Today I want to tell you about how I grew my mailing list from zero to over 100 people for free and the steps I’m going to take down the line to continue its growth. One caveat to this advice is you must have a published book. Now, I say this all the time, everyone has a book in them. It doesn’t have to be fantasy or fiction. It could be nonfiction, it could be personal stories, it could be a collection of essays on your travels across the continental United States. Whatever you want as long as it’s published and available digitally. You also have to be willing to give it away for free. This book will be your anchor–it will be your funnel for those who have not heard your voice yet but are interested in what you have to say. You will draw new audience members and through the power of your newsletter you will hopefully convert them into diehard fans.
Let’s get into the good stuff. I started off with maybe three subscriber so it’s not quite zero to 100 but the three subscribers were something like a friend of mine and my parents. I identified the book I wanted to give away for free. It was Just Under the Sky, the first novella I ever published and I published with this small press down in Texas called Weasel Press.
It wasn’t Amazon exclusive, so I had flexibility. If a book is Amazon exclusive you can only run a giveaway on other platforms up to a certain percent of the book. I made a free account on a website called instafreebie, it’s now prolificworks but from what I’ve seen it operates the same way.
I uploaded an .epub copy of my manuscript but I believe any digital format works and individuals on the platform downloaded it for free. If you have a free account they do not have to opt into your newsletter to receive a free account. You will probably not receive many subs. HOWEVER you are still able to participate in the group giveaways. This was how I received all my subs with a free account. I signed up for as many group giveaways as I could–each giveaway has a theme so you have to make sure your book meets the criteria but there are plenty of options.
Not all group giveaways require email sign ups but you will gain a few more here and there. I managed to land mine in four group giveaways in the same month and after three weeks I collected around 350 subscribers! The first two emails were the most tumultuous. I received some subscribers who joined for the one free book and unsubscribed once they received their first email, but by the third email I had my true list set and a new audience interested in my content. I lost about 180 subs when Europe passed GDPR and I had to ask my subscribers to opt in to a new newsletter–I expected to take a loss–no one likes a hassle but I walked away with around 120.
Now, I mentioned before this was all with the free option. The paid option, which starts at $20 requires those who sign up for your book, even if it’s not in a group giveaway, to opt in to your newsletter. The site has a decent infrastructure in place, so even without promotion individuals still find your book and download it. I think my solo giveaway averaged about three downloads per day on its own before I took it down, with higher spikes on the days I shared across social media.
So if you want to get started, first tip is obviously have a book either in the process of being published or published already. Don’t stress about this, everyone has a book in them. It doesn’t have to be a 900 page monster, as long as it’s high quality you can giveaway a free 80 page book. Publish it through Draft 2 Digital so it’s available across all platforms (Amazon, B&N, Google, iBooks) and finally give your book away for free on prolific works.
I hope this helps!
If you have any questions on publishing a book never hesitate to reach out I’ll happily share all I know and be your accountability buddy.
R.K. Gold 