June 9, 2022
Hello, BFFs!
When we started BookFunnel way back in the heady days of 2015, we were just a humble ebook delivery service. That’s all we did. Deliver ebooks to readers and help them download when they had trouble. We didn’t even collect their email address! Just downloads.
Since then, we’ve grown a lot. We’ve been working nonstop for almost seven years to deliver (see what I did there?) everything indie authors need to help them succeed. But, sometimes we move so fast that we forget to talk about the cool stuff we’ve added. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve been told, “I didn’t know BookFunnel did that!”
So, we’re remedying that! This summer, we’ll be dishing on popular features and how you can (and why you should!) use them to grow your author business. Starting with…
A brand-new blog series all about group promos! We’re going to start slow so you don’t get overwhelmed, but we’ll be doing a deep dive on promos over the next few weeks. We’ll detail best practices, strategies for success, and even how to organize your own promo! Sound good? Let’s jump in!
What is a group author promo?
A group promo is a group of authors who write in the same (or similar) genre cross-promoting their books. Meaning I share my readers with you, and you share your readers with me. And, because we’re in the same genres, our readers are already predisposed to like what we’re pitching.
Every author’s book is added to a single BookFunnel landing page that artfully displays all of their lovely book covers. Readers can browse through the books, see what they like, and click on any cover for more details. What happens next depends on the type of group promo you’ve joined. BookFunnel supports both newsletter promos for growing your mailing list and sales promos for getting more sales!
Grow Your Mailing List with Newsletter Promos
A newsletter promo is designed to grow your mailing list by offering readers a free download of your book from BookFunnel. This is really just an extension of what BookFunnel was built to do: deliver a reader magnet and get subscribers onto your list. But, with group promos, you can get in front of readers you may not have found on your own.
Most authors require a reader to join their mailing list before letting them download the book, and you should too. Once a reader is on your mailing list, your thoughtful and engaging welcome sequence can warm them from cold leads into fiery hot superfans (we’ll talk about email automations and welcome sequences in a future post!).
Increase Sales and Page Reads with Sales Promos
A sales promo is designed to sell your book in stores and requires a sales landing page to join. A sales landing page doesn’t offer a free BookFunnel download or subscribe readers to your mailing list. Instead, readers can click on a store link to get your book from online book stores.
How do group promos work?
It’s really simple! Every author that joins the promo agrees to send the promo link to their existing mailing list (and sometimes post on social media).
Your book is seen by all of the readers the other authors sent to the promo, and your subscribers can discover new authors and books too. Everyone wins! BookFunnel tracks which authors are sharing when and how many readers they send to the promo so that the organizer can keep up with everything.
Because you’re all building a mailing list, and you’re all writing in the same genre, your readers and your books have a lot of crossover. The readers on one author’s list are there because they read books like yours, and because they clicked a link in that author’s newsletter. Readers that love books like yours and click links in emails are exactly the readers you want.
But, what if you don’t have a mailing list yet?
Can new authors join with no list?
Absolutely! A quick glance at the Promotions board shows that, across every genre, most promos welcome new authors. Everyone has to start somewhere, and experienced organizers know that and are happy to save a spot or two for newbies!
If you spy a promo that you really want to join but it requires a minimum list size or an established history of promo participation, don’t fret. With just one or two newsletter promos under your belt, you’ll have a mailing list and can soon join those promos too.
Should I grow my list with group promos?
Mailing list marketing is a numbers game. The bigger your numbers, the more people you’re going to reach, and the more potential sales you can make.
BookFunnel group promos are a fantastic (and low-cost!) way to get your book in front of new readers. New readers that read your genre, and most importantly, click links in emails!
The readers who click on a promo link to find more books to read are exactly the readers you want to get your book in front of. Yes, some of them will be “freebie collectors”, and that’s okay! Let them have your reader magnet and go. Your book has been added to their to-be-read pile and there’s a chance they’ll pick it up one day and fall in love with your writing.
There’s more to cover on this topic and questions you might need to ask yourself before diving in, which we’ll save for a future post. Stay tuned!
How do I find a good promo to join?
BookFunnel’s got you covered!
We make it really easy with a Promotions board full of promos in all the various genres currently recruiting more authors. A quick glance through them will tell you which genres fit your books and what the organizers are looking for.
June 8, 2022
You can browse all of the promos posted in your genre or filter down to just your specific subgenre. And, if you’re just starting out, be sure to set notifications for your genre or subgenre! BookFunnel will email you every morning when new promos are posted in your genre. Enabling notifications only takes a moment and then you can sit back and wait for the promo opportunities to come rolling in.
More posts in this series are coming soon…
That’s it for today! We have a lot more to say, so stay tuned for more posts in this series about group promos. If you have a burning question about promos, reach out! We’re happy to help.
- Introduction: Finding New Readers With Group Promos
- Part 1: Finding the Perfect Group Promo
- Part 2: How to Share a Group Promo
- Part 3: Organizing a Group Promo
- Part 4: Coming soon!
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