You are:
The Fly-By!
- Defining trait: Only mails when she has a new release
- Frequently heard saying: “People don’t care about my cats, they just want a book”
- What you think others are doing wrong: Emailing too much. You don’t like getting newsletters, so you’re sure your readers don’t either.
If you’re doing this to your list because you’re publishing a book every week and can’t possibly make time to fit in a regular newsletter (plus, when would you send it, since you’re emailing about a new release every week?), consider whether releasing one or two fewer books per year, and using the extra time to nurture the reader base you have, might let you get off that hamster wheel. Higher open rates, click-through rates, and conversions means more money in your pocket even with slightly less output. Yes, we must always ask ourselves, “Would I be better off writing?” But it’s also worth asking yourself how much better you might be doing if you treated your fans as something other than wallets—especially if you’re in a popular, crowded genre where it can be hard to stand out. You need Chapter 2 of Newsletter Ninja.
It happens every time I run a class, and in every consulting session I do about email. It happens when I’m just sitting around with my indie author pals and put forth some tenet of newsletter philosophy I believe in (we indie authors are a real blast to hang out with, as you see). I’ll suggest something that seems pretty tame to me, something like “Email monthly” or “include cat pictures,” and someone is sure to say “That would turn me off,” or “that would make me unsubscribe,” or “No way would that work on me.”
Well, good for you, you newsletter-hating edgelord. And what have you got against cats?
My response to this is something I say to students so often that I’m thinking I might get a tattoo, or at the very least have a rubber stamp made: Do not make business decisions based on your own consumer behavior.
One more time, for you clowns in the back throwing pencils and passing notes:
Do not make business decisions based on your own consumer behavior.
If you’re doing this out of a fear that readers don’t like you enough, Blah blah. Remember: You are a rock star. You also need Chapter 2 of Newsletter Ninja.
To the people who have read your book or downloaded your reader magnet (we’ll talk in depth about reader magnets later; for now, just know that they are a thing) or found you in whatever manner they found you, and then signed up to hear more from you, you are a rock star. (I won’t repeat myself this time. I trust the pencil-throwers were able to maintain their attention span for a few paragraphs.)
How can you be a rock star when you’re just … well, frankly, just you? That’s easy: because to the reader, you’re not just you. You’re someone who wrote a book they loved enough to hand over their email address—a commodity that is getting more and more precious as our email inboxes become fuller and fuller—so they could learn more about you. That’s real, and it’s powerful. They like you. They are already predisposed to be interested in what you have to say.
So I won’t repeat it, but I encourage you to repeat it to yourself from time to time—maybe when you’re casting about in vain for something to write about in your next email, and thinking that you might just skip sending one this month, as you’ve nothing to say and who wants to hear from you anyway? Say it: “I am a rock star.”
Then say it again, and mean it.
You can download a PDF of this result [here].
If you want to know more, there are several options! You can buy the book here. You can check out available courses here. You can join the Facebook group, the Think Tank, here.
Or you can just hang around and wait for me to lay some tips and tricks on you every Tuesday. We’re very laid-back over here at Newsletter Ninja HQ, and just not that interested in the hard sell. Relax. You’re among friends, and you belong here.