The reason for your list is to inform your fans about you, about new releases, about other authors you like. There are a wide variety of engagements.
Newsletter
This is a direct link to your readers. The newsletter is your hedge against any release strategy. You don’t need an algorithm boost or any other advertising with your fans. You tell them that your latest release is available and they buy it. You don’t have to go looking for them.
I know there are successful people without newsletters. They engage their fans in a different way, through a blog or some other vehicle, but they invest the time in keeping their fans informed. A blog is a pull effort in that you need the fans to check your blog as part of their online routine, which means that you need to keep the content fresh. That’s a great deal of effort that can be rewarding.
I think sending a newsletter is so much easier. I’ve tried blogging with regularity and it was draining. I had about 300 people a day stop by and visit, but it took a Facebook post telling them that there was a new blog post. You will lose a certain percentage of readers (I’ve heard 30%) for every additional link they have to click. I figured that I’d simply keep them informed on Facebook and if they clicked the picture, it took them directly to the Amazon product page. One click and they were in a position to buy.
Same thing for my newsletter—subscribers can click on the picture on links below the picture. I include two—one that goes directly to the US store and a universal link (I use Booklinker) that will take a subscriber to the appropriate store for where they are (Amazon UK, Amazon DE, whatever, keeping in mind that I am currently exclusive to Amazon with all my stuff).
I start off every newsletter with a personal bit. Welcome from the Sub-Arctic! I learned that one from Mark Dawson. It is exotic if you don’t live in the far north, I mean really far north, one hundred and fifty miles from the Arctic Circle. In the winter, it’s cold and dark, and in the summer, we have twenty-four hours of daylight. It’s different. I share pictures of moose in the yard or snow well over my dog’s head.
And then I go into my pitch. My main book first—on sale, today only! Or something like that, then freebies from other folks or discounted books. A new thing I do is look for discounts on books from masters in my main genres. I look for anything on sale from Heinlein, Asimov, or Andre Norton. If I find something, I list it with everything else. I do get plenty of clicks, which also tells me that my newsletter subscribers are aligned with that genre and those authors, which helps me better target my ad campaigns.
I close my newsletter with a laundry list of my books. I had to go to two columns for the listing as it is extensive. That was a recommendation by James Baldwin, who has been a significant help with my newsletters and overall graphics.
For those who are wide, you can list all the stores where your book is available. I think those lists of links look far more profound.
Back to the newsletter. How do you do it?
I’m not going to go through a step-by-step sequence for a specific provider, but here’s what I do to give something away.
Write a good short story or provide the first few chapters of your full-length book. (If you intend to go Amazon exclusive using Kindle Direct Publishing Select, then you can give away 10% of your book without violating the exclusivity clause in the Terms of Service, as of this writing anyway.) It’s important that this work is a good representative of you and your writing. This is the face that you will present to potential fans.
Format it well. Make sure you include quality front matter, the words at the beginning of the book with your copyright and what that story or book is about and why—the why and the opportunity to sign up for your newsletter up front is important as many people stop reading as soon as the story is over. Make it easy for people to sign up.
Load the material onto a site like BookFunnel or Instafreebie, making sure you check the box for mandatory email collection. If you can’t set it for mandatory email collection, then you will get fewer subscribers, but they will probably be higher quality. It’s a tradeoff.
Make sure it’s active. I have multiple email accounts and have signed up for my own newsletter multiple times with all of them. Do not ever deliver a bad experience to your potential readers, either through a typo-infested bad story or through an avoidable technical glitch. You are trying to turn a potential reader into a fan and then into a buyer.
Use a service like MailChimp—there are dozens out there to choose from, some are easier than others, but that usually comes at a higher cost—which will compile email addresses from other signups, integrated from BookFunnel, for example.
I have direct links to the MailChimp signup from my webpage as well as from my Facebook page as well as in the back matter of all my books.
Funnel the new emails through your on-boarding sequence. I use three emails. The first one welcomes them aboard and offers a free download. The second one has nothing for sale and is simply me talking about me, without too much me. The third one offers my Martelle Starter Library for $2.99, which has three full-length novels and a short story. This is where people are introduced to me as a seller of books.
Derek Murphy is a newsletter master and his automation sequence has twelve emails. I don’t have that kind of patience. Check out Derek’s work on the subject if you want more insight into how he does it. He carefully cultivates how he brings people on board, shifting them into various groups based on their level of engagement through the on-boarding process. It really is masterful. It also allows for a slower release because he has his readers and potential readers on the hook, waiting for his next book.
They aren’t going anywhere. As long as they are still subscribed, then you can reach out and touch them, let them know about your latest success in life, your latest release, or just about anything that keeps you connected with them as readers.
Make sure you don’t cultivate a readership that only stays on board to get free stuff.
Giving books away for free is a marketing strategy. Use it for that. If you give all your books away for free, you will collect readers who aren’t willing to pay for your stuff. If you want to make a living as a writer, you need readers willing to pay for your stories. Occasionally, I will run promotions to give away the first book in a series. With read-through/buy-through to the second and later books, I make good money, earning a positive return on investment. I never give away later books in the series, although that could also be a marketing strategy. Use it wisely.
I keep applying for a BookBub-featured deal offering some of my other titles for free, like the 6th book in a series. It can stand alone, although it’s best to be read in order. But with BookBub, it is more than worth it. They can put my book in front of a quarter of a million science fiction readers. I don’t need very many to give me a shot as I have an extensive backlist. Backlist is where good money can be found, but I also say that nothing sells the last book like the next book.
This is what it takes. It all starts with connecting with your readers.
A newsletter makes it possible to have a single release a year and not lose your readership. If you’re releasing every month, then they know you’re there. The readers won’t have forgotten you. I target whale readers, those who read multiple books every week. They can read far faster than I can write, but when I bring a new whale reader on board, they plow through my backlist, and that’s good for about $50. One reader. Forty or more books.
They say it’s easier to sell ten books to one person than one book to ten different people. We keep working toward both—ten books to ten different readers. That is the golden archway to success, then ten more, and ten more.
Other ways to have people follow you
Amazon allows followers. The only drawback with Amazon is that you have no idea exactly how many or who they are. You don’t contact them about your new release, Amazon does. Amazon knows marketing so trust that they’ll get the word out, unless no one ever clicks on those links, then you have a diffe
rent issue.
I’ve run a huge number of giveaways with my books, other books in my genre, and even a Kindle Paperwhite. All of it was dedicated to have people follow me as part of the giveaway. I think that I have thousands. I focused the giveaway specifically toward readers in my genre, although that may have been narrow-sighted. Since Amazon maintains the list and it doesn’t cost anything, it doesn’t hurt for them to cast the net far and wide.
If you let Amazon pimp it out for you as part of the giveaway, you’ll get a bunch of freebie seekers and such, but how can that be bad if you never know who they are or have to pay for them? Amazon knows marketing. Trust them to get your stuff in front of people who just may buy your books.
BookBub will issue new release alerts. The good news about BookBub is that you can see exactly how many people are following you. When they send out the new release alert, it looks a lot like a Featured Deal. That’s where people go to buy books.
I recommend including a BookBub follow link in your back matter, along with your newsletter signup, Amazon author page, and then add in your social media links.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and whatever other ones out there can be lucrative, but like a blog or your newsletter, they take effort. I post something on Facebook every single day, usually multiple times a day. I’ll boost my author posts to make sure they get visibility in front of my author followers.
For Facebook, I have my personal page which has devolved into me being an author page, so I no longer have a personal page. I have an Author Craig Martelle page, which is good because I can run ads from there. I also have a Terry Henry Walton page, the main character in my biggest selling series. But the group page that I have for fans allows them to post and readily be seen by other members. The other pages do not. This is important for fan interaction.
There are pros and cons for each type of page you maintain on Facebook. My personal page gets great visibility, but I can’t advertise from there. My author page has been constrained by FB algos, so I have to pay to get some posts in front of potential buyers/future superfans. My group page allows for great interaction, but I can’t advertise from there. Positives and negatives everywhere. I haven’t found the best place for FB one-stop shopping, but I’ll keep working it through multiple angles.
I haven’t used Twitter or Instagram in a long time, but if you are a big user and also write books, you should be able to blend the two. This goes back to your brand. If people know you and like you, when you tell them that you have a book available, they’ll be more welcoming. If all you ever tell them is things about your book, you may find them resistant.
Your brand. Make it a good one.
Selling Books at a Convention
I did two years hawking my books at ICON, a show in Cedar Rapids—the largest scifi convention in Iowa. They tout 500 attendees. I lost money by doing that show, but I got a tax-deductible trip back to see my old man (he's 82), so I went a couple times. Here is what I've learned.
1. Make your table 3-dimensional so it will catch people's eyes.
Colors are good
Banners help
Book stacks look impressive (people will buy the first in a series, so bring more of those and fewer of the later volumes)
I'm hand-carrying all my stuff from Alaska so will be limited on what I can bring. If you're driving, you could bring more books and a self-standing banner, and things like that
I gained some hardcore fans from last year's show
Bring a convention admin pack—duct tape, clothespins, stapler, pens, paperclips, stuff like that. You may not need them, but might get an in with someone who does.
2. I have candy on my table, so people stop. That helps me start a conversation. "You like scifi?" (A safe question. It was a scifi show.) Mix hard candy and soft candy, maybe even some sugar-free.
3. Bring bookmarks and business cards. This is your brand—get them to take one with them.
I have a BookFunnel link on my business cards for a free short story download with mandatory opt-in to my newsletter (NL)
A new idea (thanks, 20Books!)—bring a tablet (Galaxy, iPad, Kindle Pro, even your smart phone) with a simple NL signup link. People can type in their email right at the table
A separate sheet of paper with your book blurbs. Make it one page so someone can pick it up and take it with them. (An attendee suggested this last year as they wanted to read my book descriptions but had too many sessions to go to and didn't have the time to read the back of each book.)
4. Make sure you take credit cards.
I use my phone and one person went to sign and said, "Oh, that's dirty!" Bring alcohol screen wipes to keep your signing device clean, whether it is a phone, tablet, whatever
Have change in case people pay in cash—assume everyone is going to pay with a $20. I price all my books at $10 for the show.
I also had to get an Iowa business license just for the show, so I could collect tax. I add the tax for CC transactions but not for cash deals
5. I stand the entire time. I greet everyone as they come by. They gave me the first table inside the entrance to the show the first year. It was premier. The convention organizer was very pleased with my presence and gave me that same spot the second year, too. I am an introvert by nature, but reciting easy phrases and such takes the edge off. It's okay. When they pick up a book, you can look at the book together, not each other. That's easier.
6. I also did a panel the second year on self-publishing. We only had five people show up to the panel, but they were fully engaged because they wanted to become authors.
Remember, you are your brand. You must be cordial and accommodating. One attendee last year told me my books were crap—in a very loud voice—because they were 6x9 format. I had no comeback to that besides telling him that I'd consider going smaller. Guess who showed up at my table the second year to look at my smaller books?
Half of them were 5x8. He nodded in appreciation, but didn’t buy a book. That is also a lesson. When people are that vocal about demanding accommodation, they probably are looking for an excuse on not being accommodated.
I talked with other vendors and authors. I have a great deal more experience now, so my conversations with the others will be more robust and less fangirlish. (Glen Cook and Joe Haldeman attend each year.)
Would I go back? No. I have no interest in selling at conventions as that is not my business model. Going to conventions to speak on panels is something completely different. Having bookmarks and business cards to give away no matter where you go is important. Glad-handing and being present are important, as you never know the person you’ll meet.
Joe Haldeman walked past my table, but a shiny thing across the aisle drew him away before I could engage. I hunted him down later to introduce myself and say a few kind words, but I could have done that without standing behind my table not selling books for three days. I sold $250 worth, but the margin was low, so I didn’t even pay for my food, let alone my hotel room and plane ticket. For me, the hassle of doing the show wasn’t worth it. For some of the local authors who didn’t have to pay for travel, food, or lodging, they did pretty well, both in exposure and sales.
Understand, from a business perspective, what your goals are. I would rather be on more panels and spend the time talking with people than trapped behind a table. You show that you know what you’re talking about by talking about the business of self-publishing.
Pen Name
If you have a pen name to keep your personal life separate from your published life, you have to do everything above separately. Sometimes, keeping a pen name is a good idea. Many erotica writers use pen names. I would if I wrote in that genre because I wouldn’t want my dad, my biggest fan, running across it. I don’t have the energy to manage multiple personalities, so I use my real name.
Stalkers and internet trolls have made pen names more attractive, too, in order for the author to fly under the radar.
If you have multiple pen names, then you are look
ing at multiple personas, multiple brands. Understand the workload before you take it on. I am good with sticking in one genre. I don’t have to worry about who did what or who knows which person I am at the moment.
Conclusion
You are your brand in everything you do. Some people are successful in separating their private life from their public life. I failed miserably at that and ended up changing the public perception of my private life, then I only had to maintain one persona at all times. I have a single website, a single author page, and multiple Facebook pages that all have the same theme regarding me.
Chapter 3
The business-side of being an author
Defining Success
Where does the data come from?
Expenses and Revenue
Organizing your business so you have a place to put that revenue and deduct those expenses
Tracking Data
Organizing your business is about managing risk
SWOT Analysis of Your Business
Sphere of Control - Sphere of Influence
Representative Business Structure by Joe Solari
Managing Your Taxes
Taxes
Copyright & Keeping Your Books Safe
Defining Success
I can’t make you a successful indie author. Only you can do that because only you have your definition of success.
Not everyone gets to be successful in the indie business. In the Marine Corps, I heard someone defend another Marine saying that if he got punished for a transgression, it would hurt his career. The answer? Not everyone gets a career in the Corps. Less than 10% who start out make it the full 20 years.
Most authors (traditional and indie) make less than $10,000 a year. There are things you can do to improve your chances, like working hard on the right things. It won’t take long to vault past those at the top of the bell curve in regards to revenue, move from average to above average.
Become a Successful Indie Author Page 4