Subscription Marketing By Anne Janzer: Reading Guide

This reading guide was created by sci-fi thriller author Michael Evans to help fellow authors make the most of reading the book Subscription Marketing: Strategies for Nurturing Customers in a World of Churn by Anne Janzer. This guide shares some of the major takeaways from the book specifically targeted to an audience of authors looking to market their subscriptions or adopt a more long-term approach to their business.

Anne Janzer did not write this book specifically for authors, but for anyone looking to run a subscription business, from tech companies to creatives to Fortune 500 companies. The insights and case studies are highly applicable to authors with my takeaways below trying to give you the necessary insights and reflective questions that frame Subscription Marketing in a light most valuable for authors.

Following is a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of the book. But first…

A Disclaimer: the thoughts and insights shared in this guide are inspired by Subscription Marketing, however, represent one reader’s interpretation of the book. I encourage everyone who enjoys this guide to purchase a copy of the book for themselves by clicking here to support the wonderful Anne Janzer and garner more insights from this book.

In addition, if you’d like to watch our Fireside Chat with the author Anne Janzer, you can view our exclusive Q&A with Anne Janzer by clicking here. Or below…

Part 1: The Subscription Shift

Chapter 1: The Growing Subscription Economy

Takeaway: From cloud to retail to services, we are shifting to a subscription model to pay for most of the things we use. Why? Subscriptions demand continual quality service for the things we care about, or else, customers can cancel. It makes businesses more responsive to the needs of their customers. In the instance of authors, this is true too. If you aren’t delivering something your readers really want, subscriptions may flop.

Chapter 2: Shifting to Subscriptions

Takeaway: Be wary of only dipping your toes into subscriptions. Often times to make the business model work it takes a concerted effort. An author must know, what segment of your readership you are serving with a subscription. Maybe you want all your readers to buy through your subscription. Maybe you are targeting your superfans, a smaller portion of your audience (maybe 2-5%) who want more intimate access to you and your work. Maybe you are targeting a portion of your audience that wants an additional service such as consulting/coaching, travel guides, or premium book boxes/rare editions of your books.
- Questions to ask yourself when starting a subscription:
  - What portions of what I provide to my readers can I shift to a subscription model?
  - Can I shift my entire product offering to a subscription?
  - Can I create a new subscription service that reaches a new reader demographic or adds additional value to my audience?

Chapter 3: What this Means for Marketers

Takeaway: Subscriptions fundamentally change your relationship with your readers. The reader’s journey (or customer experience) becomes the centerpiece. In many industries, people focus on one-time conversions to a product. In the book industry, we already know that authors are rarely profitable off one book. In this way, a book series is very similar to how technology companies normally view subscriptions – rarely is a new customer profitable the first month of a subscription. In this way, regardless of whether an author has a subscription or not, we are already subscription marketers.
This means we have to avoid one big pitfall – over-indexing on driving new net leads (new readers) rather than continuing to serve our existing readers. If we have high churn (or a low read-through rate), we will never be profitable at scale, no matter how many new readers we pump into our business. A subscription model for authors may make us more responsive to this and even play directly into reader behavior that is already happening.

Chapter 4: Cultivate Trust and Value

Takeaway: Subscription marketing doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it supercharges it. Don’t try and reinvent your publishing business. Write the same great books you always have written, that’s always the core of the reader’s journey. But there are two key points in trust and value.
Before a reader opens their first book from you: give them the feeling that they are in the right place. No cheesy sales tactics. Target people likely to stay and be superfans of you (this takes honing in on what your meta-story is, aka what core values do your genres hit that your readers share in… and where do people who share those values typically hang out). What can you create that makes someone trust that you can take them on a 5+ hour journey of awesomeness? How can your messaging bring the right people in at the right time?
After a reader completes their first book from you: future books must continue to cement that trust. Continue providing additional value that gets your readers to trust you more, maybe sneak peeks of future books, beautiful character art, or anything that will get your audience continually excited to be a part of your journey.
The massive gap between BEFORE and AFTER is where your storytelling skills do the heavy lifting :).

Chapter 5: Value Nurturing

Takeaway: Don’t stop marketing to your existing readers. Remind them of your books and the key points in them so that they want to keep reading (most readers do not read books in one sitting, and many forget to go back to books on their TBR, I know I have a long list… convince me yours should be next!).
Provide additional value outside of your core story. This could be bonus content, live readings, a community for your readers, or anything that your audience will resonate with and ultimately lead to greater trust and value among your readers. Develop automation sequences that remind new readers to your mailing list about your books and of future books in your series. You can have the best story ever… but no one will know unless you convince them to keep reading. Just like Netflix and their subscription program or Amazon and KU, you have to make a confirmational behavior change in your readers to become true followers of your work. That takes time or nurturing.

Part 2: Value-Nurturing Strategies

Chapter 6: Create a Customer Launch Plan

Takeaway: 90/10 rule. If a customer doesn’t begin using your solution within 90 days, there’s a 10% chance they’ll become a loyal customer. The launch is not what you think in this context. The launch is all about launching your reader into your subscription. The key question: what is your reader onboarding process? We created this blog post as part of Subscriptions for Authors to help you with that. And Anne shares this site about how tech companies onboard their users: https://www.useronboard.com/

Chapter 7: Orchestre Early Access

Takeaway: Anne Janzer opens up with an incredible, detailed example of the function of an appetizer at a high-end restaurant in California. The idea: quickly deliver your readers the value they signed up for (bought your book, joined your subscription, entered their email for your newsletter). TTFV is the time to first value. For authors, there are two aspects of this. When using a subscription platform such as Patreon, Ream, Substack, or your own site (which may be new to readers) how can you guide them through it effectively? Janzer recommends video guides being great for this (you can even create a welcome video for your newsletter, guiding readers on how to read it, etc.). How fast are you delivering what your readers came for in your story? My own metric here would be TTD, or time to dopamine. TikTok is one of the most effective apps at this, open up, and brain candy awaits you immediately.

Chapter 8: Help Customers Create New Habits

Takeaway: Make engaging with your stories a habit. Three elements to this:
- Motivation: Does the person want to do the behavior? In other words, how desperate is the reader for your story?
- Ability: the easier the behavior, the more likely it becomes a habit. How do you make getting into your stories easy? How do you make interfacing with your subscription easy? Are you using sites/platforms designed for the needs of authors and readers?
- Prompt: What triggers the action? What gets someone over the edge to subscribe or open your first page?
Compress the time for habit formation by creating incentives and removing barriers. Anne suggests gamification can be a great way to do this or layering game rewards into your books. What if you gave your readers who finished your book by a specific date after first downloading a free copy of the next book in the series or access to a secret bonus chapter/alternative ending (i.e. a week after buying your first book if a reader completes your book they get the second free). What if you gave your readers badges or rewards to spread the word about your books?

Chapter 9: Offer Great Training

Takeaway: Economic Value to the Customer is the sum of the tangible and intangible value of your solution (the magic and difficulty of story is in the intangible). In this chapter, Janzer talks about training programs and certifications. To take an authorly spin on this, what if you gave your readers badges or access to specific digital groups/clubs if they can prove they completed a series (maybe you design a quiz?).

Chapter 10: Share Stories

Takeaway: share your author story with your readers to get them connected to you. The closer relationships you build the least likely someone is to subscribe. Also, share stories from your readers about how your books have impacted them. Reviews on Amazon are one thing. But how can you make it more personal? Has your reader subscription transformed someone? Put those testimonials upfront so people can see them. This demonstrates value and cultivates trust. You can even do a video compilation of testimonials you solicit from your super fans about why they love your subscription.

Chapter 11: Quantify Your Value

Takeaway: Numbers are persuasive, use this to your advantage. Saying 90% 5-star reviews is one way. Or sharing that you have 100+ happy readers in your subscription. You can even poll your readers and share aggregated data on what portion find the subscription a good deal etc and share that with prospective readers.

Chapter 12: Celebrate Successes

Takeaway: Don’t just focus on the sale, celebrate and recognize what your customers mean to you. Maybe this is selecting a reader to highlight each month and do a sit-down call with. Maybe this is just simply sharing your gratitude after you finish a story with your readers.

Chapter 13: Create Value Through Content

Takeaway: For businesses that may offer their product at interspersed intervals (rarely do we write books each day) regular releases of content can nurture value. Authors monetizing through early access in their subscription, or giving readers access to your stories before it’s released elsewhere a chapter at a time, are already doing this. However, creating podcasts, YouTube videos, and blogs, are other ways to create content that can even funnel new readers to your work. Here’s a guide written by me, Michael Evans, all about Content Creation for Authors. Warning, it’s 90 pages long and a part of a book called Creator Economy for Authors releasing on Feb .1, 2023.

Chapter 14: Create Community

Takeaway: Competitors may be able to replicate the value of your product or story, but they will find it much harder to replicate the value of your network. Create social ties between your readers that provide them additional value. In traditional eReaders it’s difficult to do this within the reading experience. This necessitates setting up groups outside of your product on platforms like Patreon. Facebook, Mighty Networks, Ream, Circle, Geneva, Slack, Discord, Substack, and many more. Don’t use your groups to promote but instead cultivate your relationships and give your readers belonging. Aleron Kong who founded the LitRPG Facebook Group is an amazing example of this.

Chapter 15: Nurture Your Fans and Advocates

Takeaway: Nurturing your superfans, aka the people most likely to recommend your books to others is crucial. Referral programs and compensation are something to be wary of. When we refer things we love we want to do our friends and the company a favor. Compensation can actually subvert that and make people less likely to recommend. Instead think about, how can you identify your super fans and provide them extra resources to promote your work (street team is a great example of this). Sometimes a thank you is as simple as it needs to be and goes a long way. Jez Cajio, a best-selling LitRPG author, credits this to most of his marketing success.

Chapter 16: Loyalty and Membership Programs

Takeaway: Membership creates a tighter emotional connection through belonging and participation. Discounts are weak rewards for loyalty. As Anne warns, “If money alone motivates you, you might go elsewhere if you find a better price.” Early access and bonus content baked into your membership are ways to provide value with loyalty not tied to discounts.

Chapter 17: As for Advice and Input

Takeaway: Opening up your stories to readers is crucial. Most of us already do this with beta readers and ARC teams, enabling readers to take part in our process and provide feedback before our books are published. But what if we did this with marketing campaigns too? What if we had readers share what our books meant to them on TikTok? What if we polled our readers before launching new books? Subscription memberships/comunnities create a space to have this relationship with your readers and open dialogue about your work.

Chapter 18: Handle Breakups Gracefully

Takeaway: The moment a subscription ends can define a reader’s view of your brand in their mind. When readers unsubscribe treat them well. Never hide the unsubscribe button. For returning subscribers, don’t just onboard and welcome them as you would to a new subscriber/reader. Have a returning subscriber onboarding sequence/message. You can even offer someone a surprise bonus chapter or some of the chapters/early access/books they missed while unsubscribed. This fosters further loyalty, especially as people often unsubscribe due to life changes and financial difficulty.

Chapter 19: Share Your Values

Takeaway: Customers enjoy purchasing from businesses that share their moral/ethical/political values. Making your personal values known can be a way to attract new readers and increase trust. However, there are notable potential downsides. Some issues are deeply divisive and can cause you to lose some readers while gaining others. Over-indexing on your personal values can erode the other value you provide your readers. Doing one-time pledges and shows of support can damage your brand by appearing bandwagony and damage the cause by showing ephemeral support. As Janzer mentions, brands like Patagonia have done a strong job of putting their values upfront and using that to attract new customers.

Chapter 20: Embed Values into Your Business Model

Takeaway: Your broader mission can become essential to your business model. Maybe for every new subscriber, you donate to a cause that would resonate with your readers and stories such as a veteran’s organization. This has been especially effective for joint anthologies between authors.

Chapter 21: Nurture Free Trial Users

Takeaway: This is especially relevant for those offering excerpts, lead magnets, or FISF (first-in-series-free). Assume your “free trial” readers won’t subscribe or read through. How can you help them through their reader journey? Here are some ideas:
- Automation sequences following up on their free goodie.
- Onboarding into a community of fellow readers.
- Answering any of their emails with questions about your book.

Part 3: Putting the Strategies into Action

Chapter 22: Subscription Marketing in the Mature Business

Takeaway: Retention is the percentage of subscribers that stick with you over a duration of time. Churn is the percentage of lost subscribers over time. These metrics are related to read-through rate or the percentage of readers that go on to read book 2 after buying book 1 in a series or downloading it for free. The key unlock here is increasing retention has compound effects over decades. Increasing your read-through rate by 3% might sound minimal, but that’s 3% more superfans and 3% greater retention for your subscription. Over the course of a decade that’s 34% greater value/revenue for your business and 100% more after 25 years (the course of an author’s career). Thus, small improvements can lead to massive results compounded over time, and you should structure your author business, incentivize people who work for you, and your internal operations, around maximizing your retention.

Chapter 23: Start-up Subscription Marketing

Takeaway: Start-ups have an advantage in subscriptions, especially smaller authors. Big authors and big businesses have to answer to many thousands of readers/customers and try and shift to a new subscription mindset. New authors can adopt this from the beginning and enlist their own customers as their biggest marketers by delighting them. Beware of prioritizing growth and sales rank at all costs. Long-term value is cultivated through your relationships, things that you have a great advantage to have as a small author. It’s easier to communicate and answer a few emails a day from your super fans than a few dozen.

Chapter 24: Subscription Marketing for Solopreneurs and Small Businesses

Takeaway: People build relationships with people, not companies. This is why companies of one and creators have a huge advantage (and why the creator economy is exploding). Embed subscription relationships into your business. It doesn’t have to generate revenue but can be something as simple as a free subscription to your email list that encourages a recurring behavior/relationship. Creating regular email content, podcasts, videos, etc. puts you in your readers’ shoes, forces you to empathize with them, and figure out what can regularly deliver value to them (sending out serial fiction in your newsletter is an option as well). Do things that don’t scale to build relationships with your readers— respond personally to emails even host coffee hours with your readers or in-person meet-ups.

Chapter 25: Common Challenges and Risks

Takeaway: make sure the promise to your subscribers is fulfilled in your subscription. If you give them 3 chapters a week as part of your subscription, make sure to actually send them 3 chapters. Most platforms let you pause your subscription if you want to take a break, which is more than understandable. And emergencies can happen, your readers understand you are a person as long as you communicate often and clearly. Consistency is key. Pricing changes must be justified and should come with an increase in value to readers. Be wary, if initially, pricing is too low. This could lead to only getting bargain hunters or resulting in you having to take away rewards from a lower tier later, which can damage your subscription/trust with your readers. Start small and don’t overwhelm your readers with choices. If readers have 8 different price points and a dozen rewards to read through it adds friction and potential confusion that can decrease reader conversion to your subscription.

Chapter 26: Four Fundamental Rules of Value Nurturing

Takeaway: Empower your readers. Make them the heroes of your story, not you or your brand as an author. Be consistent in communication, style, and tone across your brand. From your welcome emails to personal reader emails to even things like your author’s note, and the images you use to brand your subscription and tiers. Handle any mistakes with grace and take care of your readers, focused on the long term.

Chapter 27: Opportunity Awaits

Takeaway: write new marketing rules, in subscription marketing storytelling and creativity reign supreme. Reader loyalty is everything, never forget that.

Subscription Manifesto:

Takeaway: In the day-to-day of running an author business, the highs and lows can distract us from our long-term mission and doing what’s best for our readers. Post reminders of your commitment to subscription marketing and the consistent value you provide your readers on a whiteboard or somewhere you will see regularly.

And that’s it for this guide! I hope y’all enjoyed this and enjoy reading Subscription Marketing by Anne Janzer. If you want more insights from the Subscriptions for Authors team, be sure to sign up for our newsletter to know when our latest blog posts come out, our podcasts, and our monthly fireside chats. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this :).