Jake Needham - Reader's List Value

Top Shelf Author Advice is a collection of comments made by a group of outstanding authors during Author Interviews and Studies presented by HBSystems Publications. Today's advice comes from:


Jake Needham

Author Genre: Mystery & Thrillers Author

Author's Blog: Jake Needham blog
Website: Jake Needham
Twitter: @jakeneedham
Goodreads: Check Out Goodreads
Facebook: Check Out Facebook
E-Mail: JakeNeedham@jakeneedham.com
Spotlight Author Interview - Jake Needham



Question
Are there problems you should avoid in developing and using a reader's list?

Answer
I have an opt-in mailing list and people who visit my website can add their names to the list. I don’t use any online tools to capture email addresses. My list is strictly opt-in and the only way to do that is by filling out a short form on my site. After I set up the mailing list, it very quickly ran up to about a thousand names, but over the last year or so growth has slowed to a trickle. I have no idea why since I’ve changed nothing and the number of visits I get to my website has steadily increased. Maybe newsletters have simply gone out of style and few people want to receive them anymore. That’s easy to understand since most of us already get far more email these days than we know what to do with.

I should also say that I have the sense that my mailing list is worthless as a marketing tool. Most if not all of the people on it are fans who have already read most of my books. I do get a lot of nice email back whenever I send out a newsletter that has any substance at all. Clearly many readers do enjoy hearing from me and reading my thoughts on things that touch on the subject matter of the books I write, but I don’t think the newsletters actually sell any books for me at all. Trying to sell more books through an opt-in mailing list is almost the definition of preaching to the choir.



Source Post
How Do You Develop and Use a List of Your Readers? - HBS Author’s Corner STUDY

Author Jake Needham @jakeneedham is a best-selling Mystery & Thrillers Author.



Author Recommended by: James Moushon, a Mystery Writer and writing industry blogger and HBSystems Publications, a Publisher of ebooks and the sponsor of the following blogs:
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