Introduction

Whether you’re brand new to the idea of reader magnets, or you’ve been giving away your first chapter for years and wondering why it’s not doing much… you’re in the right place.

A reader magnet isn’t just a freebie you slap together in a rush to tick off on a to-do list. It’s one of the most strategic tools you can leverage to grow your author platform. It’s what draws a curious stranger into your world and gives you a direct line of communication with them.

When it’s done well, the right reader magnet for your ideal reader can work passively for you in the background, growing your email list, while you continue to focus on your writing.

Throughout this topic we’ll look at how to choose the right reader magnet for your specific situation: your genre, your ideal reader, where your book is at in its lifecycle, and what purpose you need it to serve. 

As a bonus for Pathfinders there’s also a section with a list of about 100 different reader magnet ideas!

We’ll explore what reader-centric means and why the most common starting points aren’t always the most compelling options. Plus, we’ll work through the design and setup, when and where to use your reader magnets, and how to assess if they’re working.

As always, the theory is paired with practical implementation Quests to walk you through the steps of choosing, creating, delivering, and monitoring your reader magnet, as well as how to encourage new and existing readers to sign up for it.

By the time you finish going through this topic, you’ll have a reader magnet ready to go, or at least a clear plan to get there if you’re planning things out in advance.

Reader magnets and email lists are important tools in your Growth Process as part of your marketing engine. So, let’s get on with the show and discover the what, why, and how of reader magnets.

What Is a Reader Magnet?

In short, and at its most basic, it’s typically something you give away for free in exchange for an email address.

It’s actually yet another page from the business world where they’re called Lead Magnets.

The name is super self-explanatory once you pause and think about it.

The free thing you offer is a “magnet” to attract new people to sign up for your email list. In business, those new people are “leads” who will hopefully become paying customers for your products, services, or offers.

So for authors, it’s a “magnet” to attract new “readers”.

It’s also a magnet for getting existing readers more deeply embedded in your writing world.

Why Do You Need a Reader Magnet?

🤔 But isn’t your book the magnet that will attract new readers?

Maybe. But it’s no secret that the volume of available books, not to mention new books being released every day, is overwhelming. It feels like an oversaturated market. It feels impossible to get seen.

So, many people are going to need a bit of convincing to enter your world and choose your book over something else. And the competition here isn’t just other books, it’s everything else that demands our time in life.

This is one of the reasons why so many people (me included) advocate for building an email list.

But, assuming you agree with building an email list, the biggest question that goes with that is, “How do you get people to sign up for a email list?”

The leading answer is with a reader magnet.

Which is why you need a reader magnet.

Think about all the many opportunities you’ve encountered to provide your email address for something.

How compelling has it been for you when the sign up form says:
Subscribe for updates or Join my newsletter

In some cases, when it’s for someone you know, that could be enough.

But in most cases, we see this and the default is to translate that into: Give me your email address so I can try to sell you something. And if it’s not something that we already know we want to be sold on, it’s really not that compelling.

So, when someone who knows little to nothing about you is drawn in by one of your social posts, an article, video, or interview, and they head over to your website (you do have a website right? 😬 If not, you can fix that here) … your website’s job is to then offer them something enticing enough that they’re willing to share their email address to get the free thing you’re offering.

All the reasons for why getting them on an email list is important is covered in the Email Lists topic. The point here is that you need a reader magnet to give them a reason to want to be on your email list.

And the thing is, even if they’re already a fan, and they want to buy and read your book, and they want to be on your email list because they already know, like, and trust you… well, now your reader magnet is a thank you gift to tell them you appreciate them.

So the short of it all is that you need a reader magnet for two reasons:

1. To give new readers an enticing reason to enter your world.
2. To thank existing readers for wanting to be a part of your world and draw them in even deeper.

When you look at it this way, there isn’t really a reason to not provide a reader magnet.

The questions now become: What do you provide as a reader magnet? Should you have more than one? How do you let people know you have one? How do you know if having one is helping? 

And, where do you even start with all of this?

There’s more to working with effective reader magnets than most authors realize.

To start with, there are a number of things to consider, which includes your genre, what phase of a book’s lifecycle the book is in, how many books you’ve published, whether a book is part of a series, your audience, and what purpose the reader magnet is serving.

You may have seen me say this before, and if not, you will see me say it a lot…

Something is always better than nothing.

So first and foremost, don’t stress about what the perfect reader magnet is. We’re working with digital products here. Why does that matter? Because they’re easy to change. I talk about this a lot in my website materials too.

We’re not producing physical products in bulk, paying upfront for thousands of units, where getting it wrong would be a massive financial hit.

Start with where you are and what you have.

If that means a prologue, or the first chapter, or the first book in a series… then do it. These are common starting points for most authors, and many never move beyond these options.

Starting with something simple takes the pressure off, which then allows you to dig deeper and get creative so you can then stand out in a crowded market.

By the end of this topic and the Quests you’ll be well on your way to being ready to grow your email list with a compelling reader magnet by:

• knowing how to monitor and assess the effectiveness of it
• knowing what reader magnet(s) you want to use
• creating a reader magnet designed to resonate with your ideal reader
• setting it up ready for delivery (even if you don’t have your email list ready yet)

Choosing a Reader Magnet

Now you know what a reader magnet is and why you need one, let’s dig into how you choose the right reader magnet for you.

You may have picked up on the fact that I mentioned common reader magnets in the introduction section of prologue, first chapter, and first book in a series as a suitable and simple starting point.

You may have also been left with the impression that they might not be the best options, and would rightly wonder why.

So let’s address that first.

For starters, the prologue and/or first chapter are what everyone else is doing. But beyond that, if your ebook is available on Amazon, then the general public likely already has access to this through the Look Inside feature.

The reason that matters is that it’s not an exclusive offer as your reader magnet. It’s not compelling for a reader to give you their email address if they can just hop over to Amazon and get the same information publicly.

Now, if there is absolutely no other means for a reader to get access to these pages, then it’s at least exclusive. But it’s still common. So it’s not a “bad” reader magnet, it’s just not super compelling.

Many authors think of these as an easy way for readers to get a taste of their writing. But ideally, if you’re effective with your public-facing marketing content, readers are already getting a taste of your writing.

The other problem with prologues and chapters is that they’re author-centric, not reader-centric. I know that may seem odd, but really, what’s the goal behind providing any portion of the beginning of a book?

The goal is that the reader is drawn in enough to want to buy and then read the entire book. Yes, the reader gets a great experience out of the deal, but… the primary goal serves you, the author, with a book sale.

A better and stronger reader magnet is something that is reader-centric.

Okay, so what about a free book? That’s reader-centric and enticing… right?

Let’s think about that for a moment.

The average time to read a standard-length novel of about 300-400 pages is 10-12 hours. (Remember, this says average.)

So, by offering an entire book for free, you’re asking a complete stranger to give you their email address and 10-12 hours of their life. It doesn’t matter how many thousands of hours or dollars you put into producing that book, because this is about them, not you.

Now, if they happen to love it, for sure, that’s a win. But if they don’t love it (and remember that your books are not for everyone), signing up for your reader magnet has just cost them some amount of time that they can never get back.

Kinda makes it less enticing through this lens.

* Note that a first in series offer can be an exception when the series is already established.

As I often say, people only buy something when they care enough to want it. And time is money. So even when you’re giving something away for free, give them a reason to care.

So, when choosing an effective reader magnet, you want to focus on what’s in it for your reader. What are they getting out of it? What do they want? What is so irresistible that it becomes a no-brainer decision for them?

This is going to require knowing your ideal reader really well. So if you haven’t worked through those materials, I recommend doing so.

In the meantime, let’s move on to how to make decisions regarding your reader magnets (and yes, you’ll probably end up with more than one).

As you read through these materials and then work through the Quests for them, I recommend focusing on one reader magnet at a time. It’ll help you stay focused and simplify the process.

You can run back through these materials more than once for each reader magnet you want to create, and after you’ve done a few, you’ll get the hang of it and will be set for every future reader magnet you’ll ever need to create.

The Reader Magnet’s Job

The first thing you need to decide is what you want a particular reader magnet to do. Just like your content should always have a purpose (which is covered throughout the Social Media Visibility topic), the same goes for your reader magnets.

Fortunately, there are only two primary purposes you need to start with:

1. Attract new readers
2. Deepen existing relationships

Attract new readers

Deepen existing relationships

Final notes on the job of a reader magnet

When choosing a reader magnet, remember to keep in mind the job you want it to do. For new readers, the goal is to draw them in and lead them to the next step. For existing readers, the goal is to take them deeper and keep them invested between books.

The key considerations to keep in mind that apply to any reader magnet are:

Book and Author Lifecycle Phases

Standalone vs Series

Genre Considerations

Reader Magnet Ideas

Coming up with ideas for reader magnets is something I see many authors struggle with, and is often why many resort to the easy option of the first chapter.

In keeping with my philosophy that marketing should feel like an extension of your writing and creativity, this post includes a list of nearly 100 creative ideas to use as reader magnets.

This list is a companion to the Choosing a Reader Magnet section and can be used alongside the next section with the Quest as a starting point to spark ideas.

Some of these ideas work better as entry-point magnets for new readers, others are better suited as nurture magnets for existing readers, and many can serve both purposes.

Not every idea on this list will be a fit for you, your genre, or your readers, and that’s completely fine. You also don’t need to stick with the same one forever or use any of them exactly as described. Allow the ideas to inspire you to think outside the box for whatever might be most appropriate for you, your book, and your readers.

Story Content

World and Lore

Character Content

Interactive and Quizzes

Printables and Downloads

Behind the Scenes

Choose Your Reader Magnet

This is where we turn theory into action. As always, the topic Quests are broken down into manageable steps.

Your author journey is a marathon, not a sprint, which means you don’t have to do everything all at once.

This Quest is about how to make the necessary decisions around choosing the right reader magnet for you at this moment.

🦋 Quest Time! 🦋

Choose Your Target

Choose the Experience and Purpose

Pick One Option

Create the First Draft

Design & Packaging

Now that you’ve decided on what you want to provide as your reader magnet and have put together the first draft, let’s look at how to plan the design and packaging of it to shape it into a deliverable.

I want to emphasize that for the creation and design side of things, simple is perfectly okay.

In my website training, I cover the importance of clarity and quality over visual enhancements. Yes, a beautiful design can enhance most things: book covers, websites, and reader magnets. But a beautiful design with weak content will disappoint readers far more than great content with a simple design.

Design Scope

The success of any project relies on the planning and scoping of what the end result will be. Whether you’re a pantser or plotter for writing a novel, I encourage you to not wing it when it comes to your reader magnets.

If for no other reason than to save your time and from making mistakes that result in you having to recreate it.

A reader magnet isn’t just a random piece of free content. It’s the first step in creating a relationship of trust between you and your reader.

Format & Delivery

When it comes to building your reader magnet, the program you choose to build it in, the format you save it as, and the way you deliver it are all intertwined. So be sure to read through all of this information before deciding which path you want to take.

The key thing here is to lean into what you know as a starting point, rather than trying to learn something new. 

Call-To-Action (CTA)

This is probably the simplest and most overlooked piece of most reader magnets. Remember, the point of a reader magnet is to draw readers into your world and keep them so they’ll continue to be part of your world. Yes, the first step is to get their email address. But why do you want their email address?

Packaging

Now that you’ve got an understanding of the reader magnet you want to offer and an idea of the design, format, delivery, and CTA options, it’s time to consider how you’re going to put it all together.

In choosing which program you want to use, you’ll want to consider which output formats the program is capable of. 

Build Your Reader Magnet

You’ve got the idea, the first draft, and have been letting the wheels turn on what the final deliverable of your reader magnet will look like.

So let’s bring those ideas to life and get it built!

The guidance in this Quest will help to set you up for a successful and smooth process.

🦋 Quest Time! 🦋

Create a Written Plan

From the materials in the Design & Packaging section you’ve got a number of decisions to make, so grab a notebook and outline what those decisions are and the pieces you’ll need for building out your reader magnet.

The main points to cover are:

Draft Your CTA

You wrote out the draft of the reader magnet content in advance, so take a moment now to draft the wording you’ll use for your call-to-action at the end of the reader magnet.

The key thing to remember is that it needs to be a relevant and logical next step.

Build Your Reader Magnet

Now, based on all the pre-planning you’ve done, decide where you’re going to build out your reader magnet, and dive in.

Your own particular skills and familiarity with various programs are going to be the ultimate deciding factor when it comes to building your reader magnet, but as mentioned, simple is always a good starting point.

If you’re feeling stumped on how to choose, I recommend one of two options:

Setup For Distribution

A reader magnet shifts your focus from selling one book to building an audience that grows with you and is one of the most underutilized tools an author has available to them. In many cases, authors are hyper-focused on selling specific books without thinking too far ahead. But if you’re building a career that you want to grow and have the intention of publishing more books, your success doesn’t hinge on one book.

Leveraging reader magnets effectively allows you to focus on drawing readers into your world (aka your email list), for free (so you’re not selling anything), where you can then nurture the relationship with them and turn them into super-fans who not only buy and read every book you publish but also shout about it to everyone they know and meet.

Reader magnets can take an incredible amount of pressure off authors who don’t like the feeling of cold or direct selling constantly, and they help to make marketing more fun and creative without any fear of giving away spoilers.

But having a great reader magnet that’s relevant and beautifully designed is just the beginning. For them to be effective, readers need to know about them and it needs to be easy for them to get them. 

Reader magnets have a few moving parts which include:

• Entry-points that lead to your subscription form
• Entry-point invitations
• Landing page to explain what they get in a compelling way
• Subscription form to join
• Thank you page for after they subscribe
• Delivery email

We’re going to focus primarily on the entry-points in this topic. More detailed specifics on the other points will be covered throughout other topics such as Email Lists and Websites.

Reader Magnet Entry-Points

In order for your reader magnet to work for you, it needs to be visible and easily accessible. The more places you include it, the more reach you achieve for finding potential subscribers.

You’ll likely continue to add entry-points throughout your journey as you expand your presence and efforts. But as a starting point, consider these first four entry-points as your minimum defaults:

Primary Landing Page

Website

Social Media

Front and Back Matter

Additional Entry-Points

Entry-Point Invitations

While a reader magnet is free, it will unfortunately not promote itself anymore than your book will. So having the reader magnet and knowing what your entry-points will be is only part of the picture. Now you get to show readers why they can’t live without it.

Where Your Reader Magnet Lives

No matter what type of reader magnet you have, you need somewhere for it to live digitally. 

Delivering Your Reader Magnet

Set Up Your Distribution

Are you ready? This is an exciting Quest because this is where you’re going to work through each step to get your reader magnet set up and ready to share with the world!

This is one of the more time-intensive quests with six specific steps, and each one might take a bit of time. Your own skill level and familiarity with the steps will determine how long each step will take.

I recommend planning on about 30 minutes for each step. Going into this with that expectation will help to make the process smoother.

And even if you’re not quite ready to start delivering your reader magnet, you can still complete, or at least start, most of these steps in advance so you’re not doing it all at the last minute.

Take your time, don’t rush, work through each step in order, and have fun! 

🦋 Quest Time! 🦋

Choose Your Entry-Point Locations

Write Your Entry-Point Copy

Upload Your Reader Magnet

Connect it to Your Welcome Email

Create Your Landing Page

Update Your Entry-Points

Monitor & Measure

Tracking and analyzing data and shaping it into something useful can be challenging.

You entered this journey because of your love for words, not numbers. And yet, along with all the other business stuff, you also have to figure out how to be a data-analyst.

So, something I want you to sit with for a moment is that there are two sides to data: 

Quantitative data is numbers. How many views, likes, followers, sales, etc.

Qualitative data is the experience. It’s the descriptive, non-numerical information that helps you understand the why and how of your readers.

Quantitative data is easier to track but harder to understand.

Qualitative data is harder to get but easier to understand.

Both are important, but it depends on what answers you’re looking for. As with all things in business, there are many ways to look at the information and advice, and as with all of my materials, I’m going to focus on what matters to you as a fiction author.

As an example, reviews are qualitative data. They paint a picture and tell you a story using words that quickly mean something.

When it comes to quantitative data, the numbers, most authors aren’t trained to recognize and understand the picture they provide or the story they tell. And too often the focus is placed on the surface-level, assumed meaning of these numbers. Which is why they’re often referred to as “vanity metrics”.

We look at how many followers we have, or how many views our posts are getting, or how many sales we’ve made… and we judge our progress and often worth based on these numbers without understanding the story they tell. But the numbers are really just a reflection of the story that the qualitative data tells us.

So when looking at the numbers, your goal is to find a way to connect the numbers with the words to help them mean something.

In most cases, you’re going to be working with what is called correlation versus causation, and most data-analysts cringe at that. But you have to work with what you have, and rarely will you have the data you need to prove causation.

In layman’s terms, that means you’re looking for patterns and verbal feedback that align with your instincts, rather than strict scientific numbers to prove something is true.

I’m not here to teach you how to be a data-analyst. I’m here to help you understand what matters to you. 

What to Track

Starter Recommendations

In the meantime, primarily focus on the following four pieces:

• Total signups per reader magnet
• Which locations are driving the most signups
• Open rate on the welcome email delivering it
• Click-through rate on the access link

Collect First, Review Later

What “Not Working” Looks Like

For the four data points I recommend focusing on, you again want to be asking questions about what the numbers are telling you.

Total signups per reader magnet

Which locations are driving the most signups

Open rate on the welcome email delivering it

Click-through rate on the access link

Use a Decision Tree

When trying to determine whether a reader magnet is working, look at the full journey and try to figure out what the drop-off points are.

When to Adjust

Before you jump to any conclusions about your reader magnet, always work through the numbers and the decision process above and compare it to your benchmarks, which are pre-established goals and expectations.

But when you’re just starting out with a reader magnet, setting these benchmarks is going to be tricky.

Managing Multiple Reader Magnets

Simplify Tracking

You’ve made it to the final Quest for Reader Magnets, which probably feels like reaching the final boss at this point. But don’t worry, this one is less about doing and more about setting yourself up so that future you has what’s necessary to make informed decisions without having to start from scratch.

This Quest has four steps, and none of them should take very long. The goal is a simple, functional tracking system, not a perfect one.

🦋 Quest Time! 🦋

Define What You’re Tracking

Create a Tracking Document 

Define When You’re Going to Review

Set Goals and Expectations for If/When to Adjust

Reader Magnet Cheatsheet

A reader magnet is one of the most strategic tools you can leverage to grow your author platform.

While I always emphasize that something is better than nothing and to start where you are, I do encourage you to set aside time to really think about your audience and what type of reader magnets would really “wow” them.

Everyone loves free stuff when it’s fun, cool, compelling, intriguing, unique…

As much as we’d all love to believe that the first chapter of our book will be “that thing” the reality is that the first chapter of your book is something that most readers can get their hands on via other means. It’s really not as special as we’d like. Any reader can also walk into any bookstore and easily read the first chapter of any book. So if your first chapter isn’t easily accessible you might not even be considered by many readers.

The first chapter (or at least a few pages) is really what you should be providing open access to so that readers can quickly decide if your writing style is for them; if your world is something even they want to become part of; if they’re drawn in enough to want to keep reading. Many readers choose their next read this way.

That’s a bit more of a subjective opinion, and you can take it or leave it. But it is some food for thought.

Your reader magnets however, are something that should be unique to help you stand out in a crowded market. As you go deeper with reader magnets, here are the high-level points to keep in mind that have been covered throughout this topic:

• Understand the two primary jobs of a reader magnet and what makes each effective
• Consider the relevance of your book and author lifecycle phases
• Know the role a reader magnet plays for a standalone vs a series
• Keep reader and genre expectations in mind when choosing
• Plan the scope of your design
• Decide on format and delivery options
• Plan the CTA
• Choose your program and build
• Understand and choose your entry-points
• Write the copy for your entry-points
• Choose a home for your reader magnet
• Prep for delivery
• Understand what you’re tracking and why
• Know what to look for and avoid incorrect assumptions
• Approach your data objectively to inform decisions
• Gather first, analyze later
• Keep it simple

🦋 Quest Time! 🦋