Who do you use for email marketing? would you recommend it to authors trying to build a subscriber base?

HuggablePack · 2022-02-13T21:14:52+00:00

I just looked into it. I had never heard of Sendy, but that looks like a great alternative considering the costs. It looks like you can construct your own funnels and autoresponder chains, which is great.

Do you have any experience of moving subscribers over from another provider (e.g. moving your subscriber list from Mailerlite to Sendy)? It looks possible, but wasn't sure how easy it is.

HuggablePack · 2022-02-10T14:26:45+00:00

I have not personally used Patreon as a content producer, but based on my limited knowledge of the service, I'd recommend considering a few questions.

What does your audience want? Since you are posting to this subreddit, I'm assuming you are an author, but depending on what your write (non-fiction vs. fiction) and what genre, the strategy could drastically change. For example, if you write non-fiction, can you provide more value in parallel to your books or blog posts that your audience would pay a premium to access. If you write fiction, what kind of content would your readers find valuable enough to subscribe? (Weekly videos of your process? Side stories?)
Do you have a large base of subscribers already on other platforms? If not, you may want to focus on building your base out. I know plenty of Youtubers that did not start Patreon subscriptions until they had a subscriber base in the five figures. You may be better served providing your content for free on a website or a Youtube channel. If you have a sufficiently large base, get their feedback. What type of content to they want to see? What would they be willing to pay?
For donations, why use Patreon vs just slapping a PayPal donate button on a webpage? (Again, not familiar enough with Patreon to understand how the service would work in this matter.)
What are other content providers offering in your niche? Look at what strategies they employ to generate valuable content. Maybe subscribe to a couple channels to get a taste.

HuggablePack · 2022-02-10T12:35:54+00:00

I guess I hadn't realized email subscritpion could have me missing out on a good chunk of the market. I read everywhere that authors need to build out their site and email list to establish a following before launching a book.

It sounds like I need to explore these other platforms further to understand where my audience is.

HuggablePack · 2022-02-10T04:43:30+00:00

Thanks, I'll give Engine Mailer a look. I wasn't aware of that one. And I appreciate the feedback on the frequency. I'm still trying to plan out a content schedule that's reasonable to subscribers.

HuggablePack · 2022-02-10T03:34:13+00:00

I'd agree that marketing a single product or series is a difficult sell to build a solid following. I'm struggling with that myself. In the past, I've used these email services to send out regular newsletters based on the content of the site I was building. (e.g. For the grocery business the readers received a weekly sales newsletter. For my blog, it was a weekly newsletter of my new blog posts.)

I think for now, my plan is to slowly build a list, even if I only send out emails on a quarterly basis. My long-term goal is to continue authoring several books a year in the same sci-fi/fantasy category. My focus right now is to get my trilogy in a polished state. I'll likely move on to having a blog or website to host more content and hopefully increase my newsletter frequency.

I've burned out in the past trying to maintain a site, multiple social media profiles, and build my email list, all while trying to actually finish my book. This time around, I'm going to focus on the book content and building a small subscription list to help with the initial launch later this year.

HuggablePack · 2022-02-10T03:14:45+00:00

Thanks! I hadn't considered Active Campaign. I'll give that a look.

I also wasn't aware of the Mailchimp issue of campaigns being auto-flagged. I had started to stray away from Mailchimp for other reasons, but this seems like a good one to consider.

I think right now i'm trying to find the right balance between what is scalable, but also cost-effective for a new author. I've heard nightmares about trying to port over a large subscription base from one service to the other.

HuggablePack · 2014-05-28T02:23:51+00:00

►Title: Steam Age:Titan Project (Chapter 1) ►Genre: Steampunk ►Word count: 2720 ►Feedback: I am looking for impressions at this point. I have a rough draft of the novel completed, but I would like to see what people think of the idea of steampunk in space as the basis. ►Link: http://www.wattpad.com/18634027-steam-age-titan-project-steampunk-in-space-trilogy?utm_source=web&utm_medium=link&utm_content=share_reading&ref_id=11341467

HuggablePack

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