Creating an Author Mailing List

by Christine.

A great way to be able to build up followers of your books is to generate a mailing list.  Fans of your book/s can sign up and receive updates as you develop as an author.  This can be particularly beneficial if you plan to write more than one novel, or establish a series.

My debut novel was a standalone novel aimed at young adults wanting to get into the horse industry.  Shortly after the release of Horse Country, an idea formed for a series for the younger reader.

Because I have an author mailing list, those keen to know about the latest releases for the Free Rein series can provide their email address and subscribe to Christine Meunier Author News.  It’s then up to me to keep them informed!

Encourage Readers to Sign Up to Your Mailing List

Once you’ve created a mailing list, you can choose how often to contact your readers: 

• monthly
• seasonally
• whenever you have news

The choice is yours but it’s a great way to keep fans informed and let them know the latest news first – before you release things on your website, before you update your Facebook page and before a book is available for sale.  It’s up to you how you utilise your mailing list, but this can be a great way to keep a collection of contact details for people who are interested in buying your books.

If you provide them with the option (and link) to preorder your latest release or to give a review in exchange for an advanced copy of your planned release or to received an autographed copy of your novel/s, mailing lists can be a great way to attract fans to your readership.

The best bit is you can establish such lists for free or at a minimal cost.  I make use of MailChimp and have read many references to AWeber.  Do your research but be proactive – set up a mailing list, design a campaign and be sure to let your fans know that you want to keep them informed, if only they’ll sign up!

You can easily provide a link where people can go to sign up and direct them to this from your Twitter account, Facebook page, personal website or any other social media means.  Alternatively, you can create a pop up that encourages visitors to your site to enter their email address and sign up.

Once the mailing list is created, you receive notifications any time there is a new sign up.  You can even provide an automated response that thanks them via email for their sign up – and this email can provide them with a personal message from you, a link to where they can download a book for free or something else of your choosing.  Show your fans you appreciate them providing their contact details!

Have you signed up to your favourite author's mailing list?

Writing and Riding––and Free Books!

by Lisa Wysocky

Writing about horses is a lot like giving riding lessons. Both make me think through a sequence of events. Both, over time, require me to achieve progression, and both allow me some creative freedom.

If a rider has trouble keeping her heels down, I might instead ask her to point her toes to the sky. Trouble posting the trot? Try a two-point, then dropping into the saddle before bouncing up, rather than sitting and then trying to get up. If a fictional character needs a new horse, I can invent a way to put the perfect equine into the story. Or, I can find a creative way to give a horse an interesting character quirk that ties into the plot.

I am currently finishing my third equestrian mystery (The Fame Equation, fall 2015). It has been wonderful to reconnect with my characters and help them problem solve through another murder. My characters also help stretch me out of my equine comfort zone from time to time, so it has become an educational process, too.

Why would an otherwise healthy horse blow bubbles in a water bucket, or lie in an odd position? What does a circling behavior in the pasture really mean? Those and a thousand other questions have to be researched and solidified in my mind before I can distill it down to a sentence or two, and still make it interesting for the non-horsey reader.

I research everything, even things I “know,” just to be sure. For the most part I am right, but the research often broadens my scope of knowledge, or adds one new bit of information that I can then use to move the story along.

When I finish this last edit of The Fame Equation, I will once again lose that intimate connection that an author has with her characters. Fortunately, my Cat Enright mysteries are a series, and I will soon enough be able to pick up the connection with them in a new adventure.

I have been fortunate that my series has won a number of awards, and thrilled that it has been optioned for film and television (fingers crossed). But, the mechanics of writing it have made me a better riding instructor, and have made me a better horse person.

In preparation for the fall release of The Fame Equation, my publisher has agreed to send readers of this blog a digital kindle or epub file of the first two books in the series, The Opium Equation, and The Magnum Equation. There are strings however (aren’t there always?)

1. The offer is only good through May 12, 2015

2. The publisher strongly hopes the reader will write an honest review on Amazon.com, BN.com, Goodreads.com

3. The files must not be shared with anyone else

I am thrilled with this offer, and hope you will be, too. To request your files, send an email to cooltitles@comcast.net with your name and the file format that you need.

Until next time: happy reading!

Lisa

Why Amazon Rating Stars Are Like Dressage Scores

by Lisa Trovillion

When my book came out I compulsively checked the reviews on Amazon, tracking the number of stars.   Phew! Still in the 5-star range...that's good.  Or is it?  Star ratings are highly subjective, and like a numbered score for a movement in a dressage test, they are an artificial indication of what the rater wants to impart. You've got to read the narrative.

I've seen star ratings range from very low to five without much written to support the score.  And that's where the real meaningful information is found.  A less than five rating in Amazon may be accompanied by one of the best reviews your book has ever received.  There is something to be said for a book that is receiving ratings that run the gamut; It's more likely they were written by real readers and not just "friends and family."  Like it or not, we can't please them all!

Similarly, I would snatch my dressage test after a ride and immediately run my eyes down to the bottom right corner to check the final score.  Okay, that's human.  But what I was missing was the insightful and often helpful comments accompanying the score for each phase of the test.  Those comments, often complimentary, may have received only a luke warm score.  The horse showed promise and was executing the movement correctly--only lacking impulsion or some other fine point that could be corrected in the next go around or the next show opportunity.  Same as the criticism of a story.  Take heed, because sometimes the more critical comments have something to offer (as much as we all hate to hear it.)

Although dressage judges are professionals who have studied in order to wash away all subjectivity and to produce scores based on a standardized ideal, since they are human we know this standard does not really exist.  How many of us have chosen to show before a particular judge because she likes your type of horse or because she is generous with the "nines"?  I'll admit it.  As for readers, well, there's no real standardized ideal story, but there are elements of each and every novel that a reader will look for: conflict, characterization, pace, setting, making them care, etc. If they don't find it, they might call you out on it, and sadly, we can't always pick our readers/reviewers like we pick our judges.

I'm giving myself this lecture because I know I need it.  I need to grow a thick skin and possess a brave heart.  Putting a novel out there for any and all to review is scarier than riding down center line for a tough judge on a horse fresh off the racetrack.