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Giving an e-book away to blog or newsletter subscribers is an increasingly common way to expand your platform. Many writers want to take this step, but they aren’t sure how to go about it.
How do I give my e-book away to subscribers?
To give your book away to subscribers, you need two things:
- An e-book to give away in PDF format.
- A way for people to subscribe to your blog or newsletter.
Why a PDF?
PDF is a good format to give to the masses because anyone can view it. If they don’t already have a way to open the file, they can download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. A PDF is also the simplest and least expensive method of formatting your book. In fact, you can easily do it yourself.
Should I give it away to blog subscribers or newsletter subscribers? Wait—what’s the difference?
When I say blog subscribers in this case, I’m talking those who subscribe to your blog via email. Not to make light of those who subscribe to your blog’s feed in a reader, but the email subscribers are our focus here.
A blog email subscriber is someone who receives your daily (or whatever) blog posts by email. A newsletter subscriber list is separate from this. These people will receive a separate newsletter email from you on a weekly or monthly basis (whatever time frame you choose). A newsletter subscriber list is generally done through an external service such as Mail Chimp.
The consensus is that building an email newsletter list is attractive to literary agents and publishers. It’s an indication that you have a dedicated reader base.
So you make the call—you can give your e-book to either group. Just keep in mind what your goals are and what kind of a writing commitment you want to make.
Tomorrow we’ll discuss newsletter services more about giving your book away to subscribers.
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During the month of October, we’re chatting about everything self-publishing—design, branding, marketing, formats—you name it! Pulling questions from Design by Insight clients, Re:Write Conference attendees, and you, we’ll take a look at what can often be a confusing and potentially overwhelming subject. Have a question you’d like me to answer? Leave it in the comments below!
About PDF, how do you actually make one?
Hi Anna! This depends on what kind of software you are using…I will try to cover some of the options in a post soon.
That would be great. Lots of the options seem to cost money and I wasn’t sure if that was necessary. Then someone suggested using ‘cute pdf’. Would be glad of advice!