As a romance novelist, I am still a work in progress, but recently my progress has improved and improved. In this post, I wanted to share with you my personal strategy for growing my email list. This is the strategy that grew my list by 50% in three months. Numbers don’t lie.
Owning our list is a critical way to communicate with our fans. We can send them teasers of upcoming books, cover reveals, ask them to join our Advanced Reader groups. The number of ways to benefit from a list goes far beyond selling books. So when my list stagnated at just over 300 people, I became frustrated.
I subscribed to Meera Kothand’s newsletter and improved the quality of my emails dramatically. But still, the list failed to grow. I read everything I could from experts, I studied the emails of the lists I had subscribed to, and those of other authors I admired. I tweaked my emails again. But sadly, the number of people seeing those emails remained unchanged. Last June I had a free weekend and picked up some new signups, so I did that again. Over the course of two years, I was able to double the list to 600. In three years, working on it aggressively, I grew my list to 1000 subscribers.
I moved to ConvertKit last spring. Then, since I was paying to maintain my list, I figured I needed to invest in it. I listened to new webinars, and read more from experts, and finally, something clicked. Now, instead of doubling my list every three-four years, I am on track to double it every six months!
Introducing a New Idea
I signed up for a free webinar and heard about a strategy that was worth trying. I admit that the speaker was a highly successful porn/erotica publisher, not a romance author. It didn’t matter. The numbers were staggering with screenshots to back them up. I came close to spending $1000’s of dollars to purchase the process, emails, and accouterments that this team was using. After all, the results were fantastic.
But, I didn’t t have thousands of dollars to throw away on a maybe, and ultimately, this webinar was pushing a publishing process more than a writing process, suggesting that the publisher purchase the writing to churn out books quickly enough. So they lost my purchase. But still, their process festered in my mind.
I was caught up by those numbers and the rinse-repeat success model they were using. They were able to change books and repeat the success of the prior book over and over again. They were able to sell their backlog and rank in the top 100 on Amazon over and over again. Their list was growing exponentially and so were book sales. It was a process that worked, and worked again, cost little to nothing and was something I could copy.
Following the Lead of a Porn Writer
So I took the pieces I could use and ran with them. I created an email list building procedure that looked like theirs and watched my list grow by 75- 250 people each month – net. I will confess, converting them to buyers has taken longer, but as I continue to review and revise my process and my emails, that is improving too. And so are my Amazon rankings.
What is the process? First, select one of your books and join a group giveaway. Promote that free offer to get plenty of eyes on it and capture emails for the people who download it. This part has been easy for me, using Instafreebie and Bookfunnel (more on those later). I have increased my list 50% in only three months, and it continues to grow.
Second, write a fantastic welcome sequence that converts. Point your new readers to a particular book and offer it at a discount. I admit this is the place where my work still needs to be done. Price promotion strategy and timing are crucial, but with only seven books in my backlog, I have to make better progress juggling this.
And it matters in this process. The next phase of this rinse and repeat success is to drive sales to a particular book on certain days in order to push up and maintain a top 100 rank in your category of Amazon. Why? Because then Amazon will help you promote your book, displaying it more often to readers of your genre.
After your book breaks the top 100, you can reap in the sales, select another book, and do it again. Seriously. That is the whole process.
Here’s what you Need:
Bookfunnel – For a broad reach I like to use Bookfunnel. They are always running numerous romance promotions tailors to a genre, so you can join existing promotion or start one of your own. Bookfunnel is the site I have found with the most promotions to choose from for romance writers – I have seen paranormal, erotica, YA sweet, and Christian romance promotions just recently.
Pro: It integrates with numerous email providers including Convertkit
Cost: $10/month or $100/year for mid-level where Bookfunnel collects email addresses
Instafreebie – You can create a promotion or join an existing one. If you want to collect email addresses (and if you don’t, why are you doing this?), you need to purchase their Plus plan. Instafreebie only integrates with Mailer Lite or Mailchimp, but you can use the CSV it produces to integrate with others, like Convertkit or AWeber.
Pros: Tracking the number of books downloaded compared to others in the giveaway is constant. I find this useful in understanding which covers attract better or which blurbs sell better so that I can improve mine. Cost:
Cost: $20/month
Paid cross promotions – Numerous providers organize group giveaways for a fee. If you are like me, you get a dozen offers to join one each week. Charges are wide-ranging as are efforts to promote the giveaway. Be sure you are clear about what you are getting for your money – x tweets, y size for a mailing distribution, z number of emails. The provider should be exact.
Pro: Often there is a giveaway for signing up that is attractive to readers. In many cases, you also get the emails for all the downloaded books, not just your own which can be an outstanding boon.
Price: I have seen these range from $25 to $150.
Author Newsletter Swaps and Guest Posts – Joining with fellow authors in your genre to swap promotions on newsletters can partially achieve the same thing as the above options for free. With swaps, it is harder to predict when the word will get out, but you do reach the other author’s list. With guest posts, you know the dates more precisely. These can be effective if you are working with authors with similar audiences and with reasonably large lists since you are only sharing lists with a single author at a time. I prefer the odds with 40-80 other authors better.
Price: Free
Add a great email sequence that converts, price promotion days on Amazon and you are all set!
Gem of the Week
I mentioned earlier that you could compare blurbs and covers that are working within a group-giveaway to improve your own. This week’s gem helps you do that. Babelcube. Com shares an informative, quick lesson, ”How to Write a Book Blurb that Sells.” This post gives you five easy steps to follow to be sure you provide your readers with what they need to know – and how you need to present it – to choose your book. Need more details, or assistance, writing a blurb after that? Check out this book by one of the best in the business.
Grab these Promo Opportunities
Every week I offer a free book to my readers for answering a simple question or for sharing the Rafflecopter contest on social media. Would you like your book to be the prize for an upcoming contest?
I also suggest “What to Read Next” each week, a romance novel (any genre) that might entertain my readers. I select the books based on reviews, or my personal experience with the book.
If you are interested in either of these opportunities, contact me or let me know in the comments below. If you prefer a guest post opportunity to promote your book, you can sign up here.