Jason’s Notes From the Lab…
This month I tried something new. I’d heard about other writers doing it, and tried one as a sort of rough draft to some success. I’m sharing the details and results here with you, so if you want to give it a shot you know how.
Who is this for: authors with self-published books and a mailing list.
What is this: a giveaway sweepstakes to gather new emails for your list
The Details: Here’s what I did. I found a bunch of other authors with mailing lists who write in genres related to mine. We all kicked in $25 for prize money and advertising. Our genre was safety, specifically family safety, and we gathered a library of 13 safety books, plus some supplies and even a AAA membership for the prize bundle.
For ten days, people could enter to win by putting their email address into the sweepstakes landing page (run for free by Kingsumo, highly recommend). They could get extra entries by liking or following me and the other participants on social media.
I put about an hour to two every day of those ten to boost signal, including a $200 ad spend on Facebook ads, which got us about 400 hits to the landing page. We started on a Tuesday, and ended two Thursdays later. Here were my results:
- 702 email addresses collected
- 133 new facebook likes
- 122 new facebook follows
- 114 new instagram subscribers
- 110 new youtube subscribers
Not too shabby, all told.
Bottom Line: Do one of these. They’re fun, and they do bring new, interested readers into the fold.
If you’d like to know how, feel free to reach out to me. I’ll tell you all I know about it, and point you toward people who know more.
Thanks for listening. See you next time.
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Jason Brick is the Editorial Consultant Barista here at The Fictional Café. You can find some of his work here.
