Funny You Should Ask: How to Sell More Books: The Missing Piece of Your Author Marketing Strategy

By Lori Culwell

Learn How to Grow Your Fan Base!

Who needs an email list?
The answer is: you. The most important asset in any working author’s life is their email list, period, full-stop.

Imagine launching a book and having it be successful right after you announce it, without ever having to beg for reviews, bribe your friends, or pay for advertising! When you have a strong email list of people who love your work, that can be your life. And with the tools and skills you’ll learn in this short guide, you’ll be able to do just that!

In this guide, Amazon best-selling writer Lori Culwell (author of the “Funny You Should Ask” guides, as well as a ton of other books) breaks down why you need a list, where to sign up for the right email service, and how to set up the “missing piece” offer that will start growing your fan base right away (like, today)!

In Funny You Should Ask: How to Sell More Books, you’ll discover:

Why you need a list

Definitions of some jargon from the email marketing industry

Pros and cons of three services (all free!)

What to give away

How to set up your offer and where to put it

And much, much more!

Plus, you'll receive a BONUS free book that will help you set up your author website if you don’t have one already.

Whether you’re an author with a whole series out already or you’re about to publish your first book, this guide will help you put everything in place so you don’t have to start over with each and every launch.

Get your copy of How to Sell More Books today! Just scroll up to the top of the page and click the "BUY NOW" button!

Part of the “Funny You Should Ask” series, in which Lori Culwell makes everything easy to understand in her trademark “snarky yet informative” style!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Publishdrive
• Release date: Jun 25, 2022

Lori Culwell

Lori Culwell is the founder and president of Get Creative, an internet consulting firm whose clients include Johnson & Johnson and Apple among others. She has contributed to Salon.com and the San Francisco Bay Guardian and divides her time between New York and Los Angeles.  

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Hi! Hello!

Let’s hit the ground running with the truest thing you are going to hear today: The most important asset in any working author’s life is an active, engaged, and constantly growing email list.

Ugh! Did we have to start out with a truth bomb like that? Is that the energy we really want for this ebook?

Sorry, yes. I need to grab your attention, because I already know you don’t want to be here. Most writers hate this kind of thing. But if you want to be the kind of author who actually earns a living from your writing (let’s call this being a working author), you’re going to have to make the mental leap from thinking of yourself as an author to thinking of yourself as a business. Businesses (working authors) have fan bases (email lists), and that is what you need to build.

Why? I’ll tell you.

If you don't build your fan base, you're going to be starting over with every single book. If you don’t build your fan base, you are going to keep being one of those authors who is constantly hanging out in Facebook groups going, No one is buying my book! How can I promote my book? You don’t want that.

Here’s a secret. Your fan base (AKA, your email list) is the only difference between you and some celebrity who comes out with a book and is number-one on their launch day. Not talent, not hard work, not good intentions.

Fan base. Every person who signs up for your email list gets you closer to that glorious day when your new book launches as a bestseller, and you’re no longer sad because no one is buying your books. You’re not sad, because you’re now the working author you’ve always dreamed of being. Sounds awesome, right? Right!

Now that I've convinced you, you're probably wondering HOW to get those people onto your email list.

You do it by (ethically) bribing them. What you're going to do is offer people a premium (a link for which should be prominently displayed in your book, if you have one) in exchange for becoming your fan and signing up for your list.

That sounds like a lot of extra work, I hear you saying. Let me lay this down for you: If someone buys your book for whatever reason (paid advertising, referral, Amazon suggestion, witchcraft, whatever) and already likes your work enough to click a link inside your book, you OWE it to yourself as an author to give that person an opportunity to become your fan.

I know, this is sometimes hard for writers to hear, but if a person clicks a link inside your book, that person likes your writing. Please give them a chance to hear from you again.

Also, good news! This guide is very focused. We’re not going to be dealing with what to talk to your email list about or how often to talk to them. No, here, we’re only working on getting your head around the very concept of email marketing, which will mean familiarizing yourself with a bunch of jargon, picking the right email service, and getting everything set up.

Oh, and