered, but this sounds like a very interesting book.
#PitMad#BVM#POC#LGBT#MH#Mem#A: Seven years ago, a Black, gay student from MIT went to medical school and became class president, only to find bigotry insidiously woven into every part of medicine.
And so, he decided to take on the system to help change it for everyone.
— Chase Anderson, MD, MS (K.C. Ardem) 🦸🏽♂️🏳️🌈 (@ChaseTMAnderson) September 3, 2020
Unfortunately, Chase’s very enthusiastic friends didn’t follow the RT only (likes for agents) protocol, so there are nearly 2,000 likes to sort through to find agent interest. I’m sure there are several in there, but I’m not sure who they are. Fortunately, Chase was kind enough to send me what he found:
Another top YA fantasy contender, Aldara earned hundreds of RTs and interest from several agents. Her comps were the Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis‘ famous fantasy and Christian-allegory series, and Shadow and Bone, the first book in Leigh Bardugo‘s Grisha fantasy trilogy.
SHADOW & BONE x NARNIA
When 17yo Hannah opened a portal into another world following clues left behind by her missing best friend, she only wanted her friend back. She didn’t expect to be the reincarnated moon goddess people have been waiting for to start a war. #PitMad#YA#F
Though, as with all entries here, more may appear tonight and tomorrow. Good luck, Aldara
6 / Jordan Gray
Jordan’s YA fantasy / fairy tale retelling of Swan Lake and Shelby Mahurin‘s Serpent & Dove drew strong interest from Twitter and agents both. These cursed mirrors are always causing trouble.
Nadi’s adult paranormal novel drew attention from several agents in addition to hundreds of RTs–possibly due to the crazy combination of Fleabag (hysterical) and Beetlejuice (goofy). Great to see more POC and mental health perspectives in the mix.
Carolyn pitched an adult paranormal fantasy inspired by Constantine (presumably, with Keanu Reeves) and The Hollows. Nothing worse than sloppy resurrection spells.
While no agents had liked his post as of the end of Pitmad, Daniel did give me this update on Sep 4th: “I got a like on the tweet in your article from an intern at the Seymour Agency, who invited me to submit materials to Julie Gwinn (the agency’s VP). The query has been sent, and now it’s all to crossing fingers and waiting!” Good luck, Daniel!
10 / Gabi
Gabi’s young adult novel about a murdered Black casino owner is pitched from a Black and Own voices perspective, and looks like a great concept.
Erin pitched a YA fantasy novel that combines elements of Hayao Miyazaki‘s Spirited Away (based on Japanese folklore) and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Sounds like a scary ride…
SPIRITED AWAY x NIGHT CIRCUS
Stolen as a child and trapped in the Spirit World, Lira spends her days as a vengeful witch’s pied piper. Yet, when her music lures Owen to her carnival prison, his resolve to escape may free them both. Or cost her everything. #PitMad#YA#F
C.L.C. is not afraid of periods or great YA pitches. Her novel is a mashup of Clueless (fun!) and The Fault in Our Stars (sad!), and the stars seemed to have aligned because interest is…out of this world. So many puns, but seriously, it sounds like a good read.
CLUELESS x FAULT IN OUR STARS When a NY socialite is caught shoplifting, she is sentenced to serve community service at a Hospital, cramping her plans for senior year. But when she forms a bond w/ an 8yo cancer-patient, her priorities shift to things money can’t buy. #Pitmad#YA
McKayla combines the opulence and corruption of the Borgia‘s with the drug-based self improvement of Brave New World...with alien drugs. How can that go wrong?
BORGIAS + BRAVE NEW WORLD: Earth’s divided between the allure of a spiritual resurgence and an alien drug. When a spaceship carrying the Pope is commandeered by a drug lord, five Knights must decide to liberate it, or join the mutiny. #pitmad#A#SF#AD
While there were no agent likes as of the end of PitMad, Mckayla did let me know )(see comments, below) that interest was expressed by John Baker of BLM Agency. Good luck with your novella!
14 / Angelica Monai
Angelica’s YA fantasy combines a melanated Katniss (from The Hunger Games, I assume) and the Japanese manga thematics of Attack on Titan for what sounds like good violent fun.
At 19, I didn't expect my senior year to be so dangerously beautiful. I fell in love with not two, but three people. I managed to veer off a road that would've lead into an abyss. And, my bitter boss may be a murderer whose dark secrets changed our fate forever. #PitMad#NA#WF
Steph was among the most successful in terms of agent interest in her young adult novel from a Black Voices perspective. Wakanda Forever!
Yas has a plan. Spoiler alert: its not college. W/ bills stacked & bro locked up her family needs💰 NOW not 4yrs of more debt. She sets her sights on a social media brand ambassador gig. It better work & fast b4 Mom finds out she just turned down Harvard #PITMAD#YA#BVM
Alexander’s adult horror was popular with both RTs and agents, taking inspiration from The Chill and The Twisted Ones.
A mountain town where no one’s smile touches their eyes. Hikers vanishing, fresh from the trail. Hunted by ghosts, Josh must find the monster lurking in Bedal—before he winds up another missing person poster, fluttering in a window. The Chill x The Twisted Ones #PitMad#A#H
Michelle’s young adult historical fiction combines The Three Musketeers with Mulan? There better be some crazy battles, and swords and..polite ninjas?
THREE MUSKETEERS x MULAN
A 17th century London girl masquerades as a swordsman to find the killer who framed her brother for murder. However, things are not as they seem, and she becomes entangled in the espionage preceding the English Civil War. #PitMad#YA#HF
Sara offers up the only top-rated sci-fi pitch as adult speculative fiction. No bias here, but I hope she wins the prize money. If there is prize money. Which there is not. So, giant publishing contract?
On a dying Earth ruled by the wealthy 1%, orphaned and destitute Sindri joins a secret resistance plotting to overthrow the genetically enhanced elite. But when she learns she’s the president’s lost gen-e daughter she must choose: family or revolution. #PitMad#A#SF#SPF
Emily’s adult fantasy made the top 25 and attracted some agent interest.
Cursed with immortality by a reckless god, 4,000yo Amasis craves death. When he learns he’s one of five pawns in a deathmatch set by the gods, he has a choice: kill the pawns and be rewarded with afterlife or stop the gods and save humanity, staying cursed forever.#PitMad#A#F
Just some casual notes and observations from the day.
More Black / POC / LGBTQ+ / Own Voices
At least, it seems like it’s more. Hopefully moving in a good direction.
Lots of YA Fantasy
The plurality of books were YA fantasy (at least in the top pitches), which tells me there’s a strong demand there at least among twitter RTs and agents.
Little Science Fiction?
Maybe #SFFPit wasn’t an aberration? Among the top 25+, there were only two SF novel pitches, and I don’t remember seeing that many throughout the day. Except mine. I saw that a lot.
RTs Don’t Really Correspond to Agent Interest
At the top, sure, lots’a RTs correlate to agent interest, but from what I can tell by looking at agent likes, they’re searching for tags or keywords of interest–and a lot of their likes are on very low RT pitches. This makes it feel like the #PitMad is less about social engagement than agent time & focus (they are looking at pitches on this day on Twitter).
Just by way of an example, here’s a pitch, with very few RTs, and one agent like. It’s great that she found this pitch, but it wasn’t because it was being socialized extensively during PitMad.
THE BUREAU OF RETIRED SPELLS & BROKEN MAGIC—Inspectors Contiga & Smith work to clear their names and uncover who is using magic to murder people and collect items to create an unknown spell. #PITMAD#BVM#A#MR#SF#POC#writerslift
— Gerald 'I Ain't Got Time to Bleed' Rice (@GeraldRice) September 3, 2020
This means PitMad is great for those who are noticed for whatever reason, but actually pushes everyone else who goes through the regular query process down further in the slush pile. I think. It’s like reading tea leaves, honestly.
Great Way to Gauge Potential Agent Interest
Just at what they liked during PitMad. If you do this before any query, at least you’ll have some idea of what they really like (specifically) vs. general interests shown on #MSWL and related sites. I think. Again, just a thought.
More Information on PitMad & Pitch Wars
More information on the sponsors of Pitch Wars can be found here, including the regularly updated schedule of Twitter and other events. THANK YOU to them for sponsoring this great and educational event.
If you have any corrections or updates, please let me know in the comments below or on Twitter.
