# How do you market sci-fi???



## Ralph Rotten (Sep 13, 2018)

I really love to write sci-fi, but it always sells like c-rap!
How do you market science fiction?
Where do you go to shamelessly self promote sci-fi books? 
Where do geeks hang out?


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## Darren White (Sep 14, 2018)

I have no answer for you, I have the same problem because poetry is an extremely small market and although I love writing it, I need better ways to promote and market my book.


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## Theglasshouse (Sep 14, 2018)

Ralph rotten try writing for the short story market. They promote your novels there when a work is accepted. Maybe moderan was on to something when he said writers also write non-fiction articles. That should promote you, and adds additional name recognition if you win a contest. Remember some receive thousands of visitors. Asmiov magazine is recieved in bookstores such as barnes and noble, and others. The same is the case for fantasy and science fiction magazine. Market your book on your website too. All these magazines give lots of exposure. A lot of the time, people post their web links to biographies and books.


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## moderan (Sep 14, 2018)

Ralph Rotten said:


> I really love to write sci-fi, but it always sells like c-rap!
> How do you market science fiction?
> Where do you go to shamelessly self promote sci-fi books?
> Where do geeks hang out?


Because it's been conflated with 'Fantasy'. SF sales have lagged since the late 70s when The Sword of Shannara showed what kinda schlock would sell zillions and started knocking hard sf off the bookshelves.
Name recognition is the best marketing tool I can see. Short story/article pubs, book reviews. Networking isn't as positive a tool as it is in other fields, and the field is highly politicized right now.
Also, the term "Sci-Fi" is a pejorative to 'trufans', who used it to refer to 50s B-Movies and the kinda stuff you get on the SyFy channel. And here are thousands of those people, and they're your target market.


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## Bayview (Sep 14, 2018)

moderan said:


> Also, the term "Sci-Fi" is a pejorative to 'trufans', who used it to refer to 50s B-Movies and the kinda stuff you get on the SyFy channel. And here are thousands of those people, and they're your target market.



I've heard this before, but I've never been clear on what the "preferred" term is. In writing, I see "SF", but do people really use that term orally? Like, they just say the letters? Or are we supposed to do the full Science Fiction every time, or...?

What IS the non-pejorative term for the genre?


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## moderan (Sep 14, 2018)

Bayview said:


> I've heard this before, but I've never been clear on what the "preferred" term is. In writing, I see "SF", but do people really use that term orally? Like, they just say the letters? Or are we supposed to do the full Science Fiction every time, or...?
> 
> What IS the non-pejorative term for the genre?



SF, which can stand for Science Fiction or Speculative Fiction -- the latter is much in vogue now, as is SFF, which is Science Fiction/Fantasy, not a preferred term for purists like me that see the two as separate genres, but operative in current marketing as SF doesn't sell.


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## Ralph Rotten (Sep 14, 2018)

Maybe the solution is to simply not categorize my books as SF.
List 'em as humorous fiction or something else.

Is there a category for drunken stoner fiction?


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## Ralph Rotten (Sep 14, 2018)

Awwww geeez.
I just checked my pre-sales for the next book that's due for release Oct 24th...and I have sold 1 copy.
1 copy!!
Holy bat-guano. I feel like the first schmuck that gets voted off the island in Survivor.
I gotta fix the description, and find another category to list the book under.
I wrote that book twice!  I gotta sell more than 1 lousy copy.


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## Bayview (Sep 14, 2018)

moderan said:


> SF, which can stand for Science Fiction or Speculative Fiction -- the latter is much in vogue now, as is SFF, which is Science Fiction/Fantasy, not a preferred term for purists like me that see the two as separate genres, but operative in current marketing as SF doesn't sell.




So if you were talking about it, in person, would you say the letters? Like, "I write Ess Eff"?


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## moderan (Sep 15, 2018)

Bayview said:


> So if you were talking about it, in person, would you say the letters? Like, "I write Ess Eff"?


Yeah...though I'm more specific and will say spec fic, or weird fic if that's what I mean (depends on what I'm selling). Or pulp adventure fiction, if I'm talking about Ralph. That's part of my book-pitch. If someone gets interested enough to ask me to explain it, I put a book in their hands via my kindle and wax enthusiastic. Works like a charm.


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## Ralph Rotten (Sep 15, 2018)

moderan said:


> Yeah...though I'm more specific and will say spec fic, or weird fic if that's what I mean (depends on what I'm selling). Or pulp adventure fiction, if I'm talking about Ralph. That's part of my book-pitch. If someone gets interested enough to ask me to explain it, I put a book in their hands via my kindle and wax enthusiastic. Works like a charm.




But how does that translate to the categories on Amazon?
I'm not averse to word-of-mouth marketing, but in order to reach a larger audience I need to leverage Amazon's algorithm.
How do I reach out to geeks & nerds?


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## moderan (Sep 15, 2018)

"Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction
Science Fiction Adventures
Alien Invasion Science Fiction
Genetic Engineering Science Fiction
First Contact Science Fiction
Technothrillers
Cyberpunk Science Fiction
Science Fiction
Colonization Science Fiction
Dystopian Fiction"

That's the list on the sidebar. That's all there is. The influx of fantasy, as in SFF, basically promoted because 'girls don't read that science stuff', is in your way, as it is in mine. It has pushed SF, Sci-Fi, and everything similar off the shelves, and forced me to re-brand. I can't go all the way to straight horror with vampires and zombies and werewolves doing it doggy-style, since I still maintain some shreds of self-respect, but I can comfortably do cosmic and pulp horror, and ghost stories.


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## bazz cargo (Sep 15, 2018)

What you need is to make yourself a name. A few shorts in the Sci fi press would do it. Plaster 'Published in Weird Worlds' on the cover. 
Good luck
BC





Ralph Rotten said:


> I really love to write sci-fi, but it always sells like c-rap!
> How do you market science fiction?
> Where do you go to shamelessly self promote sci-fi books?
> Where do geeks hang out?


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