Self-Publishing Reader magnet.

[Jake E]

So, I'm currently following a self publishing course and it suggests sweetening the pot with a 'reader magnet' upon subscribing to my email list.

Has anyone done this?
Do you think if I smashed out a short story or novella that would be good enough as a freebee sign up gift?

J

 

[Nikky Lee]

Yep, I have 3 reader magnets. 1 is a horror/dark fantasy short story, 1 is a fantasy/cli-fi novelette and the 3rd is a sample of my epic fantasy novel. They've all done a great job of building my mailing list. My novel sample has also helped my sales as I get a small spike almost every time one of my newsletter swaps shares it – side note: the free sample has also worked far better than doing swaps using a universal book link that sends people straight to a purchase url, I guess people like to try before they buy, especially when the author is new to them.

 

[Jake E]

I'd better get to writing a short story then...

 

[RK Wallis]

Even tidy up one of your deleted scenes that would widen the world of your book (do I make sense?)

 

[Jake E]

Even tidy up one of your deleted scenes that would widen the world of your book (do I make sense?)

You make perfect sense.
It's a good job I have a folder called 'cut pieces'.
I never throw anything out

 

[Robinne Weiss]

I have several reader magnets--a short story that's a prequel to my Dragon Defence League series, a short scifi story that has been published twice a fairly long time ago (so I can't squeeze much more money out of it anyway), a sample of the first book in my Dragon Defence League series, and (for my food newsletter) a recipe.

 

[Dan Payne]

What do people think about offering a reader magnet that is also currently for sale? I'm working on a novella to be my magnet, and I envisage it as the first in a series of linked novellas. I'm thinking either of having it magnet-exclusive, selling all novellas in the series except the most recent one which is only available as the magnet; or having it for sale as well so people who get the magnet can see a value on it.

 

[Jake E]

What do people think about offering a reader magnet that is also currently for sale? I'm working on a novella to be my magnet, and I envisage it as the first in a series of linked novellas. I'm thinking either of having it magnet-exclusive, selling all novellas in the series except the most recent one which is only available as the magnet; or having it for sale as well so people who get the magnet can see a value on it.

I think people who buy it and then find out they could've gotten it for free would be pretty pissed.

 

[Nikky Lee]

What do people think about offering a reader magnet that is also currently for sale? I'm working on a novella to be my magnet, and I envisage it as the first in a series of linked novellas. I'm thinking either of having it magnet-exclusive, selling all novellas in the series except the most recent one which is only available as the magnet; or having it for sale as well so people who get the magnet can see a value on it.

One of mine is on sale between 1.99 and 99 cents. Another one is only available via newsletter sign up or via the magazine it was originally published in. Both are standalone stories.

Re: having the first book/novella as the magnet. I think that's fine if each novella can be read as a standalone. It won't matter where people encounter your series (e.g. via another author's newsletter or on Amazon), they'll be able to enjoy whichever book they pick up. However, if it is a series that needs to be read in order, I'd say you're better off putting the first book as a permafree rather than only making it available via a newsletter sign up. You may find people will pick up the second in the series from an online retailer not knowing there is a story that preceeds it and getting confused/lost, which could affect your ratings/reviews.

That said, I think it is a great idea to offer Advance Reader Copies of each novella to your newsletter first before officially publishing/releasing it. This could help you get early reviews, which in turn helps visibility.