In the first part of the “Book Marketing… Come to the dark side” series, author H.M. Clarke shared some great tips about building an email list. Now, she takes it a step further, by showing you how to keep your subscribers that you worked hard for.
Keeping Your Email Subscribers
Quite obviously, the best way of keeping your email subscribers, or any type of subscriber, is to be entertaining, real, and not ‘salesy’.
Think of the many emails that you get in your inbox. What makes you click on a message and then read it in its entirety?
If you are like me, at least seventy percent of the emails you receive are ‘buy my book/course/thingamybob’, then I will either:
- Just ignore and delete it
- Unsubscribe OR if they are really annoying
- Mark it as Spam.
Being marked as spam is the one thing you do not want. So there is always a fine line to tread when composing your email messages. It is just a matter of knowing what that fine line is.
The kicker is that the line can, and will, be different depending on what type of audience you are trying to build with your list, and it will depend on the following factors:
- Whether you cater to fiction or nonfiction
- Raving fans
- Freebie hunters
- Street teams
- Beta readers
- ‘How to’ info junkies
- Voyeurs (sneak peek into authors life)
- Genre Geeks
- Other Authors and
- ‘Meh’ readers
The piqued interest of each of these categories are different, so you really need to decide what you are building you list for. I know that the obvious answer is to sell books, but there needs to be a secondary reason that also gives something back to your subscribers.
How To Write Your Emails
Once you decide what/whom your list is going to be aimed at, then you can craft your emails to suit.
Try to keep most of your content informational and informal, as if you are talking with friends or family. And only try to ‘sell’ to your list if you have a new release coming out or have a sale on.
Also, try to keep your emails coming out regularly. People love a schedule and if you have the right list, they will know when to eagerly expect to get your next email.
The one thing you should never do is let people forget who you are and why they signed up to you list in the first place. Let them get a peek into your life with stories and anecdotes that promote what you are trying to say, and always reply to emails that your list sends to you.
And always try and reply to any email that a fan sends to you. After all, the best way to keep a fan is to reply to their email and to show that you are interested in what they have to say to you. Show your reader that you respect them and their opinion and you should get theirs in return.
If you have a favorite way of communicating with your subscribers, please share it in the comments. I would love to hear how people interact with their subscribers.
H.M. Clarke is an Australian writer based in Ohio. She is the author of the Scifi novel, The Enclave, The Way to Freedom series and several paranormal novels. You can find out more about Hayley and her books at http://www.hmclarkeauthor.com/ and you can stalk her on Twitter @HMClarkeAuthor.