So, originally I had a custom widget on my WordPress sidebar that didn't even mention the word newsletter. It was buried partway down, had a little dragon picture, and said, "Click here for free short stories and special deals."
That didn't work so well--as in one new subscriber in over a year. Then I did some cross-promoting with another author who had a much larger newsletter group than mine (although with 28, that's not very hard). She advised me to move my sign-in to the top of my sidebar and use the word newsletter, since she had trouble even finding it, and she was looking. So I thought people might need to actually see the word newsletter. It's not catchy, but it certainly is clear. Okay, I did that. Now it's at the top and says, "Free Short Stories and Special Deals!" And it's got a better dragon pic (one with some red in it). And the link you click on in blue says, "Subscribe to Cathleen's newsletter."
It's worked okay-ish. I've gotten six new subscribers in the last four months, two of whom have unsubscribed. Boo to the last. Still, better than it was.
My other problem is that I have no specific freebie. Random short stories don't seem to be enough of an incentive. So I'm working on that, too. I've written a novelette called Stolen Legacy, sent it to betas, and painted the cover. And I'm adding a landing page in my blog because for some reason, research seems to show that people want to click more than once to opt in. Seems counter-intuitive to me, but fine. I added a newsletter landing page.
As a side note, I also have a free book, Dragon Hoard, and a link to subscribe to my newsletter in that as well.
So, now I have a list of questions. Other people have mastered this newsletter gig, to the tune of thousands of followers. I'm going to get good at it, too. Somehow. Eek.
1. Should I call my newsletter subscribers a name? Right now it's just Cathleen's Newsletter. I feel silly calling it Cathleen's Fan Club or similar. Spit-balling options: Updates from Faerie. Fairy Tales to Make You Smile (although I do write the odd tragedy). Fantasy for Readers. Ugh. Nothing else is coming to me. (Naming is not an area of strength for me.)
2. For those who actually visit my blog (in sig), does the newsletter part seem to work okay now? Could you sign up for my newsletter easily if you wanted to? Is there something I should do differently?
3. If you're doing better than me (such a high bar ), do you have any tips on how you did this? I'm totally open to any reasonable amount of work.
Thanks so much in advance.
That didn't work so well--as in one new subscriber in over a year. Then I did some cross-promoting with another author who had a much larger newsletter group than mine (although with 28, that's not very hard). She advised me to move my sign-in to the top of my sidebar and use the word newsletter, since she had trouble even finding it, and she was looking. So I thought people might need to actually see the word newsletter. It's not catchy, but it certainly is clear. Okay, I did that. Now it's at the top and says, "Free Short Stories and Special Deals!" And it's got a better dragon pic (one with some red in it). And the link you click on in blue says, "Subscribe to Cathleen's newsletter."
It's worked okay-ish. I've gotten six new subscribers in the last four months, two of whom have unsubscribed. Boo to the last. Still, better than it was.
My other problem is that I have no specific freebie. Random short stories don't seem to be enough of an incentive. So I'm working on that, too. I've written a novelette called Stolen Legacy, sent it to betas, and painted the cover. And I'm adding a landing page in my blog because for some reason, research seems to show that people want to click more than once to opt in. Seems counter-intuitive to me, but fine. I added a newsletter landing page.
As a side note, I also have a free book, Dragon Hoard, and a link to subscribe to my newsletter in that as well.
So, now I have a list of questions. Other people have mastered this newsletter gig, to the tune of thousands of followers. I'm going to get good at it, too. Somehow. Eek.
1. Should I call my newsletter subscribers a name? Right now it's just Cathleen's Newsletter. I feel silly calling it Cathleen's Fan Club or similar. Spit-balling options: Updates from Faerie. Fairy Tales to Make You Smile (although I do write the odd tragedy). Fantasy for Readers. Ugh. Nothing else is coming to me. (Naming is not an area of strength for me.)
2. For those who actually visit my blog (in sig), does the newsletter part seem to work okay now? Could you sign up for my newsletter easily if you wanted to? Is there something I should do differently?
3. If you're doing better than me (such a high bar ), do you have any tips on how you did this? I'm totally open to any reasonable amount of work.
Thanks so much in advance.