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Blade_of_tyshalle posted:How are you approaching it? Do you just want a general pseudonym for all sorts of work, or are you planning to have different names for different genres? A good pseudonym is like a character name, and will help sell your book as much as the title and cover design. What are you writing? Military fiction? Paranormal romance? Non-genre fiction? This is a good point. Take a look at the popular names for the genre you're writing in. Try get a similar feeling name. But ultimately, as a new, indie author, the number one way to sell your story is the cover. This is immediately followed up by the title. Once you have a reader looking at your story, they've already decided to purchase it. Your blurb and excerpt can only act to drive them away. Make sure there's synergy between these elements. Things like a webpage and/or twitter only really lead a reader to see you as a "real" author, more than promotion. This is still a good thing. Mailing lists will give you an idea of who is in your fan base but don't really help with promotion in the early game. But it's not a bad thing. If someone signs up, they want to know about your stuff. Give them what they want. Unless you have a publisher, your best chance for promotion is having your story visible on store fronts. If you are new and don't have professional marketing director in your pocket, chances are advertising will not help you much. For an example, friend of mine paid over $2000 for web exposure on his first story. After two years, he still hasn't made that back. But don't worry if your first story doesn't sell. This is how it works. Just keep writing. Remember that most authors who are making a living off this have worked on this for years and wrote a bunch of books before any started selling. Robin Hobb was brought up. She published nine novels before she started making serious money (in 2003 before Goodreads existed). Who knows how many she wrote before that. The one thing that makes this an exceptional time to be an author is that we can skip the "rejection" phase for publishers and go straight to distribution. This is awesome! It's still going to be an uphill climb but just having your story on a storefront is better than not.
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Jul 2, 2013 16:08
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Terashell posted:That's another thing, I despise mailing lists. I don't want to run one, I don't want to be on one. Apparently that's the best way to promote books? Who thought that up? Your readers thought it up because they like you and want to know when you're doing things. You harvest nothing, hunt nothing down, do nothing but make a link to your mailing list obvious to them. They sign up for your mailing list voluntarily to receive coupons, free stories, and updates when you have new books coming out. Never send anything that you wouldn't want to receive from your favorite author. (New book release? Okay. Coupon codes for your new book? Okay. Preview chapters? Okay. Your life story or rambling thoughts on the state of the publishing industry? gently caress off.) To hit your pen-name question while I'm here: Base it on what's acceptable for your genre. I'd suggest, for release-week piracy containment efforts, to pick a name unique enough without being ridiculous that you can find yourself to run DMCA campaigns. My primary pen name is very distinctive and easy to track, but in retrospect, I could have done better. Avoid ridiculous spellings, common names, and names that are already famous. Sounds like a no duh sort of thing, but do a google search for your name before using it. My next novel hits Amazon in about two weeks. I'm gathering advance reviewers right now, and bookbub picked up the first of the series for a promotional drive, so I'm excited! 
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Jul 2, 2013 18:54
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I picked my name more personally. I've always liked the name Madelyn and Serrato is the last name of a woman I have an immense amount of respect for. She's not a writer or anything. Just a decent human being.
into the void fucked around with this message at 19:36 on Jul 2, 2013 |
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Jul 2, 2013 19:32
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Thanks tarepanda, into the void, psychopomp, and inkblottime. I feel like I just lucked out on my pseudonym. It started as one I was going to use to write cheesy action thrillers for $$$, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Luckily, I realized the name was fairly appropriate for what I really wanted to do (i.e. Frank Saberhagen, and others) and, after some searching, I also lucked out in that the name was fairly uncommon (the last name is just a word or part of a word) with no other person with the name having much web presence at all. So yeah, things just fall into place sometimes, but I'll definitely echo the sentiment that you should choose something that fits what you want to write and choose wisely because you're going to set all this promotional stuff up which takes a heck of a lot of time. Wouldn't want to realize you wasted all that time down the road when you realize you picked a dumb name. Unrelated, I had heard it could take up to two weeks to get a book up on iTunes, but through Draft2Digital it only took roughly 5 days. As always, YMMV.
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Jul 2, 2013 19:35
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Would you say a pseudonym is super necessary at all, outside of certain genres? Like, I get that romance and erotica readers usually buy from female names, and I get that, say, military sci-fi readers usually buy from male names. But how necessary is it if you're writing in a fairly "normal" genre?
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Jul 2, 2013 22:36
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Yalborap posted:Would you say a pseudonym is super necessary at all, outside of certain genres? Like, I get that romance and erotica readers usually buy from female names, and I get that, say, military sci-fi readers usually buy from male names. But how necessary is it if you're writing in a fairly "normal" genre? I would still do it, even if it just to keep any crazier fans from finding you. It is just a degree of separation between you and your work, so you can have the freedom to approach even more controversial matter without fear of backlash.
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Jul 2, 2013 22:43
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Yalborap posted:Would you say a pseudonym is super necessary at all, outside of certain genres? Like, I get that romance and erotica readers usually buy from female names, and I get that, say, military sci-fi readers usually buy from male names. But how necessary is it if you're writing in a fairly "normal" genre? I think different authors use pseudonyms for different reasons. For me, it's to save my real name for more...ugh...literary pursuits.
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Jul 2, 2013 22:45
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Longbaugh01 posted:I think different authors use pseudonyms for different reasons. For me, it's to save my real name for more...ugh...literary pursuits. Yeah. My ultimate career is in medicine and since I don't know what kind of medicine, I'd rather keep my name separate.
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Jul 2, 2013 22:52
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So when you use a pseudonym for online publishing do they still have your bank account info with your real name on it so they know where to send the money? Not that some Amazon bean-counter really cares about the secret identity of Hugh G. Rection who cranked out all that erotica/vampire schlock to pay the bills; I'm just curious. Anonymity is harder to find on the internet nowadays.
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Jul 2, 2013 23:19
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Terashell posted:That's another thing, I despise mailing lists. I don't want to run one, I don't want to be on one. Apparently that's the best way to promote books? Who thought that up? I suggest you study the authors John Locke http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Locke_(author) and Hugh Howey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Howey. They run mailing lists and they answer every email personally. They post on boards and keep blogs. They sell millions of books and they are originally self-published. I watched them both grow like a garden in the spring.
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Jul 2, 2013 23:21
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Soulcleaver posted:So when you use a pseudonym for online publishing do they still have your bank account info with your real name on it so they know where to send the money? Not that some Amazon bean-counter really cares about the secret identity of Hugh G. Rection who cranked out all that erotica/vampire schlock to pay the bills; I'm just curious. Anonymity is harder to find on the internet nowadays. Yeah, the company itself still has your real name. If you are posting childrape and might be worried that the feds will be coming after you, a pseudonym isn't going to protect you. I think the only way to have true anonymity is to host it yourself on your own site. Even then...there are some pretty easy way of figuring it out.
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Jul 2, 2013 23:23
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Yeah there's no way the pseudonym will remain totally anonymous and no one should have any expectation of that whatsoever. These days (and for a while now), if anyone wants to find out enough then they will. I mean look at some of us. Our pseudonyms are all connected with our SA names now, and our SA names are all in some way connected with our real names unless you've been really really careful. It's the classic tradeoff between convenience (or in our case promotion) versus privacy. Anonymity on the Internet is dead unless you start over from scratch and use nothing but TOR or something like it.
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Jul 2, 2013 23:33
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Longbaugh01 posted:Yeah there's no way the pseudonym will remain totally anonymous and no one should have any expectation of that whatsoever. These days (and for a while now), if anyone wants to find out enough then they will. Agreed. It's a hop and a skip from this website to a facebook page, etc.
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Jul 2, 2013 23:45
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Pen names serve three purposes for me. #1 - Female name for romance. Kind of important. #2 - Experimentation under new pen names. No risk of alienating existing fan-bases if your experimental piece is under a new name. #3 - Avoiding obvious connections to my real life name due to technicalities of my employment. My employment contract technically bans working for anyone else and includes self-employment and side businesses in any field, related or not, in its scope. I'd almost certainly win that battle in court if it came down to it, but I've seen plenty of people get fired for having idiotic little side businesses before, so I'd rather not have to start that. It's better to just DBA my pen-names in another state and never, ever do anything with them on any work-related computer. Nobody's really going to go after something like this, but then again, I didn't expect to see my old co-worker get fired for having a lawn-care and roof cleaning business on the weekends when his day job was as a scientist.
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Jul 2, 2013 23:53
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I do too much of #2 there. Need to pare down my pen-names to just one or two, maybe, for branding and marketing purposes... a second pen name for the dark and depressing stuff that might bum out and disappoint my other readers.
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Jul 3, 2013 01:46
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Thanks for the info on the mailing list. as for pseudonyms, I'd like to use one, my first books are going to be... whatever genre you put metaheroes in (can't use superheroes cause that's trademarked to DC or Marvel, I forget which.)... Probably scifi? and my other series is fantasy. The only pseudonym I have in mind (that isn't already associated with horrific things from years ago that are better left to the annals of the internet) is D.M. Morrow or Thompson. Well, I could also use Tara M. Watson, the M is for Michelle, so it relates heavily to my SA username, but... I dunno. Names have always been my failing point in character creation. Hell, the main character of my first book is Helen "Ellie" Tomlinson. Not very interesting, but then, it doesn't need to be.
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Jul 3, 2013 02:34
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I would only suggest that you Google the name before you decide. Run it on Amazon, too. I know one author who is making it big and didn't realize until after that her name was a famous tennis player. Another was accused of impersonating an already established author under the same name (different genres but still).
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Jul 3, 2013 04:30
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inkblottime posted:I would only suggest that you Google the name before you decide. Run it on Amazon, too. I know one author who is making it big and didn't realize until after that her name was a famous tennis player. Another was accused of impersonating an already established author under the same name (different genres but still). A good idea. I'll definitely run that down when I'm ready to publish. If I end up out of work on worker's comp because of my shoulder, I'll have nothing but free time to write.
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Jul 3, 2013 04:46
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This thread's own Brian G. Wood only found out there was a comic book author named Brian Wood after he started publishing stuff and it was too late to change it. Google your real/pen name thoroughly before committing!
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Jul 3, 2013 12:40
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gently caress it. I think I'm going to lower Processional's price to .99 today and do a couple Twitter giveaways.
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Jul 3, 2013 17:08
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Longbaugh01 posted:gently caress it. I think I'm going to lower Processional's price to .99 today and do a couple Twitter giveaways. What is your goal for Processional? Have you written the second part yet?
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Jul 3, 2013 20:48
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Longbaugh01 posted:gently caress it. I think I'm going to lower Processional's price to .99 today and do a couple Twitter giveaways. Hasn't it only been out for... 2 1/2 days or something?
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Jul 3, 2013 20:59
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Sundae posted:What is your goal for Processional? Have you written the second part yet? Goal is to hopefully have it go at least 5 installments, maybe more, bundle that as a first season, and then hopefully do a second season. I'm just worried about these initial sales, especially as an unestablised name, and want to grow an expectation for the second episode before it's out. I do realize part of the key is just to keep pumping them out and I am already a third of the way or so through writing the second one. tarepanda posted:Hasn't it only been out for... 2 1/2 days or something? A week and I know, but again initial momentum/sales. Trust me, I'm not doing this because it's sold 10 copies and I'm impatient. If I didn't think there was a clear sign I needed to change things up then I wouldn't. Or maybe I am just talking out my rear end. We'll find out. Longbaugh01 fucked around with this message at 21:05 on Jul 3, 2013 |
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Jul 3, 2013 21:00
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I don't have anything out yet myself, but honestly, dude, it's at what, $2.99? I'd keep it there. Especially if it's your first work. From everything I've seen, the time to drop prices is when you have something else to hook the reader. What I'd suggest, and again this is from an unexperienced rookie talking out his rear end: -Keep it at $2.99. -Write the second installment. -When you put out book 2, also drop your first one to $.99 for, say, a week. Talk it up on forums and social media, though of course don't be a dick about it. -Repeat this for book 3 and 4. -When you put out your last one, make your first episode permanently $.99 or free, and bundle them all together for $9.99, maybe less if you want it to be more of a deal. And use Amazon's POD service to make a print version on the page, which will make your ebook look like more of a deal. But the biggest thing I'd say? If you price your only work at $.99, you're telling people you're only worth $.99. Be worth more. That's what I'm intending to do with my own work, which is going to be a very similar structure to your own.
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Jul 3, 2013 21:22
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Longbaugh01 posted:Goal is to hopefully have it go at least 5 installments, maybe more, bundle that as a first season, and then hopefully do a second season. Pardon the awful question, but it has to be asked: I still see no sales ranking on Processional. Has it sold a single copy? Either way, here's what I suggest... #1 - Get the second part out pronto. (As quickly as you can maintain quality.) If sales on part 1 take off after that, ignore the rest of this post.  #2 - KDP Select the first title once part II is out, freebie the first title for four of your five free days, and slam every free book affiliate site worth a drat (ENT, POI, etc - if you meet their requirements) with notifications about it in advance so they know to run it. Spend $20 on Bookblast.co, even. In my opinion, they're worth it, but I also write a different genre so YMMV. Let the freebies establish your reader base for the serial. Some portion will trickle into the second story if they like the first one. #3 - Evaluate your first month. If you can't even get people to buy it for free or if nobody trickles into story #2, kill the project and cut your losses. Edit: Also, are you on Goodreads yet? Sundae fucked around with this message at 21:44 on Jul 3, 2013 |
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Jul 3, 2013 21:33
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Yalborap posted:Stuff. Most everything you point out was why I priced it that way initially and was my overall plan. I still appreciate you words though. It's all a bit moot now since I already dropped it earlier today to have the new price effective for when I do promotion in a bit. I can always just have it be a week-long thing to see how it goes. Anyway, it's already at that price on B&N, iTunes, and Kobo if anyone's interested. Amazon should update sometime tonight (EST). Sundae posted:Pardon the awful question, but it has to be asked: I still see no sales ranking on Processional. Has it sold a single copy? Something like that. Thanks for the advice. I'm not sure if I can even do KDP Select without totally delisting it since I used Draft2Digital. I'd also lose my sales metrics I think, and KDP select is exclusive right? So it'd have to be pulled from the other 3 storefronts I have it on? I put the book itself on Goodreads. I made a new account under my pseudonym, but I'm not sure I've connected them yet, and haven't had the time to explore message boards, groups, etc. Edit: vvv Congrats! Longbaugh01 fucked around with this message at 23:25 on Jul 3, 2013 |
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Jul 3, 2013 21:38
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Finally got my new historical novel out! Paris Green - A Tale of 1920's New York  It's an unsettling story about an heiress whose life is ruined by a fraudulent medium - occasionally depressing to write, lots of fun to research. Hopefully good to read. It's a shortish book - 60k, $2.99, and can be read either on its own or as a companion piece to my bigger novel Summerland, which is currently in the doldrums and in the process of an overhaul.
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Jul 3, 2013 23:17
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Longbaugh01 posted:Thanks for the advice. I'm not sure if I can even do KDP Select without totally delisting it since I used Draft2Digital. What are you doing going through D2D for Amazon? Amazon is literally the easiest retailer to do yourself, and D2D lets you use their files to publish on Amazon yourself.
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Jul 4, 2013 00:54
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EngineerSean posted:What are you doing going through D2D for Amazon? Amazon is literally the easiest retailer to do yourself, and D2D lets you use their files to publish on Amazon yourself. *shrug* Just did. Beforehand, I think I didn't realize I could use their output file directly with vendors. A bit irrelevant though isn't it (besides the 10%), since KDP select means it has to be exclusively on Amazon, right?
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Jul 4, 2013 01:16
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No. KDP Select is exclusively Amazon. KDP on its own is not.
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Jul 4, 2013 01:31
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Anais Nun posted:Finally got my new historical novel out! moana fucked around with this message at 03:15 on Jul 4, 2013 |
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Jul 4, 2013 03:13
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The only thing I have to say is before noticing the link, I had a hard time parsing which name was the title and which was the author, because the subtitle is down with the author name. But that might just be me.
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Jul 4, 2013 03:24
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moana posted:This is a beautiful cover. I am totally picking this up. Hi! Thank you again (and profusely) for the cover! Hope you got my email. Processional is now $0.99 on Amazon as well, just fyi.
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Jul 4, 2013 04:00
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Blade_of_tyshalle posted:The only thing I have to say is before noticing the link, I had a hard time parsing which name was the title and which was the author, because the subtitle is down with the author name. But that might just be me. I had the same problem.
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Jul 4, 2013 04:09
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Longbaugh01 posted:Hi! Thank you again (and profusely) for the cover! Hope you got my email.
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Jul 4, 2013 05:45
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moana posted:I was all "I totally responded to that guy" but now I see that I totally did not finish the draft of my email. I hope it does super well, and yes, I picked up a copy! Thanks, but oh no! You were totally entitled to a free copy! I should have said something! Thanks so much 
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Jul 4, 2013 06:25
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moana posted:This is a beautiful cover. I am totally picking this up. Thank you very much! My aspirations as a designer aren't high (If I avoid being featured on lousybookcovers.com I consider it a job well done) so that's good to hear.
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Jul 4, 2013 10:59
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Okay, so I went with a pen-name with an uncommon spelling and I just noticed that when I enter it into Amazon's search engine it autocorrects to the more common spelling and the book written under it doesn't come up. Can this be remedied by writing a bunch more books, or should I change the pen name? psychopomp fucked around with this message at 16:25 on Jul 4, 2013 |
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Jul 4, 2013 16:12
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Anais Nun posted:Finally got my new historical novel out! Wonderful cover! Really enjoyed the sample, and also the sample to Summerland. Definitely picking these up. If Summerland is having an overhaul should I wait to read it or something?
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Jul 4, 2013 17:52
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It dawned on me that self-publishing is a bit like the old cliched saying about the tree falling in the forest.
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Jul 4, 2013 18:06
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