You may have noticed my new spiffy link over on the right—thanks to David Gaughran’s post introducing his followers to the wonders of Mail Chimp.
At first, I glanced over the idea of a mailing list. Why would I need a mailing list? I have a blog where I can send out promotional news to my followers. But then I put the first book of my series on extended promotion (5,000 downloads in one week!), and I realized all those people were my market. How would they know about the next release of the series?
Most self-publishers don’t have a promotional team with a brick and mortar marketing budget, who can spread the word of a new release to the world. In a year, when my third book is planned to release, my readers most likely won’t be waiting with bated breath. I needed a way for those fans to ONLY get the announcement of releases.
The majority of my blog focuses on my self-publishing journey and the struggles I face as a writer. Most fans wouldn’t want to follow my blog. They usually VISIT my website for the historical background information, book trailers, and my bio page. So, I needed to find a way to get release news to these readers.
Mail Chimp.
As usual, David Gaughran is ahead of the game. A self-published author NEEDS a mailing list. You must have an option for fans to sign up only for release news. You need to capture these readers and continue to market to them. Um, and have I mentioned that it’s free!
Go to Mail Chimp’s website and follow the simple instructions to create your own mailing list. Remember, I am NOT tech-savvy. If I could figure this out you can. Once you’ve signed up and put the link on your widget, Mail Chimp sends you emails over the next few days, slowly introducing you to how the mailing list operates. Very easy.
Just be sure to specify that the mailing list will ONLY be used for release notifications. Folks are so spam wary now-a-days and don’t want to be notified every time your book changes price, interviews on such-and-such’s blog, or the you’ve just received a rave review. If they did, they’d follow your blog.
This is especially a good idea before a major promotion or free day. You want to hold the attention of that new market and have a way to advertise to them later.
If anyone has any questions, shoot me an email and I’ll be glad to help you out.
I use Mail Chimp too! I don’t have a lot of emails on the list, but all the people signed up of their own volition, so my tiny list is gold to me.
Dayla Moon, I love your name! My list is tiny too, but it’s incredibly valuable since people are enough of your fan that they want to know when you release your next book. It’s probably a good idea to occasionally print the list out just in case something happens to Mail Chimp (or that they decide to start charging for it).
It’s no problem if Mail Chimp disappears, as I have those 3 email address memorized. Hah! Not really. 🙂
Too funny! Hopefully, that won’t be the case for long 🙂
Thanks for the great advice and info! I’ll be sure to keep this in mind 🙂
Hey Lauren. I just wanted to let you know I “tagged” you in a Lucky 7 blog post! I don’t think we’re Twitter friends or I would’ve just sent you a tweet. 🙂 Here’s my post: http://erinbradypike.com/2012/04/12/lucky-7-meme-seven-lines-from-a-wip/ Can’t wait to hear 7 lines from yoru WIP!
I’ve seen mailchimp before, definitely need to start a mailing list of my won, thanks for the reminder. Let us know how your promos work out in the future.
Mail Chimp is so easy and it will really pay off if you can accumulate a fan base. I will definitely keep everyone posted. So far, it’s working well!