Find Your Tribe How to Build and Grow A Reader Mailing List A.G. Henley September 2016

Your tribe is… Your group of ideal readers They have read your book(s) and read others like yours They want to interact with you or at least know when your next book comes out You want to know them, their preferences. Why?

Your tribe is most likely to buy your next book.

Connections with readers Social media (FB, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr) In person Book clubs Marketing/promotions

Why focus on an marketing list? In a word: control. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are great for disseminating information and building excitement, but with marketing YOU control the frequency of contact, content, and audience.

marketing methods Blog posts sent via RSS Pay to access other marketing lists (BookBub, Freebooksy, Bargain Booksy) Paid subscription via service provider (ESP) Auto responders via ESP Newsletter via ESP

Why use an service provider (ESP)? ESP’s help you gather and manage subscribers, and create, send and analyze campaigns. (Campaigns are each you send to your subscribers.)

ESP options MailChimp (free up to 2K subscribers) Aweber ($19/mo up to 500 subscribers) Constant Contact (Free for 60 days, then $20/mo up to 500 subscribers) Mad Mimi (free up to 100 subscribers, then $10/mo) Tiny Letter (free up to 3K subscribers)

Campaign frequency Less frequent contact  More frequent contact Only when you publish something new New + sale/promo Quarterly newsletter Monthly missive Weekly update Daily or multiple times a week (blogging, journaling)

Choosing content Content choice depends on how you plan to use your list - your marketing goals. You’re only limited by your imagination. “Keep it short, sweet, and structured.” - Jane Friedman

Content ideas New book launch dates/info Early sneak previews (first chapters, trailers, cover reveal) Videos Interviews with other authors Surveys/questions for readers

Content ideas (2) Upcoming events/book signings Bonus scenes Giveaways Pictures of your cats What can you offer your subscribers that they can’t get anywhere else?

Examples

Inviting readers to subscribe Offer your readers something substantial in return for their address Link in the back of your books (essential) Landing page of your author website + pop-up Social media sites (FB has a sign up option)

Inviting readers to subscribe (2) In /social media interactions with readers In person events (sign up sheet) to family/friends Paid advertising

Maintaining professional/ethical standards for your list Always do what you tell your subscribers you’ll do Don’t share addresses Don’t sign someone up without permission Don’t buy lists Always provide an unsubscribe option Familiarize yourself with the CAN-SPAM Act (see link in resources)

Measuring success Number of subscribers (and unsubscribes) Open and click rates for your campaigns

Open rate is the percentage of people who opened your newsletter divided by those who received it Click rate is the percentage of people who clicked a link in the newsletter divided by those who received it

Open rate… Is an indication of your subject line strength. Keep it under 30 characters and make it irresistible. Benchmark open rates (from MailChimp): – Media and Publishing: 22% – Marketing: 18% – eCommerce: 16%

Click rate… Is an indication of how engaging your content is to your readers Benchmark click rates (from MailChimp): – Media and Publishing: 4.66% – Marketing: 1.99% – eCommerce: 2.45%

Conclusion Do you really need marketing? Yes. How you implement and use it is up to you. Be authentic, be generous, have fun, experiment. Find your tribe.

Sources Marketing for Authors: Best practices for building, managing, and measuring your list. marketing-for-authors Series by Kirsten Oliphant on JaneFriedman.com Start with How to Build an Author Newsletter Mailing List the RIGHT Way. Jean Oram, February newsletter/

Continued… Author Newsletters: 6 Tips for Smart Strategies. Jami Gold, January smart-strategies/ A.G. Henley newsletter CAN-SPAM Act: center/guidance/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business This presentation can be found at aghenley.com