How much will it cost to publish? Is my book even good enough to be published? How do I find a cover for my book? Where do I find an editor? Is it okay to use pictures from google?
Find practical and straight forward answers to these questions and...
If the gift isn't packaged well no one will beinterested in taking a look. If you're offering a book, get a cover made for it.Consider backing up the cover with a poster that you can paste in the front orback matter of all your books to encourage readers to check it out. The poster can also be used/pinned on yoursocial media to encourage fans there to sign up for your list.
Below is an example of a poster for an opt-in gift
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STEP 6: STORE YOUR OPT-IN GIFT
If you're offering a book, then you'll need tostore it somewhere where readers can collect it after they sign up for yourmailing list. The most popular sites to store books in right now are StoryOrigin, BookFunnel and Prolific Works but you can do some research and see what options are there for you.
The reason most writers choose to store the gift in sites other than theirs is because these sites provide step-by-step guidance to the subscriber onhow to download the book. Some will also require that the reader actually sign up to your mailing list before getting the book which means even if the hidden link to your book is posted for everyone to see, they can't just take the book without first signing up for your list.
STEP 7: DECIDE ON OTHER BONUSES APART FROM JUST THE OPT-IN GIFT
Once someone is already on your list, you still need to keep them in there. Of course just news about your new releases is welcome, but consider giving some free benefits too just to thank them for staying on your list. These benefits include:
- Time limited discounts on new releases. If you sellyour books at $3.99, then let your email subscribers get it for $2.99 in thefirst 12-36 hours of release.
- Giveaways. Hold raffles to give 5-20 books to your mailing listsubscribers whenever you start a new series.
- Bonus chapters of written books of free stories
- Opportunities to be part of your Advance Reader Team and thus can get your book for free before anyone else.
There are so many benefits you could offer that I haven't mentioned here. Just get creative or do some research. Sign up to your favorite author's list and see what they are offering to their loyal readers.
STEP 8: SIGN UP WITH AN EMAIL MARKETING SERVICE (EMS)
There are are numerous EMSs out there, but not all of themare equal. A good EMS is one that;
- Is reputable and well-known. You don't want to be theguinea-pig for the service. If you can't find numerous reviews of the serviceon places like and no other published writers seem tohave heard of them, skip them. Life is too short to be a test-subject.
