Remember our dinner party analogy from the last lesson?
Well, you’ve gone out and made some new friends, invited them over to your house and now they’re noshing on great food and having some good conversation.
But soon, they will leave.
They will go back home to their daily lives — their families, chores, friends, hobbies and other distractions. How do you ensure that they will keep coming back for future dinner parties to hang out and talk about great books (like yours)?
It’s easier than you think to keep your fans interested in what you’ve got going on. All you really need are three key tools, all of which can be neatly tied into your website and require minimum maintenance to keep up.
What are they? Glad you asked.
Where there’s smoke, there’s a mailing list
(I think that’s how the saying goes…)
photo by andrewmalone
You absolutely must have a mailing list.
Period.
Contrary to what you might believe, it doesn’t take a lot of time or money to have a mailing list. Several mailing list services have free (MailChimp) or very inexpensive (Constant Contact) monthly plans to get started.
Once you’ve signed up, add a box to your website where fans can drop their email address if they want to. You don’t have to send something on a regular basis if you don’t want to, but at least you’ll have an easy way to get right into the inbox of your readers when you have something important to share.
Don’t overload them with promotional stuff ,though.
You should share things that are valuable and/or helpful to them. You can share reviews of products or other books they might like, tips or how-to guides for doing something (like for my Christmas-themed book I could give tips for setting up an awesome Christmas village or decorating for the holidays, something like that).
You can also use your mailing list to be interactive with your fans!
Ask them for input when you’re writing a new book, or what they like to read, anything that encourages them to drop you a quick line in response so you can engage in conversation with them.
Stoke the Fire with Promotions
photo by rengber
(And watch the flames explode!)
Reward your fans.
Period.
How much do you like getting free stuff? I just joined a gym the other day and got a free (ugly) t-shirt and so far every time I’ve been to the gym I’ve seen at least a dozen other people wearing the same free (ugly) t-shirt. You know why?
Because EVERYBODY loves getting free stuff!!!
Even if it’s something really small (or ugly) that we don’t want, we get excited about it. Giveaways and contests are a great way to keep people coming back for more. You can (and should) give away eBook and paperback copies of your books, but take things one step further.
Come up with some prizes that are related to your book, but cool items all on their own.
For example, for my Christmas-themed book I’m going to be giving away some cool, handmade ornaments to my fans this fall. You don’t have to break the bank or anything, but scout thrift shops, used bookstores, and discount markets for cool items you can package together to giveaway to fans.
You should have some giveaways for really basic things, like just signing up for your mailing list. But other giveaways should be contests that require your fans to do something like leave comments on your blog, like your Facebook page, etc.
(Warning: Facebook gets really crankypants about conducting contests on their website – you have to use third party software or have readers comment on your blog letting you know that they visited and liked your Facebook page, then pick the winner from the comment list.)
You can also offer limited edition releases of your book that come with a personalized note from the author or something like that. This can give new life to your book a few months or even a year or so after it was first launched.
Keep your irons in the blog
photo by StormyDog
(Am I taking the theme too far?)
You must have a blog on your website.
Period.
You don’t have to break your back to operate it, but try to post new info a couple times a month. Don’t just make it promotional stuff about your book, just like everything else, at least 50% of your content should be on relevant topics your reader would like to read.
Check our blog prompts for some ideas!
Always encourage discussion at the end of your blog posts and if you get comments, respond to them! Guest posts can be great, but don’t have more than two in a row without throwing your voice in the mix so your readers don’t forget what it sounds like!
Videos (or vlogs) can also be a great way to give your blog an extra dimension, especially when discussing personal topics like your author origin story, for example.
Homework:
- Sign up for a mailing list service if you haven’t already
- Come up with three ideas for fan promotional giveaways!
- Make a list of ten things you can blog about, no more than 3 should be about your book/writing, the rest should be about topics your fans would like to read about.
Discussion:
Share your homework ideas! Let us know what promotions or blog topics you came up with!
