Subscription Bootcamp

The Subscriptions for Authors Bootcamp is all about helping you start and launch your subscription (and hopefully get your first paid subscriber!) in just 5 days. It’s a tall order, and it’s going to be an intense but fun 5 days.

Here’s 3 things you should know about the Subscriptions for Authors Bootcamp:

1. The SFA Bootcamp ran from November 1st to November 5th, 2023 . You can participate in the entire event asynchronously and even use the materials below to do your own mini-subscription Bootcamp with a group of author friends. Never too late to start Bootcamp!
2. The SFA Bootcamp is directed towards authors who are new to subscriptions or who haven’t launched their subscriptions yet. Authors who have launched subscriptions I am confident will still learn some things, but we are really focused on helping people get started with this Bootcamp!
3. The SFA Bootcamp consists of three takeaways, action items, and a live workshop for each day. All of the resources will be linked down below… so feel free to engage with as much of the Bootcamp as you’d like.

And here is the outline of the Subscriptions for Authors Bootcamp!

• Subscriptions for Authors Bootcamp Day 1: Why Do You Want to Start a Subscription
• Subscriptions for Authors Bootcamp Day 2: Planning Your Subscription
• Subscriptions for Authors Bootcamp Day 3: Setting Up Your Subscription
• Subscriptions for Authors Bootcamp Day 4: Launching Your Subscription
• Subscriptions for Authors Bootcamp Day 5: The Future of Your Subscription

P.S. If you want the ultimate educational and community experience to help you take your subscription to the next level, you should check out the Six-Figure Subscription Author Accelerator (only open for a limited-time!).

Now let’s get into it…

Day 1: Why Do You Want to Start a Subscription?

Day 1 Goal: to determine what your overarching goals are for starting a subscription as an author.

3 Things to Know:

1. Subscriptions are a recurring payment that a reader makes directly to an author in exchange for access to content (backlist, early access to stories, bonus content), physical goods (signed books, book boxes), or other experiences (virtual chats, book clubs, etc.).
2. There is no “right” or “wrong” goals to have with your subscription. Some authors have subscriptions with the goal of making a few extra dollars per month while others want to make it the core of their business and be their full-time income with money from retailers and other sources as gravy.
3. The currency of subscriptions is trust. It takes a long time to build trust, which is why it’s important that you approach subscriptions in a sustainable manner and focus on the long-term over short term trend-jacking.

Action Step:

Reflect and answer these 3 questions and share your answer as a comment on this post or a separate post in the FB group:

1. What is your mission behind writing your stories? What impact do you hope your stories will have on your readers?
2. Where would you like your subscription to be in 3 to 5 years?
3. What excites you the most about subscriptions the most? What scares you the most or what are you uncertain of?

Day 2: Planning Your Subscription

Day 2 Goal: plan your subscription tiers, your pricing, and your page branding by creating a subscription at the intersection of what your readers want, what is sustainable for you, and what you enjoy doing.

3 Things to Know:

1. You only need to start with one tier and one core “benefit” to your readers. We strongly recommend pricing your first tier at $5 per month or higher. More benefits and more tiers can come later, but starting small is an advantage. It allows you to easily see what is working!
2. Less is more. We always feel pressure to offer more chapters and to push ourselves to the limit. Subscriptions are about sustainability over the long run and we want the expectations you create to be achievable consistently for both you and your readers.
3. You don’t need to pay for someone to do your subscription page branding. You don’t even need tier images! For banner images, you can use a simple background of one of your covers or something that fits the vibe of your books. Your page name can be your pen name or your overall publishing brand name and may encompass multiple pen names. Tier names can simply be “Tier 1” and “Tier 2”— over time you can figure out tier names that feel authentic to you and your community.

Action Step:

Write a simple, one-sentence answer to the following. You will have your entire subscription planned out by the end of this exercise 😁.

1. Who is the intended audience for your subscription (aka what kinds of readers like your stories)?
2. List the top three “benefits” or things you could offer your readers as part of your subscription.
3. Pick one of those benefits and stick with it for the rest of Bootcamp. You CAN NOT pick two (Bootcamp will boot you out… just kidding, but seriously, pick just one for now). Maybe it was early access to an upcoming series, or maybe it was bonus content, Ideally, it is at the intersection of what you are good at/enjoy, what is sustainable, and what your fans enjoy.

Day 3: Setting Up Your Subscription

Day 3 Goal: Set up your subscription so new fans can join!

3 Things to Know:

1. Subscriptions are about ITERATION not LAUNCHING. You don’t need to create the perfect tiers or have the most refined tier copy. You just need something good enough to help get your first subscribers in the door and keep improving from there.
2. You can archive a tier at any time. Archiving a tier makes it invisible so new fans can’t join, but fans already in your tier continue to remain subscribed and receive benefits. In short, you can always make changes at any time, so setting up one tier isn’t a forever commitment to it.
3. You DO NOT need years’ worth of content loaded into your subscription before launching. You just need a few chapters or a few posts to be a good introduction for fans as they join. And then as their subscription continues you can continue to release new chapters/content as promised.

OH and one more thing. UNDERPROMISE and OVERDELIVER. Sustainability is crucial. So always be cognizant to not burn yourself out and keep it fun! Your subscription is going to be out in the wild so soon!

Action Steps:

Set up your subscription with the one-tier benefit you picked from yesterday!

When you are ready— launch your subscription and share the link in the comments below. It doesn’t have to be *perfect*. Just a start so we can all give you feedback and celebrate with you!

If you want a step-by-step guide on setting up your subscription, then check out this tutorial for Ream Authors.

Day 4: Launching Your Subscription

Day 4 Goal: Launch your subscription and get your first paid members and/or followers!

3 Things to Know:

1. Your sales “funnel” is how you determine where to promote your subscription. Where can you reach new/existing fans who would be interested in what you are offering in your subscription? That’s where you should share your subscription link once launched :).
2. Your benefit/tiers influence your messaging. Different benefits can be marketed in different ways. For instance, having your backlist as a benefit v.s. early access are two different benefits that need to be framed and emphasized differently. This is why we recommend starting with one benefit so you can keep your messaging simple and see what is working more clearly.
3. The launch is just the beginning. Subscriptions are about trust and the long game. Not every fan will convert in the beginning and that’s okay. What’s important is that you started the journey. and we can now improve from here.

Action Step:

PRESS THAT LAUNCH BUTTON!

And then complete the following 3 items to help maximize the effectiveness of your launch.

1. Determine your initial launch goal. Are you trying to gain more followers (free members of your subscription)? Are you hoping for a specific target member count? Your goal determines how we analyze the data tomorrow and further improve, so this is very important!

2. Determine your launch strategy. We recommend using 1 of 3 strategies to help drive urgency around your launch. 

• Make a time-limited launch. You can do this by archiving your tiers after the launch period so sign-ups are available for a limited time. 
• Make a discount/promotion around your launch. If you email support@reamstories.com we can create a custom promo code for you that can allow you to give fans at launch a month free in your subscription, a certain percentage off, and lots of fun things!
• Make your launch exclusive. Emphasizing scarcity and an exclusive experience inside your subscription… this can ONLY be found here is another great way to get readers in.

3. Once you pick your goal and launch strategy… it’s time to launch! Now share your subscription with your readers!

Day 5: The Future of Your Subscription

Day 5 Goal: Analyze what has worked and what hasn’t worked during Bootcamp so we can make our subscriptions even better in the future.

3 Things to Know:

1. Subscription benefits aren’t forever promises. That’s right! You can make changes as your subscription progresses. In fact, depending on how bootcamp goes, you may be making a change sooner rather than later to craft your subscription in a way that works best for you. That’s actually a good thing!
2. Not having a big launch doesn’t mean you won’t have a big subscription. Over 80% of readers who will eventually subscribe to you will NOT when the first hear about your subscription. This means that your initial launch is not representative of the long-term success of your subscription — especially as your readership grows. Launching early and simply is all about getting data to see what will work!
3. Retention is everything. It’s great to get new fans in the door, but it won’t mean anything if you can’t keep them happy inside your subscription. The biggest secret to this? Underpromise and overdeliver!

Action Step:

Reflect on the following 3 questions to determine how you will move forward with your subscription from here…

1. How did boot camp go for you? Did you achieve your goals or not? 

2. Going forward, how much time do you have to devote to your overall publishing business each week? How about specifically for subscriptions? Now think about the benefits you currently promised and the time you spent during boot camp. Will you be able to stay consistent and keep your subscription sustainable?

3. What was the response of your readers to your subscription? If they liked your ONE benefit then what can you do to improve? If you got a lackluster response, why do you think that is? Was clicks low in the newsletter, conversion low on your subscription page, or was it tough to get enough eyeballs on your offer to begin with?

With these reflective questions, hopefully you have some steps coming out of Bootcamp to improve your subscription and grow even more in the future.

It’s been SO much fun doing bootcamp with all of you!

If you want to dive even deeper and get the ultimate subscription author educational experience then we have just the opportunity for you.

The Six-Figure Subscription Author Accelerator is designed to help you go from zero to hundreds of paid members per month without spending dozens of hours per week on your subscription or spending thousands of dollars in ads.

In fact, we can help you grow your subscription in just a few hours of time per week with personalized mentorship, tons of foundational insights, and a community of authors looking to accelerate toward the same goals as you.

If you want to join the Six-Figure Subscription Author Accelerator you can do so here.

Just take a peek at the awesomeness that’s inside!