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I've written a book that I want self publish. The book is complete (well I've completed 3 edits and I'm happy with it) so I can publish to a schedule.

The reason I want to self publish is to build an email list to support a crowd funding campaign related to the book.

The problem is I'm not sure how to build the list. I'd like to try asking people to sign up to get access to the complete book, or perhaps implement a points system where when people share or invite they earn new chapters.

Anyway, I started trying to put such a site together with wordpress, but wow, I'm amazed by how unstable wordpress is. Every minor change you make breaks the plugins and I'm spending more time trying to keep it working than i am writing.

I've found sites focused on authors, however they focus on selling not on building a readership who I can interact with.

Are there any sites or services that help me build an email list related to my book?

Additional info

I want to use kickstarter or indigogo for my campaign (probably kickstarter). The book is a fun introduction to science for young girls and I believe there is a opportunity to launch a related product on kickstarter. I'd like to have an email list ready to support that campaign. So the campaign is for a physical product rather than for the book itself.

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2 Answers 2

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How about Twitter/Facebook + Mailchimp. Use Twitter/Fb to build up the list of people interested in your book and in each tw/fb post, include a link to your Mailchimp signup page.

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  • Cool, you're thinking I post links to chapters on twitter and then communicate with people that follow me? That sound possible, perhaps facebook can be integrated as well.
    – mark
    Mar 1, 2017 at 9:17
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Or simply create a Kickstarter? Many small businesses and various types of creative artists find their funding and audience through that site.

Yes, kickstarter is primarily focused on funding, but you may be able to work around that part by setting it up correctly.

I'm not sure about the share-to-gain-content-part on kickstarter (but I find your approach interesting), however, there are multiple "packages" that the "buyers" can choose from...

Here's an example: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thekingdomcomic/dusk-a-graphic-novel?ref=nav_search

You could perhaps implement an alternative payment-method, using a third-party application? I have no experience with such, but it's likely that one exists.

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  • I want to use kickstarter for my funding campaign, but I've read lots of articles that suggest having a strong email list of interested readers is essential to a successful campaign. I've updated my question with a bit more info
    – mark
    Mar 1, 2017 at 9:18
  • I can understand the value of a strong email list, and perhaps some site could generate and hand out personal serials/keys for every user, which were achieved by a certain number of verified forwarded/invited/joined readers. The keys could then unlock the chapters of your story. Perhaps these keys could then function as "gift cards" on kickstarter or another site.
    – storbror
    Mar 1, 2017 at 9:49

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