Support for Indie Authors discussion

I have a zero mailing list and want to build it buy giving away some Christmas short stories. I see that bookfunnel would handle that, but how do I promote it? Many of the promo sites say it must be on Amazon. Which I do not want to do, because there’s no way to collect email addresses. Thoughts?

there's a good article on Author Biz website, about 'Crafting a welcome email sequence for author email list'... I'd advice to read it for a starter... you can promote book funnel link on any FB group too that allows book promotion. Plus instagram, add to your bio to click. any social media actually.

You can run ebook giveaways on LibraryThing for free. It could be worth a try,

Use prolific works, Authors XP or Book Sweeps. They cost $30-50 and you will get around 1000 off one round. The offer the promos and you will need to go to their websites and register for the promo you want. I ended up with close to 2000 and I am about to do another round.

I'm interested in knowing about this too.

Pick up Nick Stevenson's Reader Magnet from Amazon. It should be on permafree. I have used Authors XP, Prolific Works (used to be Isntafreebie) and am going to try BookSweeps this time around. They all offer list building promotions using your reader magnet as a give away. BookFunnel is great for them getting the free book. I offered a second book as a thank you for signing up.

The key is that once you have that list, you need to keep them which means sending out updates. I actually only send out update every month, totally despising the daily crap a lot of authors do. You are not that important to send out daily emails saying exactly the same thing. I have ended up with a 40+% open rate which is great for unknown authors. Keep your emails fun and informative without a ton of sales stuff. Promote other authors you like and have fun with pictures, stories and keeping the list entertained. It does work. When you have a book launch, let your list know. Offer ARCs and let them know you would appreciate a review when the book goes live. Tell them about the cut rate price and when the end date for that price will be.
Use your email server to set up a thank you email, an email for the extra give away if you are offering one and then funnel them into the appropriate newsletter if you write in more than one genre like I do.

I hope that all helps.

Oh god, Nick Stephenson...I was hoping there was a new reader magnet expert..

His book is the one the rest work off from. There are twists on the reader magnet. I actually use a novella as mine, but I find that spending tons of money on advertising a free book isn't my cup of tea. I'll pay for the list building promos which come up cheaper than Amazon or FB ads and are much cheaper in the cost per email address. (This was from Tim Grahl who recommended using the promos to get a list fast. ) You can look around for other ideas, but I'm not into spending tons of money or time trying to get emails. I've found that my initial cost has kept me with over 1200 active people on my list for over a year. I lost 400, but I was expecting that. It comes out to about $.03 per email address for those that stayed.

B.A. wrote: "Use prolific works, Authors XP or Book Sweeps. They cost $30-50 and you will get around 1000 off one round. The offer the promos and you will need to go to their websites and register for the promo..."

Hi there!

I recently saw your message on the Support for Indie Authors discussion topic: Marketing Tactics. Please tell me: What is this Authors XP or Book Sweeps? Can you send me their official sites? If it only cost $25 to $50, then would I benefit from doing 'a round' or two through them? Would I also benefit on my Facebook page? Please let me know.

B.A. wrote: "Pick up Nick Stevenson's Reader Magnet from Amazon. It should be on permafree. I have used Authors XP, Prolific Works (used to be Isntafreebie) and am going to try BookSweeps this time around. They..."

I'm interested in contacting people in my contacts list once a month. But I'm stuck as to what to tell them every month. What updates do you give?

I gave them a history of where I live off route 66 in AZ, I've introduced them to my animals, (2 dogs, a furball cat and 3 mustangs), I've gone over my inspiration for the three books I have out and the new one, one was on location settings, a couple on different characters. I've promoted a couple of other authors who I found good reads for me. Think about the creative process and they like to know about that. Because I live in the high desert I did one on the beauty of the area for all seasons....Basically they want to know about you, your life, where you live, your family, pets, interesting things you have done or accomplished, what other work you may do...etc. I shocked many on my list when I told them I was retired, a great grandmother. Then I told them traveled the USA on a motorcycle alone while tent camping on the trip. You are selling you as much as your books to your list.

B.A. wrote: "I gave them a history of where I live off route 66 in AZ, I've introduced them to my animals, (2 dogs, a furball cat and 3 mustangs), I've gone over my inspiration for the three books I have out an..."

Thank you B.A. This is quite helpful. I've always thought such stuff mundane for my contacts. But I stand corrected. I'll work on getting on the bandwagon soon.

Oh, THANK YOU for all the helpful input. I'm looking at Authors XP at the moment. I wanted to hear some first-hand accounts of how it worked. Let me know how booksweeps works out for you as well. Anyone else with experience with these, please advise! I'm trying to finish up the writing by Friday, so I haven't been on here as much, but again, thanks for everyone's input.

Also going to read the article and book mentioned above ASAP.

With Authors XP I got over 1200 and with Prolific works I got around 600. I still have 1400 on my list after those who sighed up for the 'free' stuff left. You will always get people who leave or never open an email. Out of what is left, I get at 40+% who open my emails. I put that down to the once a month and not a lot of selling. I got a great response for those who picked up the ARCs I had and have already ordered the book. So the promotions do work in list building. As I said, I'm about to do them again to add to my list.

BA thanks very much for that. What is your genre? And you probably have a good backlist? I am just gearing up—I’ve only got the one book out, but I’m hoping to build off that for my next. I’m planning on giving some fun Christmas short -short stories about my characters away for my magnet.

Roxie, I don't have a good back list as it takes me a long time to edit my books. Most are over 100,000 words. The reader magnet should be fun, interesting and give good example of your writing. I'm one of those who take the time to learn a lot, work on incorporating what I've learned into my writing and editing. I'm getting to the point where my editing has improved my books and that I'm picking up on marketing by beginning an outreach program along with adding my my email list. I don't do much social media since that isn't where you sell books. I'm finally getting started on BookBub in hopes of getting more noticable ads from them, but to do that, I need reviews....so it's a catch 22 that I'm working on.

I hear you! You gotta break into that sales-review-sales-review loop! I’d be interested to hear about your bookbub adventures—keep us posted on that. For me, contrary to most experiences, I HAVE found Facebook to be of some value for brand-building, as my target audience is very Facebook heavy. I haven’t seen a direct positive ROI yet there, but it is boosting my visibility considerably. I plan to use it carefully. For instance, I’m scheduled to appear at an author fair in a neighboring state next month, where I have zero personal contacts. So I’m going to invest a little in ads & boosted posts targeted in that city leading up that date, giving away my Christmas stories, etc. I’m thinking that might be useful because it will be building on the free advertising I’m getting from the event. We shall see.

You are doing it right. You are building visibility and then targeting the area where you will be in person. You might actually have some from FB who will show up and support you. When I say that FB is not a place to sell you book, it doesn't mean to not use it to get branding and notoriety. Don't waste the money on 'selling' there if you are limited in funds. Do use it to gather emails, get to know your fans and to push your brand. Same with twitter, you don't get tons of sales from twitter, but it is good to make contact with potential fans and brand building.

That sounds like solid advice B.A. I figure that even if they don’t show up, or if they DO show up for other authors, something may jog their memory even later so I plan to follow up for a week or so as well. I am looking at this as a long-haul. I’m married to a small business owner and I understand that you invest for awhile before you see returns. Sometimes a LONG while. Sometimes zero returns! 🤷🏻‍♀️ Ah well. That’s the price of poker. Keep us updated on bookbub. I haven’t tackled that one yet.

Thanks for the suggestion of giveaways on LibraryThing, Angela.

Angela wrote: "You can run ebook giveaways on LibraryThing for free. It could be worth a try,"