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In this episode we’re celebrating 200 episodes of Novel Marketing. We’re going to talk about what has changed over the last 6 years, what we’ve learned, answer your questions LIVE! Give away prizes and so much more. One of our listeners suggested we do a 200 minute mega episode, this won’t be that long, but it is jam-packed with cool stuff. But first, some housekeeping about the live stream.

Show Notes

Welcome to the live stream!

  • Live chat. Let’s test it! Post where you are from in the comments.
  • How to ask questions.
  • Some of the prizes we will be giving away will go to people who ask questions.
  • You can also vote on the questions other people ask.

First Giveaway:

Things that have changed in the last five years:

  • We don’t sound as terrible as we used to.
  • The rise of Amazon’s dominance. Six years ago Borders still existed!
  • The fall of social media.
  • The rise of advertising. Mark Dawson effect.
  • The rise of podcasting.
  • The rise of indies. When we started we were focused mostly on traditionally published authors.
  • More acceptance that if you write, you have to market

Second Giveaway: 

Big Dramas Over the Last Five Years

  • Thomas’ Courtship Blog Post
    • Thomas set the internet on fire and almost changed is brand in the process.
    • Triggered a 3 month long hiatus from the show.
  • 2016 Election
    • We learned you don’t want us to talk about politics even obliquely.
  • GDPR
    • We were one of the first to say Americans don’t need to stress about European laws.
  • MailChimp
    • We were one of the few to say not everyone needs to leave MailChimp, although, we left mailchimp ourselves
  • Amazon Counterfeiting
    • This is still a breaking story, but one we are covering.

Special Gifts for $5+ Patrons!

Thomas’ Favorite Episodes

Third Giveaway

Jim’s Favorite Episodes

Fourth Giveaway 

Big Podcast Milestones

  • Hitting 100,000 Downloads in 2017
  • Launching the Five Year Plan
    • We had no idea what a life changing course that would be for some people.
  • Launching Patreon
    • We now have 75 Patrons!
  • Launching the Book Launch Blueprint
    • Doing courses in real time turned out to be a lot of fun.
  • Hitting 100 reviews on Apple Podcasts.
    • This happened embarrassingly recently. We need to ask for reviews more often.
  • Getting our first negative review on Apple Podcasts https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/novel-marketing/id721122555?mt=2&ls=1
  • Switching to ZenCastr
    • Better audio quality than Skype. Fewer botched recordings.
  • Starting Post Episode Editing
    • Our live episodes are usually hot messes!
  • Moving to ConvertKit

Fifth Giveaway

10 Most Popular Episodes

We lost our historical data when we switched to blubrry podcast hosting. This is why all the episodes are after episode 100.

Sixth Giveaway

Audience Highlights

Kay DiBianca says, “I love listening to the Novel Marketing podcast. There’s almost always something I can use … the advertising episodes, especially Facebook and Bookbub marketing have been a huge help. And thanks for having Randy Ingermanson on the show, I’m using a modified snowflake method and  he’s going to be the guest interviewee on my blog on August 20 at kaydibianca.com.)”

Tammy Kennington says, “To grow my speaking and build my platform, I’m not charging a fee yet and  as you guys suggested, I’ve created my own event this September! Thanks for all the tips, advice, and encouragement! And way to go on 200!”

Paul West says, “What a fun surprise to discover my question, about attempting to write truth and afraid of being found in error, inspired you to record episode 185, How To Keep Writing When You’re Scared About What Others Will Think” Even though you guys misinterpreted my question a bit, I still enjoyed the episode and you did solve part of my problem!”

We love it when our listeners suggest topics and ask questions, so thanks for the inspiration, Paul!

Kelly Rene says, “Thomas and Jim, you’re my regular companions on my walk around the park with my dog, Blossom. Your voices literally calm my anxious writing heart.”

Wow, love that, Kelly!

“You’ve really helped me establish myself as a writer, especially in my own mind.The episode on building an email list by setting up a lead magnet  is what helped me the most. Plus you’ve cured me of feeling the need to run and hide in my closet every time I do something on social media. Currently I’m editing my second novella to be released soon. You gave me confidence and I am eternally grateful! I always said I’d become a patron when I earn something from this endeavor and I just received my first paycheck from Amazon for my novella, Saving Sabine. Thanks so much for all you guys do to help so many of us in our dreams of becoming authors. And congratulations, Thomas, on your beautiful baby and to you Jim on your latest book. I can’t wait to read it. Blessings to you both, Kelley Rene” www.kelleyrene.com

Seventh Giveaway

Audience Questions

Question: Do you recommend doing preorders? What kind of promotion or paid advertising do you recommend for the preorder period? What do you then change once the book is released? (I write contemporary Christian fiction.)

Answer: Listen tohttps://www.novelmarketing.com/150/

Audio-books are so expensive to produce. Would it be a good idea to sign a contract with an audio-book publisher just to make the format available, even if they take 90% of profits after paying production costs?

Answer: No. www.acx.com

Thanks to the following folks for their congratulations and shout outs:

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