Last month I talked about Street Teams and well, how mine didn’t actually go so great. This month I want to talk about Fan Clubs and how I prefer this to what I was doing before.
So, what’s the difference between a Street Team and a Fan Club? Well, for me, I thought of a street team as a group of people who could help me promote my work. Like my own little set of minions, they would do things for me and I would reward them with free eBooks and the odd surprise gift. When this didn’t work out, I wanted to try something completely different. I took the advice of a few successful author friends of mine and started up the Melissa Pearl Fan Club.
I LOVE my fan club. I am having SO much fun. The biggest difference to start with is that I have absolutely no expectation. Sure, I ask my members to share stuff for me when I have a cover reveal or new release, but none of them feel obligated to. Members participate as much or as little as they like and everyone’s okay with it, because the fan club is not about promoting Melissa Pearl, it’s about hanging out with Melissa Pearl, talking about her books and generally celebrating a common love for books, movies and music.
I post in there about four times a week and include things like…
- How’s your week going?
- Have you seen any good movies lately?
- What are you reading right now?
Just general chit-chat to make them feel valued and important, because they are.
I also include at least two posts a week about my work – a teaser from my first draft, a question about one of my characters, letting them know when I’m running a special or giveaway or what’s coming up in the next week or so.
In the last couple of months, I’ve stepped it up a notch and started posting things in there that are exclusively for my fan club. In my Masks series, two of my favorite characters get engaged. Because they are background characters, we never get to see their wedding as it just didn’t fit into the story. So, I decided to let my fan club plan the wedding: posting dress designs, cake ideas, floral arrangements, and more. I used all their concepts and included them in a short story which I posted just for them.
A few weeks ago, while I was working on my new WIP, I wanted some ideas on what a particular character looked like. I had an image in mind of the kind of actor I wanted, but he turned out to be too old. So, I asked my fan club to find me someone younger. Off they went, hunting for me, and they posted tons of photos of different actors and models who fit my description. It was a very handsome thread, I can tell you that! It was a very fun day.
My fan club always gets my news first – cover reveals, release news, opportunities to sign up and review my books. But again, with no expectations: they are not hankering for freebies or act like I owe them something. That’s a really nice feeling.
My fan club is just hitting sixty members, but I’m not planning on capping it anytime soon. I’m happy for it to grow as big as it needs to be. Obviously some members are far more active than others. I write in a variety of genres and it’s interesting to see who pops out of the woodwork depending on which book I’m discussing.
As you can probably tell, I am a very big fan of my lovely little club. Getting to know the members has been a huge privilege and a big encouragement to me. Fans are cool and we need to look after them. I read a blog post once by J. A. Huss, and she talked about writing for your fans and making sure that you are catering to them, because they’re your people and the ones you should be focusing on. I really took that onboard and even though my club is small right now, it will grow and so will my business. All good things take time, right? And the people involved in this little club of mine will probably be the ones to stay with me for a long time to come.
That does look like fun, Melissa. My concern is with the time commitment. Can you guestimate how much time you put into this per average week?
I probably spend about 15 – 20 mins a week on my fan club. It takes less than half a minute to post something each time and I do this about 4 times a week and then it takes about 5 mins replying to comments throughout the day. For me, it is not a huge time suck 🙂
That’s not bad at all. Thanks.
Fans? Fans? Ah, if only I had fans. 🙁
Teehee. Great post, Melissa.
Thanks 😀
And you probably do have fans. I didn’t think I had any and am still surprised to say I have over 60 members in my club now.
How did you find them?
I just posted on my author page telling them about the group and I had my few initial groupies ask to join immediately and then it’s been a slow build from there 🙂
My sentiments exactly 🙂
That sounds like a great idea; I’ll have to mull that over. Sounds like you have found the perfect fit for you and your fans. Thanks for sharing!
Yeah, it’s working well at this stage. Long may it last 😀
What a great idea, Melissa! And thanks for the tips on getting the conversation going. I was kind of hoping that my street team members would start conversing among themselves, but so far that hasn’t happened much.
I find I always have to start the conversation, but once it’s going the fans get into it. Occasionally someone will post something, but it’s usually me initiating 🙂
This is a great idea! Melissa, is your fan club a FB page? or a website? How did you initially let people know about it?
My fan club is a closed group on Facebook. So people can see the group, but can’t see the content until they have been accepted into the group.
I let people know about it, by posting on my author page, tweeting and also including a link in my introductory newsletter for new subscribers and I also post links in the back of my books.
I suspect you have to have a certain amount of prior success before this will work. Maybe someday…
Yes – you have to believe someday. Keep working, you’ll get there 🙂
Sounds doable, Melissa, I’m placing it on the ‘things to do’ list.
I find it very doable…and enjoyable 😀
Sounds like a fabulous idea! Instead of waiting for a particularly ambitious fan to start a club for you, inviting you to participate, this gives you the opportunity to be proactive. 🙂