How is Prolific Works at newsletter building these days?

[Joe Vasicek]

Just wondering how good Prolific Works is at building an email list these days. They used to be really good, but then GDPR happened and their group promotions became a lot less effective at gaining new subscribers. How are they now?

[Bill Hiatt]

I've had variable luck. I use three different services, and of the three, BookFunnel is the one that produces the most subscribes, followed by Prolific Works, followed by StoryOrigin (which is newer and smaller). For the first two, I use optional opt-in. For SO, the only option is mandatory opt-in.

One reason for the discrepancy, however, is the fact that there are just a lot more options on BookFunnel. I send out my newsletter monthly, on the first of the month, so I need campaigns that start then, which does reduce the list I can draw from. Last month, I couldn't find one on Prolific Works that was a fit for both genre and timeline. Right now, eight future giveaways on PW are open for fantasy and/or science fiction . On BF, it's  26, as well as 31 sales promos, which PW doesn't offer. On SO, it's a little harder to tell, as it uses genre tags and has more mixed genre giveaways, but it appears to have ten newsletter builders that might be relevant, plus some for sales, KU borrows, getting reviews, and getting audiobook reviews. (I've only tried the newsletter and sales ones so far.) In others, PW has action than the other sites. I'd have to do a lot of math to figure out subscription rates, but I think PW's is decent for the promos it has. It's down overall because there just aren't as many options.

It's also worth noting, since the newsletter builder relies on promotion from the participants (plus some push from PW itself) that the number of participants is typically smaller now on PW. My current PW builder has 32 books (and I've gotten three claims). On BF, my current one has 112, and I've gotten 16 claims. So far, only one of those has converted to a newsletter signup, but based on past experience, I'd expect more--the process only started yesterday, so there are probably some who haven't clicked on the confirmation email yet. Anyway, the number of potential subscriptions looks as if it's going to be less on PW, in part because of lower traffic.

 

[Simon Haynes]

I just let my Prolific Works 'paid' account lapse, and will use the free option from now on. I was paying for Bookfunnel, PW and my newsletter host, and it was all adding up so one of them had to go.

I've only ever used optional opt-ins on PW.  I had decent success from it, but Bookfunnel suits me better. It feels a bit more fine-grained when it comes to setting things up, and they're always adding new stuff. (Latest is audiobook excerpts, so you can run group promos on those too.)

[Bill Hiatt]

I just let my Prolific Works 'paid' account lapse, and will use the free option from now on. I was paying for Bookfunnel, PW and my newsletter host, and it was all adding up so one of them had to go.

I've only ever used optional opt-ins on PW.  I had decent success from it, but Bookfunnel suits me better. It feels a bit more fine-grained when it comes to setting things up, and they're always adding new stuff. (Latest is audiobook excerpts, so you can run group promos on those too.)

Yes, BookFunnel gives you more promotional options for sure.

One other thing I'll mention, for whatever it may be worth, is that I've just discovered PW has some stats that are only available to promoters on BF and SO. On all of them, I can see how many people used my personal link to reach the promo. On PW, I can see how many of those clicked on something, how many of them clicked through to claim, and how many followed through and actually claimed. (I guess that tells me whether I'm bringing in real business or just gawkers.) Interestingly, I can see those stats for everyone, not just me, so I can see whether my contribution to the promo is above or below average. That's useful (though probably not worth the fee if that's the only advantage). On BookFunnel, I can see how many people used my link, and I can see how many clicks and claims my book(s) got. On StoryOrigin, I can see how many people used my link. (I can guess how many claims from how many subscribers I get.) Also, SO doesn't let me see stats from old promos, so I can't compare over time.

[Bill Hiatt]

One other thing (I know, I've said that before.)

If PW promotes a giveaway in its newsletter, that can have a powerful impact. For the giveaway I joined in August, the sponsor had been trying to position the giveaway to appear in the newsletter and succeeded. 24% of the page views and (more importantly) 37% of the claims came from the PW newsletter. That is one powerful tool the other two don't have.

[RappaDizzy]

I ran a large number of promotions (mystery/thriller/suspense) over the years and was one of the Verified Promoters at PW. I stopped using them at the start of the summer because of diminishing ROI. I was always able to get PW to push the promo in their newsletter and it was great when their own list was growing but that seemed to have slowed. It started happening around the time they changed their name. And they seemed to be trying to add other things like teaching authors to do a Kickstarter etc. The name change signalled a new focus & I don’t think it worked. I concentrate on BookFunnel now.

[Shoe]

It's played-out, unless you're a newbie to them, in which case they'll be collecting subscribers who are already on every KB's or WS's author's email lists.

[Joe Vasicek]

It's played-out, unless you're a newbie to them, in which case they'll be collecting subscribers who are already on every KB's or WS's author's email lists.

That was true a year ago, but is it true now?

[Bill Hiatt]

Any time I use any of these services, I figure most of the subscribers will be on a lot of authors' lists. That's inevitable. We can each help to make that better by trying to bring new people into the ecosystem. That's why advertising the promos through venues beyond our own mailing list is important. (Facebook may not be great for selling books, but getting people to click on things, and if they're readers, at least look around, is easier to accomplish. With enough tempting offerings, some of them will be drawn into the system.)

The only alternative is to offer from one's own website free reader magnets in exchange for subscriptions. I do that, too, but the numbers are much smaller. Last month, I picked up three from my own website and 72 from the one BookFunnel promo I was involved in.

[Joe Vasicek]

Don't forget your backmatter. Encouraging people to subscribe in the back of every book is another great way to draw them into the system.

[Bill Hiatt]

Don't forget your backmatter. Encouraging people to subscribe in the back of every book is another great way to draw them into the system.

Ah, good point. I may try that again. The first time I tried, I got very little response, though I'm aware other people have been successful with it.

[Shoe]

[back matter mailing list link] though I'm aware other people have been successful with it.

I've had a back matter mailing list link in my books for about a year and a half. So far, 227 have signed up (I call them my "organics"--there's no incentive for them to sign up). The link just says "Join My Mailing List" (no exclamation mark). I suspect that total is lame but hell if I really know.

I have 5800 subscribers through PW (due for another cull). My "new release" newsletters have about a 45% open rate and 8% click rate from this group (my organic list has about an 80% click rate). While the 8% from PW subscribers is rather weak, it's still about 470 subscribers who are clicking to my new releases, and this does produce a spike in sales/KENP.

BUT--for the past few months new subscribers have been a trickle compared to a year ago and perhaps not worth it anymore.