👉 what you need to focus on in 2021

Let's get meta. View in browser Hey, To whet the appetite for today's livestream on selling more books with email, we are going to talk about... email! Why all this focus on email right now? Well, there's a pretty big reason - one that impacts all of us. But before we get to that, here are the details of that livestream: We start today at 1pm NYC/6pm London – sharp! Here is your link to watch the Livestream on YouTube. But if the time doesn't suit, you can watch a replay on the link above at any point afterwards. It's all going to be LIVE so anything could happen, but the general plan is for me to chat just a little bit about email at the start, and then focus more on your questions. So bring 'em! And to whet your appetite even further - CAN IT GET ANY WHETTER? - I dropped a video on YouTube yesterday: 10 Ways To Boost Your Email Open Rate. I recommend you check that out - the very first tip in there is something I was doing wrong with EVERY SINGLE EMAIL I sent in the last ten years - and only fixed it last week. So I think there's some good stuff in there for beginners and experts alike. (Intermediates: you lose!) Focusing on Email If you have been on this here newsletter since the start of 2020 - i.e. about four lifetimes ago - then you might remember that I was suggesting that it would be good to make email marketing your focus for the year. It was certainly my own focus, and I managed to double my list this year. And I did that without spending a penny on ads BTW. I made that suggestion – and made it my own focus – before the world went to hell in a handcart. Which makes focusing on email an imperative. How will 2021 play out? No one has any real idea, but one thing that seems, well, locked in is that people are going to be spending more time at home and have less money to spend too. The book business is almost certainly facing a tumultuous year, but digitally focused self-publishers will probably be spared the worst of that – and in fact are well positioned to benefit from an increase in digital reading and lots of new entrants to the ebook marketplace. Especially if they have a solid email game and a compelling free offer. Nobody can predict how next year will play out – especially with anti-trust actions launched against Amazon in the EU, and Google in the US (plus Facebook and Apple being eyed up) – but the very best insurance policy against anything happening in the future is to have a large list of happy and engaged subscribers. I think we all have room to grow our lists and get better at email. And I think it's something that all authors would benefit from, regardless of experience or income levels. (In fact, some of the biggest sellers can be some of the biggest slackers with this stuff, and often gravitate towards dropping money on ads rather than engaging in the oft-tricky work of raising your email game.) Marketing tactics can come and go, but one long-term strategy you will never regret investing in is email. And by "investing" I don't mean spending lots of money on Facebook Ads to generate (possibly) questionable leads.  I mean investing the time to: build your email infrastructure the right way write an exclusive reader magnet which your Ideal Reader will crave craft a compelling welcome sequence that will kick off reader engagement at a high level and set the appropriate tone and expectations for your list, while doing some important housekeeping and orientation keep engagement levels high through giving readers regular, compelling content and always ensuring that every single email you send is overflowing with value. Notice I didn't include: running lots of competitions to quickly grow your list; engaging in list-builder promotions every month; advertising for sign-ups; giving away Amazon vouchers; or doing non-stop group promotions. All of these things are shortcuts, and most of them aren't very good shortcuts either. If you engage in a lot of that stuff, your list might grow fast but I bet many of the people you ensnare will lose interest quickly and you'll be carrying lots of dead weight too – arguably leaving you in a worse position then when you started, because you are paying for that dead weight and are probably disheartened at your progress for good measure. But if you focus on those four things above instead, you will have the right approach to email, keep reader engagement high, open rates will be much better, and the response to any "ask" – like a launch – will be much greater too. It might be a slower build, but it's a much more sustainable and valuable one. Also, your head will also be in a much better place – something we don't talk about enough, especially in this never-ending year. Some marketing approaches make you feel icky. Some make you feel great. I know which I prefer. I'll be talking about how to sell more books with email later in the livestream, but I have lots of other resources for you to explore, aside from the above video. I particularly recommend the eight-part series I did on email marketing earlier this year – All About Email – which you will find in the Email Archive. That's it, see you LIVE in just under six hours! Dave P.S. This week's soundtrack to screaming at the night is Dory Previn with Twenty-Mile Zone. DavidGaughran.com Broomfield Business Park, Malahide, Co. Dublin, Ireland You received this email because you signed up at DavidGaughran.com. Unsubscribe