List Building Basics for Authors - with MailChimp

Posted by Arthur Gutch
Published On May 14, 2015

Followers and readers are a vital part of getting your book marketing off the ground. Once you find those readers and followers, though, you have to keep them engaged and interested in what you're offering. It is imperative that you not waste a moment in creating a method to capture e-mail and other information you can use to market yourself and your book in the future. Mailchimp_Authors

You also want to keep adding to the numbers, so your follower base continues to expand. You can do that through a mailing list, using MailChimp. Here are some tips to get started.

1. Learn what MailChimp can do for you

Building followers or a readership can be difficult, but once it gets started it can really snowball into something wonderful. Once you start to get that readership, though, what do you do with it? How do you keep your followers interested and coming back?

To keep them engaged, you need to keep sending them reminders of who you are and what you do, without always trying to sell them something. Freebies are generally always welcome, and a service like MailChimp means getting that freebie out to all your subscribers more easily. Sending them your Blog on a regular basis can also be very productive.

2. Don't forget that pricing matters in indie publishing

Unless your ebook is already doing really well, you might not have much extra money to spend on your email subscribers. Still, you don't want to neglect them, or they're going to drop off one by one, until you don't have many followers or readers anymore.

With MailChimp you can choose from three different pricing options. They start with under 2,000 subscribers, and go all the way up to more than 50,000 subscribers. No matter the size of your follower or reader list, you can find a plan that meets your needs.

3. Understand the features

When marketing your ebook or audio book to your list of followers, you want a service that can provide you with the features you want. Your emailed content can only take you so far. Subscriber profiles, personalization, automation, analytics, and more mean you'll always have access to your subscriber information. Additionally, you can always take a look at how well your marketing is doing, so you can make adjustments.

4. Get the support you need for author marketing

Indie publishing can be hard, and you'll need some support. Your mail service should offer that support, so you'll be better able to work on your books and build your follower base. If you're not getting what you need from your mail service, MailChimp may be a better choice. With a high level of support, you'll have less to worry about.

5. A mail program can't do it alone

Book promotion is bigger than an email program. No matter what program you use, remember you still need a quality product and a good list of readers who want to follow you and see what you have to say. If you keep your communcations entertaining or educatatonal and always relevant to your audience, everything will come together for your book promotion efforts.

Keep the Faith and May the Force be with You!

 

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