Happy Friday, WG2E-Land!
Talk about one fantabulous treat to take us “dancing” right into our weekend…today, we’re welcoming to The WG2E Debut Indie Epub Author Amanda Brice, author of
Codename: Dancer (A Dani Spevak Mystery)
I brought Amanda to The WG2E because (1) I happen to really like her and her writing and (2) she has the most amazing and intriguing Indie Epub “Writers Making Choices” Journey.
You see…Amanda was an RWA Golden Heart Finalist. My DH and I sat just a few rows behind her the night she was up for the prestigious award, and I also got to know Amanda a bit in the various RWA Chapters we’re in.
But…despite her making it to the tops of the pack from which many traditionally pubbed authors are chosen, Amanda decided to go the Indie Epub Route…and here’s her incredible story as to “why”…
*********************************
I’m here today to talk about “niche” publishing. Bob Mayer touched on this concept nicely a couple of weeks ago (http://thewritersguidetoepublishing.com/welcome-to-the-wg2e-bob-mayer) with his guest post about his new Civil War book.
Ever since I decided to jump into the indie waters, I’ve been told that the book cover for my debut teen mystery novel fit right in perfectly with the traditionally published Young Adult books out there. But long before I got to this point, NY didn’t think the book would ever fit in.
My former agent shopped Codename: Dancer widely. The book was named a finalist in Romance Writers of America’s prestigious Golden Heart® Awards, and it had gotten a lot of attention. Editors at several Big Six houses raved about the premise, the writing, the voice, the characters…and even though the manuscript made it to several final acquisitions meetings, ultimately they all passed. Despite editors who loved it, marketing didn’t know where to place it.
The kiss of death.
The YA imprints called it Middle Grade. The Middle Grade imprints called it YA. I’ll let you in on my dirty little secret…they’re both right. It wasn’t that I didn’t know my audience. I just had a different audience in mind.
For years I’ve lamented the fact that there isn’t a category between Middle Grade and Young Adult, despite a large segment of readers who could benefit from one. There’s a real market void. The Middle Grade books are too babyish for this group, yet many YA books are too mature (for lack of a better term). My middle-school-aged niece is a prime example. She’s a voracious reader, and is ready for something meatier than what’s offered for her age group. But my sister-in-law doesn’t want her reading Twilight (and Twilight is actually on the tame scale compared to some YA books out there) yet, and frankly I don’t blame her. Intellectually, she’s ready for it. Emotionally? Not so much.
So with this age group in mind, I sat down and wrote Codename. But because NY didn’t know where to shelve it (is it a “children’s book” or would it go in the “teen section?”), it never sold. Apparently main characters can only be 12-or-under or 16-or-older. Fourteen-year-old high school freshmen need not apply.
Some might consider my book to be “tween” but even that seems a bit limiting, because I know several teenagers who have read it and loved it. And what 13-, 14-, or 15-year-old wants to be lumped in with the 10-to-12-year-olds? Uh-uh. No way. So I’d call it a “Younger YA,” but that’s not an accepted trad-pub term. Where do you shelve it?
That’s the beauty of indie-publishing. With a virtual bookstore, we’re not confined to the categories already in existence. We don’t have to choose whether to shelve something in Mystery or Romance (case in point: Gemma Halliday, [1]) and can instead cross-list it so we hit all the correct categories…and readers!
Then there was the whole dance element. Take a look at the Amazon Top 100 for Dance books (http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/2896/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_b_1_5_last). (Really, go look…I’ll wait. You might need to scroll a little bit, because I’m writing this ahead of time and don’t know exactly which page it will be on.) No, I didn’t send you over there to admire my cover, although you have to admit that’s a pretty cool ranking for a book that just launched a week ago from a complete newbie unknown.
Poke around and look at the books all around it. An entire sea of children’s board books and picture books. Very, very few YAs (if any).
Apparently dance books aimed at teens don’t sell well. But that could be a self-fulfilling prophecy. New York doesn’t publish YA novels focusing on dance, because supposedly only little girls want to read about dance. And because they don’t publish them, they don’t sell. Circular logic.
The few YA novels on the dance bestseller list tend to be indie books, and I don’t think that’s just a coincidence.
When I first started researching the indie scene, I came across the fabulous YA novel, Girl in Motion, by Miriam Wenger-Landis. I absolutely loved it. When I discovered that she had self-published, I knew I had to chat with her. I learned that she was a former professional ballerina, who (upon retiring from her dance career at the ripe old age of 22) later worked as an assistant editor at a Big Six publishing house while writing a novel based on her experiences in a ballet boarding school. She told me that she wrote Girl in Motion because it was the type of book she would have wanted to read as a teen.
Same here. That’s why I wrote Codename. I, too, was a dancer in my teens (although not as serious in my training as Miriam). We’d both read the Satin Slippers series as preteens, but that was it. That was in the 80s. And the market hasn’t really changed since then. Very few novels for teenage girls who love to dance. We saw an opportunity, but New York didn’t see it that way. Despite agents who believed in us and strong writing that NY editors loved, both books were deemed “too niche.”
But that’s the beauty of indie publishing. As Bob Mayer said two weeks ago, “The Internet has made things more specialized rather than broader.” By targeting a good portion of our promotional efforts towards the various dance media, we can find a respectable readership. Maybe not a readership that would have a NY publisher jumping for joy, but we don’t have to sell hundreds of thousands. By using freelancers and pricing accordingly, we can be profitable with many less units sold than in traditional publishing.
So the moral of the story is that if you have a “niche book,” don’t be discouraged. It might be perfect for indie publishing. And I bet you’ll have a blast!
[1] Gemma’s books are “mystery romances” or “romantic mysteries.” Before she was released from her Dorchester contract, her books were shelved in Romance, but I’m sure she lost a lot of mystery readers who never found them that way, yet who would have loved them! Now that she can cross-list them in both places on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, she’s finding a whole new readership…and doing VERY well.
******************************
Talk about “dancing to your own beat”…right, WG2E-Land?!
Maybe Amanda and I should write an Indie Epub novel together with a Bootscootin’ Ballerina as the heroine…LOL! Now that would be quite a unique niche.
Cheers to you, Amanda! And I can’t wait to read CODENAME: DANCER. It’s on my Kindle and beckoning me to begin.
It’s Your Turn, WG2E-Land: Amanda has graciously agreed to entertain our comments and questions all day long…so chime on in…
The Best of The WG2E Wishes — D. D. Scott
P.S. Amanda will also be back with us in May when she puts on her Intellectual Property Attorney hat and gives us the scoop on all-things-Intellectual Property Rights we need to know as Indie Epub Authors.
Congratulations on your debut success and thank you for sharing your journey with us Amanda. MY story THIN ICE falls into that same niche category as do two of my other mss. that seem to have no ‘home’ on the shelves for traditional publishers. Doing great in contests, ‘love the voice’, ‘nice writing’, kind of rejections, and no contracts. So, I’m in the research mode for Indy Publishing. I have the technical support of a wonderful and brilliant computer geek of a husband, but the marketing aspect scares the bejesus out of me. How are you dealing with the marketing? Did you set up a marketing plan 3-6 months before your release date? What did you do to appeal to your target market? And how much time are you having to spend on the ‘selling’ of your book?
Thanks! Good luck!
Oooh, let’s chat. I think I read THIN ICE in a contest a little while back. If I’m thinking of the right story, I LUVVVVVVVVVVVED it. That book needs to be out there.
As for a marketing plan, I’m actually doing now exactly what I’d planned to do a long time ago when Codename made the NY rounds. I’ve always had a marketing plan in mind. I admit that my implementation may be a little more scattered than it would have been had I sold traditionally, because 1) I would have had more credentials and contacts, and 2) I would have had a longer lead time to put it in play, but I’m still doing almost exactly what I’d planned to do back when I first wrote this.
Currently I’m on a blog tour. I’m trying to hit a mixture of YA book blogs, writer’s sites, and dance blogs. I’m also sending out review copies to YA book bloggers, so hopefully those will start trickling in.
I’ve also contacted the various dance media. I’m thrilled that Dance Spirit Magazine, which is part of the Dance Media Group (which publishes Dance Magazine, Pointe Magazine, Dance Teacher Magazine, etc), is going to do a giveaway for me! Dance Spirit is sort of the little sister of the Dance Media Group, because it’s readership is exactly my target readership — preteen and teen dance students! They’ll be featuring my book in their May 27 e-newsletter, which goes out to more than 7000 subscribers, and will also be posting my cover, blurb, and link to Amazon on their website. They’re giving away 5 copies of the print book, which will be out in mid-May.
Additionally, I’ll be taking out ads in a few recital programs. Not many, of course, because there are thousands of studios across the country, but I have some friends who are dance teachers, so I figured I might as well tap into that market.
These are all the things I’d planned to do all along. Admittedly, not having the strength of a publishing house behind me and not having bound ARCs 6 months in advance does hurt my efforts to do the full campaign, but I’m making it up as I go along. And I’m thrilled at how willing the dance bloggers are to help. I think they, too, are clamouring for some fiction right up their alley, so they know their readers likely are, too!
Very inspiring post, DD, and I absolutely love your cover and title, Amanda. I wish you great success with this book.
You really nailed the wonderful indie wave sweeping over everything. Yes there will be more competition for our stories from authors that now can post their books without the normal agent and publisher vetting, but what about the millions of books, like yours, that weren’t picked up out of fear? I totally agree that the variety of options for a reader, who can now search genres and subjects and do book previews with the click of some keys, make an inexpensive purchase and even have other stories recommended to them automatically, is only good, good, good for everyone.
Hi DD, Hi Amanda! Great post!
I was a ballerina too, btw. I danced for 23 years (semi-professional) and, when I was 13 or 14, I used to write short stories about dancing–starring my friends and I!
Like you, I understand a lot about dancing and many time I thought about writing about it … but then I would stop and think: who would buy it? No publisher would risk it and girls aren’t into ballet like they used too when I was a teen–at least, I didn’t think they were, till now …
But here you are, proving me wrong … actually, here you are proving to us that ANY good story can be written and appreciated and sold in today’s market (Yay Indie Epub!) without the fear of not pleasing agents and publishers … and the public is out there, waiting for these stories.
Like Grace Metalious once said “I may be a bad writer, but a hell of a lot people have bad taste.”
Thanks to the Indie Epub, many non-categorized or “niche” stories can now easily find their public and be successful!
Congratulations! And I hope it keeps getting better
Thanks! The dance element is important to my book, but I think the mystery is the key to my story. So I’m finding that lots of girls who have never danced are reading it and loving it. But even they say they loved getting a glimpse into the dance world.
Welcome again to The WG2E, Amanda!
Your story is sooo inspirational…and it shows that even when you’re writing itself stands out at the front of a pack of your peers – like yours did as a GH Finalist – traditional editors are only looking for what they believe sold yesterday…and even if your story is terrific and your writing voice even better, if they can’t find a label that already exists for your book, chances are it’s not gonna get traditionally pubbed.
And here’s the irony of that…why, as good business sense, would you want a product that’s already out there and potential customers are sayin’ “we’ve been there done that already experienced that”…why wouldn’t you want that new and unique product that fills a niche that’s way, wayyy undertapped?
Go, Indie Epub, Go!
If you write what YOU’D like to be reading, there’s a better than fantabulous possibility that there are readers just like you who’d luuuvvv that kinda book and voice! All you gotta do is write it…then “find” and “go after” that reader base.
Oh…and here’s a couple questions for you too, Amanda…
You mentioned having a “former agent”…can you tell us…are you currently agented then? And what are your thoughts on the agent’s role in today’s Indie Epub World? If you do have an agent, how are you using his or her skills…or, in other words, what kinds of deals are they going to be working for you versus what you’re handling on your own?
No, I’m no longer agented. My agent and I parted ways long before I decided to indie publish Codename. Actually, well before I’d ever given the idea any serious thought. (I admit to having lived under the prejudiced belief that indie publishing was tantamount to vanity publishing, and that most of the books were poorly written crap that would maybe sell 100 copies in their lifetime…if they were LUCKY!)
I am in the market for a new agent, but not for this story (or its sequel). I have an adult cozy mysteries series I’d like to target NY with, so that’s what I’ll be querying. But I do think there’s a role for agents in today’s indie epub world. I think smart agents are going to become more brand managers and subsidiary rights are going to become very important. Most likely I’ll be querying agents for my new book, but hey, I won’t lie. If a foreign publisher contacted me and was interested in buying the rights to Codename, I will most definitely be querying agents ASAP!
Back during when my former agent initially shopped Codename, a Disney Channel producer actually had the manuscript in her hot little hands for consideration as a made-for-TV movie. Of course, the writers’ stike happened, and that producer got canned, so nothing ever came of it, but I’d love to see this angle pursued at some time in the future. Hey, a girl can dream, right?
You’re damn right a girl can dream…and so can a writer girl or guy too!!! LOL!
CODENAME: DANCER does sound like a Disney Channel movie!!!
It’s Royal Wedding day! We should definitely be thinking in terms of fairy tales coming true!
Amanda, your story illustrates a brilliant advantage that the indie ebook industry has over traditional publishing. I call it “clinching the niche.” The greatest service that authors can do for their readers is understand what those readers want, then write (well and frequently) the stories they want to read. Indie ebook publishing lets you find your specific readers and deliver the product that fits their needs.
I’m only a little prejudiced by your subject material. I’m still dancing ballet after many decades. Best of luck with your series.
And acquisitions editors at the big houses make mistakes, you betcha. My historical mystery/suspense series was also deemed “too niche” by NYC. So my first three books were originally published by a regional press. Book 1 (Paper Woman) won the Patrick D. Smith Literature Award. Book 3 (Camp Follower) was nominated for the Daphne du Maurier Award. Boo ya, NYC.
Suzanne Adair
That rocks, Suzanne! Good for showing them with all those awards and nominations!
I still dance, too! 30 years and still loving it!
Amanda, hello to my fellow Romance Diva. So glad you decided to go Indie so your book could be out there for girls to read. It can’t all be dystopian wastelands and sparkly vampires. LOL
Hi there from Downunder – not sure if I am too late to jump in ! My question is around budgets for marketing. After reading the John Locke interview I realise he must have had a HUGE budget to do movie trailers before the Ironman movies – there’s no way I could afford that (without selling my house I suppose) – so ……did you set a definitive budget? Or do you alot a certain amount a week? What do you think is reasonable? And lastly – you mentioned you have print books too. How many did you get printed and where? I dont think we can do that here in NZ – thanks! Tessa
Sorry for not responding sooner!
Compared to others, I haven’t really sunk a lot of money into promotion yet. I take the POV that there’s a lot that can be done for free or very low cost, so why not take advantage of those avenues before investing promo dollars. All I’ve spent on promo so far has been a 3-month banner ad on Excerpt Monday that I “won” in a charity auction, but it hasn’t run yet. I’ve also donated some copies of the print book as prizes for contests, so there’s the cost of the book plus shipping. And that’s it.
That’s not to say I won’t spend more money eventually. I’m sure I will. But for now, I’m seeing what can be done for free.
As for the print copies, I’m using CreateSpace, which is Amazon’s print-on-demand service. With POD, the books aren’t printed until an order is placed, which means you don’t need to guess how many books to get printed. The “print run” takes place every day…or every other day. Just when a book is bought.
I’ve had several books that publishers had a hard time ‘marketing’ over the years because they didn’t know what to call it. I recently found a review for The Rock from Publishers Weekly calling it “the best combination of science fiction and technothriller this year”. Which means the publisher didn’t know what to do with it. I think what Amanda is doing is the key to success for indie authors. As part of niche, I’ve decided I’m going to donate 100% of the royalties from my civil war book to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. It’s both a way to help a good cause and get some attention in a specific area.
That’s great, Bob! Good for you. And great marketing, because not only are you helping a good cause, but you’re targeting the right audience, and in doing so, they’re likely to buy other books of yours.
I’m late! Sorry, Amanda.
Just stopping in to say how much I love your story. I’m going through something similar with my submission through my agent right now. For the first few months I was horrified by every rejection. I love all my books, but the one on submission right now is the one I felt would get me a traditional publishing contract. It’s fresh, and different, with a theme many young adults can relate to, but with an up-and-coming sport/pasttime that is on the verge of breaking out. Only problem is, no one seems to be willing to take a chance on it. And after a year, we’re closing in on the final editors. I’m already preparing the cover for my Indie release. LOL
The greatest moment of this experience was realizing that if NY doesn’t like it, I’ve got a viable option in Indie releasing it.
I’m so glad you stuck to your belief in your book.
All my best,
AyVee
Good luck! It’s very liberating when you realize you don’t have to be pigeonholed into the categories NY creates.