For those of you who don't know what I'm about, here's a short ... a writer living in England. I have written a novel, 'St Brodag's Isle', which is ... by a website ...
For those of you who don't know what I'm about, here's a short summary.
I'm a writer living in England. I have written a novel, 'St Brodag's Isle', which is supported by a website (http://www.stbrodag.com) and a newsletter. 2002 is going to be my campaign year - a year in which I intend to make a living out of my writing. As I go through the year, I'll be posting articles such as this one, which will detail the step-by-step approach that I'm going to be taking. I'll be honest with my failures as well as my triumphs. And in a year's time I hope to be looking back at a year that exceeded my expectations.
Right, so what have I been up to in recent weeks? I'm glad you asked.
My subscription list has DOUBLED! Granted, I don't have a list of 20,000 members but I reckon that's not a bad performance since Christmas. And what about sales of my book? Well, again it's progress - long, hard, slow progress - but progress nonetheless. I won't be moving to Monaco just yet but I might be able to buy food next week!
Now, I'm going to let you into the secret of how I've made a difference to my subscription list. It's simply this - I've talked to a few people. Not just any old people. I've interviewed some published writers and promoted this to people and fan sites that I think will generate interest.
Before I go any further, let me reassure you that I didn't interview these people just to get my subscription list up on my newsletter. I really am interested in what published novelists have to say. I've picked up a few tips from the people I've talked to.
But never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I just happened to mention the fact that I was interviewing these people on a few forums that I visit. I signed up ten people on one day, which for a little newsletter like mine is superb going.
I bet you're wondering how hard it was to arrange the interviews? In all honesty, it was one of the easiest things I've ever done. Find a writer's web page, email them with a request for an interview and wait for a response. I'm getting a 50% acceptance rate at the moment.
So there you go.
How to increase your subscription list by getting exclusive interviews!
Andy Walsh is a househusband and writer living in Cumbria in the UK. He writes novels, short stories, articles and poems some of which you can read at http://www.stbrodag.com. Check out 'PROMOTE YOUR WRITING' at http://www.stbrodag.com/promote/promote.htm.
