Welcome back to my three-part series on do-it-yourself book marketing. Today we do the heavy lifting of getting those emails. I want to be brutally honest with you, though. There are no shortcuts to getting a good email list. It may be slow. Before we begin, however, I want to talk about being of service to the writing community and how it pertains to list building.
The writing community in Colorado is amazing, but you have to earn your way into it. You can’t just show up at a Saturday class and ask the presenter to critique your book. (Lord, that’s awkward.) You have to be of some value to the others in the community first.
I found that the more I listened, the more people found me amusing. When I taught a class, or offered to beta-read someone’s novel, or give a brief critique of a synopsis or short story, I was building a reservoir of trust and goodwill between myself and the writers around me. You have to do the same thing to build your email list.
Marketing has changed in the last twenty years. We don’t trust what the package says anymore. We don’t care about miles per gallon or what brand doctors say you should buy. But we will take the advice of our friends and family. In that vein, you have to build a relationship with your reader before they shell out any money for your book or trust you with their email address. The only way to do that is to create and give away something of value to your potential readers and fans.
So how do you do that?
1) Show up. Go to all the conventions in your area. If you live in Denver, that means Denver Pop Culture Con, Colorado Gold, and MileHiCon. Be seen in these public places. Try to get a booth and sell books. I can tell you from experience that you will meet someone on a Friday or Saturday who’ll talk to you multiple times throughout the weekend. When Sunday afternoon rolls around they will buy your book and sign up for your email list. By being social and not pushy you’ve created a relationship that will help you sell books and get emails!
2) Give your expertise away. Many non-literary cons have a literary track that are desperate for panelists. Volunteer to be a panelist! Everyone has a skill they can talk about at a panel. Whether you’re a medical doctor or a cab driver, your experiences will absolutely fascinate somebody at a conference. I have met hundreds of people this way and I have never had a bad interaction with audience members. (I’ve had awkward moments, but never a bad moment. Remind me, some day, to tell you about the time I was put on a corseting panel!)
For many people, this will be the first time they will be exposed to you and your book. Use these events to create positive experiences. Those positive experiences can lead to book sells and names on your email list!
3) Create stories to give away for free. bookfunnel.com is a website that will allow you to give away stories, novellas and books to your fans in return for an email address that you keep. Many authors write a short story or novella, slap a cover on it, and put it up on bookfunnel so they can reach new readers.
Another website you can do this on is Wattpad. Wattpad.com allows you to get critiques of your work from complete strangers who just love to read. Think of it as an anonymous beta-reader or critique group site. Once you’ve made your changes, you can re-upload a small amount of chapters with a note either at the beginning or end, telling the reader where they can download the rest of the story, or receive additional chapters, if they sign up for your email list.
Note: If you have a traditional contract, obviously ask your publishers for specific details about what they will and will not allow. I have spoken with author Aimie Runyan and her contract leaves out stories under a certain word count. If she decided she wanted to do her own marketing by creating free shorts and novellas, she could. Your mileage will vary, however, so again, talk with your publisher. (Indies can follow this advice freely!)
4) Synergize! Make sure EVERYTHING leads to a request for an email address. The following should have email list asks:
- On your website
- In the back of every book you have published
- A link on social media pages offering a sign-up opportunity—especially Facebook
- A physical sign up list at conventions.
I want to talk about the last one, briefly. When I go to a convention, I bring a physical sign-up sheet with me. When I’m done teaching my class—and assuming I don’t have to be at another ASAP—I’ll linger and tell people about my email list. I usually offer either a copy of my power point presentation, or some other freebie for signing up. I have gotten the vast majority of my email this way. Just talking to readers and writers, glad handing and smiling. It works!
In conclusion. At the beginning of my blog I told you growing your email list was not for the faint of heart. It’s hard work. You know what else is hard work? Writing a book. So if you have mustered the courage and force of will to write your story, know that you also have the guts to learn how to market your book, too. You can do this. Remember that art without an audience isn’t art. Go find your audience!
Next month we will talk about the care and maintenance of your email list. In the meantime, I have some resources below that will help you build that list faster!
Books to check out:
News Letter Ninja by Tammi Labrecque
Let’s Get Digital by David Gaughran
Stranger to Super Fan by David Gaughran
Following by David Gaughran (Currently FREE on davidgaughran.com)
If you find your audience.
Though everything you mention above is great, “just” doing this at every gig does not mean every person you meet will sign up. I’m not a negative person, Jason, but I’ve done nearly everything above (I’ve done it on some books, but I’m not going to list my SM and email, etc., in the back of every book I write, because I feel that kills the entire reading experience I’ve just created and makes the work more of a marketing gig than a reading gig, especially in today’s world with everyone living on their phones—and nothing has come out of doing that either; I just don’t like how it “ends” the book) at all the cons I go to where I KNOW people. I mean lots of people. Been on panels. I interact. Am outgoing and humorous. Approachable. And for some reason, these, apparently, are not my audience. You can say it’s “hard work,” and yes it is, but I feel an important aspect of this is finding your proper audience, and just going to “every” con out there isn’t really going to do that. You have to strike a chord with these people, and I mean more than just handful. You have to do all this thoughtfully…researching and attending cons smartly. And, yes, it all costs money to attend cons. I know I haven’t attended the cons in my “genre,” and it was because of schedules and finances. Now that I’m retired I’ll see about other cons, rather than the local ones, which I’ve been attending since 1987 or so. I’ll see if StokerCon is more to my writing, though it’s horror-oriented and I don’t really write horror anymore, though element of work contain…elements. 🙂
I know my work is hard to classify, because I reach across the genre lines. I don’t work in just one genre, and perhaps that is my killer, though I really doubt it. I know it’s not the writing because writing dosn’t really matter beyond agents and editors, and even that can be subject to debate. There are other factors at work. My work IS “thinky,” my ex-agent used to say, and I was told in my area of work that is a HARD SELL. But I am taking a step back and re-examining my situation more thoroughly. My next work is an SF novel, and I’m going to try to agent it again in the coming months, so we’ll see what happens there. But, Jason, to just say “it’s hard” also needs to be tempered with “strike a chord” and “find your audience”—oh, and LUCK. If you don’t somehow fit into your audience’s zeitgeist, you can do all of the above, deal with the hard work, and still have nothing to show for it. I’ve been doing this “hard” since 1987. Trying to do it smartly as well, whether or not “smartly” is a word….
And beyond all this ground work you also need to have WORD OF MOUTH. I hope you get into that, because, it seems to me, if no one is doing that, no one is going to buy your book no matter how much effort you put into all this. All of your efforts should be to GET the word-of-mouth efforts rolling.
But I thank you for sharing your experience and I look forward to next installment.
not sure if i’m subscribed but please do so with britt@hangingmoonpress.com. your articles are short, to the point and helpful. many thanks.
jane
Hi Jane, we’re glad you’re finding the blog useful. You can always read the blog online, but email notices are a member benefit. If you’re an RMFW member, click the “MEMBERS” link on the site menu, and then click the “GET THE RMFW NESLETTER TODAY!” link on the right sidebar to subscribe.