The elusive Author Superfan, and the epidemic of braggy-beggy newsletters.
by Anne R. Allen
I keep reading about them. People swear they exist. But I’ve never met one. Or even seen its elusive footprint.
No, I’m not talking about Bigfoot. I’m talking about the author Superfan.
Lots of publishing experts I respect are saying we need to go out and get us some of these Superfans. But I’m not sure where to find them—although apparently vast herds of them roam the booky regions of Cyberia.
I hear they’re simply waiting for us to offer them a free ebook, which will ensure their eternal devotion.
These Elusive Creatures Will:
- Pre-order anything you plan to publish, sight unseen.
- Write 5-star reviews of all your books—on Amazon and Goodreads and Bookbub and Kobo and maybe the bathroom walls of the local Starbucks.
- Turn into a rabid dog pack and attack any reviewer who doesn’t give you five stars and a Pulitzer nomination.
- Praise your name to the heavens like you’re the second coming of the Lord. Or at least Douglas Adams.
- Make everybody they’ve ever met buy your books and demand that that all their friends join their Superfan cult, too.
- Happily give you their personal information so you can spam them with your braggy-beggy newsletters.
- Work tirelessly to market your book for you, online and in person.
- Promote anything you write or talk about, including that You Tube video where you’re playing a tambourine with your 75-year-old neighbor who imagines himself a fabulous rock guitarist, although the only song he knows is Free Bird.
- Pick up your dry cleaning, clean your cat’s litter box, and take your whiny mother-in-law to the mall where she can complain for hours about “kids these days.”
Okay, maybe they don’t include #9, and I’m exaggerating a weeeeee bit. But these people are supposed to become your ever-faithful minions.
And I’ve got a problem with that.
Which is that I don’t know anybody who wants to be a minion. Maybe I move in the wrong circles.
Have You Ever Seen an Author Superfan in the Wild?
Even a blurry photo taken with somebody’s Polaroid camera in 1972?
I suppose I might have called myself a “Superfan” of Kurt Vonnegut. I waited desperately for each book to come out, immediately read it cover to cover, then read it again.
- But did I pre-order any of them? Nope.
- Did I do his marketing for him? Negative.
- Did I insist that all my friends buy his books? That would be a no.
Okay, some superstar writers have pretty devoted readers. Anne Rice has followers who attack any reviewer who disrespects her. (Not that she condones that behavior. Anne and I have talked about it and she was as appalled by that behavior as the rest of us.)
But guess what? After you publish your first book, you are not going to be a superstar. Not even after your second or third.
And that’s why I have a problem with the whole Superfan idea: new writers now feel they need Superfans and “street teams” in order to market their books on social media.
So listen up people! You don’t.
What you need is to interact with people. Make friends. Be humble. Don’t act like a rock star.
Unless you’re a Rolling Stone. 🙂
But don’t send me any braggy-beggy newsletters, Mr. Jagger. I don’t care about your fabulous weekend in Dubai or how much Cristal you drank. And don’t beg me to join dozens of websites so I can vote for you in an obscure contest or write a rave review.
Your Fellow Authors Aren’t Your Superfans.
Your online writer friends may love you to pieces and enjoy your writing, but please don’t ask them to waste their time promoting your books to their audience unless you write in the same genre and can work on some joint promos. I’m constantly seeing authors begging for tweets and shares from all their fellow authors. This sounds like an okay thing, because they offer to reciprocate.
But it’s a waste of everybody’s time if these authors don’t write in your genre. Promoting your rom-com to a horror audience is pointless.
As an experiment, I joined in a huge “tweet” exchange with one of my author groups a few months ago. My book got tweeted something like 800 times.
Big success, right?
Wrong. Guess how many copies of the book sold that day? Zero. Yeah. Mass-Tweeting does not sell books. Period. Give it a rest.
Then there are the publicists who think authors who blog owe their clients hours of free labor for no particular reason.
In November, in the space of a single hour I got over two dozen emails from various publishing/writing outlets who all wanted me to promote their clients’ books. For free of course. I wrote back to about six of them asking where they got my name, and asked to get off the list. Several sent back nasty, snarky remarks. Since I was on their list, it was my duty to follow their orders. They’re busy people. They have jobs they get paid for!
I must say that the next day, the emails stopped as mysteriously as they started. So somebody got the message.
But why waste time clogging the inboxes of busy authors who have no relevance to your market? And if you’re getting paid to market a book, why do you think others should do it for free?
To Get Fans, Write Good Books, not Bad Newsletters.
The major marketing gurus all say the newsletter an author’s best marketing tool. If your book isn’t selling, send out more newsletters! And more! And more! Hit ’em three times a day. Be merciless!
But here’s the problem: the email list is a closed ecosystem. The people in it already have your book. Harassing them will not sell more copies.
So you can’t convince me that braggy-beggy newsletters create fans—super or otherwise. And unfortunately even good writers can write unreadable newsletters. Unlike blogs, emails usually don’t have subheaders or bullet points. Often they’re way too long.
Newsletters are what Great Aunt Doris sends at the holidays. Not exactly designed for the digital age.
At least once a week I get a newsletter from some random author who assumes I’m as interested in their personal life as the tabloids are with Meghan Markle’s family squabbles. Sometimes I get them because I’ve made the mistake of subscribing to a blog, and the blog subscription comes with a dreaded newsletter. But mostly people put me on their list because they’ve skimmed my address from social media, I gave them a business card at a conference, or I’ve answered a question they emailed me about.
Those last three are illegal. If you get an email address from anywhere but from a subscription sign up, you’re breaking a whole bunch of international laws. People who do this are violating the US’s CAN-SPAM and the EU’s GDPR laws. They can be fined tens of thousands of dollars.
Tens of thousands of dollars PER EMAIL. Do you really want to risk homelessness just to annoy people?
Use Social Media. Be Sociable!
You may hate social media, but it’s a necessary part of book marketing because it allows you to interact with readers.
Email marketing is a broadcast medium, not an interactive one. You might have a one-on-one conversation with a single reader, but that’s not the same as a social group. (And watch out for the one-on-ones. You may end up with a bunch of Needy Nancys who think you’re their new BFF and email 3 times a day.)
But social media—including blogging—is interactive.
This is why I favor the author blog over a newsletter. A blog has to offer value, so people will choose to stop by to read and comment.
An email takes us hostage.
Old school email marketing is increasingly all spam, like a landline phone. 90% of what comes in is unwanted dreck from robots and scammers. As Dakota Willink said in a long, thoughtful piece on Facebook last week, scammers are sending out so many “author” newsletters that readers are fed up. “Flooding a reader’s inbox is just plain annoying. Eventually, we all get ignored because of this… I miss the days when opening an author’s newsletter was fun.”
Personally, I spend at least 2 hours a day wrangling with my inboxes. I have to wade through endless crap to find actual personal notes and things I subscribe to. Which Gmail generally puts in the “promotions” bin. That’s so they can fill my “priority” inbox with ten thousand pleas for money from politicians. And of course all those newsletters from Mick Jagger. 🙂
How to Use “Your List” to Actually Sell Books
The gurus say your email list is the key to publishing success.
Yes, such a list (or lists) can be useful. But use a list wisely. Send notices when you have a new book—to people who want to hear about a new book.
But don’t assume they do—or that they will feel that way indefinitely. Especially if you write for children. As Karen Ingliss said on David Gaughran’s blog last year. Email marketing “is the most problematic aspect of children’s book marketing…as children grow older their tastes and needs change, making my mailing list a moving target.”
Other genres may have problems with “moving targets” too. Don’t assume that because somebody was voraciously reading merperson erotica last year means that they’re still into aquatic sex fantasies this year.
Okay, maybe you do have permanently devoted fans with nothing better to do than read about your exciting writerly life. (Finished edits and finally did laundry this week! And went to the dentist!!) Then put them on a separate list. (Thanks to Nate Hoffelder, who made this suggestion in his Facebook group, The Help Desk.)
Some authors use their lists very well.
Advice columnist Nina Badzin sends a monthly list of links to her latest stories and essays. I look forward to getting that. Legendary mystery author Lawrence Block sends his list fantastic freebies: free short stories and even free mobi files of his book pre-publication to get some reviews going. But if he doesn’t have a new book or story, he doesn’t bother you.
Veteran mystery author Elizabeth S. Craig also sends a newsletter when she’s published a new book. And it comes with a recipe. She has never once bragged about a good review, begged me to write one, or insisted I vote for her in a contest.
And she doesn’t assume I’m a Superfan. Or Bigfoot. I appreciate that.
***
by Anne R. Allen (@annerallen) February 17th, 2019
Do you believe in Superfans? Do you send newsletters to them? Are YOU a Superfan? Did you become one because of a newsletter? How do you feel about being asked to promote another author’s work for free?
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Anne—Thank you. Thank you. 🙂
🙂
How true, how true. My experience as a superfine for Ray Bradbury, Rita Mae Brown, Mary Renault & a score of others looks about like yours. Don’t know why it never occurred to me to rent a billboard to promote them, which I imagine is my generation’s equivalent of book promotion in “the booky regions of Cyberia”.
And amen to amassing fans primarily through the act of writing good books.
Thanks again, Anne.
AARGH. Autocorrect makes me crazy. That’s SUPERFAN, not SUPERFINE.
CS–Superfine Superfans are the best kind! Yeah, I think in the end it’s all about good books.
I’ve certainly never seen Bigfoot.
I do have a few fans who will do some of those things. And that’s great to have that kind of support, which is why I always try to support others in return. Besides, I don’t like to talk about my own books on my blog.
Still no email, but I promise I won’t tell anyone about going to the dentist…
Alex– You do have a huge blog following and I can imagine some of your blog followers are eager to help because you help them so much. And I think all of that CAN be done with a blog, rather than a dreaded email newsletter. 🙂
I would never mistake you for Bigfoot, Anne. That needs to be said right off the top.
I have neither sinned via newsletter nor made particularly aggressive use of my mailing list. I’d be interested to hear how you segment out the I-want-to-hear-about-your-dentist-and-laundry fans! I’m not sure I could write to those people specifically, but it might be good for me (and perhaps law enforcement) to know who they are…
Will–LOL! I think Nate suggested different sign up lists, so people can opt into “I want to hear about new books when they’re available” and “I want daily pix of your laundry basket.” So your personal stalkers can keep up to date. 🙂
Ann, you fell into the same thinking I did when it comes to email newsletters. I kept hearing that you needed to do a newsletter, but I was so overwhelmed by email at my day job that I couldn’t see it. I thought that everyone was just as overwhelmed and wouldn’t want to see it.
But I went to a book marketing conference two years ago (Book Baby, for those interested), and one of the presenters pointed out in a workshop that just because I didn’t like email doesn’t mean everyone else feels the same way. Some people do like reading newsletters. So I started an email newsletter in December, which I just went to once a week (down from 5 times a week, with short 100 word emails). I’m putting three topics in like a photo I took at Great Falls and the Opportunity ending its mission. Could I wait until I have a release? Yeah, but it’s going to come across as spammy because then all I would be doing is asking people to buy my book. If I post a video about space myths from an astronaut, everyone can enjoy the video and share it–and I have had people share it on their newsletters.
Linda–OMG, you were sending people daily newsletters and nobody reported you as a stalker? I simply do not know the kind of people who would enjoy that. But obviously I don’t get around as much as I should. 🙂
The things you’re describing are things I think would be better in a blog, because a blog can be discovered by new people and posts can be shared on social media. It’s not a closed ecosystem.
But I do know that all the gurus think old-school email marketing is the way to go, and if it works for you, it works.
I was up front about what was in it. The idea was that the emails were like posting on Facebook–very short. I also subscribe to a writer who does one every single day, and that one is much longer.
Honestly though, I don’t think the blog is any better or worse. I’ve been blogging for ten years, and the best I hope for is to keep my name visible. I haven’t really changed my average visitor much over the ten years. Unless you’re a blogging as an expert, it’s pretty hard to keep and grow an audience. In fact, at the writer’s conference I just attended (Superstars), one of the panelists recommended that fiction writers not do a blog because it gets in the way of the writing.
I absolutely hate the term “street team”. When I hear an author say they have one, and beg me to join it (even tho I am the more prominent author) I assume they do not have a publisher promoting for them.
I’ve had a few superfans, and they were a teeny bit scary. Maybe I’m too private a person. But it seemed like they wanted to become personal friends in a very big way. This made me feel uneasy, particularly when the fan was male. It certainly cured me of wanting to be a celebrity, I’ll tell you that.
Email lists? Hate them. Can’t stand receiving them. Don’t understand why anyone would sign up.
Melodie–I’m so glad you feel the same way! What is it about street teams!? I guess it is just an indie-publishing phenomenon.
All I could think of when I first heard about Superfans was Kathy Bates torturing poor James Caan in “Misery”–“I’m your biggest fan….” creepy! Once you’ve met a few of those in real life, I can imagine you’d want to steer clear. I have had a few emails from people who say they love my books, but they hated this or that, so would I please change it in the next book? Or they seemed angry that I didn’t publish more often. None of that made me feel very good. I
LOL Anne – yup thar’s superfans in them thar hills. If only I had the right bait.
I get tired of these labels that are bandied about as though we all know what they are and how to acquire said item. Another term that drives me mad is IDEAL READER. Apparently that is who I should be promoting to – though they never tell you how to find such an animal. I write two series, both distinctly different from one another. With few exceptions, I wouldn’t expect a reader to like and read everything I write. So who then is my ideal reader? And the term ‘street teams’ always makes me laugh, as I envision roaming teams of book nerds wielding sharp little bookmarks at naysayers who refuse to cooperate.
I do think we are too wrapped up in buzzwords and the magic pill strategies that get thrown around a lot. If you do this one thing then you will magically have writing success and sell tons of books. I’m sure it worked for the guy who started the rumor but now that 100 bagillion authors have used that method, I’m going to say it’s not all that effective anymore.
I think that all writers need to find the thing that works for them. Some do well with the tweeting joint ventures, others do well with newsletters, and others do well with personal connections. There is no one size fits all.
The shame of things like this is that so many authors are off chasing this elusive butterfly when they could be spending that time on researching and pursuing additional streams of revenue (other than straight book sales) for their IP – licensing, patreon, audio, video, radio, podcasting, merchandising, etc. etc. And in the long run, how important will it be five years from now if you were #1 on Amazon in the erotic canine category?
But, if you ever do meet a SUPERFAN, please do take a picture and gives us the coordinates for where you found that varmint.
Annie
Annie–I think you’re exactly right. Some writer finds a formula that works for him (kinda) then makes big bux teaching other writers how to do the same thing. Problem is, you can’t sell children’s picture books the same way you sell Bigfoot erotica or vice versa. One size does not fit all!
I love your image of “street teams.”
The term Ideal Reader was coined by Stephen King, and in simple terms he just meant that you should keep in mind someone who always enjoys your work when writing, and you won’t stray too far off course. Let that be your guiding light, and so on.
I then transposed the term to book marketing – I believe I was the first, at least. In simple terms, it just means that different readers respond to different marketing messages, just as they respond to different stories, and that should inform your marketing in a very holistic sense, from the product to the packaging to the promotion too.
“Problem is, you can’t sell children’s picture books the same way you sell Bigfoot erotica or vice versa. One size does not fit all!”
That is literally the whole point of the ideal reader concept.
If you’d like, I’d be happy to walk you though how to identify your idea reader and nurture some super fans. No charge. If you’d rather not do a one on one, I can recommend some podcasts and books that illustrate all of this.
This isn’t mythical, it’s marketing. Marketing sometimes hurts our artistic sensibilities, but it helps us reach the readers who will appreciate our books most. So rather than dismiss this, you might consider allowing yourself to feel uncomfortable with it while you dive in and explore it. Discomfort usually means you’re learning, and learning takes time and discipline.
If you’d like some help, I’m happy to chat. Contact me via my website at KevinTumlinson.com.
This is an open invitation to any other authors who feel this way or who may be frustrated with this idea. Happy writing!
Sorry for the typos. I’m on a bumpy flight.
Finally, someone says it out loud! I split my list into two groups, one for my blog readers and one for readers who aren’t interested in my blog. The readers hardly ever hear from me, unless I have a new book out or I post something on my blog that I think might interest them, like a true crime story. The keyword being “story.” They’ve already told me that’s what they’re interested in, so I don’t bother them with anything else. Easy peasy. And you know what? When I do write to them, they respond.
That said, there’s so much pressure from the writing community to write these amazing newsletters that I was beginning to wonder if I was doing something wrong. Thank you for this post, Anne. I can finally put this subject to bed.
Sue–I think splitting your list like that is very wise. That’s what Nate Hoffelder was advocating. Some people are only interested in reading fiction, and we love them. So we should not spam them.
The pressure on new writers to send out newsletters is HUGE. Brand new writers who have never even published a story are already worrying about their “list” and how often to spam, excuse me, send newsletters. It’s becoming an epidemic.
I too have a few fans who do a few of those things but have never seen a Superfan and I’m not sure I’d want one. I’m not comfortable doing all those things myself! I’ve also seen how people with an agenda can sour online communities. Who wants to be seen as the source of that!
Thanks Anne!
David–You bring up a great point! Some of the things Superfans are expected to do border on harassment. Do we really want somebody being harassed in our name? Some Superfan might join a group and start promoting you in ways you’d find embarassing or intrusive. Do we want our brands to be contaminated with that? Thanks!
Hello Anne,
Thank you for this post!
Yesterday, I finished writing a blog post about the 1,000 true fans coined by Kevin Kelly. This is very much in line with your superfans. Thinking about those 1,000 true fans is daunting. As you said, where do we find them. So in my post, I focused on my true fan #1 (or I called it our first follower). To me, that’s attainable. In fact, I know who mine is… my husband!
Ultimately, the idea is great on paper. But you are right that it’s hard to find those superfans. It’s even hard to get a follower in social media. Many wants to be the star and be followed, but very few wants to be the fan.
Best,
Sigrid
Sigrid–That’s exactly the problem I keep running into. Everybody wants to be the star, but nobody wants to be the fan. And quite frankly, I don’t. When some newbie has self-published a couple of first drafts in a genre I don’t read and asks me to be on their street team, I feel kind of insulted. “I’m not the fan. I’m the author!” sez me. Too many of us feel the same way.
I like the idea of focusing on pleasing one fan, not 1000. It’s more doable plus you’re less likely to water down your work to try to please all of the people all of the time.
I have to admit to being a Superfan according to your description – or at least most of it. I don’t pick up dry cleaning for anyone 🙂 Not even family members.
There are a couple of handfuls of authors who are must buys in my world. I preorder anything they create. Back in the day I was known to line up outside the bookstore on release day to get a book “hot off the press” as it were. These days my new books arrive automatically to my kindle app shortly after midnight on release day. Much more civilized. I post reviews on my book blog and Goodreads, and although I’ve never gone after any other reviewer who doesn’t think the way I do about my favorite books, I certainly have had heated discussions in person with fellow book lovers.
Yes, I’ve praised these books to the heavens on my book blog for years. Anyone who is a regular reader of my book blog is probably aware who my favorites are 🙂 I don’t make people buy books, but I certainly do strongly suggest. I am on a large number of mailing lists so that I can find out about upcoming releases – once you get to my age, keeping track of the release dates of 3 dozen or so authors is not possible. I’ve even been known to purchase more than one copy of a book by mistake – back in the day of purchasing paperback. 🙁 Thanks goodness for the Goodreads app on my iPhone which helps me keep track of what I’ve read and what books – especially out of print books from older series – that I’m keeping my eyes open for at my local used bookstore.
However, I think a lot of authors need to put their “common sense” hat on when following advice. There is a lot of blind following out in author land.
I think that we need to communicate with our readers in a variety of ways. Not everyone wants to get a Facebook account in order to keep up to date. Not everyone is on Twitter to catch the latest news. Not everyone wants to read blog posts. Not everyone wants to get newsletters in their inbox. If we offer our readers a variety of choices, our readers will choose what best suits their needs and lifestyle.
That’s my 2 cents from the world of a voracious reader and book blogger.
Barb–Thanks for this! It’s really helpful. I didn’t know anybody did this. But you read in a different genre from me. Romance fans are the most voracious readers out there and I can see how getting your favorites “hot off the presses” could be a fun thing. So I’m willing to believe there ARE superfans in your genre.
And of course George R. R. Martin has some major superfans. And J.K. Rowling. So Superfans do exist.
But I’m not sure that every author is going to get them, and that shouldn’t make them despair (or treat random bloggers like superfans.)
As you say, we need to cast a wide net and find out who our readers are. I interact with some readers on FB who never read my blog and others who only contact me on Twitter. Or LinkedIn. We need to be open to interacting wherever they are–I think that’s the key.
Anne, As you were for Kurt Vonnegut so was I for Robert Heinlein, from age 10 (1960) until years after his death. And almost as “fan-ish” for Asimov, Bradbury, Vonnegut, and Clarke.
I stay fairly active on Face Book, just being sociable, but every once in a while when I wish someone a happy birthday, I suggest they do something great for themselves–read (not “buy”) one of my books. And always a wink or blushing smile emoji with it.
No newsletters, but I do post in my blog about twice a month and run a short excerpt from one of my novels on my author’s page. And I “advertise” my blog posts on both FB pages.
I don’t know if it helps, but I figure it can’t hurt.
Fred–The thing we need to do is find out what works for our readership. My readers are mostly on FB, so that’s where I put in most of my social media time.
Excerpts from your novels are a good way to draw in new readers. And as you know, I favor a blogpost over a newsletter because it can be discovered by new readers.
Ah, the Emperor’s new clothes. That’s why I look forward to your Sunday blogs, Anne. Your fresh breath of commonsense amid all the “gurus” who have the latest, greatest, “have-to” word on book marketing makes my weekend! Thanks!
Lakota–Yeah, I guess I like to call BS every so often. All these things start out as good ideas. But then the fresh idea calcifies and becomes dogma. And when I step in dogma, I scrape it off my shoe. 🙂
So… why have you not answered my last 72197 emails or given all my books 5* reviews everywhere?!?
Wonderful post. Thanks so much
Alexandria–LOL. Yeah. That’s exactly the problem. It’s what I find in my inbox every morning. It just gets exhausting. 🙂
I am sort of a superfan with some authors. However, they earned my trust. I buy their books day one, review them in Goodreads, and tweet about their novels.
Anne Leckie, Alastair Reynolds, Tim Pratt, and Seanan McGuire come to mind. Again, this authors earned my trust by writing great stories and great novels.
Other authors, I wait for reviews or browse at the bookstore before buying. And other authors I avoid after reading one bad book.
Fans share books with other fans and recommend them at fan conventions. At least, science fiction and fantasy fans do.
But maybe I am not a superfan. I never pre-order, attack negative reviewers (not every book is for everyone) or do the promotion for them.
Interesting article, Anne, about a cryptozoological species.
Ingmar–I think the question I should have asked is whether newsletters made you into a Superfan. My feeling is that good books are what make somebody a fan. Not newsletters. But obviously I am very much in the minority in the publishing world right now.
I had to look up “cryptozoological “. Fascinating. I love how much I learn from the commenters on this blog. Thanks!
Sorry, I was trying to make fun of the fact you compared superfans to bigfoot sightings.
Yes, I agree with you, newsletters is marketing to people who already know you, not about converting new fans. I like your analogy to a closed ecosystem.
Thanks for responding.
Anne, sorry to shatter any deeply held cynicism, but I am a superfan – they do exist! There are a handful of authors (five or less) that I do a vast majority of the things on your list.
1) Not pre-order, but buy on release day, usually first thing in the morning
2) Yes… well, occasionally a 4-star if there was a nitpick I had, but never less.
3) Okay, not that one.
4) Yes. One of my friends recently responded to a reference, “Oh, that’s that author you’re obsessed with.”
5) Yes. Definitely.
6) Yes, I’m definitely signed up for their newsletters. Most usually send a newsletter once or twice per new book.
7) Yes. One of these authors jokingly introduced me to her editor at a bookstore event as “my publicist.”
8) Pretty much. Would definitely promote such a video.
9) I guess if they asked, I might.
So yeah – faithful minion here, reporting for duty! With all that said though, that never came about through a free ebook. It definitely did come about through my reading several of their books (or several series) and being utterly blown away by them.
Irvin–That’s amazing. And wonderful, in a way. And you do these things for them because they send you daily newsletters? Do they make you feel as if they’re your family? This is all very far out of my realm of experience, but maybe it’s because I’m old and I like a little distance between myself and an author.
Glad you think so! Definitely a big NO to daily newsletters – maybe once every four months, or yearly.
We follow each other on Twitter. I have no illusions that these authors are my best friends – we don’t go out for coffee, I don’t know where they live. Maybe “extended family” would be a good metaphor – I like and respect them very much, have a passing knowledge of what’s going on in their lives, and show up for big events (book birthdays instead of actual birthdays). When I see them at a bookstore, we’ll hug and catch up for a few minutes. When my book was launching last July, they wished me well online, and said they felt proud of me.
This is just my natural personality – I’m extremely loyal and extremely extroverted, which seems like a perfect blend of ingredients for Superfan. When I read a book I really love, I always go through the author’s entire bibliography. If the rest of their writing holds up, then I’m all in for reading each book as it comes out. And I love sharing books I love with other people, aka “marketing” – I have about 30 books on loan to various friends at any given time.
Hope this shed some light on the matter for you!
Anne! I was halfway through your post and was already forming my comment about the times I’ve been added to people’s “launch groups” on Facebook without my permission. It’s maddening. That comment still stand. Then I went to read the rest and saw you mentioned my newsletter. What an honor! Thank you! I get a little pit in my stomach whenever I hit send because I assume at least a few people will be annoyed, but I get a decent open rate (45%) and only 1-2 unsubscribe each time. As far as I understand, both are above average numbers. I think a key is that I’m never asking anyone to buy anything, and I only send one a month. I hope that helps others here!
Nina- -Being added to those groups and launch parties and street teams infuriates me. But maybe we’re in the minority. Some people who have commented just love it.
Those are great stats! Congrats. You do have a great newsletter. I always look forward to it! Maybe partly because you don’t send that often and I get to miss you. 🙂
Hi Anne, I think there is some misunderstanding of the concept of superfans here, what they do, and what helps to cultivate them. I know that some of the framing above is satirical but I think there is some inaccuracy at the heart of your framing of the concept that I should respond to.
It’s not about creating some kind of rabid army of zealous minions who go around intimidating reviewers via some kind of mind-slaving technique. It is simply about harnessing the power of the only real force that has ever sold books – word of mouth – and both creating the conditions for it to thrive, and removing obstacles in its path.
I’ll ignore the ridiculous example of Anne Rice fans attacking reviewers, because I doubt you were serious in saying that’s what being a superfan is about. Let’s take your more sober example of your own enjoyment of Kurt Vonnegut’s work.
I would certainly classify you as a superfan of his – you waited desperately for each book to come out, read it from cover to cover, and then read it again. However, you said you didn’t do any marketing for him.
I suspect this is not the case. I bet you recommended his book to someone. And I bet you did it more than once.
This is all that being a superfan is about. A reader that enjoys much or all of the output of a given writer, and enjoys that work so much that they will recommend it to other readers.
Think how many books you come across in a year – you will only check out more deeply a fraction of those. And then only purchase a fraction of those you check out. And only complete some of those. And only enjoy some of those. And then probably only recommend a portion of those you actually enjoyed. We do it less than we probably think.
But if there is an author you do that regularly for, one whose work you always read and enjoy, then you are a superfan of that author.
It’s really not that controversial.
In terms of what any author can do to increase the number of superfans that they have, that is a very involved, multi-stage process that begins with the discovery challenges we all face and ends with some kind of means of developing a relationship with your readers.
That relationship doesn’t have to be developed by email, you can do it with a blog, or with a Facebook Page, but I think email is the best tool for the job for all sorts of reasons.
I also disagree with your conception of email marketing, but I won’t go point by point on that. I’ll just that anyone interest in actually doing it properly might read Tammi Labreque’s excellent guide “Newsletter Ninja.”
I’ll just say this: a healthy email relationship between author and reader, one that helps to cultivate superfans, is very different to what you describe. It’s certainly not about asking them for things as you said – like reviews, promo, whatever.
It’s about giving them things, and that distinction is pretty damn crucial.
I agree with David. The superfan is not some elusive mythological creature. Hi, I’m a superfan. I’ve recommended Patrick Redmond’s books numerous times as well as indie author Lynn Almengor’s debut novel at every opportunity. The superfan is out there 🙂
Totally agree with David on this one.
I’m not shy about sharing books with friends, family, and even strangers. I’ve literally given books away to people I’ve just met, based on something we’ve discussed in passing. I know other readers like that, too. I might not read many of the books someone pushes on me, but they plant the seed—and the few times I’ve gone back to those fiery superfan recommendations, I usually end up being delighted.
David–I’m honored that you stopped by. I guess by your definition, I’m one of your superfans. I buy your books and recommend them often. I’ve probably recommended Let’s Get Digital more than any other book on self-publishing.
But I don’t love your newsletters. I desperately wish your information were still on your blog instead. The emails are too long to read when I’m doing my morning email slog, so I try to remember but mostly never get back to it.
If they were blog notices, I could open the tab and come back to read the blog after my morning writing session. I could also share it with my FB and Twitter peeps I could comment on it. The newsletter allows none of that. So there they sit, unread, until I do a purge and delete them all and hope all that stuff will come out in a book some day.
I mentioned you much more on the blog and in social media when you had a dynamic blog, instead of those unread newsletters. I could quote you and link to the quote in the blog. I could talk about discussions in the comments. Maybe that’s not your goal. Maybe you prefer to broadcast to a small static audience in private instead of drawing in new readers
But that doesn’t make me more of a fan. In fact it means you’ve mostly faded from my radar..
And you have good newsletters. Most authors do not. I feel I’m under siege by bad author newsletters. These authors have been told they must have a list and they must harass it into superfandom. Doesn’t work on me. Anybody who does that will never sell a book to me again.
Hi Anne, thank you for responding, especially with such candor. You are, of course, free to like and dislike whatever you wish and I have no doubt that you are not alone and some people won’t like my newsletters and might prefer my blog, and so on.
But it really isn’t either/or. I have a blog. I have a newsletter. You (general you) can follow whatever you like. Or not. Everyone has that choice. They are two tools with two different audiences, and I use both differently to achieve different aims. What I absolutely disagree with is your blanket dismissal of email marketing a tool – you are on pretty shaky ground there.
I think there’s a danger of extrapolating from your own personal tastes. My newsletter audience has grown over 600% in the last 12 months since I switched to the weekly format, so there appears to be an audience for it, and it appears to be working – however you may personally feel about it. And that’s without doing any kind of list-building or advertising. That’s all 100% organic growth.
My blog audience shows some growth over the same period, but a much more modest number than that – despite an increase in posting in that timeframe.
But it’s not about raw numbers. It’s about the level of engagement and the relationships you develop with more frequent contact. Here’s one simple metric to show the improvement there: those who have joined since I switched to a weekly newsletter just over a year ago are three times more likely to click on something in an email, than those who were on my list from before. That goes for a news item, marketing tips, a launch, doesn’t matter. Three times more engagement is massive.
However, the greatest benefit is personal. I’m enjoying it a lot more. I feel like I have a much deeper connection with my audience, and I’m enjoying it a lot more – and you can’t hang a big enough dollar value on that.
Each to their own, I just wish you didn’t so breezily dismiss tools and concepts which have value to a lot of people, just because you don’t dig them.
David–If you read all the way to the end of the post (I know, nobody ever does 🙂 ) I talk about email newsletters that work very well indeed. I also quote a guest on your blog who talked about the problem of “moving targets” with email marketing.
Unfortunately newbie writers are hearing that newsletters alone will sell books, and that people on their list will happily market their books for them, and I have a problem with that. Especially when I’m the one getting the (usually unsolicited) newsletters.
The Superfan does exist.
I accept your position that it is not in the world of Fiction writing, because I don’t know, and because your arguments are very persuasive.
But the Superfan does exist in the world of Nonfiction.
And David Gaughran is a perfect example.
He has hordes of Superfans, of which I am one, eagerly awaiting his next book, which is about BookBub Ads. We will buy it immediately.
Why?
Because all of his previous books have been spot-on.
I learned most of what I know about self-publishing from David’s books, and I just published my fourth book in two years, all Amazon best-sellers.
That’s what makes a Superfan.
Yes, Bigfoot is alive and well, and, strangely, in the world of Nonfiction.
Michael–I’m a big fan of David’s books too. But as I said above, I’m not a fan of his newsletters. They aren’t making me into a superfan. They have the opposite effect.
Anne, I’m not sure this is how I would describe a super fan–that’s the trouble with terminology–we all have our own take. This definition seems more like a rabid fan to me–people that are noisy enough that I notice them. Every “phrase” we use in marketing needs to have common ground. To me, a super fan is something you cultivate through connection. It’s a fan with a set of earmarks that manifest with solid data we can track–opened emails (and replies if you use interactive email), social media commenters and people who share, (not telling people you went to the dentist, but good, engaging content that you can learn how to put together), and your sell-through on books.
All those things are gained with intentionality–working to engage our readers in a meaningful relationship by giving them value. And value is the key word. It’s not valuable if your social media feed consists of your daily to-do list. That is a snooze. Value is in finding that crossover of subjects that your reader wants to hear about and you like to talk about–that emotional connection is the gold in content but it takes some work. Super fans are just people that are connected to you because you have made their lives better. And maybe you’re able to do that just through your books. But in this culture, a book without a platform has a hard time succeeding. And my guess is, most authors have super fans but they just don’t identify them that way.
“Super fans are just people that are connected to you because you have made their lives better.”
I think that’s the crucial point here: superfans will be the people who keep getting high value from the author-reader relationship, whether it’s due to a deep love of the author’s books and/or enjoyment of supplemental materials (newsletters, social media, etc.)
Chris–I agree with everything you say here. I’d simply call those people fans. The Superfan or “street team” idea is that these people owe you something. They have to follow orders and do your marketing for you. That’s what I object to. Especially when I’m on the receiving end of the demands.
Can someone tell authors to stop adding other authors on LinkedIn and then demanding some kind of free promotion in response? This seems to be the new Twitter auto-DM.
Also, I do send emails to my list but I rarely tell them what I’m doing (unless it IS interesting), instead sending book recommendations, a free story that’s maybe a 5-minute read, and other cool stuff. I’ve got a reader in mind and I always think “will she enjoy this? will she like this?” If the answer is no, it doesn’t go in the email. But I think a lot of people don’t want to admit that even then, most people who sign up to email lists DON’T go on to buy your books unless you heavily discount them. Why? Because you devalued your work in their eyes when you gave it away for free just to get their email address.
Icy–Wow! You really hit on something here. I hadn’t even though about it, but it’s true; “…people who sign up to email lists DON’T go on to buy your books unless you heavily discount them. Why? Because you devalued your work in their eyes when you gave it away for free just to get their email address.”
Yikes! I guess what we’re supposed to do here is give the “list” free or discounted books in exchange for the expected Street Team/ Superfan activity. A kind of Godfather favor that needs to be paid back in labor later. But that feels icky to me.
Thanks for the insight!
Lots of good points above, from both sides of the fence. There are obviously ‘fan’s’ of particular authors and will read or give a go, anything that said author will put out. Now, is there a subset of that group, that will also go out of their way to promote that author? Probably. I’ve read/heard a number of accounts where readers went on to be beta readers or part of ARC teams, but I think that happened naturally, through the author just being very good at engaging with his audience, and not be specifically trying to create artificially those ‘superfans’. So readers of Romance might be interested in what’s going on with the life of a Romance author, if they think that author is particularly entertaining/feel an affinity with etc, whereas maybe post-apoc readers might be interested in an authors life if that author is talking about prepping, and so on. But it will still be a subset, with most of the readers probably not wanting to engage in the same way, and just being interested in the latest release, discount etc. So as an author its your job to sort all of that out 🙂
Phil–I think the secret is to treat your readers like individuals, not a commodity on the hoof. Sorting people into the right lists, as Nate Hoffelder suggested, might be the key. I personally want to be on the list of “Do not disturb unless you’ve got a new book.”
As a former marketer, an email every three months (the rate at which I publish) isn’t going to cut it. Not enough retention in the reader’s mind.
The key is to be engaging. Personally I always have a fun video. That gets clicked a lot. I also share some exclusive stuff. I do have some super fans who preorder sight unseen and so forth, but the newsletter is also for the more casual reader.
I send anywhere from 1-4 times a month which isn’t ideal, but it does seem to be helpful. I resisted newsletters for the first two years and lost valuable early momentum, but I was selling very well and every author’s situation is different. I see your points, but I think you’ve set up a bit of a straw man here.
Rosalind–The problem with Internet marketing rules is they were invented by the very young, at a time when the industry was very young. And the young tend to make business relationships adversarial rather than empathetic..The consumer is the “target” not a fellow human being. You don’t think “How would I feel if I got 2 dozen of these emails every day.?” Instead you think of a vast herd that’s out there to be hunted down and dominated.
The Golden Rule can be forgotten when people spout “marketing rules”. But the Golden Rule is what works long term.
If I got an email from an author you every week, I’d unsubscribe or send them to spam. I don’t feel “engaged” by a barrage of emails, I feel assaulted. That may be marketing, but it doesn’t generate sales.
To me sales should be the goal, not dominating the “opponent.”.
Well, that’s kinda adversarial. My blood pressure went up. When did I talk about an adversary or an opponent? My sending an email a week is a barrage, and I’m assaulting people? No, I’m engaging with people who want to read what I have to say, because I’ve taken care to make my content engaging, and I enjoy interacting with my readers, because they’re almost uniformly lovely. You do you.
Rosalind–Sorry. I didn’t mean for this to apply you in particular. I’m just talking about the “rules” of email marketing that say more and more and more emails are the way to target the public.
Political operatives are all obeying these rules to the point that I will never sign a petition or give money to any political candidate. Because they send 10-12 emails a week, sometimes 5 a day, usually full of negative messages. Unsubscribe functions are tricks to get your phone number or more personal information. They see us as targets and commodities, because they’ve been taught this in marketing classes.
I just don’t think those rules work in the long run. And I think they’re bad for the culture. I simply meant I object to marketing rules, not you,
Ah. Gotcha. Huh. I think you’ve gone to a bit of an extreme here. It’s not one thing or the other. Yes, some authors go overboard, but there’s a big difference between that and engaging with one’s audience on a regular basis in whatever way. I will leave it to the experts like David Gaughran to talk about what techniques work best.
I do believe that engaging with your audience makes some of them more personally invested in you and your books, and can help turn avid readers into brand ambassadors–or superfans. Word of mouth is a magical thing, and we all feel more warmly toward people we feel we “know.” Lots of marketing is just psychology. It can be an uneasy balance, though, between a marketing hat and an author hat. I think the key is to be yourself, and not to do more “revealing” than you’re comfortable with. For me–people respond best to pictures of my house, my garden, or flower arrangements! That’s not all that revealing. It’s just offering something fun.
Another marketing idea that I think is key, but that gets missed a lot, is segmentation. Amazon Publishing does segmentation really well. All your readers aren’t the same. There are those who will one-click as soon as you have a new book out, or even announce one (superfans, if you will). There are those who will buy all your books in certain series, but skip others. There are also those who will only buy during a sale. (Which is why APub starts discounting within about 3 months of the book coming out.) Putting a book on sale, or offering a free book, does not “devalue” your books. That’s been pretty well debunked over the last 8 years or so, I’d say. It gets your books in front of a wider market and helps you find your audience, that’s all. The key is THE BOOK. If it’s fabulous (to a subset of the market), some of those people who pick it up only because it’s free will go on to become superfans who will pay full price for every book you write.
Thought of a P.S. I get by far the most engagement (return emails) when I get personal. My audience though is grown-up women with kids, and they respond and are used to women sharing feelings. Know your audience and try stuff, within the bounds of a reasonable effort for you and your comfort level. Maybe that is sexy pictures of guys if you write smexy books, recipes for a cozy author, gun talk, whatever.
Rosalind, I have had a similar experience. About 2 years ago I did an informal poll on Facebook as to what readers want to know and “behind the scenes” was the winner. Still, I resisted that type of newsletter content until a readers wrote to say she’d like to know more about me and my writing process. So now there’s a bit of that in every newsletter and it has increased reader enagement.
Hi Anne. Thanks for cracking open the window and allowing fresh air in. I’m working on my 3rd novel and have dialed back my blog to monthly – because I too feel that bombarding people with emails was simply overwhelming. As you know – the advice out there is – push, push, push. How about just writing a great book? Well, we do need to do more than that, but let’s not alienate our readers/fans. Thanks for a great post. This Indie author welcomes you in his email box. Oh, wait. Am I a Super fan? Hmm. Maybe.
Brad–I think blogs can have superfans. 🙂 Blogs don’t require anything of our readers.. Just read and enjoy. Maybe an occasional comment. (Which I appreciate.)
I’m a fan of the slow blog. I think an author doesn’t need to blog more than once a week, and it’s fine to cut back when you’re working on a project. Because, as you say, it’s got to be about the books, All the emails in the world won’t make a bad book into a bestseller..
I’m a mystery and thriller author, with a blog and a twice-monthly newsletter. The blog is mostly personal essays but some of the content is repurposed for the newsletter which focuses on book news, exclusive excerpts, and reviews of books I recommend. This means that newsletter readers get content pertinent to the genre of books they like and broadens the conversation beyond me, me, me. I’ve found that newsletter readers often email me after an edition comes out to comment on something or ask questions. In this way, I’ve developed a regular correspondance with a handful of readers who I guess could be classified as SuperFans willing to buy preorders, write reviews, etc. I think it helps that I write a series and folks always want to know about the next book and the relationships between the characters. Bottom line for me: in terns of sales and connecting to readers, the newsletter has proven more successful than the blog.
Carmen–If you newsletters are developing correspondences with your readers, and you’re writing to each one individually, I can see how that would make readers into loyal friends. It must be very time consuming, but if it’s paying off, that’s great. Most newsletters don’t invite replies, so they’re not interactive, but it sounds as if yours are more personal.
Hi, Anne. I like this essay, and all the comments. It’s interesting and helpful to get other people’s take on this issue. To be honest, I am utterly baffled by blogging and newsletters both. I’m a very private person, and it’s really hard to know what to put in them. I write romance, some pretty hot and some only moderately hot, and I don’t know what readers of such fiction want to read in a blog. Plus, I Absolutely Hate Controversy And Arguments, so the comment section makes me very uncomfortable.
Tori–I mostly try to keep to uncontroversial topics, because I don’t like battles either. But I felt the need to talk about this because of all the pressure authors are getting to round up street teams and superfans instead of writing good books and learning their craft. Not to mention the anxiety this stuff generates.
In my book The Author Blog, I have lots of suggestions for what authors of different genres can blog about. it’s pretty wide open. Settings, Romantic get-aways. Romantic dinners, All topics that don’t need to be about you or what you had for lunch, but will give value to the reader.
Now the current wisdom is to put this in a newsletter, not a blog. But a blog draws new readers and a newsletter does not. A blog gets you into search engines and a newsletter does not. That’s why I prefer a blog.
Thanks, Anne. I’ll have to pick up your book. 😉
Thanks, Tori! 🙂
All I know is that I have never had a newsletter. I have always had a blog, and an engaged social media presence. I do have a place on my website for readers to subscribe to my blog, so when I post something new, it’s emailed to them. The difference? It’s fairly infrequent, almost always something that’s for them, not for me (such as deal alerts and giveaways) and they only get on that list because they put themselves on it. And they always know they can take themselves off it. People on this thread have talked about their fun, engaging content, but that’s what I put on my website and social media. I want people to come to the information if they want it. I never want to pursue them with it.
When I do giveaways I have to collect email addresses because I have to be able to notify them if they win. With every single giveaway I make the following pact with my readers. After I ask them to leave their email I tell them, “I promise not to use it for any other purpose but to notify you if you win.” And it’s a promise I have never broken. And never would. Say whatever you want about marketing and sales numbers, but nothing beats a genuine trust bond.
People “market” themselves to me all the time, including two very spammy examples just today. I hate it. I smell it a mile away. It has exactly the opposite effect on me than the one they were going for. Of course, if your readers are good fans, maybe they won’t mind because it’s you. If they’re really good fans, maybe you can trust them to subscribe, and follow you on social media. That’s more like a friend, though, rather than a customer. Which is my point exactly.
Maybe I’m old fashioned, but I used to be able to go to a store and buy a chair, and never hear from the retailer again. Now it takes three tries to get off their mailing list. How many chairs do they think I want? And if I found their store the first time, what makes them think I can’t find it again?
If this doesn’t work for others, that’s fine. But I agree with Anne completely. I just can’t delete any sort of marketing communication fast enough.
Catherine–Many thanks for this. You’ve sold over 3 million books without using a newsletter or the latest marketing gimmick.
I realize that these techniques work for some authors and their fans seem to be happy with the arrangement.
But I hate to see new writers in despair because they don’t have street teams and superfans to market their books for them, so they think they can’t succeed. My reason for writing this post is to tell them that they can. By writing great books.
Just the way you have.
Thanks!
Anne, thanks for hosting this great discussion. You, Catherine, David, Rosalind — I like and respect all of you and have learned a lot from each of you over the past few years while trying to find my footing. I suppose it just goes to prove the rule that what works for one author doesn’t necessarily work for another.
On a side note, in developing news, Courtney Milan is claiming another author has plagiarized large portions of one of her books. On her blog, Courtney says it was one of her devoted readers who first noticed the similarities and sent her an email about it. Now that’s what I’d call a Superfan!
ktomsovic–Isn’t that an awful mess? I do not understand how anybody would use a ghostwriter for romances. Geez. Writing fiction doesn’t make that much money. If you’re going to be a scammer, run a fake IRS phone scam or something. 🙂
I agree 100% That IS a Superfan! I love readers like that.
My post was intended to make new writers stop obsessing over Superfans and newsletters and concentrate on writing good books instead. Obviously Courtney Milan writes some good books. What is that quote about imitation being the highest form of flattery?
I don’t know… as soon I see the word “superfan”, I think of Kathy Bates in Misery, and my mind goes to very bad places…
I see you said that already – oh, well.
Solsdottir–I’m very glad you said it again. I realize I approached this all wrong and I should have said this in the post, and maybe used a photo of Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes in the featured photo. Because a lot of people didn’t get why I object to the term. But that’s exactly the reason. I think it’s creepy to want people to be obsessed with you.
But you’ll see from the comments that a whole lot of authors LOVE the idea, and I’m some kind of old-school throwback. But hey, Stephen King and I grew up in the same part of the world. Maybe we’re just more private people.
Maybe you are too. I much appreciate your supportive comment. Thanks!
I couldn’t disagree more. The entire reason I have a career is super fans. They followed me before I even figured out what I was doing. They stayed with me as I got myself together. They’re still with me … and they buy everything. They buy new series, including the one I have hitting the first week of March. I haven’t advertised that series in the least. I haven’t put out more than a blurb and a basic breakdown. People are still excited for it, preordering it. I’m a huge super fan of the authors I love. There are certain authors I buy everything for. I get it. It’s important to engage with your super fans. I only send newsletters for new releases. Of course, I have 2-3 new releases under two names a month. I interact daily in my reader group. Fans love hearing where I’m at in a story. I do very little advertising. It’s the super fans who got me where I am today and I’m forever grateful.
Amanda–Wow. You write 3 books a month! No wonder you don’t have time to write daily newsletters. Well, More power to you. And you do illustrate my point, that it’s better to write good books than bad newsletters. Congratulations! If you can write 36 books a year, you’re a Superwriter, so you deserve Superfans!
I’ve been thinking about this a bit more. A few things to say:
1) I appreciate the “overwhelmed” feeling. I do very little marketing. The only thing I DO do is send a newsletter, because it’s a fairly easy and very cheap thing that is effective–both in keeping my readers engaged and informed, and being my one way to say, “Hey! New book here!” I used not to even do that, but see below–times change.
2) The hard truth is that not every author will have tons of superfans, or not right away, because most books simply don’t sell much, and it isn’t getting any easier. But you can’t win if you don’t throw your hat in the ring!
3) To those who say–I did X, and it worked–authors aren’t the same, and times sure aren’t the same. I did not have a newsletter until I’d sold–500,000 books? And made a million bucks or so. If you had a good book, you could just set it free, and bang! Your catalog sold! It is MUCH HARDER now to be seen, especially if you don’t have a publisher behind you–there are so many more authors, so many sophisticated marketers, so much money being spent on product, presentation, and promotion. You will PROBABLY have to do more, unless your book really catches fire by word of mouth. (Which does still happen, but it probably shouldn’t be your game plan.)
4) I do have a website also, on which I blog sometimes. I wouldn’t know what to say every week, though, especially to readers & not writers–and writing anything worthwhile takes my mental energy away from the book, and it’s hard to drag it back. My own readers also respond best to short, personal stuff–Facebook & newsletter type. If blogging works better for you than newsletters–awesome! Or here’s a thought–do both! You can even repurpose your blog for your newsletter, or vice versa.)
5) If you hate newsletters, don’t do them. There are lots of marketing things I don’t do, because I hate them. But I know they’re effective for other people.
Nothing’s set in stone. Publishing changes all the time, and authors and genres are so different. No right answers that I’ve seen, except “Don’t cheat.”
Rosalind–You’re right. The marketplace changes daily. What worked last week may not work today. I prefer the author blog to a newsletter because it draws in new readers and is interactive, so it creates community and allows networking. It also gets you into search engines. It can have the same kind of content. The difference is how it’s presented.
But if you already have 500K readers, a newsletter is great. You don’t need new readers. You need to tend to the ones you have.
But for new writers, I think getting new readers is usually the goal. So they need to be out and about in the blogosphere and on social media. They’re not going to get fans–super or otherwise, until they have a body of work.
The purpose of this post is to encourage writers to hone their craft and write good books before they start sending newsletters and making demands. Not everybody who accepts the bribe of a free book is automatically a superfan.
Getting an email list, I find is the hardest thing to do. When I get one, I promise not to spam them with newsletters.
V.M. It is indeed really tough to get together a list of people who want spam, which is why most authors offer bribes to get people to sign up. But a bribed person isn’t necessarily a superfan. And they probably won’t open that newsletter.
So relax and enjoy this part of your career and write some good books and network on social media and maybe a blog, and slowly ask people to sign up to hear when you have that next book ready. That’s the only list that really matters.
A publisher I used to be with had a ‘street team’. It consisted of everyone spamming their own books constantly on Facebook. I was very disillusioned and eventually left and took charge of publishing my own books.
Stevie–Oh, geez. Publishers who listen to marketing fads are the worst. I’ve known some that even demanded that their authors review each others books on Amazon. No matter that they were violating Amazon’s TOS as well as all the rules of ethics. Some of the authors got kicked off Amazon and it was through no fault of their own.
Marketing fadism doesn’t sell books. Maybe some gimmick worked the first time somebody did it, but when it becomes dogma, as I said above, all you can do is scrape it off your shoe. Good for you that you escaped that trap!
Superfan? Didn’t Stephen King write about one of those?
William–Haha. He sure did. “I’m your number one fan…” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHQ9CPRfDsw
I’m a month behind in my blog reader! Sorry for my tardiness and thanks for this great mention, Anne! I’m writing a newsletter now for April 2, ha. I’ve always been uncomfortable with the term ‘fan’ in this business (and I’m thinking you may feel the same way). To me, they’re all ‘readers.’
Elizabeth–Absolutely. I should have mentioned that here. I don’t want “fans” super or otherwise. I want readers. 🙂
I so agree about newsletters. All the gurus say if you blog it’s worthless without building a list so you can sell through newsletters. My inbox is full of author newsletters I subscribed because of a contest or to get a freebie. Never again. I’m in the process of unsubscribing from most of them. I can’t find the important emails.
As for sending a newsletter myself? I’d rather not. I can say what I have to say in my blog posts. I have a feeling no one will be upset that I have nothing to subscribe to. I doubt if anyone will miss my having those annoying pop ups or pop overs to cover up the post they are trying to read. I especially hate them when I’ve already subscribed to the blogger’s newsletter. I’m glad i”m not the only one who feels this way. I’m hoping other writers will read this.
Barbara–I’m glad to hear you agree with me. What I find is the people who love newsletters are authors who send them, not readers who get them. Most readers hate them, and they only subscribed because of a bribe, and now they feel obligated to get them, but they don’t read them.
These people aren’t reading and loving our books. They’re simply names on a list. Meaningless numbers. I don’t think that’s worth the time and effort it goes into sending out the dreaded things. Thanks for weighing in!
Thank you Anne for writing this article. I have been wondering about the entire superfans/email newsletter concept. I have been doing email newsletters for a couple years because I got sucked into the hype of doing them. But I’m questioning their value. And heading into a new year….I have a decision to make. This article helps. Thanks!
Marion–I have been talking with a lot of readers recently and you would not believe how much they hate those newsletters. Especially now marketers are telling authors to send at least one “welcome” email a day for a MONTH. So many readers vow never to read another book by those authors. The whole newsletter thing has gone from pointless to self-sabotage . I hope that helps with your decision. 🙂 Cue the Monty Python spam song…