Hi, Fallen. I read your post from 2014 and am curious to know if any of the "Elements that still need a little work" have been improved upon. Are you pleased with their marketing efforts so far? How have sales been for your most recent release, if you don't mind sharing?
Hey, Woe, no worries. Most areas that needed working on, except for the serialization, have been worked upon (I'll cover the serialization below
).
Are you pleased with their marketing efforts so far?
Yeah. They have a good and consistent social media presence with releases, they handle ARCs through their reviewer's list, submit paid competition entries, arrange giveaways, author chats etc.
How have sales been for your most recent release, if you don't mind sharing?
I don't mind at all, but
Lost in the Echo has only been released just over a month and I've had no statement yet.
It is a previously published work, with a few extended scenes, so I don't expect it to sell as well as a new release. When the numbers come in, I'll let you know. (I'll cover another novel of mine below.)
How much input did you have on the cover design? I really like the cover for Lost in the Echo but some of the others (on the site, not your personal offerings) don't really do it for me.
Just the usual, really: stock chosen and designed by the FFP cover designer, with input from the author on minor changes. However, with
Lost in the Echo, I'd been using that image to promo my work prior to that, and they went with that, so they are open to discussion, but state that their decisions are final.
I'm a little confused by the membership options and free serialized fiction model they have on their site, so some clarification there would be helpful. Are authors required to maintain a strong presence on their forums and in story discussions? What are your thoughts on these features? Do their marketing efforts extend beyond their site's readership?
This is where it ideally needs improving. The paid half to the serialization that's in the contract hasn't been set up yet. There's only the free side. With the free side, you can engage with readers and talk about the story, but it's nothing that swamps time. FFP ask that have a presence with a FFP blog, too, but I do mine once a year, or with a release (I'm not good with blogs). The serialization and marketing is all tied in together, so free serialized releases will get marketed alongside new releases, with a calendar for readers to see when and where serialization is coming in. It will also get marketed through the the likes of giveaways, author chats etc. But, as I said at the beginning, the paid serialization has yet to come in. With it being a small publishing company, it takes time, but unfortunately with it being a small publishing company, it's time that sees no royalties as of yet for authors on that side of the contract, and perhaps should ideally not be stated in the contract now as a selling point.
I checked them out on Sales Rank (which I know isn't the be-all and end-all, especially since it looks like they make a lot of direct sales from their site) but I can't say I'm particularly blown away by the numbers. Have you found that the majority if your own sales come from places other than Amazon?
FFP have their own store and presales can be good. They also distribute through all the usual channels, but Amazon remains a large chunk of sales. It' a niche publisher, targeting a niche readership. You'll just need to take that into account. I think to date, my first novel with them has been going since 2012 and has sold a few thousand copies. It's still selling comfortably *touch wood*, but I'm a very dark writer and I don't target a main readership. For example, I edit for Dreamspinner Press, but what I write for FFP would not be published by Dreamspinner because of the content.
The easy answer: even if you don't have a story that's serialized, you get a percentage of the overall paid membership, this is on top of your usual royalty payments from work that's not been serialized. But as the paid side has yet to be established... at the moment you're just getting the usual royalties from distribution sales.
That's all I have so far. Thanks for your time.
I'm going to add here that at this time FFP take audio and translation rights, but barely utilize them. At this time, if you submit with them, I would ask to retain those right until FFP brings them in. Part of me wishes they'd focus more on that side than the serialization, to be honest. I've seen huge interest for translation of FFP work, and after four years, I would really have liked to have seen more progress on this side.
They're a good fit for me because of what I write, though. And, most importantly, I have a good relationship with my editor who knows my style. Sometimes I don't write as fast as I should, so their small-publishing pace suits mine.
Let me know what you decide, okay?
Hope this helps.