In this digital age, where emails and social media dominate our communication channels, a strong email list is vital to reach your readers.
Unlike social media platforms that rely on algorithms and may limit your reach, email marketing gives you control—your message reaches the right people at the right time.
For independent publishers, this is essential.
Each publisher has a unique voice and must be able to reach their readers to let them know about new releases and evangelize them to promote through word of mouth to their like-minded friends.
While having an active social media presence may be part of your marketing strategy for a book or for you as a publisher, it does not replace a growing email list.
Where to Start?
I will share some of our most successful email list-building methods. While it may seem like you should focus on online sign-ups, there are also effective ways to introduce readers to your books and sign them up offline.
Live Events and Shows
We attend several live events each year that attract readers. Within your publishing focus and the demographics and interests of your potential readers, you can research what types of events they are likely to attend. For example, we attend book festivals as well as comic convention-type events. While the latter are heavily driven by pop-culture movie, TV, and video game fans, readers of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror also attend. Not only do we sell hundreds of books at these shows, but these readers sign up (opt-in) to receive exclusive offers and content that only our subscribers can access.
Pro Tip: Take one of your books (or a line of books) and research what type of consumer events your potential readers would attend. Are there any near you, or any that you would be willing to travel to? Consider getting a retail booth, selling your books, and signing up attendees for your list.
Direct Mail
It is easy to overlook the power of physical mail. Postcards can be an effective way to build your mailing list. Today it is possible to rent very targeted physical mailing lists to reach your exact reading audience. Mailing list companies can pull a list that will get readers of specific interests, ages, genders, territories, etc. As the cost of postage and printing is relatively expensive, developing a clever offer that will resonate with your potential readers so they go to your site and opt in is essential. I have included a few suggestions for free items or services you can offer for signing up later in this article. A company that specializes in this type of postcard marketing is postcardmania.com.
A Publisher Blog
Do you have a publishing blog? We created a blog for each of our websites. We write articles on topics of interest to our potential readers. We use keywords so Google will show these posts to people interested in the subjects and attract them to our blog. Then, we ask readers to sign up for our mailing list with a relevant offer.
Pro Tip: Within the first fold (the first screen people see when they arrive at your blog), make an offer to sign up for your mailing list. Also, remind them several times throughout your article so they receive your exclusive offers and bonuses.
Pro Tip: Use a tool like ubersuggest.com to discover keywords readers use to search that are also subjects your books and blogs address. You want to find highly searched words that have a low competition score. Using these words in your blog title, subtitles, and blog content will help Google send you the right audience.
Social Media
Use your social media to promote your books and current projects and share your blogs and special offers to sign up for your mailing list. Ensure any posts to sign up for your list have a link directly to the page on your site with the form to sign up.
Social Media Ads
I have not had much success running direct ads to get opt-ins that convert to sales. I have used Facebook lead generation ads to accumulate thousands of opt-ins, but they have yet to convert when further promoting to these leads. Feel free to test this for yourself.
In Your Books
Your books are also a great source for your mailing list. These readers have already bought and read one of your books. In physical books, you should have an ad at the back of the book with the website address to sign up for your mailing list (or a QR code they can take a picture of). We also insert a MIC (More Information Card) with pre-paid postage where we ask for them to opt-in with an offer.
You can also promote an offer to sign up in your e-books. I recommend three places to make an offer:
- After the title page, make a simple offer to receive a special gift if the reader signs up and provide a link to your sign-up page.
- At the end of the Table of Contents, add a link to an ad at the end of the book with anchor text such as “Special Offer” or “Exclusive Offer.”
- Create an ad at the end of the book with the details of your offer and a link to the sign-up page on your site.
Pro Tip: Bookfunnel.com is a company that will help you offer free e-books, audiobook downloads, or chapters as lead magnets to sign up. They will enable you to collect the email addresses to upload onto your mailing list and host your digital content. They also provide a feature for authors who use their platform to team up on promotions for their titles and, through these, get more readers signed up for their list.
Craft an Irresistible Offer
To entice people to join your email list, offer them something of value—an irresistible offer.
A “lead magnet” is a marketing term for a free item or service given away to gather contact details for future marketing.
Here are a few ideas to get you started that have worked for us and other publishers and authors:
- Exclusive content such as a prequel novelette for your novel, an unpublished additional chapter, an alternate ending, or a white paper for nonfiction
- A discount
- Free e-book or audiobook download. Some authors offer the first book in a series for free. Author Mark Dawson offers a “starter library” with four free books (the first volume in four series he’s written) in exchange for opting in for his email
- Catalog offer
- Free poster
- Free wallpaper images for their phone or computer related to your book or series
- A chart or guide to help solve a problem related to your specialty or topic
Make sure it’s something they can’t resist!
Develop a Sign-up Landing Page
However you promote to readers to sign up for your email list, you must create a clear sign-up form. It should be visually appealing—an eye-catching design that grabs attention—easy to use, and conveys the benefits of joining your mailing list. Set it up to automatically deliver your offer, so there is no delay for the new subscriber.
Pro Tip: In your email list, tag each new entry with its source of leads so you know which names are converting to further sales and can focus your efforts on the activities that generate those leads.
Manage Your Mailing List
To manage your list, you need a mailing list software system called a CRM (customer relationship management). CRMs help business owners easily track all communications and nurture customers from new leads to buyers to evangelists for your books.
Kindleprenuer.com did an in-depth comparison of several popular email management programs (kindlepreneur.com/best-email-services-for-authors), including MailerLite, Mad Mimi, Convertkit, and MailChimp.
Look into each of these or other similar systems before you decide which is the best software partner to grow and manage your list with.
We use HubSpot, which has more advanced automation features. It is a robust program that manages the mailing list with tags to enable targeted emails. You can also manage your blogs and social media accounts in this “hub.”
It is vital to tag your list. You want to know the source of the lead, what books or audio they have purchased, what genres or topics they are interested in, etc. Proper tagging will make it possible to send the right message to the right readers. You want subscribers to know you are talking to them. Your response and sales will improve when you provide what these readers are looking for or expecting.
How to Keep Your Mailing List Engaged
Building a large mailing list is great, but keeping subscribers engaged is equally important. Here are some tactics:
- Personalization. Tailor your emails to each subscriber’s preferences. Only send them emails they will have an interest in.
- Consistency. If you send a newsletter, send it out on a routine schedule (e.g., every Tuesday at 10 a.m.).
- Time of day. Below is research provided in a HubSpot blog, “The Best Time To Send an Email”:
“Which day of the week do their marketing emails get the most engagement?
22.6% — Monday
24.9% — Tuesday
21.3% — Wednesday
“What time of day do their emails get the most engagement?
34.9% — 9 AM to 12 PM
27.6% —12 PM to 3 PM”
- Subject line. Write a subject line that is compelling and attracts interest. You can check potential subject lines using an online research tool like subjectline.com. This will rate the likelihood of your readers to open your email.
- Email address. Use an email address the receiver will be familiar with, such as the author or company they signed up with. It needs to be immediately recognizable. People delete emails from spam or people they don’t recognize.
Pro Tip: We often create a fun digital jigsaw puzzle for the cover art from one of our books using a free online puzzle website called jigsawplanet.com. This is one way to brand your cover images and get reader engagement, which is vital to maintaining a high email health score with your email service partner.
Conclusion
Having an email list gives you direct access to your customer’s inboxes. You can nurture relationships with your subscribers and establish trust and credibility by consistently providing valuable content and offers. This relationship-building improves reader loyalty and will connect you with enthusiasts for your books.
Knowing your customers and connecting with them directly amid changing algorithms and platform policies is vital. Social media platforms come and go. An engaged subscriber base ensures you maintain a connection to your readers even if one channel becomes less effective or disappears altogether (remember MySpace?).
Building a solid mailing list doesn’t happen overnight; it requires strategic planning, creativity, persistence, and continuous optimization. Focus on providing value and building relationships with subscribers rather than just accumulating numbers quickly.
By consistently implementing these tips into your marketing strategy, your mailing list will grow, and your business will thrive!
Kimberly A. Catalano is the senior vice president of global sales and rights at Galaxy Press.