How Author Douglas Clegg Uses Newsletters To Sell Books and Connect with Readers
| Category: Newsletters/Newsgroups | Date: 2003-06-19 |
Newsletters are an excellent vehicle for writers and artists to promote themselves and their latest creations.
To be effective, though, you walk a fine line. Tell your fans about your newest project and ask them to buy or otherwise support it, but also give them more than just a sales pitch.
If you want to see how to build a community of interest, and, incidentally, sell some books along the way, see what author Douglas Clegg does with his email newsletter, which goes out to about 2,400 fans of his thriller/chiller novels, such as The Infinite, Naomi and Bad Karma.
Today, were turning the podium over to Doug, who explains how he uses his newsletter both to promote his books and author appearances and to build a community with his readers:
"I dont worry so much anymore about building a brand as I do trying to connect with the readers in a regular way.
"I believe the brand will follow the content, basically - that it has a lot to do with the connection and permission that readers of my newsletter offer me, so long as I dont bore them or abuse them.
"One of the reasons why Ive been running eserials since 1999 (seems so long ago in Internet time), is that I want to thank those readers for sticking with me with a novel or a short story. So, in 1999, my novel Naomi ran, which later came out in hardcover and paperback; in 2000, my novel Nightmare House ran, which will be out in hardcover this fall; and last year, I ran the ebook version of my novel, Bad Karma, from which a movie was recently made (under the new title, Hells Gate, in the U.S., Bad Karma everywhere else.) This year, I plan on doing another serial in the fall or winter.
"I also want my novels to sell and be read, so I want to give readers a place to come to between books, to keep them interested enough to go grab the next book, or a previous book theyve missed.
"My newsletter accomplishes three goals for me:
1. Communicate with readers and fans.
2. Build a loyal readership.
3. Create a platform thats similar to having a weekly or monthly column in a newspaper.
"And a fourth thing: to have some fun.
"As time goes on, I suspect that my newsletter will become more of a weekly column about one writers life. Not quite a diary, just some observations and anecdotes. Im assuming that most people who signed up for the newsletter are generally fans of my fiction - so theyre already a bit interested.
"Now, other perks have come from this: heightened visibility in the genre in which I write, publisher support because theyve seen me as a partner as much as a writer, and a better income because my novels are selling better than they were before I began the newsletter. All of these come down to having a place for a fan or casual reader to go, where I can also get to know the reader.
"Every time I send a newsletter out, I get several hundred responses. I try to answer all of them, at least within a week or two. Sometimes I miss one, and I feel awful. Because I know how Id feel to be able to correspond with one of my favorite writers, and how it would be amazing to get a brief note back from that writer."
You can read some of Dougs old newsletters or subscribe to his newsletter at his Web site: http://www.douglasclegg.com/newsletter.htm
About the Author
Tip contributed by Janet Roberts, Associate Editor of List-Universe.com
feedback@list-universe
http://www.list-universe.com
To be effective, though, you walk a fine line. Tell your fans about your newest project and ask them to buy or otherwise support it, but also give them more than just a sales pitch.
If you want to see how to build a community of interest, and, incidentally, sell some books along the way, see what author Douglas Clegg does with his email newsletter, which goes out to about 2,400 fans of his thriller/chiller novels, such as The Infinite, Naomi and Bad Karma.
Today, were turning the podium over to Doug, who explains how he uses his newsletter both to promote his books and author appearances and to build a community with his readers:
"I dont worry so much anymore about building a brand as I do trying to connect with the readers in a regular way.
"I believe the brand will follow the content, basically - that it has a lot to do with the connection and permission that readers of my newsletter offer me, so long as I dont bore them or abuse them.
"One of the reasons why Ive been running eserials since 1999 (seems so long ago in Internet time), is that I want to thank those readers for sticking with me with a novel or a short story. So, in 1999, my novel Naomi ran, which later came out in hardcover and paperback; in 2000, my novel Nightmare House ran, which will be out in hardcover this fall; and last year, I ran the ebook version of my novel, Bad Karma, from which a movie was recently made (under the new title, Hells Gate, in the U.S., Bad Karma everywhere else.) This year, I plan on doing another serial in the fall or winter.
"I also want my novels to sell and be read, so I want to give readers a place to come to between books, to keep them interested enough to go grab the next book, or a previous book theyve missed.
"My newsletter accomplishes three goals for me:
1. Communicate with readers and fans.
2. Build a loyal readership.
3. Create a platform thats similar to having a weekly or monthly column in a newspaper.
"And a fourth thing: to have some fun.
"As time goes on, I suspect that my newsletter will become more of a weekly column about one writers life. Not quite a diary, just some observations and anecdotes. Im assuming that most people who signed up for the newsletter are generally fans of my fiction - so theyre already a bit interested.
"Now, other perks have come from this: heightened visibility in the genre in which I write, publisher support because theyve seen me as a partner as much as a writer, and a better income because my novels are selling better than they were before I began the newsletter. All of these come down to having a place for a fan or casual reader to go, where I can also get to know the reader.
"Every time I send a newsletter out, I get several hundred responses. I try to answer all of them, at least within a week or two. Sometimes I miss one, and I feel awful. Because I know how Id feel to be able to correspond with one of my favorite writers, and how it would be amazing to get a brief note back from that writer."
You can read some of Dougs old newsletters or subscribe to his newsletter at his Web site: http://www.douglasclegg.com/newsletter.htm
About the Author
Tip contributed by Janet Roberts, Associate Editor of List-Universe.com
feedback@list-universe
http://www.list-universe.com
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