After the rigorous writing, editing, proofreading, and publishing process, your new book is finally out and you are now an Author! Congratulations!
But if as a best-selling author, you want to sell thousands of copies or more, you need people paying attention to your work and if you want your message to spread, you need people’s permission to communicate with them.
And if you want your words to change something, then you need an audience and the best way to do all that is by building a mailing list. With an email list, you can promote and share new ideas, products, and services and then direct readers to a place where they can make the purchase (Paypal, Gumroad or Amazon).
Here are 5 ways to build a mailing list as an author:
- Get a good email marketing service: To run a mailing list, you first need to choose a service provider to help you manage this list. Some providers will let you use their services for free if you’re just starting out and are only dealing with a small number of subscribers. There are many email marketing platform, for example, MailerLite, ConvertKit, Flodesk, amongst many others but ConvertKit is highly recommended because it is affordable and it is easy to get started.
- Have A Lead Magnet: A lead magnet provides people with a reason to sign up to your mailing list. For example, you could have a page on your website titled “short story giveaway” where readers can enter their email address. After the reader signs up, they are sent a welcoming email with a link to a free snippet of the story that you’ve written. If you have something that readers want, there’s a solid chance it will make a good lead magnet.
- Utilize Your Social Media: A common way for readers to find authors is to look them up on social media. It’s just easy, and we’re all used to doing this. With someone liking your Facebook Page or following you on Twitter is great, it’s still not as valuable as having their email address. So, make sure you are posting links to your email signup, linking to your website in your bios, and promoting your lead magnet on your social media pages. Readers that follow you on social media are first list candidates to join your email list and so it is important to make sure they know about your list, and why they should join.
- Offer Something for Free: Giveaways are a method that guarantees a lot of attention. To attract readers interested in your genre, you can select books similar to your own work and give them away to one of your subscribers. This can be an eBook or a free article series or whatever your readers find valuable. It’s a way to reward subscribers with something other than just your regular content.
- Start Emailing Your List : Don’t overcommit to a frequency like once a day or even a few times a week. Start small and be consistent. A weekly newsletter is plenty. What should you send? Whatever you want. For many, just a short message or article is a great way to begin. Your main goal is to add value and be helpful, so that people continue to read and pay attention. If you make it about them, they’ll make it about you.
Make a genuine effort to offer value to your readers, and you’ll reap the results in the long term — after all, your email list is an integral part of your platform as an author, so don’t neglect yours and with this tips, your email list is ready to be launched.
If you find these tips helpful, let us know in the comments section.