Day 5 - The First 24 Hours of my Giveaway
Using King Sumo, at the recommendation of a pre-recorded webinar by Nick Stephanson, I started my first giveaway. Twenty-four hours later, I have eight contestants. I posted notices on Reddit, various giveaway groups on Facebook, I got my husband and sister to share it, and I’ve mentioned it on Twitter twice now. Eight. Not to sound like an ingrate, but I kind of expected hundreds. I mean, come on. It’s a free Starbucks card!
So why don’t people enter free giveaways from a writer they’ve never heard of and have never seen a writing sample from? Good question and the answer is self explanatory. I know from my experience; I join as little as possible. I know that once they’ve got my email, they’ll sell it to the highest bidder and they’ll re-sell it again. I’m not selling emails (ever), but random people who find my contest don’t know I’m honest. In fact, using a giveaway to get people onto my mailing list feels shady. Is it? Or is that how it works and everyone understands that? To do this, must you turn a blind eye to the blatant and unrepentant sales techniques? One of Nick Stephanson’s selling tips is “don’t be sleazy” - yet, to get people on his list, he started out by giving away a Kindle loaded with his books. I mean, come on. This is bribery, right? Or am I being too much of a Pollyanna?
Saying, “Come on. Everyone knows when they enter a contest, they’re getting added to the mailing list” doesn’t seem to make me feel better. Yet, in order to sell my novella (or even give it away) I need people to find it. It’s not practical to SPAM every message board or post a hundred and fifty times on every social media platform every day. The quickest method to get the word out is a mailing list. How you get people on your mailing list is by offering something of value. The idea here is sort of a “gift with purchase” concept. You give me your email address, I give you free things (chapters, e-books, goodies). Is Yves Saint Laurent bribing me when I buy a perfume and they give me a pretty make-up bag along with it? Yeah. Technically.
Let’s look at the definition of a bribe:
Persuade (someone) to act in one's favor, typically illegally or dishonestly, by a gift of money or other inducement.
OK, so I’m not doing anything illegal here. Doing a contest and adding contestant emails to the list isn’t illegal, but it’s not charity work either.
Someone help.
As an unknown and only five days into this experiment, I have nine followers on Twitter. Thank you all. Honestly. I mean it. From a business standpoint, that’s not so good. From a “Yay nine people followed me!” standpoint. It’s pretty awesome. This means it will take longer than I thought. I really thought the contest would be a major success and the emails would start rolling in. There is no fast track to a following - unless you buy fake followers on eBay; which you can do, but that’s more unscrupulous than a gift with purchase. And there’s a marketing word for keeping those email address and turning them into fans: Conversion. Now, to convert my nine followers and eight contestants into fans. I’ll probably lose a bunch on the way. Not everyone is going to love a sweet romance about a small town school teacher. Hopefully, over time, I’ll find my niche. I know you’re out there and I believe in my work. Now to get the rest of the world to think so.
Or…is a gift with purchase a thank you gift? Thank you for buying this perfume. Here’s a cute make-up bag as thanks for your patronage. If I look at it like that, I feel better. If I give my mailing list cool things they want, it’s a win/win. Right? So - how well does this work? I’m not J.K. Rowling. I’m Melanie Brodie and no one knows me. No one cares what I write, because no one’s seen my stuff. For all you know, Lessons in Love is a dud. My husband thinks it’s pretty cute, but you’ll tell me when it’s released. BY THE WAY, members of the Melanie Squad will get a free copy of the e-book in exchange for writing an honest review. Your idea of a good time? Send me your email address and I’ll add you to the exclusive list.
I have not studied marketing, but I’ve read a few books and watched some videos on the subject. I’m not an expert, but I do know that marketing can look altruistic even when it isn’t. Like when a company donates portions of a sale to a charitable cause. It’s their niceness that attracts you. You’re happy to give your money to this company. This might fall under the category of the Dale Carnegie method: Give the customer what they want (a nice, charitable feeling, a product they feel proud owning), and you get what you want (money, sales, good reputation). Think car commercials that sell adventure, sex, throbbing engines, freedom. Or beer commercials that show cool looking people hanging out on the beach. I want friends, I should buy that beer.
Emotionally, it’s complicated. I believe in honesty, but honesty doesn’t sell very much. So what then? Hope my content is so amazing, hordes of fans will accidentally find me, love my work, and buy everything I write? No. It doesn’t work that way. If J. K. Rowling hadn’t had a kick ass agent and marketing team, she’d be where I’m at right now. Unknown and pondering. She’s also extremely talented and persistent. Think about it - if you were alive when the first Harry Potter book came out - how many times did you hear the story about a single mother writing her story on a napkin? A lot, right? That’s marketing. It might be true, but it also makes a good sales pitch. A hardworking mother? Raise your hand if you’re a hardworking mother. Broke? Raise your hand if you’re broke. You get the picture. J.K. is just like you. She’s a normal mom who just happened to have a great idea and hit the lottery. Maybe you’ll be lucky too. It’s that “maybe I’ll be lucky too” mentality that keeps self-publishing thriving.
Here’s the god’s honest truth about self publishing: If you want to quit your day job, you’re gonna have to be a shark. You’re gonna have to shelve some of your morals and sell like a mo-fo. Some people, like Nick Stephanson, are really good at it. Others like me (and probably you) range from so-so to terrible. We’re not sales people. We’re writers! We actually like sitting in a dark room falling in love with our characters. Talk to people? OK, if I have to. Sales is not necessarily a skill you learn or a set of ten steps. It’s a mentality. It’s a way of thinking. Can I think like a shark? I’m going to try.
What I did today:
Rough day at school. I cleaned my house and organized my furniture.
Wrote this blog post