Can we talk about the reader clock?

[quinning]

The most recent Creative Penn podcast is all about Estate Planning, undoubtedly an important topic and the show had some really great content if you haven't already listened. But I wanted to talk about something that the guest (M.L. Buchman) mentioned toward the end of the show, Ticking the Reader Clock.

Joanna asked him about the fluctuations in author income:

The ones who are moving up what they seem to have in common is they're focusing on readers. They're focusing on content delivery, that's one of the reasons I'm trying my novel every month.

I have a pet theory called the reader clock which if we have a moment I'll get into. Amazon is big data, and they've said this, they'll reward us if we have a release every 30 days. Doesn't have to be big, it can be a short story or a collection or something.

I almost tuned out at this point because I don't need yet another successful author telling me that if I want to be successful that I have to put out a book every 30 days. I can't do that. I can't write that fast. Maybe someday, but not now and not in my particular genre - too much research required.

Anyway, he went on and I'm glad I didn't tune out.

Written Word Media who owns Bargain Booksy and Freebooksy and a couple of others did a survey of their readers and said, how often do you want a newsletter from your authors?

And they said a minimum of once every four weeks, a maximum of twice a week, and that number made my head hurt until I started thinking about the Amazon algorithm that said 30 days.

A reader, your average reader, probably doesn't have 18 different book groups that they belong to because they're trying to learn about the industry, and 300 people hitting their inbox every day. So when an author shows up they go, “Oh, something new to read.” So I am looking at what can I do to deliver content on a slightly faster schedule.

I was like, WHAT?!?! Twice a WEEK??

Then I thought, well when I love an author, having them show up in my inbox once a week or so isn't terrible. I mean, it works for Bella Forrest, right?

But I think all of us could manage a monthly newsletter even if we don't have a new release, but then he went on and that's when I thought, "I HAVE to share this on the pub, because this might be the thing we're all looking for in regards to picking up more sales

Joanna asked if there was any hope for those of us that are slower writers and Buchman responded with this

I was talking to somebody who's working the reader clock very successfully, but what she's doing, she's doing three novels a year.

The way she's doing it though is she starts out with covers coming, here's the cover reveal, here's an opening scene, here's a piece of research on a weekly release. And she has a 12-week build up to the release of the novel. And then she has a 12-week taper out, here's a bonus scene, here's another odd fact of how it relates to something that I wrote earlier, here's another teaser.

So she actually has a six-month cycle that she uses every four months, as one is running down the next one starts running up. So she's always in the reader's mind once a week regular as clockwork, she's hitting the same day every week, and she's hitting the same three spots for release every year.

I don't remember her cycle, but like if June 1 is one of her releases there will always be a June 1 release. And she's making up of six figures on three novels a year. But she's being really intelligent about working with the reader.

And I thought THAT'S BRILLIANT!

I have always thought I could probably manage 3-4 books a year. Now, can I manage to tick the clock with other adjacent content every other week of the year? That's the trick, I guess, but 6 figures a year on 3 book releases? I could live with that...

So how do we engage readers weekly in a way that makes them want to buy the next book?

[ameliasmith]

I also just finished listening to that podcast. I think it's a solid idea, and I do like the idea of the build-up and cool-down around each new release... but I'm not sure I could do it. It would depend so much on the content of the books, and what your audience likes. I think it might take a while to build up to that as you get a sense of your audience.

I really should figure out some kind of monthly or fortnightly letter, though.

[Daniel]

I watched my wife do a weekly newsletter for several years, and for some of that time, she had more than one going at once. It can be done.

But make no mistake, it's a grind. You not only have to set aside the time to write that missive every week, but you spend a fair amount of additional time coming up with topics and prepping for the content.

My wife's approach was to brainstorm a list of topics ahead of time so she didn't have to come up with something while under deadline. She also prepared some of her content in advance, particularly when she could write several messages that were closely related. On top of that, she was big on reusing content. Most of her newsletters later became fodder for a series of books she published. If you can make the content do double or triple duty, you'll feel better about spending the time on it in the first place.

I'm a firm believer in content marketing, and I think a regular newsletter is a great way to build an audience and remain in touch with what interests them. However, you have to be disciplined and dedicated to make it work. I'm fairly disciplined in general, but I think I could manage a weekly newsletter for about a week.

[Daniel]

Dec 9, 2017 15:28:17 GMT -5 quinning said:

So how do we engage readers weekly in a way that makes them want to buy the next book?

I don’t think you have to worry about that. The main thing is to keep them engaged. If your audience is willing to hear from you on a weekly basis, then you are already accomplishing the primary goal of all content marketing: building an audience that knows, likes, and trusts you. Why wouldn’t they want to buy your next book?

On the other hand, if the books you release aren’t a match for the audience you’ve built with your newsletter, then you need to rethink the newsletter. Your newsletter audience should be primed and waiting for your next release.

That’s a long way of saying this: build a newsletter audience that matches the audience for your books.

[quinning]

I think it shouldn't be overlooked that the survey revealed that readers want to hear from us at a minimum of once a month. If you release even quarterly, your schedule could look something like this:

For a planned release April 5, 2018:

January - Cover Reveal and Blurb

February - Interesting Tidbit about the world/research

March - Opening teaser scene

April - Book is live!

May - Deleted scene

Then in June, you start the monthly newsletter build to the next book. It could still be rigorous, but you have to do the cover and blurb already (January), and you will have already written the opening scene (March) and deleted scene (May), so really your only cold-writing the February letter.

I don't know. Just thinking out loud here, but I may try this after book one goes live and I have more subscribers than just me...

[quinning]

Dec 9, 2017 17:23:28 GMT -5 Daniel said:

Dec 9, 2017 15:28:17 GMT -5 quinning said:

So how do we engage readers weekly in a way that makes them want to buy the next book?

I don’t think you have to worry about that. The main thing is to keep them engaged. If your audience is willing to hear from you on a weekly basis, then you are already accomplishing the primary goal of all content marketing: building an audience that knows, likes, and trusts you. Why wouldn’t they want to buy your next book?

On the other hand, if the books you release aren’t a match for the audience you’ve built with your newsletter, then you need to rethink the newsletter. Your newsletter audience should be primed and waiting for your next release.

That’s a long way of saying this: build a newsletter audience that matches the audience for your books.

Genuine question here:

How is this accomplished? Organically through a link at the back of your books seems the likeliest way to meet this, right? If they liked the book enough to sign up, they're the right audience?

Or, more to the point - how do you build a list that isn't the audience for your books? Where are the pitfalls?

[Miss Terri Novelle]

I recently started doing a weekly newsletter, and I've sent out a few of them, but I skipped a week and I'm not sure I'm going to keep doing them because I've lost a lot of subscribers since I started doing the weekly newsletters. I'm going to send one out tomorrow and let them know that the content will be on my blog and start doing more frequent posts there instead.

[elephantsbookshelf]

Boy, this has been a great thread. It's something I've been thinking about for longer than I care to describe. I have a hard enough time blogging monthly, much less releasing a weekly newsletter. As was mentioned above, there's a discipline aspect that needs to be addressed. (For me, it's because I'm trying to do too much.)

Anyway, I'll need to check out the Creative Penn podcast item. I hope to see more on this thread, too, if it occurs.

[Daniel]

Dec 9, 2017 17:27:48 GMT -5 quinning said:

How is this accomplished? Organically through a link at the back of your books seems the likeliest way to meet this, right? If they liked the book enough to sign up, they're the right audience?

Or, more to the point - how do you build a list that isn't the audience for your books? Where are the pitfalls?

I'm a fan of organic approaches because they have the advantage of attracting genuine fans. If I were to use the scattershot methods that attract bargain hunters and freebie seekers, I'd keep those in a separate list and let them migrate to the true fans list organically. However, I'm personally not interested in building a list of freebie seekers because every additional list adds to the marketing burden.

The main thing is to publish content that attracts the right audience, and to do that, you need to have a decent understanding of who those readers are. It's marketing 101: know your audience. Not that it's easy. The marketing pundits usually suggest you put together a persona of your typical customer and keep that persona in mind when you are crafting content for publication. (I'm using the term publication generically here, referring to any email message, blog post, or book you might publish.)

However, you don't need to stress over this persona crap, either. You can start by writing messages/posts that relate closely to your genre, your stories, your characters, specific locations in your book, and anything else that might appeal to your existing readers. We all want a huge audience, but I believe that starts with your true fans and grows out from there. So, focus first on things that would appeal to readers who already like your books. Every message that goes out in a newsletter should also appear on your blog (reuse that content!), and you should have stats attached to your blog so you can keep an eye on which posts attract the most interest. That knowledge will help inform you about what kind of content appeals.

Organic list-building methods include, as you said, links in your books and subscribe forms on your blog. Your email messages should contain an invitation to share the message with friends and a link to subscribe to the list. Basically, put a link to your list any place you have a presence or have the attention of readers (or potential readers).

You asked about building a list that isn't the audience for your books. The main pitfall is producing unfocused content. If you publish your favorite recipe one week, your opinion on some political matter the next, and then perhaps give them a post about your next book, you'll be releasing content without focus. As long as you write with your target audience in mind, you won't have trouble building a targeted list of potential book buyers.

[Daniel]

Dec 10, 2017 0:59:10 GMT -5 Miss Terri Novelle said:

I recently started doing a weekly newsletter, and I've sent out a few of them, but I skipped a week and I'm not sure I'm going to keep doing them because I've lost a lot of subscribers since I started doing the weekly newsletters. I'm going to send one out tomorrow and let them know that the content will be on my blog and start doing more frequent posts there instead.

I wonder what drives frequency sensitivity. Are readers of one genre more tolerant of weekly newsletters than another? Or maybe you lost subscribers simply because you changed the frequency?

It's an interesting issue because it may suggest that we should establish the frequency expectations up front and not change them. I'd guess that lowering the frequency wouldn't be a problem, but increasing it would have to come with our own expectation that we'd lose readers.

As for blog versus newsletter, I guess I approach it backward. I have this "marketing hub" theory where everything starts at the blog. If I send a message to my list, it also appears on my blog. In a sense, my "newsletter" list consists of everyone who has subscribed to my blog posts, so my only email list is my new releases list. I'm not sure if it's an effective approach, but it's certainly an efficient use of content. The blog is a repository of everything I share with the world, and every post gets promoted through social media. My primary sin is that I don't post often enough anymore.

[scdaffron]

I agree that it's possible that the increased frequency drove some people away.

When I did weekly newsletters, they were that way from the outset and went out like clockwork. So that was what readers expected. In fact, I'd get complaints if something happened and someone didn't get it. I did weekly newsletters from 2000 - 2012 and quite a few of those years, I had three going at the same time. It was an unbelievable grind. To say I burned out would be an understatement.

But now my lists are different. My new releases newsletter is ONLY for new releases. My freebie seeker crap promo list is different in that they get random emails about promos and I set no expectation about timing. In neither case would I switch to a weekly newsletter because that's not what subscribers to either list expect.

With that said, what I might do is include links to recent blog posts when I send emails. (Well, assuming I ever set up an editorial calendar and start blogging regularly again.) That way, those that are interested can read more. And those that aren't can ignore the links.

Anyway, the reader clock idea with the build up and cool down is brilliant for helping me set up an editorial calendar, since I'm a 3-4 book/year person too. Thanks for sharing quinning!

[quinning]

Dec 10, 2017 0:59:10 GMT -5 Miss Terri Novelle said:

I recently started doing a weekly newsletter, and I've sent out a few of them, but I skipped a week and I'm not sure I'm going to keep doing them because I've lost a lot of subscribers since I started doing the weekly newsletters. I'm going to send one out tomorrow and let them know that the content will be on my blog and start doing more frequent posts there instead.

This is fascinating to me because I very much enjoyed your weekly emails. I wonder if switching to monthly, giving some promotional tidbit and links to recent blog posts with intro content would work better?

Also a little irritated on your behalf because at the top of your newsletter it clearly stated that they could request (easily) to be put on a new release only list. Which makes me wonder, who was on your list? Is this an organic/back-of-book or blog only sign up or were there freebie seekers there too? Because I could see freebie seekers unsubbing because they never really wanted to hear from you in the first place.

Every message that goes out in a newsletter should also appear on your blog (reuse that content!), and you should have stats attached to your blog so you can keep an eye on which posts attract the most interest.

Daniel Do you post the newsletter content at the same time the newsletter goes out? A few days later? Loving the idea of reusing the content!

(Well, assuming I ever set up an editorial calendar and start blogging regularly again.)

scdaffron I'm an unapologetic nerd about this stuff, so, do you have any special system for your editorial calendar? Is it a list? On an actual calendar? And because I am dying to know: How did you have time to write THREE weekly newsletters???

[Daniel]

Dec 10, 2017 18:01:34 GMT -5 quinning said:

Do you post the newsletter content at the same time the newsletter goes out? A few days later? Loving the idea of reusing the content!

My blog is effectively my newsletter. Anyone who visits my blog can subscribe to receive the posts via email. (I use FeedBurner for that.) The only separate MailChimp list I manage is my new releases list.

If I were to add a separate newsletter list, I'd post simultaneously. My theory is that followers are followers, and I love them all. I don't care if they follow me through an email list, on my blog, or through one of the social networking platforms--everyone gets the same message from me. On limited channels like Twitter and Facebook, they get a teaser and a link to the full content on my blog. The blog is the hub, and all roads lead to the hub. My blog is the only resource that I have total control over, so that's where my content lives.

[Rinelle Grey]

My theory is that you lose a certain percentage of subscribers every time you send out an email, mostly because when you send an email, they evaluate if they want to remain on the list or not. The number of subscribers you lose a month equals that percentage, times the number of emails you send. So if you send more emails, you’ll get more unsubscribed in the month, but probably not more per email. So yes, it is caused by the frequency, but not because that in itself annoys readers.

Those people are probably ones you didn’t want anyway!

[Victoria]

There's definitely something to think about here!

I think newsletters are the part of indie publishing I'm least comfortable with. Sending out an email feels like a bigger deal than a blog post, and I'm really conscious that I might be annoying people, which I don't want to do without a really good reason--like, "here's the new release you signed up to hear about".

Having said that, so far I've sent out two newsletters. One was a link to an excerpt from book 2 on my blog, a few months before the release. That had a 100% open rate and really encouraging click-through. The next one was when the book actually came out. Dismal open rate, and ONE click. I don't really know what to make of that.

[scdaffron]

Dec 10, 2017 18:01:34 GMT -5 quinning said:

(Well, assuming I ever set up an editorial calendar and start blogging regularly again.)

scdaffron I'm an unapologetic nerd about this stuff, so, do you have any special system for your editorial calendar? Is it a list? On an actual calendar? And because I am dying to know: How did you have time to write THREE weekly newsletters???

It wasn't much of a calendar really. On Fridays I did my newsletters. Every Friday. In fact, my husband was reminding me how often I told him I had no idea what I was going to write about on Friday morning. Heh. When we went on vacation, I loaded them up ahead of time and scheduled them to go out while we were gone.

This was long before we were using WordPress and I know there are some really good editorial calendar plug-ins out there if you want to coordinate your blog posts with your newsletters like I did. I basically posted them on my sites (some of this was pre-blog software) and sent out the emails so both the newsletter and the post were out in the world at more or less the same time.

I need to do that again. I haven't posted about new releases on my blog in ages, which is lame because that's an obvious and easy blog post  

[Miss Terri Novelle]

Dec 10, 2017 18:01:34 GMT -5 quinning said:

Dec 10, 2017 0:59:10 GMT -5 Miss Terri Novelle said:

I recently started doing a weekly newsletter, and I've sent out a few of them, but I skipped a week and I'm not sure I'm going to keep doing them because I've lost a lot of subscribers since I started doing the weekly newsletters. I'm going to send one out tomorrow and let them know that the content will be on my blog and start doing more frequent posts there instead.

This is fascinating to me because I very much enjoyed your weekly emails. I wonder if switching to monthly, giving some promotional tidbit and links to recent blog posts with intro content would work better?

Also a little irritated on your behalf because at the top of your newsletter it clearly stated that they could request (easily) to be put on a new release only list. Which makes me wonder, who was on your list? Is this an organic/back-of-book or blog only sign up or were there freebie seekers there too? Because I could see freebie seekers unsubbing because they never really wanted to hear from you in the first place.

Every message that goes out in a newsletter should also appear on your blog (reuse that content!), and you should have stats attached to your blog so you can keep an eye on which posts attract the most interest.

Daniel Do you post the newsletter content at the same time the newsletter goes out? A few days later? Loving the idea of reusing the content!

(Well, assuming I ever set up an editorial calendar and start blogging regularly again.)

scdaffron I'm an unapologetic nerd about this stuff, so, do you have any special system for your editorial calendar? Is it a list? On an actual calendar? And because I am dying to know: How did you have time to write THREE weekly newsletters???

Why thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed! And yes, I am going to put the content on my blog. I've just sent out a newsletter to that effect. There were freebie seekers on the list that came from a short stint of Instafreebie promos I did last fall and while they made up the bulk of the exodus, the unsubscribe rates after each email have been eye-opening. I just checked last night and I lost 140 people last month. Many of those were from the IF promos, others were not. It's tempting to keep them up and let the chips fall...I'd rather have a more engaged list and I did get some lovely comments back from people, so on that front, I think they helped. Cementing reader/author relationships is a great thing. It's just the segregation of the lists that's hard. For awhile, I had 2 links in the back of my books. One to an all access newsletter and one to the new releases only list. I could reinstate that and offer the same link to the rest of the lists. It would probably be easier all the way around.

I'm still thinking on the best way to move forward. I also have a decent sized list from a recent genre-targeted promo that I need to do something about.

The best way to move forward might just be to create an autoresponder sequence with more information about me and the books and give people the option from there to join whichever list they'd prefer. I have some shorts I could give away as well. It's worth the time to get the whole thing set up and I should quit procrastinating and get it done.

[ameliasmith]

Thinking about this whole "Ticking the Reader Clock" concept, I thought I'd check out one of the newsletters I get that I open most of the time. James Scott Bell is one of my favorite author-how-to writers. I liked his book on marketing. It looks like he sends out a little less than one email a month, and one of the things he does with it -- or doesn't do -- is to just leave it as a plain email, no fancy HTML, no images to speak of. He carries the whole thing on the strength of his content, which is something I aspire to. 

Dec 10, 2017 19:17:10 GMT -5 Daniel said:

My blog is effectively my newsletter. Anyone who visits my blog can subscribe to receive the posts via email. (I use FeedBurner for that.) The only separate MailChimp list I manage is my new releases list.

If I were to add a separate newsletter list, I'd post simultaneously. My theory is that followers are followers, and I love them all. I don't care if they follow me through an email list, on my blog, or through one of the social networking platforms--everyone gets the same message from me. On limited channels like Twitter and Facebook, they get a teaser and a link to the full content on my blog. The blog is the hub, and all roads lead to the hub. My blog is the only resource that I have total control over, so that's where my content lives.

I've been thinking about doing this using exactly the same content on my newsletter and blog, too. I like the idea of using the blog as the newsletter, but I'm not sure who uses feedburner any more -- I know that I never check mine, so I think that the email newsletter might have to stay separate. 

[Daniel]

Dec 11, 2017 14:41:15 GMT -5 ameliasmith said:

I like the idea of using the blog as the newsletter, but I'm not sure who uses feedburner any more -- I know that I never check mine, so I think that the email newsletter might have to stay separate. 

FeedBurner isn't just for RSS. They also offer email subscriptions to blog content. My side bar has a subscribe form where interested readers can enter their email address and submit. FeedBurner then sends out email messages to those subscribers every time a new article appears in my feed. The messages look okay, but if I got serious about traffic on my blog, I'd come up with a different mechanism that gave me more control over the timing and layout. Plus, I have no idea what FeedBurner's deliverability is like. With 8 subscribers (3 of which are either me or Susan), I'm not too worried about it.