Christian Speculative Fiction discussion

In the midst of everything that has happened this year, how have ya'll been able to promote your books? Recently I have began to upload two chapter samples of my books to YouTube that are narrated by a text to speech converter.

I think that's a great idea, Thomas! One of these days I'd like to narrate some of my fan fiction and put it on YT or maybe SoundCloud. Not only would it just be a fun project, but I think it would give people an idea of my overall writing style (if they're willing to overlook the fact that it's super geeky fan fiction.) Plus, from what I've seen, readers like when authors do stuff in general, and I like to come across as an author who's active and productive, if not on a novel than on other fun projects.

One thing I started doing this year was offering one of my novels for free in the Kindle Store for five days every other week or so. They always get at least a few free downloads, and I enjoy watching them rise through the rankings over the week (especially those that are in particularly niche genres like steampunk and college fantasy). Since I have five novels out now and I'm working on a sixth, I figure people who take a chance on the novel that's currently free, and end up liking it, would be more willing to pay to read my other work, so that's optimally five books sold for each free one I give away. Definitely worth it.

I ran some Facebook and Amazon ads earlier this year, but did not get much out of it except lots of money down the drain, so I'm taking a break from ads for now. Maybe I'll start running them again once my books get more reviews. I think the poor ad performance (despite my extensive research in how to run book ads and assemble target audiences) is probably due to the dearth of reviews on my books (most of them only have one or two reviews).

I'm so grateful to my readers who loved the books enough to give then 5-star reviews, but in an ironic twist, I think the books with all 5-star reviews actually deter prospective readers because the reviews look "fake". Speaking from the reader's perspective, I know I trust a book more when it has at least several well-thought-out reviews that aren't necessarily all 5-star, instead of seeing a random ad for a book with one 5-star review that could very well be from the author or the author's grandmother. :)

But, in lieu of ads, lately I've been involved in two super fun promotional projects that, while more costly than my average ad budget, have been much more rewarding both in what's coming out of them and the connections I'm making.

I recently contacted full-time audiobook narrator Benjamin Fife to ask if he would be interested in doing an audiobook adaptation of one of my novels. Because I did not want him to have to narrate a book he hated, I provided him with a free copy so I could gauge his own personal interest in the project. He ended up reading it in two days and then immediately gave it a 5-star review here on GR, and told me he "absolutely" wanted to narrate it. So an audiobook is coming next year. :)

It's been a great experience for me because Mr. Fife actively helps promote audiobooks that he enjoyed working on, and already he considers me part of his own "team" of partner authors. It's enabled me to do some networking and get introduced to the other authors he works with and his own fan base. And we're planning more promotional material next year surrounding the release of the audiobook. It's been a huge confidence boost to me to team up with a professional of his caliber and have him actually believe in my work that much.

I've also been working with Rachel's Random Resources to organize a blog tour in March for my newest novel. It's been wonderful to work with Rachel so far, as she is friendly and professional. Already we have quite a few blogs signed up for the tour, which is a huge compliment to me. I feel confident that this tour will help me get my work noticed by relevant readers.

- On the advice of some folks here in this group, I modified my blog to serve as my official author website (but also still a blog). I think it's great to have a sort of "home base" where people can go to learn about me, my books, and my weird sense of humor, and find links to all of my professional social media accounts. I feel like this makes me look like a more organized author.

- I also started trying to use graphics on my author Facebook page as much as possible! Graphics-oriented social media was a trend I had been fighting, but finally I decided to give it a try courtesy of Canva.com's free graphics assembly services. Turns out, I actually like the look of my FB a lot better now! I've been making graphics for each type of post that I do, and I think it helps make the feed more organized, as you can now tell at a glance what each post is about.

- I also stopped fighting another trend and joined Instagram! I am not super active on Inst, but I do use it to upload my illustrations occasionally, and try to post author-ish updates when applicable. I think it's been helping my work get noticed by a wider audience.

Phew, okay, that was a lot! 2020 has, if nothing else, given me a lot of time to develop my promotional strategy. :) I've got a lot to look forward to in 2021!

I have been thinking to get some art made. I dabble in 3d art but would love some anime/ manga style art for my Sepera series.

How has instagram worked out?

I think that's a great idea! I like using graphic novel style art for my book covers because that's my own artistic background and it feels more natural to me to illustrate. I also think it helps make my books look distinctive. I'm all for unique cover art!

IG has been a little slow for me at first, but I think overall it's trending upward. I have some writer friends who use it, so I try to follow their lead as far as writing-related IG posts. I'm not the most super social media savvy person, but I'm willing to branch out to try to reach new audiences, and apparently there's a huge reader community on IG. I'm just going to consistently keep reaching out to them and see what happens.

Good thinking, Thomas!