Haven't watched the video yet but thought I'd say, get creative! I did a 24 hour charity stream where I played DS1 for the first time. I was miserable by the end of it but raised over 500 dollars for a disability charity. It's a great way to just have fun with it :D
it should be glaringly obvious by now, but the biggest change to publishing in the next few years will come from AI. within 3-5 years AI will be writing at least as good if not better than entry level fanfiction writers. It is already almost at that point. This is going to put pressure on writers to be more creative, but it will also mean unscrupulous authors could release an avalanche of mediocre content.(as if that isn't already a problem, just wait!)
@@FablestoneSeries Would you be willing to check out my novels? Perhaps help me advertise them. They are so unique, they have been banned from local bookstores down here. And traditional publishers want nothing to do with them. How fun! :)
I'm actually doing the serialized chapter-by-chapter thing. I haven't gained a HUGE audience, or anything, but the readership I have managed to get have actually been really understanding of the two or three times I've needed breaks for health or personal reasons. I just let them know up front and was super transparent about what was going on. Of course, I also release three or four chapters a week on my best weeks (doesn't happen often, but sometimes I manage to pull it off) so it evens out. It's been ongoing for just over a year now and is now in the final part of the final act.
I write serials for a living, and yeah, communication with your audience is super important. There's a much thinner barrier to communicate on most web-serial platforms than there is on, for example, Amazon.
@@jonevansauthor nothing like that. Lol. It's all on a subreddit. It isn't my primary novel. It's something like a side project. It was something I wrote after hundres of requests, after I posted I guess what you'd call an "inciting incident pitch."
Honestly, serialized publishing has been around for ages-even on the internet, it's been around for at least two decades(since back when I was in high-school). It's really not as new as people think. Especially if you get into people who don't publish for profit. But even when talking about people who do get paid for it. It's just only now, since things like Dracula Daily and platforms like Wattpad and Dreame and Kindle Vella and all the various webcomics ones and such, that it's taking off enough to get more mainstream traction/recognition. But it's definitely been around for quite some time, even before then. I think you really only run into trouble when people who aren't particularly accustomed to consuming their reading in web-media type formats start reading, and that's more when people really complain. Unless you stop publishing for over a year and/or just vanish without any communication, or announce that you're quitting that story entirely; and even then, most people just mourn the loss because they'll never know what might've happened next or laugh it off because they're so used to it & then they move on to the next thing. But that's what the 'completed' & 'wip'/'incomplete'/'ongoing'/'unfinished' type tags are generally for, really-so readers can pick-&-choose, at their own discretions! 🤭 I think the two publishing styles just typically tend to have a completely separated audience-bases, before now. But maybe that's what's going to change, moving forward-maybe there will be more and more audience crossover, across the various media formats. I dunno! 🙂😊 Loll
This is for the KDP crowd, but absolutely positively add more categories to your book after it goes live. When setting up your book, Amazon lets you assign two categories. Amazon will also typically assign one or two others based on the content of your book. However, you can safely request up to eight additional categories be added to your book. It's a manual process that you do through the help feature of the KDP dashboard and you have to do it for each format separately (paperback,e-book, etc.). But this is how Amazon's algorithm can help those niche readers find your book.
Not any more. As of 2024, KDP only allows 3 categories, and they may move you to a different category than you specify or extra categories if they feel like it.
Step 1: Write book Step 2: Buy 500 pounds of bread Step 3: Use bread to befriend an army of birds Step 4: Train birds to carry books Step 5: Use bird army to distribute free copies of books and attack people who refuse your gift Step 6: Realize that controlling a bird army is easier and offers a higher return than self publishing. Use profits from first bird campaign to fund more bread, more training, and more birds in more locations. Use birds to take out rivals and gain a political foothold until you have an iron grip on the entire planet. You claimed the skies; now everything below is within your purview. All peoples live in terrified reverence of you and your army of feathered murder babies. Begin funneling money into advanced genetic experiments to fuse bird and human. Step 7: You are become Lord of the Birds, fulfilling your childhood desire to be the villain in a dystopian YA story, which was basically what you wanted as an author anyway.
Tbh all of this goes for trad publishing too. As a debut trad published author, you’re not likely to get a huge marketing budget behind your book and will be expected to do all this stuff for yourself anyway
Me plugging my seldomly used UA-cam comment here that has my author name and series setting. 😂 Writing is fun. Editing is work. Advertising is pushing that rock up a slope and having it continually roll down.
I work at a bookstore and every week we have a book on 50%-60% discount that we need to pitch to customers who are even slightly interested. That and recommending books while being as brief as possible, I just realised, is a really good practice.
The more I’ve networked with other authors, especially in the horror community, the more I’ve discovered how much the struggle of marketing and self-promoting is a bonding experience. I’ve felt mostly lucky with my horror novel, but wow, this video is such a gift! You’re a voice I really want to listen to when it comes to this stuff. My book is available from most Barnes & Nobles now-and I’ve found paid ads are decent for some sales, but it’s not something I can afford consistently. Someone gave me the advice once that word-of-mouth is far more important, so I’ve taken that approach, along with focusing more on the “passion pitch” side of things. And I’ve been so grateful with the results so far. That, and networking has been wonderful not merely as a way of spreading the word, but also because of feeling welcomed into the horror community, a group of absolutely wonderful, supportive, awesome people.
@@corruptcurly34 It’s called The Family Condition. No worries! It’s a literary horror novel-if it catches your interest when you look it up and you end up getting it, I hope you enjoy it 😁
@@codylakin288 I read the description online and it seems really interesting! “The precipice where love and darkness meet”. That shit gives me vibes. Consider a copy of your book sold. Precipice is like, my favorite word 😂 just need my paycheck to roll in so I can feed my book collecting addiction.
I don't think you're going to see thing Daniel, but as someone that is attempting to write something with the hopes of publishing it, having you lay out these kinds of things is a big help and I just want to thank you for doing it.
I don't know if this has been brought up in the comments, and you say it's been done since websites have become a thing, but I think it's important to underline a thing or two about publishing a story chapter by chapter: both a huge success in that field from a while ago and then to compare it to a historical equivalent. The huge success is Metro 2023; it was published online in 2002 ( I believe chapter by chapter but not 100% ) before being traditionally published in '05, and it became a massive success before any English translation came out ( which was in 2010 to coincide with the release of the game, fact fans ). The historic equivalent is serialized storytelling in magazines and the like. You'd be surprised how many novels were originally published this way; from something like The Count of Monte Cristo and Tolstoy to stuff from C.S. Lewis. Those are examples I know for a fact, but it's my impression that a lot of fantasy and science fiction, for a while at least, was alive and thriving in this space. Serialized publishing of stories was a proven method before the internet; collecting the parts / chapters / what-have-you later into a novel. I can imagine that this still happens, but I don't know any examples off hand; specifically a novel that was originally published in pieces in a magazine. There is still serialized fiction out there, and that's sidestepping any discussion on specifically 'web-fiction', so it's really just a matter of finding it and seeing if there's been much success in converting readers of the serialized part into the novel part. I know webcomics offer the two different formats; the weekly updates and the bound print editions of so many chapters. I would imagine there's things similar for writers who post their writings on their own website. Food for thought; great video as always!
YES! Serialized fiction definitely pre-dates all these novels that people know and love today. And it has survived, ever since-especially online. ^-^ You're more likely to run into issues of audience frustrations when attracting readers who are used to reading traditional physical novels to chapter-by-chapter content, I think, than when going from chapter-by-chapter content to a collected physical-bound volume[ or volumes] later on. And I do believe some revisions or additions or such happening from serialiazed to physical-volume is[ or can be] actually a way to get even more people interested in collecting the physical copy, even after having already read it before, as long as you aren't axing anything the existing fans truly loved. 🙂
Sites like wattpad and raddish have been running for years. Amazon launched Vellum in the US, trying to break into the serialized market. It's sort of like tuning into your favourite tv show every week. One of the hallmarks of good serialized fiction is having a compelling hook at the end of each chapter to draw the readers back to finish the story.
I have to say, you saying coming to an agent with sales built in is so important is REALLY discouraging. Are we really trending toward a day when authors have to have a built in audience AND sales to even get traditionally published?
This is honestly great general advice for all indie creators. I personally enjoy most of your content, but I will be sharing this with my wife who is in an indie singing group with her sisters. I can see how this can translate into great ways for them to put themselves more into people's conversations.
5:15 it also generates hype and more of a sense of a "community". Constant interaction through comments on manga and manhwa/webtoons enhanced the experience so much. Some of the most fun I had was because of the reactions to the chapters I think it might also evolve into something like the Japanese style where they release it chapter by chapter on the internet ( monetisation through early access for every chapter each week of course ) and then publish "officially" with corrections and changes once a company notices their work getting traction. However, it was a catalyst to flooding the market with anybody who thought they could write and had access to the internet.
About the chapter by chapter: if I understood it correctly, its pretty common in japanese publishing. They have big sites that let you write your story until it is eventually published as a light novel. But the big question is, if western publishing and readership could go a similar route.
12 years ago I did an IT contract at Harper Collins in London. They were the publishers for the Game Of Thrones novels. During my time there I attended a meeting with management and editors. During that meeting, the head editor, who selected books to publish, admitted that she had no idea which books she selected would be successful or not. It was pure chance. She would select books that she thought would be hits that turned out to be flops. And select books she had little faith in that turned out to be hits. GOT was not originally considered an automatic hit. She said she had paid a very famous pop star £1 million up front to write his autobiography and yet after a year had yet to receive a single line for a book. During my time there I got to see David Attenborough sitting in the lobby before his new natural history book was published. It was a very interesting experience working at a publishers. Very different to my usual gigs.
Started writing at 8 years old as a hobby. Loved stories and that passion only got stronger as time went on. At around 11 years old, I began working on a series that would later spawn its own history, mythology, world, deep lore, nations, animals, monsters, factions, and so on. It's my baby at this point but I never intended on sharing it until fairly recently. I self-published the first book in this multi-series project on quite a few platforms and am now making UA-cam videos for it. I don't have an audience right now but I'm in it for the long game. Working on an audiobook of a short story I wrote as well as multiple other video scripts. The most important thing I can say is that if you're passionate about your story (and I mean REALLY passionate), never lose that spark of zeal. Work on it at least once a day even if it's just a single character concept or weapon or just ten minutes of sitting down and thinking about it. Never be afraid to share your ideas with people you can trust either. I grew up being told that my little hobby was a waste of time and that it would never go anywhere. That may be true, but if you're really passionate, you'll keep on anyway. I appreciate this video though! Very useful especially in this fairly new venture. Thank you very much and God bless!
As a relatively new indie author, I would have loved to have this advice a year ago. And as a fellow socially awkward person, marketing really is the hard part. I really only have one thing to add as a possible idea for others to try: a newsletter. It sounds a bit old-fashioned, but anyone who is willing to fork over their personal email just because they like your work is a true fan that you want to keep. It also gives you a direct line of communication with them without being at the mercy of someone else's platform. It shouldn't be the only thing you do, but I can at least say it's helped me greatly.
Serialized publishing worked for Mark Twain and a bunch of other authors back in the day, so doing it in an online format sounds like it could be a successful choice. Not sure it's a route I'd personally pick but I'll be interested to see how things work out for those who try it!
Loved your video. It was very helpful. I am a twice-published freelance author of murder mystery novels. Your information was very helpful in marketing my Novel series, "For the love of murder." I will begin to put this into practice TODAY. Thanks, buddy.
Daniel, this is one of the best self publishing videos I've ever seen. Great advice all around. I've just published a vampire horror trilogy and I am desperate to find readers. Lucky enough to have gotten a few very positive reviews so far. I am wary of just giving away my books for free because I have been told that they will just be snapped up by free book hoarders and will never get read.
Yeah, I'm going to have to watch this a few times and get a strategy together. My editor is going to be done around May 5th, so I still have some time to try and put a plan together. It all seems very complicated up front, but some ascpects of this journey make more sense as you do them and I'm hoping that's the case with book promotion/marketing. I'm also hoping that I'll be more confident with this revision to put more force and effort behind marketing it as I know that was something that has been holding me back. (The book is Small Town Problems that was reviewed on this channel last year in case anyone is curious). Does a dedication to a Booktuber help :)
I think it's good to add a caveat to "Giving away your book for free." This doesn't mean putting it for free amazon but sending copies to groups, people that are part of the genre
I plan to give my first book away for free permanently as the first step in my marketing efforts. It will (probably) never be available on Amazon or any other online bookstore. I will make sure people know about it and know they can get it for free. That way they can decide for themselves whether they like my storytelling or not, based on a completed story rather than a mere sample. They will know with that whether or not I can bring the story full circle and write write satisfying endings. At least they'll know whether I can do it for at least one book.
I wish I'd watched this one a couple months ago. Just finished a novella, posted about doing so on socials (yay!) and immediately some people are asking me "What is it about?" I am absolutely doing the "Uh, it has words...?" that you warned against! Doh!
This is so, so helpful. I have a graphic novel I want to get published, and I know that will make a few differences in how to pitch it, BUT STILL. Thank you so much for making this.
I've been listening to so many podcasts about marketing self published books that this feels like when your phone has been listening to you and updating ads to be scarily relevant 😂
Can you believe that my self pub books were banned from a local bookstore down here in TX...The woman said the content of my books went against her store's "ethos"... bruh.
@@salustianoberrios405 unless your content is a bit steamy or political, it's probably just that you're an indie and you've not been blessed with the kiss of the gatekeepers of trad.
@@jonevansauthor You are quite correct on things being "steamy"...here's something even crazier, though. My brother works for penguin random house. Even has his own fleet of books published. But he refuses to help me out! How kind :)
@@DanielGreeneReviews Wasn't in this one, was in a character list you did that I watched last night so was top of mind! If someone already let you know, my bad! Appreciate the emotional stamina I know it must take to deal with OCD book fans like me lol! I think your channel's great and just started yr novella - it's excellent so far and can't wait to keep reading! And just deeply appreciate your candor and tips for people interested in starting their own writing journeys!
This literally couldn't have come at a better time for me, marketing my new release has been really hard, even with my own YT channel. These tips help, thanks Greene Goblin 🙏
Yep, I know some people still swear by Amazon or Facebook ads, but I'm decidedly in the camp of having it be a zero ROI. And yeah, I'm awful at pitching/talking/writing about my writing in general. Been working on it for years and am slooowly improving. Thanks for the continued motivation!
I'm writing songs in my book, and part of my current plan is to record them, and release them as free downloads either prior to or with the release of my book.
My book, “Bobby, There’s Always Light at the End of the Tunnel” is about to be released in the very near future. As you may know, an average of 22 veterans a day take their own lives and I was very nearly one of them about 10 years ago but, thankfully, a miracle intervened as I began to pull the trigger. Today, I am so very grateful that I didn’t end my life that day because, if you compared my life on that day to today, it has been completely upgraded in every way imaginable. And now I share my story of hope and resilience in the face of adversity with the hope of preventing at least one suicide.
Thank you for this very informative video. I recently released a short story booklet on Amazon that deals with a middle-aged man dealing with physical health issues and a social anxiety disorder. I created a commercial for it and put it on my social media, but wasn't sure how else to make people aware of it. You gave some very concrete suggestions on how to get into the hands of my audience.
AI can create a website, can market on various platforms, can write you draft pitches, can create advertising videos, can create advertisement art, can create audio files, etc., etc., etc.
Currently trying to write a small novella with my Dad about the Battle of Marathon and most importantly the run the soldiers had to make back to Athens after the battle to protect the city from a Persian force which fled that battle. Hence why long distance runs or anything to do with endurance is known as a Marathon. Ontop of that, my Dad has ALOT of connections in the local long-distance run community which initially got us to write the book in the first place. Currently on chapter 04/~12
Thank you for confirming for me that I pretty much already knew everything I needed to know-but it was reassuring to know that I was already thinking on the correct track, and that there is now one more way out there for others who haven't already been thinking along these lines to also get this information rolling for them too! 😊👏👏💖
On strategy #2, I had push back from friends about releasing my published book for free chapter by chapter on a website. They gave that very objection about how it might hurt sales to have it available for free. I liken it to a library loan. If they like it, readers can buy it or recommend it. If they don't, no real harm done. I'm only about 1/3 through uploading so far, and I've only had 1 sale since I started posting it, but I have over 100 views on each post, which is 100+ people who wouldn't know the book exists otherwise.
🤣 "In Shit Fiction." You mean, "In Shit If I Cation." Not sure, but I think that's a Cory Doctorow-ism. I spit my coffee all over my keyboard on that one. :D
Love the video. As a writer, pitches scare the crap out of me. Ask me to pump out a novel in 80k words--no problem. Describe that novel in 140 words... Yeah, my heart is bursting from its cage and my mind is going dark. The three separate pitches concept is kinda my worst nightmare. Wouldn't have thought of it so I appreciate the advice.
I am new author and admittedly like you said I struggle with the social side. That BEING said, I also play D&D as the DM and have and in my own totally not biased opinion, created stuff to revolutionize TTRPGs. I have been wanting to create a UA-cam channel, this one, to talk about the world of fantasy I have written for myself and my players and try and push stuff for my books as well. My mind is exploding with all these ideas I have floating around, and I am paralyzed by the simple prospect of being unable to reach people efficiently. After watching your video, I do believe I am going to go further with starting my own channel, not just because of my published book, "Last of the Usurpers," but because there are too many ideas in my mind, and I need to free them. This video has been highly motivational, if nothing else. Thank you.
Thank you so much for the tips, as I'm currently writing my first novel I'm learning marketing strategies as I write my book, I'm very shy when it comes to cámaras, but I know to be successful I have to get out of my comfort zone
Publishing chapter by chapter has been a thing for longer that the internet has existed, one of my favorite books of all time the Count of Monte Cristo was originally published chapter by chapter in the newspaper. which reminds me I really need to get the second part of my Count of Monte Cristo video out
Something that can help with the chapter release tactic is to at least have an idea where the story is going if not having most if not all of them drafted before you start posting. I'm working with an online publisher as an in-house author at the moment and this is how they do it.
Thanks for this info Daniel! I’ve been working on a fantasy book for a couple of years (I think? 😅). I’ll take this into account. Basic breakdown is two societies pitched against each other over misunderstandings, characters caught in the midst of it on both sides who are good people, but still trying to kill each other not understanding the other side. Love, honor, duty, and death. Thanks for roasting my shelf a while back! One day I’ll get my built-ins all done and resubmit. Thinking of a rolling ladder Beauty and the Beast style!
This is a great one, with a lot of new points I hadn’t considered before. Thank you for making this, it’s given me a few new ideas! I started my own channel not that long ago as a way of finding/cultivating that target audience. I’m still getting my feet under me with it, but I want to talk about random Fantasy and Sci-Fi books, shows, characters, or anything else that I really love, and those with similar interests might enjoy the channel, and the book when it comes out!
Also, I agree with Daniel in that I do not understand the reluctance to send your book out for feedback. Your book will NOT get better in a vacuum, and showing it around is the only way to get real world feedback. Alpha and beta readers will pick up on issues a normal reader would, but they’ll catch them way before your book ends up in the hands of the public!
Thanks so much for making this, Daniel. Definitely going to apply these tips to my approach marketing a book I just published through Amazon, Adorkables: Battle of Behemoths. Regarding passion, about 12 years ago I started to draw the Adorkables (a group similar to Mickey, Donald, and Goofy) and had some people approach me about doing several things with the characters. They wanted to make shirts, get a UA-cam cartoon going, etc. Unfortunately, after we printed shirts those investors had a falling out and while I kept drawing the characters and expanding their universe, that's all I ever did with them. I've been drawing them in between other projects ever since and have loved the supporting characters and world I've thought up for them and my kids couldn't get enough of the old shirts and the one little cartoon that was made for them received such positive feedback that last year I decided to do something with them on my own, so I made B.O.B.. I'm really proud of how it came out and am already about 2/3 of the way done with the sequel, Fish Freaks from down the Street. Either way, you've been a huge inspiration and I hope one day I'll be able to share the Adorkables with a wider audience. If there's ever a chance to send you a copy for a quick review please do let me know, I'd be thrilled to get one to you. I'll leave the pitch I added to the Amazon listing below. And if anyone reads this and is interested in Adorkables Battle of Behemoths, it is only $7, but keep in mind, is not professionally edited. I did the writing, illustrations, and editing myself. Thank you! The Adorkables (Ezio, Rex, and Ottie Otter) find themselves SMACK dab in the middle of a battle between behemoths made of their favorite and not-so-favorite chip dips. Only by working with their rival, the Nacho King, can they stop the evil Guacamoleking and save the people of Snacksville.
Very insightful, thank you! Your 3 pitches are also the standard for pitching films - I can't quite think of a better exercise than coming up with a one sentence hook and a 1-2 minute "elevator" pitch. Thinking like this also helps when it comes to editing your MS becuse you *actually know what your story is about* after doing it. A must do!
As someone who has spammed insta hashtags I know what keywords are a part of my WIP... - Male Indian Golden Retriever MC, Grumpy female MC, Queer Jock Best Friend, Aroace Mom friend, Other queer friend but theatre edition all work together to survive the zombie apocalypse subplot of grumpy x sunshine romances :) Interested?
I mean, for the releasing of chapters by chapters, isn't that the whole concept of some of the most celebrated books in history that were published weekly in newspaper? That's the concept of roman-feuilleton, with examples like The Three Musketeers and many other books that became books only after their initial publication. It's basically bringing short form reading to the low attention span public of 2023 to trick them into reading a whole book lmao. I could totally see it working. There's a reason manga work so well as pop culture. They are often published weekly before getting their volume release
I actually published a book, through a small portuguese publisher. And now I don't have much of their support. They don't do nothing! Every book that was sold was because of me, of all the work I had to let people know my work.
I'm doing my best, but man is it hard to find the gaslamp fans. Murphy Napier is my target audience, and I discovered that just by watching her videos. She makes these points of things she loves and I just go "oh, hey, I did that!" Found family, skyship pirates, high stakes, magic that is still being learned about so the reader learns with the characters, the list goes on. So now I just need to find more people like her, because she's FAR too busy to waste time on a nobody like me. 😅 Thanks for the video! It's inspired me to get out there and fling a few ebooks at people.
@KV I have emailed her just once to not be annoying, but didn't include a copy, just asked if she'd be interested in a copy in any format she would like. Maybe I should try again with a copy attached this time, lol.
I feel your pain - I’ve recently started publishing a gaslamp mystery/heist series that crosses so many genre boundaries it’s not even funny 😂 I’ve managed to get some traction via urban fantasy groups, even though they’re mostly interested in contemporary UF, but zeroing in on readers who enjoy something more historical than most UF, but not as heavily romance-focused as most gaslamp, is proving tricky!
@@Shalaena I know this was 6 months ago, but for future reference... follow up. It's not naggy, it's not annoying, it doesn't cross a boundary. You can follow up 2, 3, even 4 times. A lot of people will respect your tenacity for doing so. Of course, there's a time to call it, but don't get that instinct confused with your fear of accidentally bothering them, or maybe a fear of being seen by them... 10 seconds of courage to push send, just go for it and follow up day after day.
Dickens published “Great Expectations” in a periodical. Seemed to work for him. The medium for book serialization has changed, but the method appears proven.
A very informing video, thank you for sharing Daniel. Marketing is a hard thing to understand. But I will figure it out. Zero budget so I have to do it all myself at the moment.
Love this video, especially from someone who wants to publish a book this year!!! So glad I've found this channel. Best channel of the year. Btw what is the background music for this video? If anyone knows...
I initially published my book chapter by chapter, and I completely stunk it up. I didn't market it anywhere, and I think only two of my family members actually finished it. It wasn't written well either, and I was almost relieved when I finished the final chapter. Now, a year later, I'm almost entirely rewriting the same book. I'm deleting all the horrible and unnecessary chapters, replacing them with a new subplot. I'm also editing the chapters that I am keeping and even rewriting some of them to make them better. I know nothing about marketing, and this helped a ton. I hope the end result is a good sci-fi read, and I hope I get a few more readers than last time. Thank you so much! (Side note, my local library does a small convention where authors around the area talk about their books, and I think it would be super fun to be a part of that, and it would help with marketing.)
My response to the serialized chapter thing is that it's not unprecedented. I'm writing serialized short stories myself and some of the greatest and most respected stories of all time, whether it be serialized pulp novellas ("Solomon Kane", "Conan", "The Shadow") or even iconic novels ("Crime and Punishment", "War and Peace", "The Gunslinger", "The War of the Worlds" and "Dune") have been publishing chunks of their books in magazines for decades. This is just the newest version. I'm wanting to treat my new series like a TV Show and the individual stories as episodes and the serialized format is the best for that.
Been writing on and off for over a decade now. Got a couple books under my belt, but I've pulled almost all of them from sale in order to make them better. It's a struggle to even write most days, but hopefully I'll get into a rhythm and be able to put some of these tips to use. I've also considered releasing books chapter by chapter. It worked for Charles Dickens before even the internet, so it seems to be a good strategy.
once i saw someone who advertised his band's song in the comment section under cornhub videos. i think imagination is the only limit when it comes to marketing your stuff
I definitely need to work on networking for sure as I have no traction and I'm four books deep and need to get more involved in the local scene. I love your advice, as its more clear and transparent than others that I've watched. Gonna try and start doing tiktok, maybe UA-cam, and/or instagram. I do find it harder to try and talk about my books to people on platforms. Between Amazon and facebook etc with ads, it hasn't been worth it, especially not having any kind of following over the last few years.
I have an idea for a video I would love to see but can seem to find yet. The best fantasy world expositional intros. I hear a lot of people thinking a story did it totally wrong but I wanna know who did it right. Thanks for the great content!
I've written 11 books and am working on the 12th. After watching many of your other vids, I will gladly listen to what you have to say about marketing... (I suck at marketing and recently hired a marketing team).... Still, definitely gotta know what I can do to help!
I think the best parallel to make with chapter by chapter publishing is when video games(specifically indie games) goes into Early Access on Steam. I've been in the indie game space for about five years now, and it feels like there is A LOT of bleed over from all media following how games are marketed. Go to festivals, send early copies to people(literally hundreds of copies or demos of games sent to streamers/youtubers, hoping one land). One thing I will say, at least for the game space is, twitter just DOES NOT WORK. Back to my original statement, publishing chapter by chapter. I think the author needs to like you said -- treat it like a business! They are buying in with their TIME. It's like when you go to sit down and watch a show every week. Imagine the tv station just shrugged and went, "Idk we forgot." You need to communicate clearly, be annoying, but most importantly -- like Daniel said, you have to send it out there! No one is going to steal your idea, especially if they don't know it exists!
What other tips do you got for potential authors?!
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Haven't watched the video yet but thought I'd say, get creative! I did a 24 hour charity stream where I played DS1 for the first time. I was miserable by the end of it but raised over 500 dollars for a disability charity. It's a great way to just have fun with it :D
My self published books were banned from a local bookstore because they said the content of them went against their store's "ethos"........
ME ME ME!
it should be glaringly obvious by now, but the biggest change to publishing in the next few years will come from AI. within 3-5 years AI will be writing at least as good if not better than entry level fanfiction writers. It is already almost at that point. This is going to put pressure on writers to be more creative, but it will also mean unscrupulous authors could release an avalanche of mediocre content.(as if that isn't already a problem, just wait!)
@@FablestoneSeries Would you be willing to check out my novels? Perhaps help me advertise them. They are so unique, they have been banned from local bookstores down here. And traditional publishers want nothing to do with them. How fun! :)
Me who has no plans to write a book watching this: 👁️👄👁️
You look like that
Me who’s planning to tradition publish:
That was me but how I'm 20% into the first draft of my novel at 13 💀💀💀
@@Personwhosings yo man. 30% at 14. Teen author life
@@corey4370 Tell me when it's out, I'll see if I can save up :)
I'm actually doing the serialized chapter-by-chapter thing. I haven't gained a HUGE audience, or anything, but the readership I have managed to get have actually been really understanding of the two or three times I've needed breaks for health or personal reasons. I just let them know up front and was super transparent about what was going on. Of course, I also release three or four chapters a week on my best weeks (doesn't happen often, but sometimes I manage to pull it off) so it evens out. It's been ongoing for just over a year now and is now in the final part of the final act.
This is a thing I’ve been thinking about for awhile now
I write serials for a living, and yeah, communication with your audience is super important. There's a much thinner barrier to communicate on most web-serial platforms than there is on, for example, Amazon.
@@jonevansauthor nothing like that. Lol. It's all on a subreddit. It isn't my primary novel. It's something like a side project. It was something I wrote after hundres of requests, after I posted I guess what you'd call an "inciting incident pitch."
Honestly, serialized publishing has been around for ages-even on the internet, it's been around for at least two decades(since back when I was in high-school). It's really not as new as people think. Especially if you get into people who don't publish for profit. But even when talking about people who do get paid for it. It's just only now, since things like Dracula Daily and platforms like Wattpad and Dreame and Kindle Vella and all the various webcomics ones and such, that it's taking off enough to get more mainstream traction/recognition. But it's definitely been around for quite some time, even before then.
I think you really only run into trouble when people who aren't particularly accustomed to consuming their reading in web-media type formats start reading, and that's more when people really complain. Unless you stop publishing for over a year and/or just vanish without any communication, or announce that you're quitting that story entirely; and even then, most people just mourn the loss because they'll never know what might've happened next or laugh it off because they're so used to it & then they move on to the next thing. But that's what the 'completed' & 'wip'/'incomplete'/'ongoing'/'unfinished' type tags are generally for, really-so readers can pick-&-choose, at their own discretions! 🤭
I think the two publishing styles just typically tend to have a completely separated audience-bases, before now. But maybe that's what's going to change, moving forward-maybe there will be more and more audience crossover, across the various media formats. I dunno! 🙂😊 Loll
@@citizensguard3433 what's it called?
This is for the KDP crowd, but absolutely positively add more categories to your book after it goes live. When setting up your book, Amazon lets you assign two categories. Amazon will also typically assign one or two others based on the content of your book. However, you can safely request up to eight additional categories be added to your book. It's a manual process that you do through the help feature of the KDP dashboard and you have to do it for each format separately (paperback,e-book, etc.). But this is how Amazon's algorithm can help those niche readers find your book.
Generally held to be easier to use Author Central for adding or changing categories. Different team, different response style.
Not any more. As of 2024, KDP only allows 3 categories, and they may move you to a different category than you specify or extra categories if they feel like it.
Step 1: Write book
Step 2: Buy 500 pounds of bread
Step 3: Use bread to befriend an army of birds
Step 4: Train birds to carry books
Step 5: Use bird army to distribute free copies of books and attack people who refuse your gift
Step 6: Realize that controlling a bird army is easier and offers a higher return than self publishing. Use profits from first bird campaign to fund more bread, more training, and more birds in more locations. Use birds to take out rivals and gain a political foothold until you have an iron grip on the entire planet. You claimed the skies; now everything below is within your purview. All peoples live in terrified reverence of you and your army of feathered murder babies. Begin funneling money into advanced genetic experiments to fuse bird and human.
Step 7: You are become Lord of the Birds, fulfilling your childhood desire to be the villain in a dystopian YA story, which was basically what you wanted as an author anyway.
Step 8: Remember that birds aren’t real.
Step 9: reverse evolution and turn birds to dinosaurs since they don’t exist anyway.
Real step 8: when John Wick comes asking for it, HELP HIM.
Step 10: rule the world and force média peasants to market your book
Tbh all of this goes for trad publishing too. As a debut trad published author, you’re not likely to get a huge marketing budget behind your book and will be expected to do all this stuff for yourself anyway
Except, in that instance, I imagine your publisher/agent wouldn't be too happy about you giving away 10 free copies of your book every day. xD
This is actually encouraging as fuck. Thank you
@@AcesPrune I would imagine it’s important to consult with said agent on this one. Otherwise, yeah, reasonable point.
Me plugging my seldomly used UA-cam comment here that has my author name and series setting. 😂
Writing is fun. Editing is work. Advertising is pushing that rock up a slope and having it continually roll down.
Georgist pfp? Based.
I work at a bookstore and every week we have a book on 50%-60% discount that we need to pitch to customers who are even slightly interested.
That and recommending books while being as brief as possible, I just realised, is a really good practice.
Do you still work there?
1st book, 60K words in, LETS GO!
send me the first chapter @valkrill . would love to let you know what i think.
Cool to see I've made progress since this original comment. Currently around 97K words and nearing the final showdown!
@@Valkrill congrats
Did you finish?
That's great. I'm 25k words in on my first novel. Hope you do well.
As a game dev student, game pitches have been a huge focus of actually getting funding for a project. I second the passion pitches!
The more I’ve networked with other authors, especially in the horror community, the more I’ve discovered how much the struggle of marketing and self-promoting is a bonding experience. I’ve felt mostly lucky with my horror novel, but wow, this video is such a gift! You’re a voice I really want to listen to when it comes to this stuff.
My book is available from most Barnes & Nobles now-and I’ve found paid ads are decent for some sales, but it’s not something I can afford consistently. Someone gave me the advice once that word-of-mouth is far more important, so I’ve taken that approach, along with focusing more on the “passion pitch” side of things. And I’ve been so grateful with the results so far. That, and networking has been wonderful not merely as a way of spreading the word, but also because of feeling welcomed into the horror community, a group of absolutely wonderful, supportive, awesome people.
Hey! What’s your book called? I’m currently making my trek through WoT, but I wouldn’t mind picking your book up to add to my TBR book shelf lol
@@corruptcurly34 It’s called The Family Condition. No worries! It’s a literary horror novel-if it catches your interest when you look it up and you end up getting it, I hope you enjoy it 😁
@@codylakin288 I read the description online and it seems really interesting! “The precipice where love and darkness meet”. That shit gives me vibes. Consider a copy of your book sold. Precipice is like, my favorite word 😂 just need my paycheck to roll in so I can feed my book collecting addiction.
@@corruptcurly34 We have in common a book collecting addiction 😂 Thank you so much, again. I’m glad it intrigues you to the degree it does!
"Plug your book, plug it wherever you can. Intrude on other people's channels to plug your book."
So, uh, hi, I'm here to plug my book!
Love RavensDagger. Read these books. Genuinely great
I don't think you're going to see thing Daniel, but as someone that is attempting to write something with the hopes of publishing it, having you lay out these kinds of things is a big help and I just want to thank you for doing it.
I don't know if this has been brought up in the comments, and you say it's been done since websites have become a thing, but I think it's important to underline a thing or two about publishing a story chapter by chapter: both a huge success in that field from a while ago and then to compare it to a historical equivalent. The huge success is Metro 2023; it was published online in 2002 ( I believe chapter by chapter but not 100% ) before being traditionally published in '05, and it became a massive success before any English translation came out ( which was in 2010 to coincide with the release of the game, fact fans ). The historic equivalent is serialized storytelling in magazines and the like. You'd be surprised how many novels were originally published this way; from something like The Count of Monte Cristo and Tolstoy to stuff from C.S. Lewis. Those are examples I know for a fact, but it's my impression that a lot of fantasy and science fiction, for a while at least, was alive and thriving in this space. Serialized publishing of stories was a proven method before the internet; collecting the parts / chapters / what-have-you later into a novel. I can imagine that this still happens, but I don't know any examples off hand; specifically a novel that was originally published in pieces in a magazine.
There is still serialized fiction out there, and that's sidestepping any discussion on specifically 'web-fiction', so it's really just a matter of finding it and seeing if there's been much success in converting readers of the serialized part into the novel part. I know webcomics offer the two different formats; the weekly updates and the bound print editions of so many chapters. I would imagine there's things similar for writers who post their writings on their own website. Food for thought; great video as always!
I'm pretty sure David Copperfield by Dickens was also serialized. one chapter would go out every week on the newspaper
YES!
Serialized fiction definitely pre-dates all these novels that people know and love today. And it has survived, ever since-especially online. ^-^
You're more likely to run into issues of audience frustrations when attracting readers who are used to reading traditional physical novels to chapter-by-chapter content, I think, than when going from chapter-by-chapter content to a collected physical-bound volume[ or volumes] later on. And I do believe some revisions or additions or such happening from serialiazed to physical-volume is[ or can be] actually a way to get even more people interested in collecting the physical copy, even after having already read it before, as long as you aren't axing anything the existing fans truly loved. 🙂
Sites like wattpad and raddish have been running for years. Amazon launched Vellum in the US, trying to break into the serialized market. It's sort of like tuning into your favourite tv show every week.
One of the hallmarks of good serialized fiction is having a compelling hook at the end of each chapter to draw the readers back to finish the story.
yes, this kind of magazine serial publishing still happens. one of the most famous examples would be manga.
I have to say, you saying coming to an agent with sales built in is so important is REALLY discouraging. Are we really trending toward a day when authors have to have a built in audience AND sales to even get traditionally published?
This is honestly great general advice for all indie creators. I personally enjoy most of your content, but I will be sharing this with my wife who is in an indie singing group with her sisters. I can see how this can translate into great ways for them to put themselves more into people's conversations.
Aww :)
I'm writing an essay for college about the increasing trend of self publishing atm! Loved the video :D
5:15 it also generates hype and more of a sense of a "community".
Constant interaction through comments on manga and manhwa/webtoons enhanced the experience so much. Some of the most fun I had was because of the reactions to the chapters
I think it might also evolve into something like the Japanese style where they release it chapter by chapter on the internet ( monetisation through early access for every chapter each week of course ) and then publish "officially" with corrections and changes once a company notices their work getting traction.
However, it was a catalyst to flooding the market with anybody who thought they could write and had access to the internet.
That illusion.
@@jrpgnation6375 I don't understand?
I just hit 35k on my first novel on Sunday. I just gotta finish this first draft and then do the hard work.
Do you want some "nobody" to review it?
@@TheCamelDrum Can you review mine?
@@salustianoberrios405 I can.
@@TheCamelDrum one of these days I’ll be able to show by baby to the world (Non-artists don’t know how personal that is)
@@ScaryMannJK Elevator pitch please!
About the chapter by chapter: if I understood it correctly, its pretty common in japanese publishing. They have big sites that let you write your story until it is eventually published as a light novel.
But the big question is, if western publishing and readership could go a similar route.
@Kyl Schwartz do you mean buy the business or the books that result from the business?
12 years ago I did an IT contract at Harper Collins in London. They were the publishers for the Game Of Thrones novels. During my time there I attended a meeting with management and editors. During that meeting, the head editor, who selected books to publish, admitted that she had no idea which books she selected would be successful or not. It was pure chance. She would select books that she thought would be hits that turned out to be flops. And select books she had little faith in that turned out to be hits. GOT was not originally considered an automatic hit. She said she had paid a very famous pop star £1 million up front to write his autobiography and yet after a year had yet to receive a single line for a book. During my time there I got to see David Attenborough sitting in the lobby before his new natural history book was published. It was a very interesting experience working at a publishers. Very different to my usual gigs.
Started writing at 8 years old as a hobby. Loved stories and that passion only got stronger as time went on. At around 11 years old, I began working on a series that would later spawn its own history, mythology, world, deep lore, nations, animals, monsters, factions, and so on. It's my baby at this point but I never intended on sharing it until fairly recently.
I self-published the first book in this multi-series project on quite a few platforms and am now making UA-cam videos for it. I don't have an audience right now but I'm in it for the long game. Working on an audiobook of a short story I wrote as well as multiple other video scripts.
The most important thing I can say is that if you're passionate about your story (and I mean REALLY passionate), never lose that spark of zeal. Work on it at least once a day even if it's just a single character concept or weapon or just ten minutes of sitting down and thinking about it. Never be afraid to share your ideas with people you can trust either. I grew up being told that my little hobby was a waste of time and that it would never go anywhere. That may be true, but if you're really passionate, you'll keep on anyway.
I appreciate this video though! Very useful especially in this fairly new venture. Thank you very much and God bless!
As a relatively new indie author, I would have loved to have this advice a year ago. And as a fellow socially awkward person, marketing really is the hard part. I really only have one thing to add as a possible idea for others to try: a newsletter.
It sounds a bit old-fashioned, but anyone who is willing to fork over their personal email just because they like your work is a true fan that you want to keep. It also gives you a direct line of communication with them without being at the mercy of someone else's platform. It shouldn't be the only thing you do, but I can at least say it's helped me greatly.
Always appreciate your videos man. Thanks for this. Editing through my first Fantasy novel right now. This is great.
Serialized publishing worked for Mark Twain and a bunch of other authors back in the day, so doing it in an online format sounds like it could be a successful choice. Not sure it's a route I'd personally pick but I'll be interested to see how things work out for those who try it!
Loved your video. It was very helpful. I am a twice-published freelance author of murder mystery novels. Your information was very helpful in marketing my Novel series, "For the love of murder." I will begin to put this into practice TODAY. Thanks, buddy.
Daniel, this is one of the best self publishing videos I've ever seen. Great advice all around. I've just published a vampire horror trilogy and I am desperate to find readers. Lucky enough to have gotten a few very positive reviews so far. I am wary of just giving away my books for free because I have been told that they will just be snapped up by free book hoarders and will never get read.
The chapter by chapter thing reminds me of Victorian authors like Conan Doyle releasing Sherlock stories in serial magazines.
Yeah, I'm going to have to watch this a few times and get a strategy together. My editor is going to be done around May 5th, so I still have some time to try and put a plan together. It all seems very complicated up front, but some ascpects of this journey make more sense as you do them and I'm hoping that's the case with book promotion/marketing. I'm also hoping that I'll be more confident with this revision to put more force and effort behind marketing it as I know that was something that has been holding me back. (The book is Small Town Problems that was reviewed on this channel last year in case anyone is curious).
Does a dedication to a Booktuber help :)
I think it's good to add a caveat to "Giving away your book for free." This doesn't mean putting it for free amazon but sending copies to groups, people that are part of the genre
I plan to give my first book away for free permanently as the first step in my marketing efforts. It will (probably) never be available on Amazon or any other online bookstore. I will make sure people know about it and know they can get it for free. That way they can decide for themselves whether they like my storytelling or not, based on a completed story rather than a mere sample. They will know with that whether or not I can bring the story full circle and write write satisfying endings. At least they'll know whether I can do it for at least one book.
I wish I'd watched this one a couple months ago. Just finished a novella, posted about doing so on socials (yay!) and immediately some people are asking me "What is it about?" I am absolutely doing the "Uh, it has words...?" that you warned against! Doh!
Do Goblins get gold for publishing their works of art?
Yes, but because it was earned, they don't want it.
The passion for this video was so inspirational that I'm pumped with adrenalin.
Thank you! I've been watching videos all night and this is the first one that gave practical advice.
"The one Direction band surviving during the Purge."
...
...
I would read that.
This is so, so helpful. I have a graphic novel I want to get published, and I know that will make a few differences in how to pitch it, BUT STILL. Thank you so much for making this.
I've been listening to so many podcasts about marketing self published books that this feels like when your phone has been listening to you and updating ads to be scarily relevant 😂
Can you believe that my self pub books were banned from a local bookstore down here in TX...The woman said the content of my books went against her store's "ethos"... bruh.
@@salustianoberrios405 What does she even mean with that? 😂 People are wild
@@micaylalynn9281 I wish I knew...
@@salustianoberrios405 unless your content is a bit steamy or political, it's probably just that you're an indie and you've not been blessed with the kiss of the gatekeepers of trad.
@@jonevansauthor You are quite correct on things being "steamy"...here's something even crazier, though. My brother works for penguin random house. Even has his own fleet of books published. But he refuses to help me out! How kind :)
Thank you so much for this info. Getting more serious about publishing! ❤️
Love the channel Daniel! Do wanna say "penultimate" means the one before last, not "most ultimate". No shade! You rule and thanks for the guidance!
I genuinely don’t even remember saying that this video. I learned a while back the difference. Strange!
@@DanielGreeneReviews Wasn't in this one, was in a character list you did that I watched last night so was top of mind! If someone already let you know, my bad! Appreciate the emotional stamina I know it must take to deal with OCD book fans like me lol!
I think your channel's great and just started yr novella - it's excellent so far and can't wait to keep reading! And just deeply appreciate your candor and tips for people interested in starting their own writing journeys!
@@blakebellis uh.
Huh.
Great vid Daniel, watched this on my break from hermit mode. Going to go back into my dark cave and actually finish my book now.. goodbye..
This is one of the best videos on this topic. You should do a deep dive, maybe series, on the topic. If you haven't already, maybe I should check...
I would love to publish a book one day if I ever get past my draft phase xD
Same.
Been at it since 2005 (granted, MUCH of this is due to hard drive crashes and also complex depression) but I’m uh, as encouraged as ever.
This literally couldn't have come at a better time for me, marketing my new release has been really hard, even with my own YT channel. These tips help, thanks Greene Goblin 🙏
Yep, I know some people still swear by Amazon or Facebook ads, but I'm decidedly in the camp of having it be a zero ROI.
And yeah, I'm awful at pitching/talking/writing about my writing in general. Been working on it for years and am slooowly improving. Thanks for the continued motivation!
I'm writing songs in my book, and part of my current plan is to record them, and release them as free downloads either prior to or with the release of my book.
This was really insightful. Thank you my brother!
My book, “Bobby, There’s Always Light at the End of the Tunnel” is about to be released in the very near future.
As you may know, an average of 22 veterans a day take their own lives and I was very nearly one of them about 10 years ago but, thankfully, a miracle intervened as I began to pull the trigger.
Today, I am so very grateful that I didn’t end my life that day because, if you compared my life on that day to today, it has been completely upgraded in every way imaginable.
And now I share my story of hope and resilience in the face of adversity with the hope of preventing at least one suicide.
Thank you for this very informative video. I recently released a short story booklet on Amazon that deals with a middle-aged man dealing with physical health issues and a social anxiety disorder. I created a commercial for it and put it on my social media, but wasn't sure how else to make people aware of it. You gave some very concrete suggestions on how to get into the hands of my audience.
Tell you what, marketing on TikTok has been brutal so far 😂 I appreciate the video, man! I I’ll be watching and rewatching 👀
AI can create a website, can market on various platforms, can write you draft pitches, can create advertising videos, can create advertisement art, can create audio files, etc., etc., etc.
Hate to burst your bubble, but Chat GPT & its cousins are only as good a writer as the writer using them.
“The first part has 3 sub parts”
Attack on Titan theme song starts*
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Currently trying to write a small novella with my Dad about the Battle of Marathon and most importantly the run the soldiers had to make back to Athens after the battle to protect the city from a Persian force which fled that battle. Hence why long distance runs or anything to do with endurance is known as a Marathon.
Ontop of that, my Dad has ALOT of connections in the local long-distance run community which initially got us to write the book in the first place.
Currently on chapter 04/~12
Thank you for confirming for me that I pretty much already knew everything I needed to know-but it was reassuring to know that I was already thinking on the correct track, and that there is now one more way out there for others who haven't already been thinking along these lines to also get this information rolling for them too! 😊👏👏💖
What platform are people using for this method of releasing a chapter at a time?
Depends on what they are writing but a whole lot their own websites.
Thank you Daniel, your video was very informative and encouraging.
On strategy #2, I had push back from friends about releasing my published book for free chapter by chapter on a website. They gave that very objection about how it might hurt sales to have it available for free. I liken it to a library loan. If they like it, readers can buy it or recommend it. If they don't, no real harm done. I'm only about 1/3 through uploading so far, and I've only had 1 sale since I started posting it, but I have over 100 views on each post, which is 100+ people who wouldn't know the book exists otherwise.
🤣 "In Shit Fiction."
You mean, "In Shit If I Cation." Not sure, but I think that's a Cory Doctorow-ism.
I spit my coffee all over my keyboard on that one. :D
It’s somewhat encouraging when you realize the longest piece of written fiction is a sonic fan fiction
Love the video. As a writer, pitches scare the crap out of me. Ask me to pump out a novel in 80k words--no problem. Describe that novel in 140 words... Yeah, my heart is bursting from its cage and my mind is going dark. The three separate pitches concept is kinda my worst nightmare. Wouldn't have thought of it so I appreciate the advice.
This is the best video you've ever made.
Thank you for the amazing advice!
I am new author and admittedly like you said I struggle with the social side. That BEING said, I also play D&D as the DM and have and in my own totally not biased opinion, created stuff to revolutionize TTRPGs. I have been wanting to create a UA-cam channel, this one, to talk about the world of fantasy I have written for myself and my players and try and push stuff for my books as well. My mind is exploding with all these ideas I have floating around, and I am paralyzed by the simple prospect of being unable to reach people efficiently. After watching your video, I do believe I am going to go further with starting my own channel, not just because of my published book, "Last of the Usurpers," but because there are too many ideas in my mind, and I need to free them. This video has been highly motivational, if nothing else. Thank you.
Pure gold advice thank you Daniel. Will be putting this straight to work.
I've sold more of my fantasy series through Grindr this year than anywhere else, lol
This is a really useful video! Thanks Daniel. I'm starting to work as a literary agent for an author friend and I loved a lot of the tips from this.
Thanks for the nuanced advice!
Thank you so much for the tips, as I'm currently writing my first novel I'm learning marketing strategies as I write my book, I'm very shy when it comes to cámaras, but I know to be successful I have to get out of my comfort zone
Publishing chapter by chapter has been a thing for longer that the internet has existed, one of my favorite books of all time the Count of Monte Cristo was originally published chapter by chapter in the newspaper.
which reminds me I really need to get the second part of my Count of Monte Cristo video out
But DANIEL! What if I tried to plug my book, but it wouldn't fit inside the electrical outlet and now me fingers is tingling?
Something that can help with the chapter release tactic is to at least have an idea where the story is going if not having most if not all of them drafted before you start posting. I'm working with an online publisher as an in-house author at the moment and this is how they do it.
Bless you for this. The grind is hard.
Daniel I love your jar jar binks voice 😂
Thanks for this info Daniel! I’ve been working on a fantasy book for a couple of years (I think? 😅). I’ll take this into account. Basic breakdown is two societies pitched against each other over misunderstandings, characters caught in the midst of it on both sides who are good people, but still trying to kill each other not understanding the other side. Love, honor, duty, and death.
Thanks for roasting my shelf a while back! One day I’ll get my built-ins all done and resubmit. Thinking of a rolling ladder Beauty and the Beast style!
This is a great one, with a lot of new points I hadn’t considered before. Thank you for making this, it’s given me a few new ideas!
I started my own channel not that long ago as a way of finding/cultivating that target audience. I’m still getting my feet under me with it, but I want to talk about random Fantasy and Sci-Fi books, shows, characters, or anything else that I really love, and those with similar interests might enjoy the channel, and the book when it comes out!
Also, I agree with Daniel in that I do not understand the reluctance to send your book out for feedback. Your book will NOT get better in a vacuum, and showing it around is the only way to get real world feedback. Alpha and beta readers will pick up on issues a normal reader would, but they’ll catch them way before your book ends up in the hands of the public!
Thanks so much for making this, Daniel. Definitely going to apply these tips to my approach marketing a book I just published through Amazon, Adorkables: Battle of Behemoths. Regarding passion, about 12 years ago I started to draw the Adorkables (a group similar to Mickey, Donald, and Goofy) and had some people approach me about doing several things with the characters. They wanted to make shirts, get a UA-cam cartoon going, etc. Unfortunately, after we printed shirts those investors had a falling out and while I kept drawing the characters and expanding their universe, that's all I ever did with them. I've been drawing them in between other projects ever since and have loved the supporting characters and world I've thought up for them and my kids couldn't get enough of the old shirts and the one little cartoon that was made for them received such positive feedback that last year I decided to do something with them on my own, so I made B.O.B.. I'm really proud of how it came out and am already about 2/3 of the way done with the sequel, Fish Freaks from down the Street. Either way, you've been a huge inspiration and I hope one day I'll be able to share the Adorkables with a wider audience. If there's ever a chance to send you a copy for a quick review please do let me know, I'd be thrilled to get one to you. I'll leave the pitch I added to the Amazon listing below. And if anyone reads this and is interested in Adorkables Battle of Behemoths, it is only $7, but keep in mind, is not professionally edited. I did the writing, illustrations, and editing myself. Thank you!
The Adorkables (Ezio, Rex, and Ottie Otter) find themselves SMACK dab in the middle of a battle between behemoths made of their favorite and not-so-favorite chip dips. Only by working with their rival, the Nacho King, can they stop the evil Guacamoleking and save the people of Snacksville.
I'm thinking about releasing chapter by chapter when my book is already close to done. No need to worry about falling behind.
Very insightful, thank you! Your 3 pitches are also the standard for pitching films - I can't quite think of a better exercise than coming up with a one sentence hook and a 1-2 minute "elevator" pitch. Thinking like this also helps when it comes to editing your MS becuse you *actually know what your story is about* after doing it. A must do!
As someone who has spammed insta hashtags I know what keywords are a part of my WIP...
- Male Indian Golden Retriever MC, Grumpy female MC, Queer Jock Best Friend, Aroace Mom friend, Other queer friend but theatre edition all work together to survive the zombie apocalypse subplot of grumpy x sunshine romances :)
Interested?
I mean, for the releasing of chapters by chapters, isn't that the whole concept of some of the most celebrated books in history that were published weekly in newspaper?
That's the concept of roman-feuilleton, with examples like The Three Musketeers and many other books that became books only after their initial publication.
It's basically bringing short form reading to the low attention span public of 2023 to trick them into reading a whole book lmao. I could totally see it working. There's a reason manga work so well as pop culture. They are often published weekly before getting their volume release
I can’t wait to read Daniel’s new One Direction book
I actually published a book, through a small portuguese publisher. And now I don't have much of their support. They don't do nothing! Every book that was sold was because of me, of all the work I had to let people know my work.
I'm doing my best, but man is it hard to find the gaslamp fans.
Murphy Napier is my target audience, and I discovered that just by watching her videos. She makes these points of things she loves and I just go "oh, hey, I did that!" Found family, skyship pirates, high stakes, magic that is still being learned about so the reader learns with the characters, the list goes on. So now I just need to find more people like her, because she's FAR too busy to waste time on a nobody like me. 😅
Thanks for the video! It's inspired me to get out there and fling a few ebooks at people.
Have you sent a copy to her email?
@KV I have emailed her just once to not be annoying, but didn't include a copy, just asked if she'd be interested in a copy in any format she would like. Maybe I should try again with a copy attached this time, lol.
I feel your pain - I’ve recently started publishing a gaslamp mystery/heist series that crosses so many genre boundaries it’s not even funny 😂 I’ve managed to get some traction via urban fantasy groups, even though they’re mostly interested in contemporary UF, but zeroing in on readers who enjoy something more historical than most UF, but not as heavily romance-focused as most gaslamp, is proving tricky!
@@Shalaena I know this was 6 months ago, but for future reference... follow up. It's not naggy, it's not annoying, it doesn't cross a boundary. You can follow up 2, 3, even 4 times. A lot of people will respect your tenacity for doing so. Of course, there's a time to call it, but don't get that instinct confused with your fear of accidentally bothering them, or maybe a fear of being seen by them... 10 seconds of courage to push send, just go for it and follow up day after day.
@@berrybrandonk Thank you! That's super encouraging. I'll have to try again. 🖤
Great video for the writing community - glad you spent time on this when you didn't have to.
Dickens published “Great Expectations” in a periodical. Seemed to work for him. The medium for book serialization has changed, but the method appears proven.
"Plug your book." Heaven Killer and Blood Fiercely Defended by Heather Sprague out now!
I have the book published and am having it distributed I just couldn’t afford to have them market it. So now I’m deciding where to go from here.
The virus thing is actually a PHENOMENAL analogy.
A very informing video, thank you for sharing Daniel. Marketing is a hard thing to understand. But I will figure it out. Zero budget so I have to do it all myself at the moment.
Love this video, especially from someone who wants to publish a book this year!!! So glad I've found this channel. Best channel of the year. Btw what is the background music for this video? If anyone knows...
Great video. Thanks so much for the help!
I initially published my book chapter by chapter, and I completely stunk it up. I didn't market it anywhere, and I think only two of my family members actually finished it. It wasn't written well either, and I was almost relieved when I finished the final chapter. Now, a year later, I'm almost entirely rewriting the same book. I'm deleting all the horrible and unnecessary chapters, replacing them with a new subplot. I'm also editing the chapters that I am keeping and even rewriting some of them to make them better. I know nothing about marketing, and this helped a ton. I hope the end result is a good sci-fi read, and I hope I get a few more readers than last time. Thank you so much!
(Side note, my local library does a small convention where authors around the area talk about their books, and I think it would be super fun to be a part of that, and it would help with marketing.)
uhhhh I LOVE that mark of sacrifice tattoo
My response to the serialized chapter thing is that it's not unprecedented. I'm writing serialized short stories myself and some of the greatest and most respected stories of all time, whether it be serialized pulp novellas ("Solomon Kane", "Conan", "The Shadow") or even iconic novels ("Crime and Punishment", "War and Peace", "The Gunslinger", "The War of the Worlds" and "Dune") have been publishing chunks of their books in magazines for decades. This is just the newest version. I'm wanting to treat my new series like a TV Show and the individual stories as episodes and the serialized format is the best for that.
I was thinking about writing my ebooks as novella series, but I am not sure if a lot of people enjoyed novellas.
Been writing on and off for over a decade now. Got a couple books under my belt, but I've pulled almost all of them from sale in order to make them better. It's a struggle to even write most days, but hopefully I'll get into a rhythm and be able to put some of these tips to use.
I've also considered releasing books chapter by chapter. It worked for Charles Dickens before even the internet, so it seems to be a good strategy.
once i saw someone who advertised his band's song in the comment section under cornhub videos. i think imagination is the only limit when it comes to marketing your stuff
I definitely need to work on networking for sure as I have no traction and I'm four books deep and need to get more involved in the local scene. I love your advice, as its more clear and transparent than others that I've watched. Gonna try and start doing tiktok, maybe UA-cam, and/or instagram. I do find it harder to try and talk about my books to people on platforms. Between Amazon and facebook etc with ads, it hasn't been worth it, especially not having any kind of following over the last few years.
Thank you Daniel. You give me the insight to published indie book. And i realized the hard part is a marketing l.
Good stuff! I'll put this to use today!
I have an idea for a video I would love to see but can seem to find yet. The best fantasy world expositional intros. I hear a lot of people thinking a story did it totally wrong but I wanna know who did it right. Thanks for the great content!
I've written 11 books and am working on the 12th. After watching many of your other vids, I will gladly listen to what you have to say about marketing... (I suck at marketing and recently hired a marketing team).... Still, definitely gotta know what I can do to help!
I think the best parallel to make with chapter by chapter publishing is when video games(specifically indie games) goes into Early Access on Steam. I've been in the indie game space for about five years now, and it feels like there is A LOT of bleed over from all media following how games are marketed. Go to festivals, send early copies to people(literally hundreds of copies or demos of games sent to streamers/youtubers, hoping one land).
One thing I will say, at least for the game space is, twitter just DOES NOT WORK. Back to my original statement, publishing chapter by chapter. I think the author needs to like you said -- treat it like a business! They are buying in with their TIME. It's like when you go to sit down and watch a show every week. Imagine the tv station just shrugged and went, "Idk we forgot." You need to communicate clearly, be annoying, but most importantly -- like Daniel said, you have to send it out there! No one is going to steal your idea, especially if they don't know it exists!