Dipping my neuropathic toes into the world of subscription for authors as a self-published author...
Setting up my Ream Page for subscribers.
Yes, my neuropathic toes. Because it’s true. My toes are neuropathic. It’s not a play on words about my feelings about subscription for authors. I’m actually very excited about this and trying to manage my own expectations about how I would like it to go while still dreaming for the stars. Because this is what I do.
I always believe my books and my projects will find their perfect audiences.
And I feel like some of this (my neuropathy) is linked to my desire to have a community of readers who are deeply invested in my characters. I love for my readers to root for my characters. Feel empathy for them. Fall in love with them. Because this is what I do: I write characters. And for a while (because of treatments and their effects) I couldn’t be on social media. I couldn’t connect with my existing readers as much as I would have liked.
Creating a subscription is creating a community in a way of readers who are invested in my characters and I can interact with them during the writing process which is fun.
Ups and down of my self-publishing in the past two weeks:
Before I continue on the topic, here are the ups and downs of my self-publishing career in the past two weeks (oh and an audio version of this is available here).
Up: I SOLD ONE COPY OF # MOST ELIGIBLE SCROOGE ON GOOGLE PLAY. You see Google Play is great for my books in French and Portuguese, but in English? For my steamy romcom? it hasn't been an easy retailer to break into.
Down: Despite being a handpicked top Indie favorite, my sales have dwindled on B&N for # Most Eligible Scrooge in the past week.
Up: I was tagged on social media by several posts of people who are really loving Julie and Landon.
Down: I was tagged once by someone who hated the cliffhanger at the end of Once Upon A Christmas Eve. I think they liked the story overall. But I didn’t know how to answer to that tag, whether to answer to that tag. So, I didn’t.
Up: I got two new newsletter subscribers last week from the end of the book of Once Upon A Christmas Eve.
Up: There seems to be a good readthrough from # Most Eligible Scrooge to # The Leftover Bride as I sold several copies last week on all platforms (except Google Play - because again, Google Play in English for me isn’t my top e-retailer).
(I’m doing a full recap at the end of this post). Oh and if you’d like to listen to A Summer Like No Other audiobook (YA angsty ballet romance - brother’s best friend), it’s available on YouTube.
Setting up my Ream Page:
Alright, so setting up my Ream Page. When you're doing a subscription, you need to decide on tiers.
The podcast Subscription for Authors suggests doing only one perk and one tier to start with (it’s easier to know with one perk and one tier if your readers are interested in that one tier/perk - to test whether it fits what they want), but did I mention I'm launching with three different worlds?
So... I have 5 tiers.
I know the math doesn’t add up here.
Let me tell you.
I'm planning to have the following tiers with early access content (chapters and bonus scenes):
Swans Cove & Sandwich Bay Resident for my steamy small-town romcoms: two to four early chapters or bonus content per month.
Gavert City and Hollow Bay Resident for my small-town romantic thrillers: two to four early chapters or bonus content per month.
School of Performing Arts Student for my YA/NA angsty ballet romance: one to two early chapter or bonus content per month.
Gossip Insiders: The content of all three worlds.
Social Committee Insider: The content of those three worlds + a postcard/letter from their favorite world once a month.
My current tier prices are: $5 for small-town romcoms resident, $5 for small-town romantic thrillers; $3 for school of performing arts student, $10 for Gossip Insider and $20 for Social Committee Insider.
The social committee insider will be limited to 5 members because I want to make sure it is as individualized as possible.
This is the image for my header:
These are my images for my tiers (I need to change the School Of Performing Arts one to student).
I am also planning to send a heart leather bookmark and a Welcome to “whatever world they chose” letter or postcard to each tier. This got inspired by Christopher Hopper.
And yes, I know that the first month will most probably be at a loss for me.
But honestly, I’m okay with it.
I’ve pivoted to using more of my marketing budget for my existing readers and I’m really enjoying being able to gift more to my readers in a way.
Things that I’m doing in the backend before the soft launch:
Welcome all followers with an email asking them if they’d like to receive a postcard. That postcard is from me, the author.
I had asked which postcard readers wanted to receive (for those who love my steamy romcoms) and “That” won.
Once I have the paid tiers launched, this is an example of an email that will be sent (this one is for the School of Performing Arts student):
Hi there :-) It's Em - welcome to the School of Performing Arts!
Note to self: send the welcome letter and surprise within a week (unless it's the holidays, it might take a bit longer).
While baking is my passion, I've come to realize that I deeply miss dancing. It's still such an important part of me. This realization struck me during a challenging holiday season. Nick was away in Paris, school was tough, my dad was about to marry one of my former friends (I KNOW!), and I missed Nonna terribly. Thankfully, her diary and a note she left me brought some unexpected insights. But I won't spill all the beans just yet.
I invite you to start reading "A New Year's Eve Like No Other" as it unfolds here. And don't hesitate to leave comments (Elodie loves them and loves replying to them ;-)).
Okay, I have to go. Nick and I are... dancing later today. Together. And let me tell you, I can't wait to feel the music in my veins as my heart beats in harmony with his. Plus, there's just something about the way he moves that I'm pretty sure comes with an "Emilia" setting--that melts all of me in the best possible way.
Thank you SO much for loving our stories. There are definitely more coming very soon.
Em.
P.S.: If you'd like to know how to use the Ream e-reader app, click here. And if you have any technical support questions, don't hesitate to contact the Ream Team – they're fantastic! So fantastic, in fact, that I'd bake them all my Nonna's cannoli recipe.
And all paid members (or those on a free trial if they have one) will receive a heart bookmark and a letter from a character from the world they subscribed to.
I have community posts (the other day, I gifted a Starbucks card to my followers <3). This is an example of a community post:
What if...
... Nick & Em, Dimi & Erin, Alessandro & Aisling were all in Swans Cove at the same time...(and then I wrote a few paragraphs from Nick’s perspective).
Full disclosure: sometimes, no one likes or comments. And I had polls when no one voted in and part of me thinks it’s because they received the email in their inbox but voting would have required more clicks.
I will be scheduling chapters to be released on the 15th and the 30th and this will be my schedule each month. (starting on the 30th since I released content on the 13th this month).
I have created a REAM group in my newsletter for the amazing readers who are now following my ream page as I want to avoid sending them more than one email per week. (I use mailerlite).
I will be doing a soft launch of paid tiers in January.
Do you have any questions about my subscription or my tier? Don’t hesitate to ask in the comments <3
Elodie
A weekly recap:
My newsletter subject line of the week:
Itsy Bitsy (subject line) … Spider! What did you think I was going to say? (preheader):
I did a split test on the subject line and this one won. I did have a story to tell about spiders. If you’d like to read my full email and how I incorporated the story and my books into it, click here. Full disclosure: I am genuinely interested in my readers’ answers. None of that email felt forced when I was writing it. It was fun. :-)
Classes/Webinar I took this week, am currently taking or about to take:
InkersCon 2022: I took advantage of the Black Friday deal and registered for InkersCon 2022 and have been listening to the classes on craft and business so far.
Bryan Cohen’s 3 Steps to Optimize Your KDP Keywords to Sell More Books
I’m about to take (I registered) for Erin Wright’s print 201 class: one of my goals for next year is to make large print books and find ways to have those books in libraries.
Podcast/Zoom episodes on self-publishing/publishing/writing I listened to these past two weeks:
Should you start a subscription? by Subscription for Authors podcast;
Several ones from Becca Syme’s Patreon;