Cultivating your Fan Base

(Even though you're not famous yet.)

Have you finished your first manuscript? Have you thought about who's going to read it?

I attended a workshop at Nationals given by three successful authors, one of which was Debbie Macomber. She told us that after she had sold a few books she wanted to send something to her loyal fans at Christmas time. She had decided to spend ten percent of her earnings on promotion so she didn't have much money to buy something to send. She came up with the idea of a newsletter on Christmas paper. In it, she would send something personal, like a family story or recipe. Her first mailing was only three hundred.

An idea had germinated and stuck to my brain. I looked over my Christmas mailing list, true I didn't have anywhere near three hundred, but I had quite a few. If I combined all my friends, family, added in former co-workers and even casual acquaintances, I could come up with more than a hundred. Not too shabby for someone that is virtually unknown, that's if you don't count my family and friends. They really have no choice, they have to be my fans.

But, I asked myself, why stop there? Another thing mentioned at the workshop, was you should cultivate the person at the local bookstores in charge of ordering books for the romance section. Since I do not have a mass-market book they can put on their shelf I really don't have any reason to call or stop by and take up their valuable time. However, I wanted to get my name out there. So, there are a few more names that will go on my mailing list. It will benefit me in more than one way. I'll call each Barnes and Noble, Borders, etc. in my area, get a name, and email address for my list. I'll also have a contact name when my book is ready to go on the shelf.

Most everyone already has business cards, but how many of us give them out as we should? Do you carry them with you wherever you go? Why can't you take them to the grocery store and strike up a conversation over the produce. (If you can use the grocery store to pick up a guy, you can use it to pick up future fans.) Hand them your card and ask them to email you if they'd like to be put on your newsletter list. Can you think of any other places you could do the same thing? Church, your son/daughter's soccer game, bowling, even the doctor's office, or drop it in the hat of a pan handler, you never know who may have connections, the list goes on and on.

I think you have the idea about a newsletter. But if you send it just once a year will everyone remember you when you’re a success? Probably not, so you have to stick to it, if there really isn't anything new to tell everybody, quarterly ones are probably out. If you send an email newsletter in the summer and then your Christmas one in December that is probably a good balance.

Another thing everyone should do even though they haven't reached their zenith is have a web site. You can get a web host and domain name for less than ten dollars a month. Most web hosts have templates for you to design your web site if you can't afford to have someone design it for you. It's a small cost, and it is well worth it. It will be on your cards so everyone that you give one to will look up your site. But don't forget to add a place where they can click to send you an email to be added to your ever-growing fan list.

Now you have some ideas of how to build up your fan base so that when you hit the lottery of book publishing you'll be set. However, what are you going to put in your newsletter now? If you have relatives like mine, they think you write your manuscript send it off and it's published. I wish! Your newsletter gives you a good opportunity to help them understand the process. And you won't have to repeat it over and over every time you see someone.

If you are lucky enough to have an agent/editor reviewing your work, let them know. Maybe explain how long it can take and what the process is. Thank everyone for their support. You could put in a personal story or a Christmas story and be sure to add a card. I'm going to put a family recipe card in mine, and tell a story about how the recipe came about. Every time they use my recipe, they'll think of me. Then next year if I'm still not 'famous' I'm thinking of having my cards put on magnets and enclose it with the letter. It's never too early to plan.

In your summer email you can just give them an update of what you are working on, etc. It doesn't have to be long, just a paragraph, just to keep you on their minds.

You're not a success yet, but you have several things you can do to have people remember you when you are. First, you can make up business cards. Second, start sending newsletters, one snail mail at Christmas, one email in the summer. Make sure you send to your local bookstores. Third, have a web site with links for email to add to your newsletter link. Now if only I would practice what I preach.