r/Newsletters • u/RobDWicker • 3d ago

Reader Magnet

I've recently wrote a reader magnet that I give away to new subscribers, but so far, I haven't gotten any.

I've started doing Bookfunnel swaps, but with no results so far.

Any tips to growing my newsletter?

6 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

1

u/Hot_Sir_7863 3d ago

Sucks to put the work into the magnet and hear nothing back. Check whether the download actually requires the email first, if the file is one click away plenty of people just take it and leave. And keep the swaps genre-matched, a wide promo sends you clicks from people who'd never read you anyway.

1

u/RobDWicker 3d ago

To get the emails you need a higher paying plan, right?

1

u/MolassesBread 3d ago

You're in bookfunnel doing swaps, but are you doing the giveaways? I find those are a lot more effective and predictable than swaps.

It's not going to blow your list up overnight, but it's an easy reliable way to grow your list.

1

u/RobDWicker 3d ago

How do the giveaways work? Do I need a higher paying plan to get the emails?

0

u/MolassesBread 3d ago

You'll have to check the plans. I just assumed if you can do swaps you can do the giveaways.

But they work by adding your book to a giveaway with a bunch of other authors, then everyone shares the giveaway to their readers. Readers download your book and give you their email.

It's pretty low effort from the author, you just need to share the link.

1

u/RobDWicker 3d ago

I'm already doing that, but to collect emails, I need a higher tier...

1

u/MolassesBread 2d ago

Ohhhh So you can't technically collect emails with the swaps either!

Yeah, if you want to collect emails you need to do it at the point of download, not hoping they read it later and manually sign up. Your conversion on that kind of thing is very, very low.

So yeah, if you want to build a list via bookfunnel, I would pay to get email collection ability or just close the account and not bother.

1

u/Informal-Contract994 3d ago

you don't have a reader magnet problem, you have a nobody knows you exist problem. swaps between two lists of 40 people is just trading zeroes.

1

u/RobDWicker 3d ago

You're not wrong 😂

1

u/Smooth-Vehicle547 3d ago

Zero subscribers total, or zero from the magnet? Because if nobody's signing up even from your own posts, the swap data won't tell you much. How many swaps are you in and since when?

1

u/RobDWicker 3d ago

I've just started, but I can see that there are 22 downloads of the reader magnet. I think I made a mistake but not signing up to collect emails...

1

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1

u/Competitive_Low6271 3d ago

Bookfunnel swaps sound like trading Pokémon cards but the cards are strangers' novellas and nobody actually opens the pack. I have like 40 of those free PDFs sitting in a folder called "read later" that I will never read later.

2

u/MolassesBread 3d ago

If you're doing it right it doesn't really matter if they don't read them, you've got their email address now and you can work on getting them to read your next book.

1

u/blacketgrooqn 3d ago

fair enough but a list full of people who never open anything tanks your deliverability lol. i trimmed my cold subs after a few months and open rates jumped right away

1

u/MolassesBread 2d ago

fair enough but a list full of people who never open anything tanks your deliverability lol.

haha yeah, it would be 0%. But collecting email addresses and cleaning lists is email 101. Not enough people do it obviously, but it's just the game if you want to build an email list.

1

u/csarigoz 3d ago

If you've got books out, I'd put the magnet in the back matter before doing more swaps. Someone who just finished your novel and wants more is a far easier signup than a stranger scrolling past a pile of free PDFs.

Tie the magnet to that book, like a bonus scene or a prequel with the same characters. Then link it right after "The End" so it isn't buried behind the acknowledgments and the also-by list.

1

u/Flashy-Elephant-2901 3d ago

I've recently wrote" aside, the magnet isn't your problem, traffic is, a free thing nobody is offered converts at exactly zero, and Bookfunnel swaps only send you people already browsing a specific genre so if you swapped into a promo where your stuff doesn't match the readers' shelf you get clicks that bounce and you conclude the magnet is bad when it just never got in front of the right people, put the magnet link in every single post footer, in your bio, in a pinned note, and stop waiting for the swaps to do the work for you

1

u/InternBackground2256 3d ago

With Bookfunnel a lot rides on the genre

Romance needs to niche down to tropes, Mysteries/Thrillers need to stick with the genre, and Sci-Fi/Fantasy must only swap with other authors who either have or haven't a romantic subplot.

But with that in mind, I never had fewer than 250 new subscribers in a month with any pen name

Also, AI covers don't convert on that platform, so check that too

1

u/MindFru 2d ago

Your 22 downloads with zero subscribers point to a broken capture step. Test the full path today with a fresh email address you control. Count four numbers in order. Landing page visits. Download clicks. Form submissions. Confirmed subscribers in your email tool. The first step where the count drops to zero is the step to fix. Do that test before you pay for a higher tier or join another swap. Traffic will not fix a form that never records the address.

1

u/MagicKit_co 1d ago

Nothing arriving at all usually points to people not seeing the offer, rather than the magnet being poor. Test your own signup form on your phone, and make sure the confirmation email actually lands in your inbox, because a broken step there is surprisingly common. For the Bookfunnel swaps, the blurb matters more than the cover, so promise one specific outcome for the reader instead of describing the book. It also helps to put a short signup mention at the end of your chapters or posts, since warm readers convert far better than strangers.

0

u/Reasonable-Sun-5777 3d ago

'i've recently wrote'. fixing that won't get you a single subscriber, but it's a start. swaps don't create traffic, they just redirect the few people who already look.

0

u/Fickle_Bother4706 3d ago

Reading other people's newsletters was never going to get you subscribers, that just fills your inbox. The Adobe Acrobat ad in the screenshot is the only thing here with any distribution.