I’ve been building my author email list—slowly but surely. According to the indie publishing experts, the author email list is an indie author’s greatest asset. And for good reason.
The way folks like Joanna Penn and Mark Dawson explain it, your author email list is one of the few platforms owned by the indie author. Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Instagram, Bookbub, Goodreads, Pinterest, etc.—all of these are great author outlets, but the author doesn’t own the platform. For any reason, Facebook can change the rules, and your author Facebook page could go away.
But an independent author’s email list is owned by the independent author. The larger the list, the more direct access an author has to his or her readers. Launching a new book? Send out a newsletter to your subscribers and watch your sales jump.
I’ve had the author email list on my book launch action plan for a while. I’ve been building it slowly and steadily. Right now I’m just working on my family. I figure if I am related to them, then they have opted in. They can always unsubscribe.
The indie author email list is a daily task I can keep busy with. Everyone in my social circles will know I’ve written a book, and some of those people might be producers or executives looking for new material. Another one of my goals for Naughty Week is to launch my feature film writing career. I originally wrote it as a feature film. Writing features is why I came to Los Angeles 19 years ago.
Today I want to write something. I need to write something. I need to get to work. I have no client meetings today. My day is wide open. There will be things I want to do like exercise, maybe practice piano, read, but there must be a few hours in there that I can write.
Last week I had all day Monday without having any client meetings. I took care of my car. It was a financial blow, but I am happy it’s taken care of. I was also able to write something. I need to write something.
I have not been as obsessive about checking my AMS ads or my ACOS score. I still like to check them, I’m just not as obsessive about it.
Not much has changed in regard to sales. The one sale I made disappeared. Did someone cancel their order? Did that not get counted as an AMS sale? I have no idea. I am not too concerned because I feel like I am still in my “building awareness” phase. I just need people to see the ad now. In November and December, I need those people to convert to buyers.
I have made a few sales this weekend, which was surprising. I have conceded that I probably won’t have a big chunk of sales until I send out my monthly newsletter.
