From Beginner to Brand

A Strategy Where All Roads Lead to the Likely Reader

GFP took to heart Rhodes’s goal to build a brand of high-quality WWII fiction that delighted readers and was held in high esteem. He signed up as a GFP custom publishing client, known to some as fully assisted self-publishing, where our team helped him with everything from editorial and design to marketing. Katie Meyers, his GFP marketing strategist, developed and launched the following plan for Rhodes that has served as a winning strategy for each new book published in the series.

• Create a high-quality, cohesive brand for both John and the Breaking Point series, including book covers, online platforms, and marketing communications.

• Build a  reader base through multimedia campaigns including social media, paid advertising, and publicity.

• Discount and promote his first book in the series as evergreen to attract new series readers.

• Publish biweekly blog posts related to each book’s historical events to keep reader attention between book launches.

• Use ebook backmatter, as well as author website and blog, to promote the next book in the series.

• Launch author podcast, John Rhodes on History, to expand audience through audio media.

Think Sniper Fire, Not Bombardment

Being active on all social channels is unrealistic and exhausting. GFP helped Rhodes focus on the channels where his target audience of (mostly older) historical fiction fans already gather. On average, he posts once a week to his 3,000 followers on Facebook about the book, his podcast, and WWII history trivia.

Rhodes promotes his podcast and his books on Facebook, in his email newsletter, and on his website, with all his efforts pointing to and reinforcing the other channels.

Though he began from nothing, Rhodes now feels like a major player. “Now I have a promising brand with an excellent website, an active blog with a growing distribution list, and a professional presence on social media.”

Smart Use of Paid Advertising

Because Rhodes is an author of genre fiction, social media ads and Amazon ads have been effective. Facebook ads target the historical fiction reader demographic while Amazon ads are placed on comparative titles.

Leverage Online Star Power

In lieu of publicity, GFP focused on submitting his books for awards and driving rave Amazon reviews, both in number and star rating.

“My goal is to entertain my readers. In order to do so, my readers have to know my books exist and buy them. Girl Friday has been key to this process.”

Reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, with the first book having nearly 2,000 reviews and all five averaging 4.5 stars on Amazon. All five books have hundreds of positive reviews on both Amazon and Goodreads.

Because Every Book Is a Product, Every Author Needs a Brand

Although many fiction authors don’t think of themselves this way, writers of series are entrepreneurs who create, promote, and sustain a brand. Girl Friday rebranded and republished Rhodes’s first book and published the second immediately afterward. Soon we could see the cumulative effect of the brand-building process in terms of advance sales and multiple sales, among other metrics. Winning the IBPA Silver Award for historical fiction with Breaking Point was further validation that his work was resonating, and it offered additional visibility to readers who may not have otherwise discovered the book.

“I am most proud of the fact that my readers read the books as a series. This means that they read a book and were sufficiently pleased to buy another. On the first book, they took a chance—sounds promising but who knows? The second or third time, they knew what to expect and wanted to read it anyway. Girl Friday transformed my market presence from being a nonexistent wannabe into being a credible author whose work stands up to work published by major publishing houses.”

Don’t Leave $$$ on the Table

Though many authors cling to the siren call of traditional publishing or the idea of having a publisher in general, Rhodes is thrilled with the custom publishing model he chose. Not only did GFP help him achieve all his stated success metrics, but his books are bringing in income. “I’m currently enjoying the strong earning potential of the 100% royalties publishing model,” says Rhodes, “taking home about $2,500 per month in royalties over a sustained period of time.”

Unlimited Earnings?

Kindle Unlimited is a monthly subscription service offered by Amazon that allows subscribers unlimited access to Kindle ebooks enrolled in the program. Authors are paid royalties based on pages read by subscribers (with some caveats). In Rhodes’s case, he has earned more than $40,000 to date through Kindle Unlimited royalties, 52% of his total royalties. Compare this to 39% for ebook sales and 8% for print sales.

Think Beyond Print

For authors still dreaming of getting their books into readers’ hands, you might do well to focus on getting your book into readers’ Kindle queues instead. Of Rhodes’s 15,000 units sold to date, more than 92% of those sales have been ebooks.

Does this mean print books are dead? Absolutely not, and independent bookstores also have a critical place in the publishing landscape. But we help independently minded authors identify the opportunities available by sales channel and format and match those to their target market and to their readers’ browsing and buying habits.