If You Build a Mailing List, The Sales Will Come by Jack Thompson

Today we welcome a new guest writer to Writer’s Fun Zone, Jack Thompson, who is stopping by to chat with us about “If You Build a List, The Sales Will Come.”  Enjoy!

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The field of fiction writing is highly competitive. There are a lot of us out there. It is painfully ironic that in too many cases authors promoting books or courses on how to market fiction works have had their greatest success with their non-fiction how to book, not their fiction works.

Having said that, I do appreciate all the help I can get. There are definitely some venues for book marketing that can help an author raise subscribers, reviews and sales. I have and do use Amazon Marketing Services (AMS), Bookbub and Facebook, to name three of the most prominent with varying degrees of success.

Important note: there is no magic formula that always works. If you are reading someone’s book on THE thing to do to successfully market books, the chances are good that the window for what they did has already closed. If I have learned one thing it is that the marketing scene for indie authors is a constantly changing landscape.

What is cheap and highly effective today may become cost prohibitive and ineffective tomorrow. Of course, given enough money and the willingness to spend it, you can brute force your way up the charts.

IF done well, with proper testing of ads, and with plenty of support actions in place, you will most likely eventually make money. No guarantees, and note that is a very big IF.

However, if you are patient, build a list of fans, balance your time between writing and marketing, and most importantly write good books, you can achieve success. There are some major names out there who have proven that to be true. DON’T GIVE UP.

If you build a list, the sales will come.

The only way to control your writer destiny is to build a fan base mailing list. Every indie author success I have seen started with a growing fan list. Therefore, mailing list management is vital.

My favorite platform is Author Reach. I would describe it as a specialized marketing service that includes the benefits and functions of a Mailchimp/Aweber in terms of managing and building a mailing list, but with one major difference.

The Author Reach platform services only authors, and the staff are dedicated to helping authors succeed. They have many helpful features that other list management companies don’t have.

Here are some highlights:

• Author Reach has a growing email list of readers who want free and discounted books.
• You can set up free landing pages for your books that Author Reach promotes.
• Their platform also brings authors together in ways to help each other expand. You can do cross promotions with other authors similar to you. Or promote to a completely different group to expand your base and help them to expand theirs. To give you an example, I recently did a promotion swap between myself and another author and added 600 subscribers to my list.

I call it mutually assured success. Writing, by its nature, can be a solitary activity. It is comforting to have like-minded friends, and I have learned a lot. I think of Author Reach as my own working community.

To top it all off, Author Reach is run by a couple of really good guys who want to help authors succeed. The customer service is excellent. It’s only $1 to sign up.

Author Reach owners will have a call with you to discuss Author Reach in general and discuss marketing strategy. They will also help you get set up on their platform. I highly recommend you try them out. Here’s the link: https://authorreach.com/register

I wish you all success,
Jack Thompson
Author of the Raja Williams Mystery Thrillers
https://jackwrites.com

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jack Thompson is an international bestselling author finding voices in many genres. In addition to his popular Raja Williams mystery series, Jack writes science fiction, political thrillers, paranormal romance, children’s stories and fairy tales.

According to Jack, whether reading or writing, what makes a story great is how well it communicates to the reader. Whether presenting him with a hero he wishes he could be or a villain he chooses to hate, the characters must relate to the reader on a personal level. A reader will leave a good story in an improved condition. He may have learned something new about the world or himself, or simply been well entertained. That’s why Jack writes.

Sign up to get Jack’s first book in his mystery series here.