Use Your Book to Grow Your List

by | Sep 24, 2010 | Marketing & Selling

As you are working on your next book and after it is published, you can leverage your book to grow your list of fans and subscribers who support your business and career. The techniques I’ll mention in this post work whether your book is nonfiction or fiction.

Use Your Book to Grow Your List

Use Your Book to Grow Your List Before It Is Published

Believe it or not, you can actually use an unfinished book to grow your list! As you work on your book, you can share the process with readers of your blog, encourage them to join your email list, and share even more with your subscribers.

For example, several years ago I learned about an author who was going to write a novel in real-time over the Internet using a specially created Yahoo! Groups board. Every week, he posted the latest chapter, as well as a few notes about his experience of the process. It was a great deal of fun to follow along with the process and, since I was able to interview him for a blog of mine, I learned that he was not only able to gain the interest of a publisher in the story, but also grew his list of fans.

Regardless of what type of book you are writing, you can use this model to grow your list. All you’ll need is a blog, an autoresponder program, and a way to get the word out about your project. Back then, this author used word-of-mouth through ezines. Today, you can use the power of social media to get people excited about your project.

In fact, I’ve already started doing something very similar with my forthcoming book, Public Speaking Super Powers. You can find the Facebook page here and the book’s blog here. (NOTE: Since this post was originally published, the book has been published, won three awards and was a Kindle bestseller!)

After the Book Is Published

Once it is published, there are several things you can do to use your book to grow your list. Here are just some of the techniques you can use:

  • Use a free chapter as your opt-in bonus.
  • Create articles and videos based on topics or chapters in your book and post them to social and video sharing sites. Include at the end of these a call to join your list in exchange for a desirable opt-in bonus.
  • Do live videos on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
  • Do a podcast tour or even host your own podcast series.
  • Book speaking gigs based on your book. These can be talks on background information or even book readings. At sometime during these talks, give people an incentive for joining your list.
  • Go on a virtual (or physical) book tour.
  • Conduct a blog tour.
  • Get interviewed on radio and/or TV shows.
  • Conduct a fun contest for an autographed copy of your book.

Be creative. Use the research you did to create your book to help you grow your list. And remember, even if your book is published by a big New York publishing house, you will need to market your book and yourself. Growing your list is the best way to do this!

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The content of this post was updated on Sept. 5, 2020.

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