Hi all,
It's been a while since I wrote a post that could help other authors, so I thought I'd change that today.
This week, I'm going to be talking about reader magnets. In order to entice readers to sign up for your newsletter, it's best practice to offer them something for free. It needs to be something substantial that readers will actually want in order to sign up to your newsletter.
Short story collection
I've offered quite a few of these and I've found them to be pretty popular. The stories should be set in the universe of one of your books or series. The stories can be of your main characters or side characters that you might want to explore further. You can write as many stories as you want, they can be linked or just a standalone story.
Prequel
If readers have already read your book and want more in that universe, offer a prequel. They can learn more about what happens before the events of the book or explore a certain character. I'd recommend picking a popular character for a prequel, or an important side one that influences the main story in some way.
Free novel
You don't need to write something entirely new in order to get sign ups for your mailing list. You can use one of your books that is already published but offer it for free. Once readers have a taste of your writing, they may be inclined to buy more.
Sample chapters
If you're not comfortable offering an entire book, offer a few sample chapters instead. You can then end your reader magnet with a link to the full book and where they can purchase it. If they're hooked, it might lead to more buyers.
Deleted scenes
Some readers are interested in what scenes didn't make it into the book itself. You can order a reader magnet filled with deleted scenes with reasons as to why they didn't make it into the final draft of the book.
Illustrations
Some readers want to visualise what your characters look like, or even parts of the world. You can offer a book filled with illustrations of whatever you think that your readers would want.
That's it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading. See you next week!
