Hi, everyone, it’s Michael here!
As many of you know May 6 – 7 we had the in-person Subscriptions for Authors Summit and May 18 – 19 we had the virtual Subscriptions for Authors Summit. Today, I wanted to share with you 10 big lessons I learned during the summit. Some of these blew my mind, and I hope they are helpful for you 💜.
Also as some exciting news, you can gain access to all 25+ hours of recordings from amazing speakers like Willow Winters, Becca Syme, Sarra Cannon, Christopher Hopper, Seth Ring, Emilia Rose, and more. We were originally going to shut down ticket sales before the summit started, but had some issues with getting recordings live and decided to extend it… and then realized… wait… the recordings are still super valuable even if you can’t make it live (unless you can time travel… which would be so cool!). With that said, you can get your virtual summit pass for $49 here.
And for those that attended this summit, we are creating a lot more virtual summits to bring the community together. If you want early access to next year’s summits at a discounted rate… then you might want to check out our waitlist for the Storytellers Rule the World Summits Season 1 Pass. You can check it all out here.
P.S. Pictured below are the summits we are hosting over the next 12 months… we are so excited!
Now time for 10 Lessons from the 2024 Subscriptions for Authors Summit!
Lesson #1: “Love is in the details” — Willow Winters
This is not only one of my FAVORITE quotes, but it resonated throughout the entire 28 sessions of the summit. Little touches like personalizing responses to your readers, replying to comments, or including elements in your branding that show your readers you listen to them is powerful. Readers want to feel loved and want to love your stories. By showing your stories love and by putting effort into the details that most others overlook, you can stand out from the sea of stories and carve out your own successful subscription.
Lesson #2: You should be double dipping more.
Ah! Double dipping, gross, right? Don’t worry… there’s no ranch at this party 😉.What I’m instead referring to is being able to benefit from something you do in multiple ways. And you shouldn’t just be thinking about how you can benefit from something in multiple ways but ALSO how your readers can benefit.
For example… 1. By offering early access to your stories in your subscription, you get money upfront while writing your stories, still make money by selling them alacarte once released, and get feedback from readers that can improve your stories. 2. You can include “grabby” items in your book boxes like Willow Winters does (her session was next level incredible). “Grabby” items are what Willow calls things that readers normally wouldn’t buy for themselves but would love it included in a book box where they also get stories from an author they love. It’s a way to sneakily treat themselves and add an extra touch of magic to Willow’s book boxes. 3. You can include social experiences that allow your readers to spend money on stories from you and make new friends. EJ Frost does this by hosting monthly wine nights for readers in her $25 tier. Wine + stories +. new reader friends. That may just be a triple dip!
Lesson #3: No one wants to be notified. Readers want to be noticed.
Ah, this was an incredible lesson from Christopher Hopper. He has one of the most unique author businesses in the world, powered by his unbelievable reader community. He actively makes it hard to sign-up for his mailing list, requiring readers to input their phone number. And every time they input it… he gives them a call. However you notice your readers, when you do so, you will likely get a powerful reaction. A quote that stood out “No author has ever done this before”. It’s a green field out there. In a world of soulless metrics and nonstop notifications, how can you be more human? How can you “notice” your readers? When they feel cared for, they will care for you.
Lesson #4: Your story can save someone’s life (and might save yours).
Aven Ellis is an absolute superstar. She was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer and has been a champion. Her story is awe-inspiring… and brought me and everyone else to tears. But the most powerful part? When she started sharing with her readers her own breast cancer journey — a specific form of cancer that was very hard to detect, she encouraged her readers to get a screening and work with doctors that listen to their concerns (Aven’s original doctors overlooked her concerns and didn’t find her cancer till it was at an advanced stage). Meanwhile, Aven’s subscription supports her health insurance every month, helping her to get the care from the best doctors and kick cancer’s ass 💪.
Lesson #5: Trust takes time to build.
CJ Primer spoke about the power of serials and subscriptions. She reached 1,000 paid members just two months after launching and is Ream’s first Diamond Author. She might sound like an overnight success. Her real story is anything but that. She wrote serials for two years before starting her subscription, building a loyal audience of thousands of super fans that follow her anywhere.Trust takes time to build, but once you have it… it can make all the difference.
Lesson #6: Send personal welcome emails to readers.
EJ Frost has above a 90% yearly retention in her subscription. This is a better retention than Netflix… how does she do it? She shared her secret. And it’s something simple I bet almost none of you do. But you can all start doing tomorrow. A couple days after a new subscriber joins, she sends her readers a personal message to ask how they are doing and if they are enjoying their subscription.That’s it. Almost everyone tells her how know author has ever done that and they so appreciated it. They felt cared for. She built trust with her readers. And they stick with her as a result.
Lesson #7: Funnels are not transactional, they are relationship driven.
Joe Solari gave an incredible talk on reader retention and funnels. He talked about how much of our current way of thinking of book marketing is broken. We treat readers like commodities, jamming limited time offers and discounts down people’s throats.These can be very effective. But they are meaningless, if we don’t already have a relationship with a reader. To build a great publishing business, we must build funnels and reader journeys that are designed to keep people coming back. In short — the sale is just the beginning of the journey… not the end.
Lesson #8: Use subscriptions as a way to test your stories and benefit the rest of your publishing business.
In Seth Ring’s talk he shared the Virtuous Cycle of Subscriptions. Fan input allows you to make stories better before going to “market” (aka publishing them to a wider audience) and allows you to test story ideas so that you can invest time in writing series that fans are most likely to enjoy. In short, you should be thinking about early access in your subscription as part of a broader publishing and product development strategy to make your writing more effective and efficient.
Lesson #9: Care for your readers and they will care for you.
This theme permeated nearly every talk. Whether it was Dakota Krout talking about actionable gamification or Sarra Cannon sharing her incredible Readers First mindset, when you go the extra mile to listen to your readers, take in their feedback, and show that you care — they will care for you.Sounds simple… I know. But it’s so important. Just ask yourself, how many businesses and people do you interact with on a daily basis that you feel truly cared about you? I have a feeling that number is scary small. That’s sad. But as storytellers we can change that. After all, stories are all about bringing people together and helping us care about others (usually, it’s our characters that we want our readers caring about!).
Lesson #10: Have fun.
You mean being an author isn’t already the dream?
It was supposed to be… but we have pressurized so much of this industry that for so many of us, it’s sucked the fun out of publishing. Whether it was Becca Syme talking about strengths or me talking about Lessons from $1 Million in Subscriptions, there are many many paths to subscription success and success in your broader author career. It’s about doing what works for you and having fun. This is a long game, and if you can’t enjoy the process, then why are we doing this?
And that’s it!
I hope you enjoyed these lessons 😊. I could probably share at least 25 more lessons, but alas… you’ll have to tune into the summit in full if you want to experience all of its goodness (you can do so anytime here).
A huge thank you to everyone who made the summit possible! We had the best time and are so excited that this is just the beginning of the author summits 🎉.
I’ll be in touch with more soon. Until then, don’t forget…
Storytellers Rule the World!
Michael