First off, I’ve been busy.
First, busy hustling a new novel off into the great, wide world; second busy being sick. So, cut me some
slack, Jack.
So, where were we…Christ, has it been a month already? Sigh…
OK, so when we parted company 30 or so days ago, we had
talked about the importance of social media.
Now, we’re going to talk about list building.
Sounds dry, doesn’t it?
Sounds tedious and dull. Racks up
about a zero on the old thrill meter, huh?
This is probably why more people don’t pay attention to what
I think is a critical thing in this new, unexplored world of small and/or
independent publishers.
Let’s break it down, shall we? When I say “list,” I mean “customers.” And when I say “building,” I mean “building.” Got it?
By “list building” I simply mean keeping track of your customers and
potential customers in an organized fashioned.
A small digression. I
come from the world of magazine trade publishing, business-to-business
periodicals. Now, publishing may still
be a gentlemen’s business—though I have me some true douchenozzles (and –nozzellettes!) in the industry—but it isn’t an industry that
is generally heavy on assets. And by “assets”
I mean “Shit that’s worth something.”
Whilst in this gentlemen’s business, I had what I hope to be
my first, last and only run-in with that dubious breed known as the “investment banker.” By “investment banker,” I mean “Shit heel” or
“Lying Shit Heel.” They always told us that
a publishing company’s only two real assets were, first, its employees. What a great sentiment! And probably true, if we’re being
serious. But “investment bankers” aren’t
serious, and they only told us that to lull us into security while they picked
the corpse of our company clean in order to turn a profit.
Anyway, second was the list; i.e., the list of subscribers and past subscribers and expired subscribers and
potential subscribers to each magazine.
This was what the investment bankers really meant when they said “assets,”
because those lists were their lifeline to money.
A list of subscribers is like any list of customers. At its simplest, it’s just a list of people who
have bought your product; people who have spent money to receive what you’ve created. It’s easy for a magazine to keep track of
this, because the company has to send out the product each and every month;
hence, a subscriber list.
But someone like you, say, a writer or an artist of some
sort who is creating stuff and wants to put it into the marketplace, it may not
be as intuitive for you to keep a list like this. But you should.
Here’s why. There’s
an old adage in sales that says the easiest customer to sell to is someone who’s
already bought. In other words, if a
person has already bought your stuff, it’s a whole lot easier to convince them
to buy more of it—say a new novel or collection or whatnot—than it is to find a
new customer and convince him to buy.
So, if you’re on Facebook or Twitter or you have a blog or
whatever, these things are important not just in the sense that you’re
communicating with (shhh! Selling!) people, it’s important because most of these social media thingies also keep
track of “Friends” or “Followers.” See these as “Buyers/Potential Buyers,” and
you’re building a list.
People who actually buy from you might be more difficult to
get to, especially if you’re working for a publisher, but keeping track of your
Facebook, Twitter and blog followers is essential. This is your “list;” a lifeline to your
money.
As any list, it needs to be kept up with. Spam and essentially worthless followers have
a way of clogging up Facebook and Twitter over time. Best to periodically weed through these and
unfriend and unfollow those accounts who aren’t doing you any good as a buyer/potential
buyer. How can you tell these? Well, most times they’re ridiculously obvious—accounts
that don’t friend or follow you back, descriptions of accounts that are patently
fake, ludicrously pornographic or just not your target audience.
Also spend time making sure you’re following the right people. Friend those who seem like they’re in the audience
for your stuff; follow those with the right hashtags in their
descriptions. And follow and friend the right people, and unfollow and unfriend the wrong people regularly. This is vital in not just making sure you’re
reaching the right people, but also in growing your list. (See Roy’s posts on this at www.booksofthedeadpress.com.)
In the end, as a writer, this list is one of your only
assets. You’re unlikely to be bought out
by an investment firm so you’re unlikely to be told that you yourself are one
of your own personal two assets. You
undoubtedly are, though your
well-maintained, well-grown list might be even more important.
And that’s my take on this subject after being hepped-up on
generic Thera-Flu. I might feel
differently tomorrow.
Next Up: Get your signing pen and author signature ready…it’s
time for personal appearances.
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