Consider an illustration of your main character, a map of your fantasy world in the background, or a view of the stars, depending on your genre. Book Cover: Can you define your genre by your book cover? I’ve seen a lot of sci-fi and fantasy books with very generic covers.

Some of your marketing will happen around your niche, how you define it, and how you clearly define your genre. What they fail to understand is that there are many companies and consultants out there easy to do a business transaction – to provide authors with products and services that my have some value, but fail to harness the author’s inherent talents, assets, and niche. In various online groups, I always see authors asking for advice about where to advertise or what to do to get their books on the shelves. You can learn more about my qualifications on my LinkedIn page. I’ve also worked on memoirs and other nonfic. Being a geek and running this website, I’ve primarily edited in the following genres: sci-fi, fantasy, suspense, and romance. Most of the authors I work with are recommended by word of mouth. I later joined a content agency as an editor and also did a fair amount of work for them in sales.Īll the while, I continued to edit independently, helping authors improve their work prior to publication. My career also took me into marketing, where I served as a blog editor for the international marketing company SEMrush. I returned to Xlibris to help them manage a self-publishing product in coordination with Borders, but Borders soon closed its doors as well.įollowing that, I continued to pursue editorial work in academic publishing. Unfortunately, my job was was outsourced and I had to pack up my desk and send it to my overseas replacement. I enjoyed helping writers become authors through the publication process and began editing expedited projects at that company. Back in 2003, I knew Xlibris was doing something revolutionary, as they were among the first to publish and promote ebooks.

I began my career journey by following my love for books: my first full-time job was at the self-publishing company Xlibris.

I’ve been in the publishing, marketing, and gaming industries for the last fifteen years. Why Am I Qualified To Deliver This Advice? The writing, editing, and publishing process is extensive: but it’s only a portion of the challenge when it comes to getting your book into the hands of willing readers. When you’re creative, it’s difficult to keep writing while you have the responsibility of marketing – especially if you’ve got a full-time job, a family, or other obligations that take time in your day. Many indie authors identify marketing as their biggest challenge, especially in the sci-fi and fantasy genres.

Gateway sci fi novel