How Fiction Writers Earn More Income From their Email Lists

There are more options for fiction sales beyond never-ending books

Non-fiction authors have more options if they want to make a living from their writing. As a fiction author, it’s hard to sell a back-end course to a satisfied reader. Fiction authors must sell the next book. They’ve got to type until they can’t sit — then type some more.

…or do they?

Truth-is, we’ve got more options than we think. We’re creatives. We need to think creatively. If we’ve got readers who love our work, not only can we provide them more than novels, we do them a disservice if we don’t

“Disservice? Come on!”

Yep. If we’ve got more to offer our reader — more to enhance the novel’s experience — we do our readers a disservice if we don’t provide these additional offerings to them. On the low-end, maybe you sell a bookmark. The far, opposite end is J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore empire (there are plenty options in-between)

“Isn’t this just a cash-grab?”

Nope. Not unless you feel you deserve to live just getting by, or you want to stick to an insane publishing schedule — stuck on a typing treadmill. Yes, I believe it’s important to write every day. I do it. But I write because I love it. If I wrote from obligation the craft would suffer.

Additional offerings buy you more time to write your best work.

Authors, as any people who follow an honest vocation, deserve to earn a good living from their work as much as anyone. Writers have this self-deprecating edge to them. Like we feel we don’t deserve to make money from our work.

I say nonsense. If we write books people want to read, we deserve to be paid just like a lawyer, a plumber, or a brain surgeon. Only… we’re cooler :)

OK, what can I offer my fiction readers?

Novelists may not use their books as a business card, like some non-fiction authors do. We have the advantage that our books are timeless. Non-fiction books have a very short half-life, so the back-end courses and added material are a must.

But fiction writers have more choices than you may think.

Here’s a list of additional offering you can use to enhance your reader’s fiction experience. Not all readers have the same financial means (or wants), so It’s important to serve our readers across multiple price tiers.

Extra fiction income sources:

• Patreon — Subscribers get chapters early, or the chance to buy your books two weeks before the rest of the world).
• Swag — Die-hard readers love to show their pride. There are hundreds of print-on-demand sites where you can have shirts and mugs made with book quotes, character images, your covers, sky’s the limit.
• Signed copies — You can sell autographed versions of your book directly though your website. Die-hard readers will buy collectible versions of your work, indie-published or not.
• Gatherings — Once you get a sizable following, plan your own ‘con’ (as in Comic-con, not con-job). You can rent a conference room at a hotel. Give your readers a chance to meet you. Charge vendors for space. Invite guest speakers. Start small and build an entire convention around your genre. There are tons of these for fiction. Why not you?
• Printables — Develop covert art prints you can sell on Etsy or print-on-demand sites. Maybe there’s a specific map in your book series, or a pretend certificate for your wizard’s school. You can use these as bonuses to help sell your books too.
• A Fictional Course — What? I know this is a stretch. Above, I wrote you probably can’t sell a course. But it’s something I’ve considered for my fiction. I write crime thrillers. I considered a ‘sheriff school,’ kind of an online police academy with a little humor, but with real lessons. You probably can’t charge the rates non-fiction authors charge, but there are plenty of fiction readers who want to enhance their reading experience. Get creative.
• Binge-reading programs — Offer a monthly or annual plan where readers pay a monthly subscription to your work. Promise them a certain number of novels per year. This guarantees a certain group of people will buy every book you write.
• Audiobooks — When a reader buys your book, include an offer for the audio version at a discount, if they subscribe to your reader’s list. See audio versions of all your books. The audio market and the ‘reading’ market are not all the same people. This will open your audience bigger.

We’ve got many different options to offer an enhanced reading experience. By creating tiered products across different price-points, you’ve got a little something for everyone. The die-hard fans can meet you at your Dragon-Con, your happy-to-support you fans may donate on Patreon.

The more income streams you develop will keep you writing longer (versus quitting writing and becoming a ditch-digger or something). You win with a living income. Your readers win because they get more of the books they love.

We can’t sell these additional offers without a reader’s list

The only way to offer these additional experiences is through your relationship with readers. The way to build said relationship is your email list. The way to build the email list is one reader at a time.

When we have an email list we control the reader’s experience.

You can’t sell the extra offerings without first establishing a valuable relationship with your readers. ‘Valuable’ meaning you provide value to your readers, in exchange for their attention.

Our readers have unlimited choices for their attention.

We don’t just compete with other authors, but we’ve got social media, Netflix, and EVERYTHING to contend with. If someone enjoys our books, let alone they read the whole thing, you hold on to that person with both hands and don’t let them leave you until they gnaw-off their own arm to get away!

The value we offer keeps our readers coming back.

It’s not the cute letter about our vacation. Or the pictures of us working hard at our next novel. Our readers come back to our email correspondence, because we continue to give them something they want.

Sometimes we offer them things to buy. More times we give, give, and give until it hurts. Then we give a little more. This is how you build a reader for life.

What do you give?

That’s between you and your audience. You’re the creative. The longer we keep the conversation going the more readers we keep over time. The bigger our email list grows the more our income grows and the longer we get to keep writing.

It’s time to build your email list. You’re in charge of your promotion.

We’re waiting for you.

(Tap here to join the Book Mechanic’s email masterclass for authors)