These guys are my fans. I appreciate every last one of them - and they're the reason I get to write for a living.
Here are some figures:
• My last email - I made $547 in sales.
• I launch every new book into the top #900 or better.
• I don't need to rely on Amazon for an income.
• I don't need to pay advertisers to get sales.
• I saw my first 1,000 subscribers after just a couple of weeks.
• My click-rate is five times higher than the industry average
• My open-rate is more than double
How?
IT'S ALL ABOUT GETTING READERS TO COMMIT. Get their email addresses. Follow up. Build value. Build your brand.
Let me repeat the headline again: I picked up 15,000 new email addresses in less time than it takes for most people to write a new book. I got my first 1,000 readers signed up in just a couple of weeks. My click-rates are through the roof.
I do this with Reader Magnets. Here's how it breaks down:
Reader Magnets draw your target audience in with irresistible content.
To make this work, do two things:
1) Make one of your books permanently free. You'll get 93 - 150 times more downloads. This is your "Funnel Book".
2) But a big fat advertisement in the front AND back offering another book for free in return for a readers email address. This is your "Magnet Book".
And that's it.
It's so simple. But NOBODY IS DOING THIS!
I see this all the time: "Sign up for new releases here". "Join me on Facebook here". "Follow me on Twitter here".
That's missing the point. You need to give readers something of value. Something more than an email every few months when you release a new book, or a tweet about your latest sale. Or a picture of your cat. You need to give them an irresistible reason to give you their email address. You need to say:
"Get the next book free when you sign up for my mailing list".
It's so simple. Follow steps (1) and (2). It works. You should start seeing results in less than 5 days from start to finish. For more details on what you need to do (and why), read on...
PART ONE
WHERE TO FIND READERS AND HOW TO KEEP THEM
THE POWER OF COMMUNICATION
Short of asking all your readers out for a cup of coffee, the most effective method of communication en masse is still email. Here’s the top three reasons you need to focus on email...
First: the power of email should not be underestimated. Unlike Facebook and Twitter (where you’re lucky if 10% of your followers even SEE your posts, let alone DO anything with them) email reaches everyone.
The average click-through rate of a paid Facebook ad is around 2.5%. But the average click-through rate of my emails is 15% - 20%.
Nearly ten times more effective, and I don’t pay a single penny to advertisers.
Second: you own your email list. Nobody can take it away from you or change the rules (sound familiar, Facebook?).
Third: you dictate the content. You can write whatever you want in your emails – promote whatever product you want, cover any subject you like, and you’ll never have to pay a cent in advertising or conform to ever-changing Terms of Service.
I’ll tell ya - Mark Zuckerberg isn’t going to be happy.
If you can get one reader to give you his or her email address, there’s nothing stopping you from getting 10,000 to do the same. Or 50,000. Or 100,000.
Once you have those email addresses in your control, you can use them to launch your new books into the bestseller charts – or run promotions on your existing books to give them a boost.
Sound good?
I get a lot of emails from author asking how I regularly add 1,000 – 2,000 new email addresses to my database every month.
The answer is a lot simpler than you’d think.
All you need to start building up your email list today is 3 things:
1) At least 2 books where you own the rights – in any genre.
2) A website
3) An email service provider – like Mailchimp
Setting aside the cost of producing books (in both time and money) those other things don’t need to cost you a penny.
But you’ll need both before this book will be of any use to you. So, before you go any further, go do the following:
1) Sign up for a free website at www.wordpress.com
2) Sign up for a free email account at www.mailchimp.com
I personally recommend Wordpress because it’s rock solid, fast, and customizable. I recommend Mailchimp for the same reason – plus it’s completely free until you hit 2,000 subscribers (by which point you’ll be earning enough that the fees will be a drop in the ocean).
Go sign up for those two free services now.
All done? Great – let’s move on. Ready for your step-by-step guide?
Getting readers hooked on your work and signed up to your mailing list requires three things (the power of three, right?). Here they are:
1) Some great books (but you knew that already)
2) Web traffic (I’ll show you how to get thousands of hits without spending a penny).
3) A way to capture interested leads into your email database (I’ll take you through this too).
Here’s how it breaks down...
STEP ONE
Set up Your Books
To make this work, you’ll need at least 2 books. These books should be written under the same pen-name, and it would be preferable (though not essential) if they were in the same series or genre.
We’re going to use these 2 books to supercharge your email list.
First up, if your books are in a series, this next step is going to cover Book 1. If your books aren’t in a series, or aren’t written in any particular order, pick the better book out of the two (in your opinion). If they’re both equally awesome, flip a coin.
Got your first book chosen?
We’re going to make this book permanently free on Amazon, Kobo, iTunes, and Nook.
Why? Free books, on average, are downloaded up to 100 times more than even 99c bestsellers. We need as many downloads as possible to get you some web traffic. And free WORKS.
Don’t believe me?
A 99c book in the #500 spot on kindle needs to sell around 300 copies a day to maintain that rank. And if you could do that, you wouldn’t need my help, right?
A free book, on the other hand, can easily shift 300 copies a day without very much effort. I should know – I’ve been seeing 1,000+ downloads a day for 6 months without any promotion whatsoever.
The best part? Those visitors to your book page on Amazon, Nook, Kobo, and iTunes are all your target audience.
And this is all about TRAFFIC.
So, our plan is to funnel the people who download your free book to YOUR website. There, you can capture their email address.
We’re going to call Book 1 your Funnel Book. And it’s your passport to huge web traffic and a ton of email subscribers.