Reader Magnet?

[idontknowyet]

From early on I have planned several standalone books to use as reader magnets.

I tend to write long and because of that my first reader magnet I split into 2 parts each in the 40k range that I would give away via book funnel and story origins etc. The other half would run chapter by chapter for readers in my newsletter twice a month. This story is about the grandparents of my main male character. It starts out in their youth, but the main part of the story takes place when they are in their 50-60s.
Several of my beta readers mentioned the book has a historical feel in the beginning. This is necessary to the development of the story and can't be changed. Since I write contemporary sweet romance I am worrying this will attract the wrong readers.

That being said I have started to think about an alternative reader magnet. The new story is about a small character that the main character in book one runs into. Partially for the tie in to book 1 now and also for the tie in to later books in the series. But now I'm hitting on another set of problems.
First,  I write long. Like super long for a romance writer. Most of my books have to be split into trilogies that into themselves tend towards the higher side of the spectrum 70k+ each book. This new possible reader magnet I can already see growing. That might not be a terrible thing. I could break the first book of the trilogy into 2 parts. Then run from part 2 of book 1 all the way to the end of the trilogy in bi-monthly chapters for my newsletters. That would easily give me several years worth of content to post. It might also work well for reader retention since they in theory would get hooked on the story. But that's a big give away. Essentially 3 books with no direct profit for 4-5 years.

Second, this story like my original magnet is slightly different. All my books are slightly different. I'm not writing a hallmark style book series. That said this trilogy has a slightly suspenseful edge to it. My main character is being stalked by an ex. Most of my other books don't have even a hint of suspense. There are one or two that have small touches of suspense. Would I again be drawning the wrong audience to my series?

Do I wait for a another character to pop into the storyline so that I can use their story as the magnet? Or should I just pick one of the ones already in the thought process?

How do you plan reader magnets to target your audience and lead into your series?

[LilyBLily]

Good questions and I'm not sure I have all the answers. I have heard that the reader magnet should be:

1. Your best work
2. What matches your genre in all respects

That's why we don't just use that novel that didn't sell as a reader magnet, or the one that's a mash-up or doesn't follow our chosen subgenre's tropes, or the one that's a historical when we're mostly writing contemporaries.

I recently read a few extras from several authors. One was a prequel, and that's often what people write as a reader magnet. One was a side story about a character the author has appear in her other books as a minor character. One was a short escapade using characters met in a novel who may or may not appear again in another novel in the series. One was an episode involving the series lead character and simply was short rather than long and complex. All were exactly on target as to the subgenre of the series to which they were attached.

In theory, a reader magnet doesn't have to be attached to any series as long as it's the same kind of story the author writes as novels for sale. In practice, reader magnets probably are related specifically to series.

I'm about to write a new reader magnet myself, and my challenge will be to keep it in the right subgenre, in my case, women's fiction. My prior reader magnet ended up being mostly a short romance despite being an offshoot of a women's fiction novel. I don't think it works very well to lead readers to my women's fiction novels. I'm not entirely sure how to keep the new reader magnet into becoming yet another romance. Maybe my heroine will have to end up being a happy cat lady.

 

[alhawke]

I've used one of my fantasies. It's, IMO, my best novel and took me four years to finish. Ironically, it's doing the worst in the market at the moment. But I like it because it's a fantasy and my upcoming series is fantasy (I also write Sci Fi, btw).

I don't write prequels or short stories just to use for a reader magnet. I tried this once, but, for me, found that my writing was contrived and awful. I have to just write and use what I have. I can't write just to market. But that's just me. So, I use works I've already written.

There are other issues. Not all my writing is the same. The character in my magnet novel is very conceited and sure of herself, ironically the opposite of my current book series. So, I don't think everything fits. But I do think that the fantasy matches my current fantasy genre and hopefully brings in readers with fantasy as an interest.

I use my reader magnet through Bookfunnel and Story Origin to get more subscribers. Hope sharing my ways helps.

[notthatamanda]

Procrastinating so I have some reader magnet questions. Background - I have a WWII book and am writing a follow up to that. My character is writing a story in the second book so that is my plan for a reader magnet (already have the idea for the story). At the end of the book I will say, "Amanda is working on the story K wrote in this book. Free if you sign up on her website to receive notifications of new releases and special offers on her books. <Link to a specific page on my website to signup>. We promise not to spam you or give your email to anyone else."

First  - comments on how I wrote the offer above. I don't know the best wording to entice readers.

Second - logistics of actually giving away the short story. I see story origin and book funnel mentioned. For me a lot of signups would be a couple of dozen at this point. Is using yet another service required? Can I publish the story on Amazon and just gift it to people once I have their email? I don't think it would be terribly expensive to start. Would they see the email associated with my account if I do it that way?

Third - anything obvious about giving away a reader magnet that my brain would not have thought of because it doesn't do obvious.

Thanks for the help.

[LilyBLily]

I would word it in the first person, as a direct offer to the reader. Probably punch it up a bit to make it seem an enticing free item. "Discover what..."

I don't think the promise not to spam is needed anymore. Everybody by now knows about playing by the rules--although I could be mistaken. The irony there is that most readers who sign up for newsletters seem to have gmail, which routinely throws our newsletters into their spam folder. You'll probably need to add a plea to whitelist to your automation sequence.

[alhawke]

I agree with LilyBLily about spamming. I wouldn't mention it.

I'd consider having your reader magnet mentioned in your back book matter in all your books.

Another thing I would consider is sending readers a direct link to your newsletter instead of to your website. If you use Mailchimp, you can provide a link. I have this link in my ebook and I even print out a QR code for brainiacs to scan on my paperback (its a fun design to add too ). The QR links direct to my newsletter.

Here's my newsletter invite words. Use and discard freely what you will: "Want more? Periodically I like to send news regarding current or new projects. If you’d like to be privy, I encourage you to sign up. Your information will remain private and you can cancel any time."

I don't send out a free book. If I was going to do that, I'd use Bookfunnel as they watermark all gifted books and are a top notch service (though it is paid). You can send links for that as well and probably connect it with your Mailchimp account or whatever email service you're using. If I was to give away books, I'd use Bookfunnel, not gift through Amazon.

[JRTomlin]

I use what I personally consider my best novel as my reader magnet. You can only get the ebook version by signing up through BookFunnel and I push it solely at the end of other novels and on my own webpage.

Take that for what it's worth though since I don't have the world biggest email list. The email newsletter I sent out last week had 56.5% opens and 12.6% clicks, again for what it's worth.

[idontknowyet]

I use what I personally consider my best novel as my reader magnet. You can only get the ebook version by signing up through BookFunnel and I push it solely at the end of other novels and on my own webpage.

Take that for what it's worth though since I don't have the world biggest email list. The email newsletter I sent out last week had 56.5% opens and 12.6% clicks, again for what it's worth.

Those are really high numbers from what I've seen for newsletter interaction. Most get way less than 10% clicks.

[JRTomlin]

They are fairly typical for my list. I think there are two reasons. My signup methods mean that only people who are interested in my writing sign up and about once a year I trim anyone who hasn't opened an email in the last year. Keep in mind that my list is under two thousand, so that is very small by industry standards, but I prefer a small list that gives results to a big one. The one before that (I do one a month) had 56.9% opens but only 9.9% clicks. The one before that was 55% opens and 11% clicks, so it stays right around that range.

ETA: I would *love* to get it even higher which I've read is possible but can't seem to manage. Maybe if I put out more new novels which I just can't seem to do.

[idontknowyet]

They are fairly typical for my list. I think there are two reasons. My signup methods mean that only people who are interested in my writing sign up and about once a year I trim anyone who hasn't opened an email in the last year. Keep in mind that my list is under two thousand, so that is very small by industry standards, but I prefer a small list that gives results to a big one. The one before that (I do one a month) had 56.9% opens but only 9.9% clicks. The one before that was 55% opens and 11% clicks, so it stays right around that range.

ETA: I would *love* to get it even higher which I've read is possible but can't seem to manage. Maybe if I put out more new novels which I just can't seem to do.

The ones I read about with higher engagement give more in their newsletters. Be it little bits of their lives or add ons to their stories.

[JRTomlin]

Ah well, there you go. That is just not what I do. 🤷

Still, I can't complain much about my results so I'll live with it.

[Jeff Tanyard]

...I have heard that the reader magnet should be:

1. Your best work...

This.  I'm not a newsletter guru by any means, but I know the value of a first impression, and the story you give away for free is going to be many readers' first impression of you as a writer.  So make it a good one.