An Authors “How To” Guide to Building An Online Presence :: MailChimp
Photo: mkhmarketing
Welcome to week 6 of my ‘How To’ blog series.
Every author, whether well established or just starting out, needs a mailing list, a place where they can get in touch with their readers at a moments notice.
I know authors who have dozens of books out who still haven’t set up a direct link to their fanbase. The reason most don’t is they don’t think they have enough readers to bother. You’d be surprised how many people want to be in your loop, so don’t sell yourself short.
This week I’m going to show you one easy way to start gathering your readers and getting them the information they want.
I’ve been using MailChimp for a few years now. I know there are other email marketing applications out there but this is the one I’ve been using so if you want to know your options, just Google to find others.
MailChimp allows you to collect names and email addresses of your readers and lets you send emails to all, or part of them, whenever you need to. To get started, head over to MailChimp and click on the “Sign Up Free” button.
And then fill in all the information it asks for.
Once you click the “Create My Account” button, you’ll be taken to a screen telling you to check your email. You’ll need to activate the account before you can go any further. Once you click the link in your email, you’ll need to get past the Capthca screen to prove you’re human. Once you’ve completed those tasks, you’ll be taken to the information screen. This is where you’ll put in all the information about “you” and your author identity.
One part of this information is a mailing address. Do not use your “home” address unless you want your readers to see this information. Sending email solicitations, which is what you’re doing if you encourage readers through email to buy your books, has certain rules, so be sure to read over that information when its provided.
I’ve purchased a small (the smallest one they provide) PO Box from the post office just for this purpose. The cost is tax-deductible so if you’re worried about your personal address, this is one way of working around this problem but you “must” put an address down. Its the law, folks, and you can’t get around it.
Once you’ve inserted all your information, you’ll be taken to the site. The first thing you want to do is “Create A List.” This is going to be where you store all those lovely readers you have. You can name the list anything you wish and have as many as you need. I have two lists, “New Release Notifications” and “eNewsletters from LilyGraison.Com” so set yours up as you see fit.
Again, you’ll be asked for information about your list so fill everything in accordingly. Some of this information will show up on your actual newsletters so make sure its all correct. Once you’ve done this, you’ll be able to see your list and create a form so readers can join.
You’re given three options for forms. The two you’ll use the most are the “General Forms” and the “Embedded Forms.”
General Forms is going to allow you to customize how your form looks and how much information you want to collect.
Just fill out everything it asks to build your form. These can be as plain or fancy as you wish. I love being able to customize these forms and I change mine all the time. I recently began asking what books people are reading. You can see my form HERE.
Once you have the form completed, you’ll be able to use the URL shortcut provided on the page to direct readers to your sign up form. Just post the link on your website, your blog, link it from Facebook or Twitter, and all your readers will now have a way to stay in touch.
Another type of form is the Embedded Form. This form comes in the form of HTML. I use this type on blog posts when I want to direct readers to my lists. This type of sign up for isn’t as ‘fancy’ as the first and it only allows you to collect a name and email address. It looks like this when finished and placed on your website/blog.
Again, fill in the information for the Embedded Form, and copy the HTML code to insert into your website/blog posts.
Once you have your lists made, your forms created and placed where readers can sign up, you’re going to get busy creating your first newsletter. MailChimp calls them “campaigns” so that’s where you want to go next on your dashboard.
Click on the “Create A Campaign” button and you’ll be taken to the first screen. Here you’ll need to pick what ‘type’ of campaign you have. For most newsletters, you’ll pick “regular ‘ol campaign.”
Next, select who to send the campaign to and click the NEXT button at the bottom.
On the next screen, fill in all the information it asks for and click the NEXT button at the bottom.
This is where creating your newsletter gets fun! There are templates galore offered on MailChimp and all you have to do is pick the layout you like best and get creative.
You can add text boxes, photos, social media links, buttons, change the color of your text, frame your images, etc….the sky is the limit here. Your newsletter can be as elaborate as you want or just a simple note highlighting your brand new release.
Once you have your newsletter looking exactly like you want it, you can Preview it by clicking on the “Preview and Test” tab on the top.
Once everything looks exactly like you want it, click the NEXT button at the bottom of the page and review all your options. Once it passes your scrutiny, you can “send now” or schedule it to send at a later date.
As with any program, the more you use it, the less confusing it will seem. Just take your time, walk away if you get frustrated and remember, growing your list will sometimes mean collecting names one reader at a time. Don’t give up. You’ll get where you want to be with patience and time.
Next week I’ll be going over Pinterest and how every author can use the site to their advantage. I’ll be talking about a lot of different things so the posts may be broken into several parts as I’ll be showing you how to create Pin It buttons for your websites and how to embed those boards you create directly onto your website pages.
If you want to make sure you don’t miss anything in the coming weeks, sign up for email notifications and receive each post in your email inbox. I still have tutorials on Scrivener (writing software), Google Docs, Google Calendars (and how to add those to your website), Production Schedules and creating Weekly/Daily ‘To Do’ List yet to cover, so get your name on the list so you don’t miss out.
And as always, if you found this post useful and informative, be sure to share it with your friends!
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About Lily Graison
Lily Graison lives in the foothills of North Carolina with her husband, two high-strung Yorkies, more cats than she can count. First published in 2005, she is the author of over a dozen published books in the Western, Contemporary and Paranormal Romance genres.
When not writing, Lily can be found at her sewing machine creating 1800’s period clothing or participating in civil war reenactments and area living history events. When not portraying a southern belle, you can find her at a nearby store feeding her obsession for all things resembling office supplies.
To see the dresses Lily has created, visit her Pinterest page.
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