A Nonfiction Book Launch Wide: The First 30 Days
Launching a book wide is a new challenge for J. and Zach, especially a nonfiction book. With differences in strategy, pricing, format, and distribution, it can be difficult to decide what to do and what not to do.
After the first 30 days of “Three Story Method,” the guys discuss their plan, results and what they would do differently. They discuss the nuances of ebook, paperback, audio, and workbook as well as the ways in which promotion is different for nonfiction than fiction.
The Career Author Podcast is a podcast where co-authors J. Thorn and Zach Bohannon share their struggles and successes as full-time authors, advice for improving your writing craft, and honest discussions of what it takes to build a successful career as an author.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
- What J. and Zach did during the first 30 days of the book launch
- How those actions created (or didn’t) measurable results
- What worked in order of impact
- The things the guys might do differently next time
Also in this episode, learn how you can use nostalgia to create memorable characters.
Send us your ways and hacks – https://thecareerauthor.com/waysandhacks/
Leave us a comment: Have you or will you launch wide? If so, what’s one thing you plan on doing that you normally wouldn’t if launching into KU?
Thanks to our Patrons.
Podcast sponsored by Kobo Writing Life – https://writinglife.kobobooks.com
Get exclusive bonus content by supporting The Career Author Podcast on Patreon at www.patreon.com/thecareerauthor
Want to work with us? Get the details at https://thecareerauthor.com/services/
Links:
The Career Author YouTube Channel – https://www.youtube.com/thecareerauthor
Three Story Method – https://books2read.com/threestorymethod
Three Story Method Workbook – https://amzn.to/37SAR1a
Molten Universe Media – http://www.moltenuniversemedia.com
Events – https://thecareerauthor.com/events/
WORKOUT AT HOME!
Join Sully for daily body-weight workouts you can do from home or in the yard, at the park or on the trail. Follow Sully on Instagram at @thomasjsullivant or on Twitter @TSullyfitness. Sully is a personal and group fitness trainer, retired Air Force vet, and Sci-fi/Post-apoc author. Donate at http://paypal.me/TSullyFitness #WODpocalypse
SPECIAL EPISODE!
- On Sunday, April 5, 2020 at 8pm EST, join us for a live Q & A episode that we’ll publish as a bonus episode for all. Details here: https://thecareerauthor.com/liveqa/
Comments
15 responses to “The Career Author Podcast: Episode 119 – A Nonfiction Book Launch Wide: The First 30 Days”
Morning guys. Great to hear you’re both happy and well and positive.
Note, at the time I listened to this, the video on this page is still last week’s landmark episode 118, so I couldn’t watch your cheerful faces and see if Zach has stuck his Catatonia poster to the wall properly yet 🙂.
I prefer paper NF books about writing because I like to highlight bits I want to remember. I know one can do this on Kindle but it’s not the same and one can’t flip through a Kindle book as easily as a paper book.
I enjoy hearing the nitty gritty with numbers, about the publishing process.
To answer your question, when I launch NF I intend to launch wide.
Great show today.
Thanks! And got that video updated so now you can check on the poster’s status.
It’s not a poster, it’s a flag! haha
Hey guys. Thank you for the dissection of going wide with your non-fiction.
I will say I am still going to try going wide with a re-release of a novel, and wide with one of my sci-fi space adventure book ones, while another I’m trying all in with KU.
Why?
I’d kinda like to see what happens. I know it seems like a rather random answer. But, I just feel like there might be more appeal if I go wide with one than the other. Plus, if the book I am putting into KU doesn’t do well there after three to six months, I can always pull it out of KU.
You’re welcome! Hopefully you’ll find our experience useful with your sci-fi launch.
There’s no problem with experimenting. As you said, you’re only looking at a 90-day commitment with KU. So this isn’t a do or die, lifetime decision.
The Netflix Party was a lot of fun! I look forward to doing it again with a movie analysis. 🙂
Like Zach said, this is a good time to release fiction, so I’m planning to push up the release date of my first novel. It was supposed to be June (midsummer), but now I think I’ll aim earlier. I’ll only do ebook for now and most likely do KU, at least at first. When I released a non-fiction, memoir-ish book last year, I only did KDP. It’s a small book in a small niche and I didn’t see the need to go wide.
I’m disappointed with what you said about Ingram Spark. I’d love to get books in libraries, but that sounds like a big hassle.
Thanks for taking the time to give us the breakdown.
Let us know how your launch goes!
Yeah, I’m cruising and trying to get this book ready to send out. Haha. Really seems like a prime time to do so.
Keep in mind this was our personal experience with Ingram Spark. At the end of the day, we think it was probably worth it to get try to get into libraries (which we will do once the pandemic subsides) and other outlets we wouldn’t normally get to. Your experience may vary.
Thanks for an excellent episode. I’m about to launch a non-fiction book, so it’s very timely for me.
Ingram’s charging model has frustrated me for years. There are so many ways to get around them that it ends up being people who are inexperienced with their platform that are those who pay – it’s exploitative of complete beginners, in my view. I have an Alliance of Independent Authors membership, so I have a coupon that negates all charges. I just don’t understand why they don’t get rid of them and be done with it.
Regarding AMS – my experience is that non-fiction is much easier to make profitable than fiction. I have a non-fiction (not writing) book that does well both in ebook and print – with the paperback showing ACoS of 9%! I think it’s because people search specifically for books that solve their problem, whereas with fiction it’s much harder to target.
Best wishes to you both.
Thanks, Kev. What you shared about Ingram doesn’t make me feel any better about the company. Openly exploiting one segment of your customers is not an ethical or sustainable business practice.
Fantastic episode, with so much useful information! I really appreciate you guys sharing the behind-the-scenes results of your launch. I also share your frustration with IngramSpark. However, here’s a Way / Hack to lessen the sting a bit: If you’re a member of ALLi or IBPA, you receive a code to enable you to upload files (new and revisions) to IngramSpark for free. It pays for the membership fee pretty quickly!
Below is the info for IBPA.
https://www.ibpa-online.org/page/ListofBenefits – IngramSpark — Free POD set-up, free revisions, no Market Access Fee
I wasn’t able to find the reference to this discount on the ALLi website but the code is still working for me.
Thanks, Matty. Good information to know. As I mentioned in Kev’s comment, that’s even more disappointing news on Ingram Spark.
Loved this episode! Just wanted to make sure you know that you can create a dedicated affiliate code for your FB ad via amazon affiliate interface. That way can tract which sales come from which ads.
Awesome. Thanks!