In this episode we’re going to talk about significantly growing your email list, and using it to sell more books!
And to help us … Ryan Zee …
Voracious reader all his life … since starting his own book marketing agency at the age of 25, Ryan has been fortunate to work with thousands of authors across virtually every major genre, helping to make their books known to new audiences — and giving readers a chance to discover great authors they might otherwise have missed.
When he’s not thinking about ways to make BookSweeps a more welcoming place for book lovers, Ryan enjoys traveling, reading, and talking about the books he’s read (ideally, while traveling).
A resident of New York City (but moving to Portland, OR, his favorite authors include Junot Díaz, David Foster Wallace, Milan Kundera, and Jonathan Safran Foer. He also maintains a soft spot for the Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
In 2016, Ryan Zee created BookSweeps.com, now one of the largest book giveaway & lead generation sites for fiction authors, with an email list of nearly 100,000 readers.

* Why is email so effective at selling books?
* How can authors make their newsletters more interesting for readers?
* What should novelists talk about in their email newsletters?
* How can authors grow their email list?

* Lead generation ads on F.B. are still working well (lead magnet) and consider doing this as a group. Offer 5 – 10 books.
* Newsletter swaps, you promote their book, they promote yours

* The key is similar genres
* You are BookBub to your audience …

* Cross promotions

* Create a page with 20 books, all promote/send readers to that page

* Let’s talk email formatting. The fanciest emails win right?

* No! Your email is the plane, each image is weight on the wings
* The more complicated it gets … the harder it is to get it to the in-box
* Without headers … is going to work better
* Has to work everywhere … like mobile devices
* Use the Image box … don’t stick it in the main text

* What have you seen working well recently for helping authors grow their email lists?
* Let’s talk about BookSweeps. What is it?

* Lead generation platform, geared for fiction … some non-fiction
* We run promotions that help build lists, Amazon and Book Bub Followers
* Each promotion is geared toward a particular niche/genre

* 30 – 40 authors
* We promote it to our 100,000 subscribers
* 10 – 14 days
* Offer a free book, short story to introduce yourself …

* Why would an author want to sign up for BookSweeps?
* How do you stand out from all the other authors that have just signed up the same readers?
* How much does book sweeps cost?

* They can differ by genre, but most are in the $25 – $50 range

* Average range is 400 – 1,200

* Talk about the difference between an organic subscriber and a sweepstakes subscriber

Links:

* RyanZee.com
* BookSweeps

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