Why Your Book Isn’t Enough (and Why That’s Good News)
Imagine your book is in the world, and it’s something of a masterpiece. It keeps getting heralded as a breakthrough in its space, a gift. Now imagine that everyone who buys your book sits down with it and starts reading. When they finish it, they start over. Then they read it again. And again. In fact, that’s all they do for years and years—read and re-read your book. They neglect their hygiene and their most important relationships to read your book. They skip meals. Would that make you happy? Is that what you want? Of course not. Which is to say your book is about more than your book. It’s about transformation—the shift you want your readers to experience after engaging with your work. It’s easy to see how this works in nonfiction, which often overtly points beyond itself. “Try this in your life,” nonfiction says. When I read Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller, I was eager to implement his guidance in my business. When I started reading Atomic Habits by James Clear, I wanted to try some of his lifehacks that very day. But I think this is true for fiction as well. When I read The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, I came away with a renewed appreciation for the fragility of life. When I read Carrie by Stephen King, I wanted to do a better job of seeing and reaching out to the marginalized of society. Don’t get me wrong. Your book is a massive part of your effort to make a difference in the world. It is likely the most potent force you can muster for making your readers’ lives better in some way. At the same time, your book is undeniably part of a larger project. What does this have to do with platform? A lot of writers think of platform as a necessary evil, a means to an end—the end being selling a book. They draw a dark line between writing on the one hand and platform-building on the other. This framework makes building an audience feel like a chore. And if building a platform takes time and involves setbacks, as it inevitably does, then the whole thing begins to feel downright Sisyphean. Why post? Why grow an email list? What’s the point of writing blog posts if the net result is just a few more followers? That’s not going to sell many books! I want to suggest a different approach: to see platform-building not as a sideline task, but as a continuation of your core work as an author—guiding readers toward transformation. A book is powerful, yes, but it’s part of something bigger. By sharing messages, stories, and posts that invite readers into the change your book brings to life most fully, you can build more authentic, engaged communities. This approach not only makes audience-building more meaningful, it also tends to result in stronger book sales—because readers can sense when an author is motivated by service and connection rather than sales or obligation. Endless ways to engage Let’s say you’re writing a memoir about a crazy bike trip you took with your lover, and one of the big messages of the book is: “Take more chances! We’ve only got so much time, so make the most of your one, precious life.” Long before the book releases and well after, you can be publishing blog posts, sharing social media updates, and sending emails that inspire people to do just that. Maybe you highlight people who live peculiarly good lives or share about simple changes that have brought fulfillment in your own life. Let’s say you’re writing a novel that drives home the message that our natural world has the power to sustain us if we take care of it. You can be creating or resharing videos that support that message—before your book releases and after. In other words, since your platform-building is service to a mission that is larger than selling books, the possibilities for sharing engaging material are endless. Some questions to consider: Gathering, not just selling At the end of the day, as book-marketing expert Tim Grahl points out, building a platform is about gathering together people who like to geek out about the same stuff—whether that’s space travel or time management or the hope of an afterlife. If you gather folks around a mutual interest that is also central to your book, you will be advancing the change you want to see in the world while also promoting your book
The Psychological Secrets of Attracting Your Readers and How to Do It
As a writer, whether you’re working on nonfiction or fiction, one of the biggest challenges you face is building an audience. Without readers, you won’t have the benefit of early feedback on your work. You likely won’t be able to land a book deal if you’re going the traditional route. And if you’re going the self-publishing route, if you don’t have readers, your book won’t sell many copies! That’s where lead magnets come in. These incentives can help you grow your email list, attract new readers, and ultimately increase your chances of success as a writer. But to create a lead magnet that really works, it’s important to understand the psychology behind what makes people opt-in. The Power of Incentives At its core a lead magnet is an incentive you offer to potential subscribers in exchange for their email address. The incentive can take many different forms, including: E-book Checklist PDF guide Webinar Worksheet Infographic List of resource recommendations Quiz/assessment Template Why do incentives work? In short, people love getting something for free. When we receive a valuable incentive or feel like we’re getting a good deal, our brains release dopamine, a neurotransmitter that’s associated with pleasure and reward. This is why lead magnets are so effective. By offering a valuable incentive, you’re triggering the pleasure centers in your potential readers’ brains and making them more likely to take action. [callout]Want some hands-on guidance with your lead magnet inside a vibrant community of fellow writers? If so, I’m excited to announce an upcoming lead magnet master class that can help. Over the course of six sessions, I’ll walk you through the steps of deciding on, titling, creating, designing, and promoting your lead magnet. Whether you’re a nonfiction or fiction writer, this master class is designed to help you create a lead magnet that will connect with your ideal readers and grow your audience. And the best part? This master class is taking place inside BookCamp. In addition to the Lead Magnet Master Class, you’ll also benefit from weekly coworking sessions, editorial feedback on your content, monthly group coaching sessions, a private community forum, and much more. At less than $50/month, BookCamp is an incredible value that can help you get your book into the world. So why wait? Click here to sign up now and get ready to create a lead magnet that will help you connect with your ideal readers and build your audience.[/callout] Getting to Know Your Audience Of course, not all incentives are created equal. To entice people to opt-in, your lead magnet needs to speak to your readers’ interests and needs. So, who is your ideal reader? This isn’t always easy to figure out, but here are some pointers. Just remember, your audience: Is interested in books that are similar to the one you’re writing Likes to “geek out” about the same things you like to geek out about Follows or engages with other authors or influencers in your genre or niche As you think about books that are similar to yours, what you like to nerd out about, and which influencers’ interests overlap with yours, you’ll get a better idea of who you’re trying to attract. Finding the Right Lead Magnet When you have a clear audience in mind, you can begin to ask: What are their pain points, goals, and aspirations? What kind of information or resources would be most valuable to them? One key tip is to focus on giving the reader a quick win. Sometimes writers make the mistake of trying to offer everything but the kitchen sink to their readers! It’s not necessary, takes more time than it’s worth, and often results in a more vague, less compelling title. Metaphorically, if your ultimate goal is to get readers from LA to NYC, focus on getting them to Las Vegas—in other words, just a little bit of the way. My first lead magnet was a short book called Do Your Art: Rejecting Apathy to Bring Your Best to the World. It’s fine. I’m proud of it. But it took a long time to create, and it’s trying to do too much. Some of my better-performing lead magnets are frankly less ambitious and more specific. Another tip is to draw on previous successes. If, for example, you’ve been blogging for a while and one blog post has been particularly popular, consider turning this blog post into a lead magnet! One of my most popular blog posts is “How to Come Up with a Great Book Concept,” so I worked with a designer to create an infographic that presents the content visually. Finally, if you have a number of lead magnet ideas, give each one the catchiest title you can, then ask your readers to vote on which one they want most. Title, Title, Title The title of your lead magnet is one of the most important factors in attracting and converting new subscribers. Often people will decide whether to opt in based solely on the title. Following are some tips for developing a compelling title for your lead magnet: Be clear! If you confuse, you lose. Use CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer: This free tool allows you to input your title and analyzes it for factors like word balance, headline length, and emotional impact. It provides a score and suggestions for how to improve your title to make it more compelling. You can also try giving ChatGPT a working title and asking it a question like “Can you suggest a title that’s catchier?” Do some browsing. Take a look at some articles about your lead magnet’s topic. Check out Copyblogger’s article titles for inspiration. Consider purchasing and skimming the title templates in Advertising Headlines That Make You Rich by David Garfinkel. Once you’ve landed a title, remember that it doesn’t have to be the title forever. Test and iterate your titles to see what resonates with your audience. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different titles or variations, and track your opt-in rates to see
How to Write an Email to Promote Your New Blog Post, Podcast Ep, or Video
Once you’ve begun building your email list, it’s important to begin sending your subscribers useful content. This could be a blog post, a podcast episode, a video, or some other form of content. (A fun way to approach this is to geek out about the same things your audience likes to geek out about. Click here for more about this method of generating useful content for your followers.) Whatever the content you create, doing so at least somewhat consistently will help you build trust with your readers. I often tell writers the most reliable way to be a successful author is to serve an audience over time before your book releases. You do that with content you consistently deliver to their inboxes. [Tweet “The most reliable way to be a successful author is to serve an audience over time before your book releases. #amwriting”] Ah, but here’s the rub. What if your email reaches their inbox, but they don’t open your email or click within your email to go to what you’ve created? That’s the topic of this article, because if no one opens your emails, it’s as if you never had an email list to begin with. I’m going to share some practical ways to dramatically increase reader engagement with your emails and therefore your content. The first step is to come up with a great subject line. Develop a Compelling Subject Line for Your Email The vast majority of readers will decide whether or not to open your email based solely on your email’s subject line. I beg you not to use subject lines like: “New Post from James Smith” “Blog Post #32” “Writing tip #72” “Chad Allen’s 18th Newsletter” Subject lines like these will sabotage your open rates! Not quite but almost as bad are subject lines that use poetic or obscure language that doesn’t tell readers what the content is, such as: “Night Skies and Shiny Beetles” “Hope and Peace” “My Aunt Sandy’s Apple Pie” In short, who cares!? The best subject lines are focused on a benefit to the reader, such as: “5 super doable ways to develop more intimacy with your spouse” “A simple stress-relieving prayer for when you’re overwhelmed” “A checklist to make your date night awesome!” Notice in the above list my preference for sentence-style capitalization in email subject lines. I prefer title capitalization in my actual blog posts, but in subject lines I like the more casual sentence style because I think it’s more like what a friend would send to a friend. Below are three resources that will quickly help you improve your skill at developing subject lines. The article titles at Copyblogger. Copyblogger is a site dedicated to helping normal folks like you and me become better at writing stuff people will actually read. If I’m struggling with a blog post title or subject line (and in my case the two are often identical), I sometimes jump over to Copyblogger’s site and simply peruse their article titles. More often than not I find the inspiration I need. David Garfinkel’s Advertising Headlines That Make You Rich. This book is organized into twenty different headline templates. Again, a great source for inspiration. And finally, check out Coschedule’s tool, Headline Analyzer (you’ll likely need to create a free account to use it). Headline Analyzer assigns a score to any headline you’re considering. I always shoot for a score at least in the seventies. You may choose not to go with Headline Analyzer’s guidance, but it provides a useful reference point. Now that we’ve developed an attractive subject line, we need to make sure the copy of our email is just as attractive. [Tweet “How to Write an Email to Promote Your New Blog Post, Podcast Ep, or Video #writerslift”] Promote Your Content Let’s assume your subject line prompted a subscriber to open your email. Job #1 complete! Job #2 of your email is to help your subscriber see how your content is going to help them. Ultimately, we want them to click on a link we provide so they can take advantage of our content. You might ask, “Why shouldn’t we simply include the content within the email?” I think this is fine, but it’s often helpful for your content to be in a public place that lasts a while and can be shared with others via social media. I love getting emails from my audience; what I love even more is when they comment on my site or share my content because then more people can join the conversation. That’s why I typically link to (for example) my new blog posts rather than simply copying and pasting it into the email I send. So how do you craft an email that motivates your readers to click the link you provide. It comes down to five primary elements. I’ll share the elements and then a sample email that puts them to use. Start with the problem your content solves. Often a great way to do this is with a question. Agitate the problem a little bit. You don’t need to go overboard, but point out the real loss that’s involved if your reader does not solve the problem you’ve just raised. Segue. Simply let readers know that you’ve created something that will solve their problem. Provide a list of benefits. Touch on the high points of what the reader will get from your new content. I often do this in bullet form. Try to write these in a way that’s surprising and unique. Insert the link. I like to hyperlink a verbal call to action such as “Click here to find out how to write an irresistible email.” For example, the email I use to promote this blog post might go something like this: Hi Friends! Do you wish more people opened your emails and engaged with your content? [Problem] You spend a lot of time creating great content, but if no one engages with it, it feels like, what’s the
A Free and Simple Method to Grow Your Audience
Most writers know the importance of building a platform—an audience of people who are interested in your work and will buy your book when it releases. What writers may not know is the best way to do this is by growing an email list. Why? Have a look at the graphic below: This graphic from OptinMonster makes the point pretty clear. If you want engagement from your readers, email’s a much better bet than social media. This doesn’t mean you should ditch social media, of course. It just means growing your audience by building an email list should be a higher priority. A Free and Simple Method to Grow Your Audience With all this in mind, I challenge you to try something with me that I guarantee will grow your email list. Ready? Take out your phone. Open your text messages. Find one person who’s not currently on your email list but who knows and likes you. Send that person some version of this message: “Hey [NAME]!” Then send some version of this message: “I wanted to let you know I’m starting a group of folks to keep them updated about my forthcoming book! Want in?” Nine times out of ten the person will write back and say some version of “Yes!” When they do, write back, “Great! What’s your best email address?” When they send it, add their email to your list, and let them know you’ll keep them posted! Simple, right? Having helped writers with this tactic many times over the years, I’m accustomed to hearing questions like . . . Q: What if they don’t write back? A: You can try following up, but if that fails, try someone else! Q: Isn’t this duping my friends into joining my email list? I mean, have they really given their permission? A: I don’t think it’s duping them, but if you’re worried about this, feel free to let them know that you’ll be emailing them every so often with content that you think they’d find helpful. Each of your emails will include an unsubscribe link; they can unsubscribe anytime. Q: What if they write back and ask what it means to be in this group? A: Simply let them know you’re putting together a list of emails to keep the group informed, and you’d like to add their email to the list. Q: I hate self-promoting. I don’t think I can do this. A: This isn’t about self-promotion. It’s about getting your message or story into the world. Q: Won’t I just be annoying people? I don’t like to be annoying. A: Nobody does! But I can tell you from having worked with thousands of writers that in the vast majority of cases, what you’re going to hear back will actually be really affirming of you and what you’re doing. If not, you don’t want them on your list anyway! Q: This is a lot of work. I mean, sure I can add this one person, but are you really telling me . . . A: What I’m really telling you is that the people who join your list with this tactic are some of the most important people you can add. Your friends, family, coworkers, former coworkers, etc. are people who are likely to share your content with others, which will help you continue growing your audience. Even if these folks are not in the audience for your book, they can be really helpful allies in helping you find and grow your audience. My advice: start with this tactic, then move on to other tactics. Q: How many people can I add to my list with this tactic? Results vary, but I’ve seen writers grow their list well into the hundreds of subscribers with this method. Q: Can I do this not only via text messages but FB Messenger, LinkedIn, Twitter direct messages, etc? A: Absolutely! And I encourage you to do so! I’ll close with this: I dare you to try texting just one person. What have you got to lose?! And I’d love to hear about your results. What’s something you’ve done to grow your audience?
Why “Geeking Out” Is the Key to Growing Your Audience
Often attracting an audience (aka building a platform) feels difficult because we misunderstand its purpose. We think it’s about: Sending an email or writing a blog post every week Coming up with something brilliant to say on a consistent basis Sharing about our writing journey regularly These are all things we may end up doing when we’re building a platform, but if your focus is on these things, you’re more likely to burn out and give up. What Tim Grahl Said Tim Grahl, author of Your First 1,000 Copies, said something really smart about this a little while ago, and it stuck with me. He said, “Building a platform is about gathering a community of people who like to geek out about the same things you like to geek out about.” That’s a smart thing to say for at least two reasons. First, it’s true. If your goal is merely to write a blog post every week or be consistently brilliant or share about your writing life, not only will you be more likely to burn out. You’re also more likely to attract readers who will not be interested in your book. Building an audience is hard enough. Imagine spending a lot of time and energy to attract a large group of people who are not interested in your book. My stomach turns just thinking about it! But if you build an audience of people who are interested in the same things that interest you, now we’re onto something! If you build an audience of folks who care about the same stories and messages you like to share in your writing, now you have an audience who will run, not walk, to buy your books! Here’s the other reason what Tim said was smart. If you approach building an audience as gathering a community of people who are fascinated by the same things that fascinate you, building an audience just became a whole lot more fun. How to “Geek Out” In other words, this isn’t about sending an email or publishing a blog post every week. This is about telling people what you’re excited about every week. This isn’t about being consistently brilliant. It’s about pointing to something both you and your readers will find helpful. This isn’t about sharing about your writing life, though, sure, sometimes you’ll want to do that. This is about gathering a group of folks who are interested in the same kind of content you like to write. If you’re writing self-help or business books, for example, don’t feel like you have to come up with some brilliant idea every week. Rather, point out what’s already out there that you find brilliant. And share why you think it’s brilliant. If you’re writing memoir, don’t tell me how the writing process is going every week. Instead, share helpful resources that relate to the themes of your memoir. If you’re writing science fiction, stop telling me about your query rejections. Tell me what your favorite sci-fi movies are and why they’re your favorites. If you begin to “geek out, out loud,” as it were, you’ll start attracting the right audience for your book. And you’ll have a more fun in the process. [Tweet “Why “Geeking Out” Is the Key to Growing Your Audience via @chadrallen #amwriting #writingcommunity”] How can you ‘geek out, out loud’ for your audience?
How a writer started and quickly grew his audience . . . in East Africa!
A little while back I saw this post in the BookCamp Facebook group: This caught my attention, so I reached out to George to hear more of his story. It turns out, George, his wife, and four children live in Burundi, a very poor country in East Africa just south of Rwanda. They’re missionaries who are helping train up Burundian doctors. I thought, “Wow, if George can do this in Burundi, where WIFI is often spotty and he’s doing the hectic work of a missionary on a medical team, surely the rest of us can do it too!” I really enjoyed connecting with George and think you will too. In this interview you’ll find out: How he picked up his first 100ish email subscribers The BookCamp tactic he used to add another 40 to 50 subscribers in less than an hour Why social media posts by themselves aren’t enough to grow your audience How writing emails to your list can improve manuscript! The method I recommended to George so that he can keep growing his email list (it involves Facebook) And much more! Here’s the conversation . . . Find out more about BookCamp at www.bookcamp.us. Connect with George Watts and his work in Burundi at www.ggwatts.com.
How to Write Blog Posts That Expand Your Audience
Blogging is a great way for writers to build an audience, but how do you get people to pay attention to your posts? There’s nothing more demoralizing than working for hours on a post only to hear crickets after hitting “publish.” Having blogged professionally for five years now, I’d like to offer my top seven tips for writing blog posts that grab attention 1. Write a great post using the PASTOR method. I learned the PASTOR method from copy writing expert Ray Edwards. Click here for a podcast about the PASTOR method. Click here for an article about the PASTOR method. The PASTOR method of copy writing creates and releases tension in the reading experience, which will keep readers engaged. I don’t follow every jot and tittle of the PASTOR method with every blog post, but it is a really helpful framework that I always keep in the back of my mind. I hope you find it as helpful as I do! 2. Read it out loud or (even better) have a program read it to you. As writers it’s almost impossible to be objective readers of our own work. This is a problem because it means we miss stuff. We miss strange sentence construction, skipped words, repetition, and so on. One way to get ahead of this is by reading aloud what we’ve written. Or, even better, have a program read it to you. These days I tend to work in Microsoft Word, which has a “Speak selected text” feature. I select the text of my post, hit an icon, and the text is read back to me in a robotic voice. The robotic voice is actually helpful because if even a robot sounds okay reading what I’ve written, I know I’m in good shape. My friend, novelist and copywriter Erin Bartels, recently told me about a free online service that does the same thing: https://www.naturalreaders.com/online/ 3. Consider using headings. If your blog post is fewer than 500 words, you may not need headings. But if it’s 500 words or longer, I think they’re a good idea. They break up the reading experience and signal to the reader how you’ve organized the content. My advice when writing headings is don’t get too fancy. In most cases keeping them straightforward and explanatory is the best way to go. [Tweet “7 steps for writing blog posts that expand your audience via pro blogger @chadrallen #amwriting #writingcommunity”] 4. Develop a compelling blog post title. I can’t stress enough how important this step is. Most readers will decide whether to read your blog post or skip it based on the title alone. Your title should accurately reflect your content, of course, but its main job is to get people to click. Here’s the process I use when developing a blog post title: I usually start with a possible title or two in mind. The original title for this post, for example, was “How to Write a Wicked Awesome Blog Post That Grabs Attention!” Then I write the blog post to see what it becomes. Next I consult Copyblogger’s article titles. With my topic in mind, I simply skim the article titles on Copyblogger and look for ideas. Then I open the Kindle app on my desktop and peruse David Garfinkel’s Advertising Headlines That Make You Rich for more inspiration. Finally, I use Coschedule’s Headline Analyzer app to refine my headline. I always shoot for a score of at least 70. (The current title on this post received a 74. My original title received an 81, but I just couldn’t stomach it. These tools are guides, not masters!) This process helps me develop blog post titles that are many times more attractive than they would be otherwise. 5. Add an image that will go well with your title in social posts. One of the main ways you’ll share your blog post is via social media, so it’s a good idea to insert an image within your post that will pair nicely with your blog post’s title. I sometimes will purchase an image at Shutterstock, but more often I use one of the following services for free images: Unsplash Vecteezy Pexels There are others, but these are the sites I use most often. Be sure to follow the guidelines from the image site to provide appropriate attribution. 6. Promote your post via email and social media. So you’ve written a high-quality blog post, inserted some headings, developed a great title, and added an arresting image. Now it’s time to go get some traffic! In the past this step used to really bother me. I mean, I spend all this time writing a blog post, and now I have to spend even more time writing promotional copy! Good grief, when does it end!? But these days it’s far less aggravating. Why? Because I keep it really simple. Sometimes I’ll promote my blog post by simply excerpting or adapting the beginning of the blog post. Then I drop in a link, and I’m done. Other times I think about a particular person who I think would benefit from the post. I write an email to that person and adapt it to promote the post. If I have time, I’ll include a bulleted list of the benefits a reader can expect from the blog post. One practical tip: For the text that you hyperlink in an email, refer back to your blog post title. For this blog post my link text might be “Click here to write blog posts that expand your audience.” 7. Grow your email list. Sharing detailed tactics for growing your email list is beyond the scope of this blog post, but suffice to say, it’s important to solicit email subscribers. I have a whole section in the BookCamp Members Area designed entirely to help writers increase their number of email subscribers. As you grow your email list and let your subscribers know about your new blog posts, you’ll increase your views and get
Your Obvious Path to a Larger Audience
A couple weeks ago I took my son downhill skiing for the first time. Everything went really well, and after five hours of skiing, the perfect way to cap off our adventure, I thought, would be two piping hot cups of hot chocolate. After returning our equipment, I asked one of the rental staff employees, “Quick question: Where’s the closest place I can order a cup of hot chocolate?” “You can get it at the blue box,” he said, “or at the indoor café.” “OK . . . ,” I said, having no idea what he meant by “blue box,” “Which is better?” “Um, whichever has the shortest line,” he replied, a little annoyed or mystified by my question. “OK. Could you actually point me in the right direction? I have no idea where to go.” At this point my helper was getting a little exasperated. “Step out that door and look to your right.” I did, and voila! A little blue ordering booth with no line stood ready to take my order. As I walked back to our vehicle, delicious hot chocolate in hand, I wondered about the staffer’s frustration with me. And that’s when I realized, Ooh, he was frustrated because he’s walked by that “blue box” a hundred, maybe thousands of times. How could I not know where it is!? The truth is, I had already walked past it a few times myself; I just never paid attention to it until this man told me I should. What’s the lesson here? What’s obvious to you is not obvious to others. Often writers struggle with a belief that they don’t have enough to offer. You’ve heard of Imposter Syndrome? It’s what happens when we believe we don’t really belong in the position we’re in, in this case the position of being an expert on a particular topic, teaching others about it. But just remember: what’s obvious to you is not obvious to others. If you take this to heart, my guess is you will have a lot more to offer than you ever imagined. You’ll not only be more helpful to your readers. You’ll be helpful to more readers. In what area are things obvious to you that may not be obvious to others?
How to Grow Your Audience Quickly
Recently I sent out a survey to writers in our BookCamp community and asked them, “When it comes to the whole process of writing, building an audience, and getting published, what’s the biggest challenge, frustration, or obstacle you are struggling with?” The top response by far: building an audience. Here’s what I posted in our Facebook group, which lists direct quotes from respondents: My strong hunch is that BookCampers are representative of most writers. How to Succeed as a Writer If you’ve followed me for a while, you know I talk a lot about the 3 C’s of publishing success: Concept, Craft, and Crowd. Concept refers to the need for a sticky book idea. A compelling concept meets a real need real people really have. Craft relates to the quality of your writing. Essentially, how good is it? Is it clear and compelling? Does your writing pull me forward? And the third C, Crowd, is about building an audience—a “platform” you can leverage to promote your book. While concept development and writing well can certainly be issues for writers, the biggest struggle by far is attracting an audience. If you’re pursuing a traditional book contract, the number 1 reason publishers turn books down is because of too small a platform/audience. If you’re self-publishing and do not have an audience, you’re likely to be very disappointed with your sales. Who wants to invest all the time and energy it takes to write and self-publish a book only to hear crickets on the other end? What’s a writer to do? In this post I want to share how writers can grow their email list to 250 subscribers and beyond. The Absolute Necessity of an Email List Why focus on an email list? In short, because your email list is an asset you own. Social media followings are great and important, but they exist on platforms you “rent,” as it were, which is to say you don’t make the rules there. To a large extent, Facebook decides who does and does not see your posts, for example. Twitter can change its algorithm whenever it wants and charge you to reach your followers. Plus, email is simply more effective as a marketing tool. According to this article, the engagement rate of social media is a little over half a percent. Email, on the other hand, reaches about 85 percent of recipients with an open rate of about 23 percent. When you think audience and platform, think email subscribers. So how do you grow your email list? Keep reading! 1. Start with the “Eager Sneezer” Tactic I first heard about this method from Growth Tools founder Bryan Harris. He took the stage at a conference and told attendees to pull out their phones. Then he instructed, “Text the following to the last person you texted: “‘Hi [Name], I’m starting this new project where I publish regularly about __________ [fill in the blank with your topic]. Want in?’” Bryan wouldn’t take no for an answer. “Just do this,” he told the audience, “I want to show you something.” Many followed his instruction, and guess what? Responses started rolling in to the participants’ phones. “You bet I want in!” “Yes! Why haven’t you done this sooner?” “Sure.” “Sounds cool. Yes!” Bryan said, “OK, now ask them for their best email address.” That, in a nutshell, is the “eager sneezer” method. You can do it via text, email, Facebook Messenger, LinkedIn direct messages, and the list goes on. That it’s simple and requires actual work is why it is often overlooked. It is also one of the best ways I know of to begin building an audience. The reality is you know people who would be happy to support your work in the world. They’ll gladly sign up for your email newsletter and even share your content with others. These are your friends, family, and acquaintances. They’re your “eager sneezers” because they are the folks who will be eager to share (sneeze) your content with others. I recommend this method for getting your first 100 to 250 subscribers. [Tweet “How to Grow Your Audience Quickly #amwriting #WritingCommunity @chadrallen”] 2. Develop a Freebie (a Lead Magnet) Once you have exhausted your eager sneezer contacts, it’s time to develop a freebie, a lead magnet. Ideally, a lead magnet is a free resource that is irresistible to the kinds of people you want to serve with your book. Sadly, a lot of people rush into this process and spend a lot of time working on a resource not many people want. My advice: don’t rush this. Spend some time thinking and researching the kind of resource your target audience will find compelling. How do you do this? First, think about the problems your ideal reader has. What are the most pressing struggles not you but she herself would identify with? A few do’s and don’ts here: Don’t think big and comprehensive. Do think really specific. Don’t think about what people need. Do think about what they want. Don’t think “I need to get them to see this really important thing.” Think “They want this. I’ll give it to them and help them see that really important thing later.” Don’t think “solve all of their problems.” Think “solve one small but pressing problem.” Don’t think “I should spend weeks on this.” Think “I should spend no more than a day on this.” Don’t think, “The title of this thing doesn’t matter. What matters is the content.” Think “The title alone determines whether they even see the content.” Below I’ll share some examples of lead magnets that I think hit the mark: Michael Hyatt serves leaders and business people. He created a lead magnet titled Recipe for a Productive Day. Laura Dennis serves women who are about to have an empty nest. She created Planning for College Checklists. Ray Edwards serves writers whose business depends on their marketing copy. He created the Email Subject Line Starter Kit. Jessica Turner serves moms. She
How Big a Platform Do I Need to Land a Book Deal?
Blog reader Ryan Atkins from Flat on My Back recently emailed this question about platform: “In a recent post of yours, you mentioned having at least 1,000 email subscribers before moving forward with publishing. This was surprising to me as I had assumed differently after hearing much higher numbers from query rejections last year. After hearing 10,000+, I started to pursue self-publishing.” Many writers understand book publishers want to work with writers who have a platform. A key metric for determining platform size is number of email subscribers. So how many do you need? If you asked fifty different publishing professionals how large an email list you need to secure a book contract, my guess is you’d receive quite a variety of answers, such as: “At least 1,000” “No fewer than 10,000” “100,000 or more” “We don’t make decisions based on number of email subscribers, so it’s a moot point.” In other words, you’d get a grab bag of different responses. The Exception That Proves the Rule Part of why a universal list size does not exist is because other key factors influence a typical publishing decision. Two of these are: how compelling the book’s concept is how good the writing is Sometimes a writer with a very small platform can land a book deal on the basis of these other factors. That happens, but in my experience (20+ years in the nonfiction trade publishing industry), such book deals are the exception that proves the rule. The rule is that anytime you submit a book proposal to agents and publishers, you are in competition with writers who have considerable platforms. Put yourself in a publisher’s shoes. If all else was equal, would you rather publish Author A who has the ability to promote her book in a significant way or Author B who lacks that ability? If I’m Going to Do the Marketing, Do I Need a Publisher? Publishers want to partner with authors who can help them promote, but that doesn’t mean publishers don’t do any marketing. Any traditional publisher worth its salt will have a budget for marketing the books it publishes. Examples of promotional activities publishers regularly do: listing your book in their catalog, which is distributed to accounts advertising lining up interviews for the author on podcasts, TV, and radio placing excerpts of the book in targeted publications All of these activities can have a real impact on the reach of your book. The other thing a publisher does is sell your book to a wider network of outlets and accounts than you would be able to reach on your own. Amazon is obviously the big player in retail, but publishers have relationships with other accounts that sell books. Think spinner racks in airports, independent bookstores, and nonprofit organizations that buy books to give away to donors, to name just a few. The most important marketing function a publisher can perform is likely collaborating with authors to think strategically and develop a winning marketing plan. Why 1,000? So why do I say a 1,000 instead of 10,000 or 132 or 100,000? To be honest, I’d rather not give a number at all. When you ask “How big does my list need to be?” I’d like to say “How big an impact do you want to have?” and leave it at that. But writers are persistent! They want a number. And I get it, it’s helpful to have a measurable goal to shoot for. I say to shoot for 1,000 because you can’t get to this many subscribers without some serious effort, not if you grow your list the right way (which is to say buying a list doesn’t count!). And I’m confident anyone who has grown a list the right way to 1,000 subscribers would back me up on this point. [Tweet “How big a #platform do I need to land a book deal? #amwriting #askeditor #bookdeal #writetip @chadrallen”] What Writers Really Want The reality is writers can get so fixated on hitting a number that they forget the point of it all. The purpose of growing a platform (read: growing an email list) should not be to hit a number or land a book deal. The purpose of a platform is to serve an audience, to effect a change in people’s lives, a change they want and are willing to pay for. In this way building a platform and getting your book published are best seen not as two distinctive objectives but as part of the same whole. This whole project—writing your book, getting published, building your platform, blogging or podcasting or speaking, promoting your book—all of it is about one thing: serving your audience. Sometimes list building feels (and in fact, is) very different from, say, writing a chapter of your manuscript. But don’t miss the connection. In both you are helping your reader get closer to the person she wants to become. And of course, in so doing you are becoming the person you want to become. How do you serve your readers?