- I know you've been looking for the magic bullet,
that one thing you need to do to sell more books
and even build a business around your book.
This is it!
This is the tip!
It's not social media, it's not Facebook Messenger bots,
or some AI robot selling your book in malls,
although that's a pretty cool idea, isn't it?
Stick around, I'll reveal what you need to do.
(upbeat music)
Hey, I'm Julie Broad, award winning author
and founder of Book Launchers.
A company that helps entrepreneurs and professionals write,
publish and sell a fantastic non-fiction book.
Today, I wanna share the single most powerful marketing tool
for your book and beyond.
But before I do that, make sure you subscribe to our channel
and hit that little notification symbol
so you'll get notified when a new video comes out
and when I go live.
That's your best chance to interact with me,
ask questions, and hang out on YouTube.
So let's get to it.
That single most important piece of marketing for your book,
for your business, I'm talking about an email list.
Regular email contact with your readers
keeps you top of mind.
When someone who runs an association needs a speaker,
a book club needs a new book to read,
media needs someone to interview,
or someone asks for a referral
to someone who does what you do,
you'll be much more likely to be the first name they say
if you've had regular contact with them via email.
Emails may be ignored, but they won't be missed
like a 24-hour story that disappears,
or a post that drops down in a feed, never to be seen again.
Or worse, something that Facebook
or some other social media site decides nobody needs to see,
so they just don't show it to anybody.
When I launched my books,
it was my email readers who were the first people
to buy my books, write reviews, and tell others.
Both times, my email readers got my book
into the Top 100 overall on Amazon.
That's pretty powerful.
So start building your email newsletter list today
if you aren't already connecting with readers
in an email newsletter.
First, of course, I recommend you go to booklaunchers.com
and grab our bi-weekly launch letter.
Every other Monday I send out some tips
to help you as an author.
And you will also get some valuable insights
into what makes for a fairly successful email newsletter.
And if you wanna see what I do as an author,
and see a newsletter that regularly gets
30 to 40 percent open rates, extremely high in the industry,
go to juliebroad.com and get my monthly
Broad Thoughts newsletter.
Both are examples of content driven newsletters
that are designed to create a connection
and build a relationship with the readers,
which is what you wanna do as an author
looking to sell your books.
So how do you start?
Number one, decide how often you'll send a newsletter.
Pick a frequency you can maintain.
Be warned though, if you choose a low frequency,
bi-monthly, or quarterly,
you run the risk of people forgetting they signed up,
which then leads to unsubscribes or worse, span flagging.
Who is that email from?
Who?
I don't remember that person.
If you're going to send infrequently,
I recommend you set up something that's called,
an auto responder that will send three to five emails
over the next few weeks so they can get to know you,
so they'll remember signing up for your newsletter
and know who you are.
Number two, choose a newsletter service.
Focus on a company that has great deliverability,
integrates easily with your website, and most importantly,
is one that you'll use.
In other words, you like the interface
and feel comfortable there.
Don't worry about making this newsletter look super pretty.
Plain emails actually perform really well.
A lot of people like MailChimp.
I used to use AWeber and loved them,
they had high deliverability,
which means more people actually got the emails
versus them going into spam
or just floating somewhere in cyberspace.
Services like ConvertKit
are getting a lot of love these days
because they're a company that's designed
their email system for creatives.
I'm not an affiliate
but I hear amazing things about their service.
So it you're committed to your author business,
they could be perfect for you.
Bottom line, you can get going for free
with a lot of services and then as your email list grows,
then you will start to pay for that service.
Number three, didn't I already do three?
Four, four, three.
Set it up on your website.
Most services have an embed form.
It's really easy, you don't need to know code.
But you can always pay someone five bucks
on fiverr.com to do it.
Just change your password after.
When you set this up, be specific and honest
about what people are signing up for
and you should create some sort of a form that tells people
what they'll get if they subscribe,
how often you'll email them,
and what they'll get when they get your emails.
Never add people without their permission.
That's gross and in most countries
it's actually against the law.
In Canada, you are required to get people to double opt in.
And my internet lawyer recently emailed me
about what's going on in Europe
and the privacy laws are going crazy.
And you have to prove that you have permission
to email people there.
So, collecting info from Europeans,
means that you really have to set this up right.
Ew! I didn't sign up for that!
That's gross.
(slams shut) (dramatic music)
Be compliant and don't be a spammer.
A spammer is anyone who sends unwanted emails.
Spamming is like being that drunk guy at the bar
trying to pick up the happily married woman.
- You know what's on the menu?
- No.
- Me 'N U.
(wah, wah, wah music
- Now that it's set up,
you'll wanna work on creating something that entices people
to sign up for your newsletter.
Like, the Book Selling Gameplan which you can get free
at booklauncers.com/sellbooks.
Basically, you need to create something so awesome
people would otherwise pay for it.
If you're writing a book, one of your fabulous chapters
will work well for now, or if you have a great checklist,
or a tool that's in your book,
give that away as an incentive
to sign up for your newsletter.
I always go back to my real estate background
with this analogy.
When you rely on any other platform
to connect with your readers, you're squatting.
You don't own that property,
you're just loitering there for free
and that landlord can change the rules at any time.
So, build your business on something you own.
Build a great email newsletter list
with readers who can't wait to get your next newsletter.
In another video, we'll cover what to put in your newsletter
to keep that engagement high
and build a strong relationship with your readers
and your potential readers.
Until then, don't be a spammer.
(buzz) (snaps fingers)
Smash that thumbs up button if you like this video
and want more.
I'll see you on the next video.
(upbeat music)
- Hey, does this place have WI-FI?
'Cause I feel a connection.
- Ooh! Good one. (laughs)