SFA 034 – Switching Genres, Do Novellas Sell, and Are There Marketing Differences from Genre to Genre?

We had a just-us show today and decided to break up the usual format of us all chiming in on listener questions. Instead we’re doing the first of three interviews with each other using a mix of host questions and listener questions.

For this first one, Lindsay was in the hot seat and answered questions about her urban fantasy book launch, whether novellas sell, if there are differences in marketing in different genres, and much more.

News:

ACX is way behind on approving audiobooks. It’s currently around two months for approval versus the usual two weeks.
Google Play Books has simplified the publisher signup process and if you don’t have an account yet, you can follow this link to sign up: g.co/play/publish
We’re all struggling with productivity in this time of CoVid-19, so it’s normal if you are too!

Questions:

Jayne asks: What differences have you found marketing-wise between your different genres? E.g urban fantasy requires higher AMS bids, sci-fi romance does really well with cover reveals.
Marc asks: What advice in general do you have for authors who are interested in writing in both fantasy and science fiction genres? Would you suggest using pen names? Would you suggest having segmented mail lists? Any other advice?
Fatima says: My question for Lindsay is how her latest launch (Sinister Magic) compares to her launches in the other genres. She’s discussed how advertising urban fantasy is more expensive, but are there other things she’s noticed? Has she done anything different for this launch?
Jason asks: When switching genres, does it seem to matter how much a genre may be saturated so long as you have a large enough email list to get you through the first 60 days before the Amazon cliffs? Chris Fox talks about how he doesn’t even send some of his books to certain email lists so as not to skew the Amazon algorithm. Do you (or any of you) follow that philosophy when switching genres?
Dale asks: I saw an old comment from you about novellas–is anyone buying them at the low .99-1.99 price points? Is the sales life span of a short work just too short to bother with unless they are bundled?
Sarah asks: Do you still find that long (6 book +) series are the best for overall earnings or are shorter series better these days?
Dennis says: You’ve said you like snarky characters (and I enjoy them). When I’ve read your books they seem to have a very Lindsay voice or brand. What have you tried to do to create that voice? Plotting? Characterization? Something else?
L. Darby says: This is for Lindsay, and possibly Jo. What do you suggest for an introvert writer who really doesn’t do well on social media? What baby steps can you suggest? I go in spurts and disappear because it just doesn’t feel comfortable.
Jo says: It’s fair to say most of the people who got into this business did it because they enjoyed writing. Do you find that depending on writing for your income has sapped any of the enjoyment from it? Do you still write for fun?
Andrea says: You’ve mentioned health problems in the past, and listeners may remember your comments about your newest dog needing a lot of doctor attention. How have you handled disruptions to your writing schedule and goals, especially where your health and energy levels are concerned?

Thanks for listening! We’ll be recruiting questions for the Jo and Andrea interview episodes soon. We’re grabbing things out of the show’s Facebook group, and if you haven’t signed up yet, you can do that here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/504063143655523/