TRAFFIC FUNNELS

Reader Magnets: Use Your Books (the

Right Way)
to Bring in New Readers
TRAFFIC FUNNELS:
 WE’RE TALKIN’ READER MAGNETS
•  Offering something of value
•  In return for an email address
•  It’s a “micro transaction”
•  Which sets certain expectations based on how you
frame / position it (more on this in the next module)
•  In essence – we’re offering a free gift (eg another
book, short story, audiobook codes, etc) in return for
the opportunity to follow up and prove our value
•  This will build a list of targeted email followers – which
will become your #1 business asset
•  And we’re posting up this offer EVERYWHERE – but
especially inside our books
•  When combined with strategic use of free promos /
permafree this will grow your list quickly
 AND THEN…
•  Once someone is on our email list – the “funnel” is what
happens next
•  To lead someone from “mildly curious about you” to “raving
fan and buys all your stuff”
•  We do this – largely – by sending out emails (which can be
automated)
•  And we’ll cover “what to send” in the next module
•  But this module – we’ll focus on building the “machine”
 THE NUMBER ONE MISTAKE:
•  Not doing anything to convert traffic into subscribers
•  Casual readers into fans
•  I’ll show you how to set up a funnel
•  The free way and the paid way
 SCREENCAST RECAP:
•  What does a simple funnel look like?
 THE FREE WAY:
•  Create a large graphic for the front and back of your book
•  At least 1080 pixels wide
 THE FREE WAY:
•  The graphic is used to advertise
your mailing list with an incentive
•  Offering an incentive, rather than
“sign up to hear about new
releases” can increase conversion
x10
•  Because you’re offering value –
and not asking a favor
 THE FREE WAY:
•  Link to a landing page
•  Most email providers offer email opt-in pages (landing pages)
for free
•  Or you can build your own using a specialised tool
(recommended)
 THE FREE WAY:
•  Convert your book to .Mobi, .EPub, and PDF using Calibre or
another ebook conversion tool
•  Upload to DropBox or Google Drive and provide a download
link in each new subscriber’s “welcome” email
 THE END RESULT:
•  People downloading your books will see
the
offer and sign up
•  Their details will be added to your email
database and the reader will have their
book automatically emailed to them
•  Meaning you can email these readers
when you need reviews, are running
promotions, or have a new book out
•  This is why free books are so powerful:
more downloads = more subscribers
= more future sales
 THE PAID WAY:
•  You can get better results using inexpensive tweaks
•  Self-hosted website + landing page plugin allow for much better landing
pages (design, flexibility, tracking)
•  Our author theme for Wordpress – Authorcats – has all this built in
•  Convert your book to ebook using Scrivener, Vellum, LiberWriter or your
tool of choice
THE READER JOURNEY:
 THE BEST PART:
•  This is free to implement
•  You’ll start getting signups immediately
•  Use organic and paid traffic strategies to keep the numbers high
•  And remember the optimisation steps from Module 1 – the “free
gift” book still needs to be compelling
•  You can sell to these people later
•  Get your new releases high in the charts and run better
promotions
 THIS WILL BE YOUR #1 LAUNCH TOOL
•  When you build a list of readers and fans, these are the people who buy your
book on launch day
•  These are the people who leave reviews
•  EXAMPLE: we launched a book in my Leopold Blake series – it hit #84 in the
Amazon US charts (overall) and sold thousands of copies in the first week.
With ZERO ad spend.
•  This concept of the simple “book funnel” is an essential tool in building that
email audience
•  We’ll talk more about “what to do with your subscribers” soon – but for
now…
 SOME STATS:
JOANNA PENN
Tripled email list in 2 weeks
MICHEAL MAXWELL
1,200 subscribers in the first 6 weeks
RS GUTHRIE
1,600 subscribers in 3 weeks
 ACTION STEPS
•  Create your Reader Magnet gift (usually a free book, short story, novella,
prequel, or other related download)
•  Convert into ebook format (epub, mobi, and PDF)
•  Store the digital files somewhere secure (Google Docs, Amazon S3, or
BookFunnel)
•  Create a landing page offering your Reader Magnet and providing an email
signup form
•  Configure your email provider to send a “welcome” email to new subscribers,
with a link where they can download their book
•  If you’re not using BookFunnel, make sure you provide clear and detailed
instructions!
 UP NEXT:
OPTIMIZE YOUR AUTHOR WEBSITES
TO COLLECT SUBSCRIBERS
DOUBLE YOUR RESULTS!