JM Snyder Can Teach You About The Writing Business
We have a huge amount of respect for JM Snyder. JM works hard at the craft of erotic romance writing as well as the business of writing. She is unpretentious and willing to help.
In this article JM Snyder Shares Writing Business Lessons . She’s talking from experience here:
How did JM learn promotion?
I began devouring any and all information I could find on self-promotion. iUniverse had a wealth of articles available to new authors, covering everything from book signings to sell sheets to press releases. I read them all, took them to heart, and began a direct mail marketing campaign that targeted gay/lesbian bookstores around the country. With my subsequent releases, that campaign seemed to work — I received small royalty checks on a quarterly basis…
What did JM do that allowed her sales to “skyrocket”?
Then the editor at Aspen Mountain Press, an up and coming e-publisher, contacted me about re-publishing my novels as e-books. I was skeptical — the books were currently available in electronic format, but I had seen nothing in my sales figures to suggest co-venturing with a publisher. For one, I currently made 80% off all sales, and the standard e-book publisher’s royalty rate of 35-40% paled in comparison. But the marketing person in me decided to take a chance, and sent the publisher a book I planned to self-publish. I negotiated to keep the print rights, and the book was released in both paperback and e-book formats simultaneously.
Suddenly, my sales skyrocketed…
What does JM Snyder do to drive traffic to her web site?
I track my website visitors carefully, and exploit ad campaigns targeting certain audiences who may be interested in my books. I’ve joined the ManLove Romance co-operative, a group of like-minded writers who pool their resources to afford advertising in print magazines with a large readership. Because I started in fan fiction, I run a banner ad on a popular adult fan fiction site, drawing over 100 hits a week. Not bad for $15 a month.
Everyone can learn something from this article and we thank JM Snyder for taking the time to write it.
Catch JM Snyder’s Trin, Scarred and Just What the Doctor Ordered at Aspen Mountain Press. Check out JM Snyder’s web site for more stuff.