The following is the third installment of a four-part interview that first appeared on the site Write a Revolution, back in 2015, but since WaR is apparently no longer around, I’m presenting it (with some updates) as part of our 30th Anniversary celebration for all those folks who might not have seen it.
In Part 1, I talked about the inspiration behind our succubus comic character, Lorelei, the horror-comic anthology Lorelei Presents: House Macabre, and what possibly distinguishes StarWarp Concepts from other publishers.
Part 2 covered the genesis of our teenaged Goth monster fighter, Pandora Zwieback, and the planning that goes into creating an SWC project.
Today, some discussion on publishing matters—marketing strategies, the use of giveaways, and promotional ideas that didn’t quite work out. Enjoy!
WaR: There is plenty of advice out there telling you how to sell your book but what book marketing strategies or methods have you found work effectively for new authors or even more established indie names?
SR: The ones that seem to work the best usually involve crowdfunding—Kickstarter and IndieGoGo and sites like that—because you’re directly marketing to people who become interested in investing in your project; the rewards offered at different backing levels have a lot to do with that. It’s a method I’ve been interested in trying, and I know other small publishers it’s worked for, so we’ll be giving it a try this year with some comic-related projects that are currently in development.
WaR: Do you try to build to a launch or release the book and then promote afterwards?
SR: I did a major push for Blood Feud, the first Pandora Zwieback novel, by first purchasing booth space at the New York Comic Con one year before its release just to announce the coming of the book.
Then, as the release date got closer, I ran a feature on the StarWarp blog called “The 13 Days of Pan-demonium”—a sort of countdown in which I hired twelve artists (plus me) to draw their interpretations of Pan, with the cover of Blood Feud appearing somewhere in each piece. I posted one illustration each day, leading up to the book’s release.
WaR: Have you tried giving anything away for free or include special offers to try and entice readers? E.g. free chapters, promotional items, limited day price reductions.
SR: Absolutely. At the StarWarp Concepts website, we offer free sample chapters from the Pandora Zwieback novels Blood Feud and Blood Reign, and there’s The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0, a free, downloadable 16-page comic book that acts as an introduction to Pan’s book series. That one originally started out as a print comic that I handed out in 2010 as a promotional item at comic book conventions and book festivals. We also have the free digital comics Heroines and Heroes—a collection of the comic artwork I’ve done for other publishers—and Heartstopper: The Legend of La Bella Tenebrosa, a three-issue series originally published in the 1990s during the “bad-girl” comics craze. It’s sort of an odd “prequel” to The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, in that it stars her monster-hunting mentor, Annie, in a comic that’s “suggested for mature readers,” as the usual warning goes for comic fans under eighteen years of age.
And depending on budgetary limitations, I’ll have either brochures or catalogs printed up to hand out at shows. It’s important that people know that StarWarp has a growing backlist of titles.
WaR: Do you mostly stick to online promotions or do you do much offline networking as well?
SR: I’ve attended conventions and book festivals over the years, which tends to work better for sales than the online promotions, because I’m able to tell attendees about the books and comics, on a one-on-one basis. The pandemic, unfortunately, put the brakes on that kind of interaction—first with the lockdown in 2020 that closed all conventions, and then, when they did start up, with the concern about them turning into “super-spreader” events because not every attendee wears a mask…or is vaccinated…or covers their mouth when they cough or sneeze. It’d be like contracting the dreaded “con crud” on steroids.
However, I am looking to get back to in-person appearances, if not in 2023 then definitely in 2024. It’s all a matter of budgeting for conventions—they’re even more expensive now for vendors and exhibitors than they were since the last time I booked space at a show.
WaR: Are there any promotional ideas that really did not work out or “bombed”? Things that you definitely will not be trying again?
SR: Ooh, where to begin…? (laughs) Well, I’ve stopped exhibiting at New York Comic Con, for one thing. The last one I attended was in 2013—I had the best location I’d ever had at that show, and wound up with a larger space than expected because the show runners had misjudged the borders of the booth layouts, but at the end of four days I’d spent $1,500 for the location and taken in…let’s just say nowhere close to that in sales.
For the 2011 New York Comic Con, I used the show’s database to contact people who’d listed the StarWarp booth as one of their planned visiting points, and e-mailed them certificates for exclusive Pandora Zwieback sketch cards that the novels’ cover painter, Bob Larkin (who used to work for publishers like Marvel and Bantam), had done for me. Only one guy showed up to claim a card—and even he didn’t really want it. He’d come to the booth to find out what was going on with Lorelei! (laughs)
In 2014, I tried a similar promotion at the first-ever BookCon, only this time I was offering prints of Bob’s cover painting for Blood Feud. Again, of all the people I contacted, only one person showed up to get their print.
There were others, but I’ve depressed myself already, remembering just these. (laughs)
That’s the end of part 3. Drop by tomorrow for the exciting conclusion!
