Participating in an Author Audience Swap Collaboration
Update from my author event, indie reads, and a link to where you can get the Malarkey Anthology E-book
The idea of newsletter swaps has been a more common target audience-building practice for authors in the past few years.
The reason is that if done well, they have proven to be very effective at building awareness of your books to your target audience and growing that audience for yourself. And if an author chooses a good author match for their brand, their chances of success increase.
Seems like a win-win, right?
However, there is a catch. Not many authors have gotten their newsletters up and running yet due to many reasons (funds, resources, time).
So, if you don’t yet have a newsletter, or if you know a good author that you could swap with who doesn’t have a newsletter — then how can you make this happen?
This is where an author-audience swap collaboration comes into play.
A little backstory
I’m a multi-genre author who is still trying to expand the audience for each of my books.
I have a newsletter, and I have social media platform accounts across the board. However, my largest following is on X with 36.1k. Up until now, I hadn’t found a good person to swap newsletters with because my newsletters teach my subscribers about writing/ publishing/ audience building in addition to my book updates.
And then the idea hit me.
So many people are focused on follow counts on social media…maybe that was what I needed to be using.
With this idea in mind, I posted this:
And quite quickly, I received two responses. One from a young adult fantasy author, and one from a children’s picture book author. I hadn’t even asked about children’s books, so it worked out in my favor since I have 3 of my own.
Thankfully, we devised a plan fairly quickly.
Here is what it looked like:
We would send eBook copies of our books to one another via email. Read each other’s work, and then leave a review on Goodreads.
We would also send each other interview questions to answer.
We would decide on a date to post our reviews and interviews across our author platforms.
Now, for the young adult author, we have decided on a time in December because the books we need to read are lengthier. However, for the children’s book author, we decided to have everything done by Tuesday, October 29th.
So, how did it go, I’m guessing you’re wondering.
Well, we did these things before posting across our platforms:
Shared blog posts before posting so they could be proofread
Shared what platforms we would be sharing to
Shared ideas on types of posts that would work
What did we do on the proposed date?
Kept in contact via email, sharing links to where we were posting
Checking how things were going
Sharing ideas
Here is where I shared the interview and book reviews:
I made a pin on Pinterest
Instagram via a story and a post
TikTok video with images and quotes from the interview
X, by sharing the questions and answers in images throughout a thread
Facebook, to my own page, and to a New Authors group I host that has 7.5k members
To my website blog and my Medium blog
Shared to my newsletter subscribers (this will happen on Friday)
What are my takeaways from the experience?
I had some authors tell me that their audience was too small to offer me anything. But in reality, no matter how small the audience, they are always going to have someone I don’t reach. So this is just as much an opportunity for me as it is for them
Planning these things with the other person involved is the key to success
Making sure you provide as much information in terms of links to your platform pieces, cover images, and more to other people makes the process go more smoothly
Ensuring you do everything you can on your end to help the other person
If you find an author that you think this method will work well with, I would say to go for it.
The best things that authors can do are:
Continuing to think outside the box
Working together to help one another
Striving to continue to learn and grow
My time at the Lititz Public Library Event
What an amazing time at the Lititz Public Library today!
I'm so glad fans came out to have me sign copies of their books, meet me in person, and even give me some fan gifts!
What a nice surprise!
Indie Reads
How could a visit to the kingdom capital turn disastrous so quickly?
As a commoner, it’s Kaylina Korbian’s duty to bow to aristocrats, avoid rabble-rousers, and call the haughty royal rangers my lord. Especially the arrogant Vlerion of Havartaft.
Handsome, powerful, and a legendary swordsman, he’s the last person you’d want to cross. Naturally, Kaylina irks him at their first meeting, and he arrests her.
Unbeknownst to her, the city is dealing with political strife and assassinations, and the rangers are on edge.
Kaylina must work with Vlerion to clear suspicion from her name, even as she unearths a dark secret about him that will either bind them together… or get her killed.
How many bad choices can a girl make? Because they keep stacking up…
New to Sterling Falls, I witness the three owners of a lavish, masquerade fight club kill someone–and then they catch me.
When I refuse to leave town as they demand, I find myself on the receiving end of their ruthlessness. I have no choice but to turn to a greater evil for a loan just to survive.
Except I keep catching the attention of the club owners. And with their attention comes unwanted feelings: Attraction. Desire. Loathing.
Jace is cold and cruel, and he makes me fall at his feet when I’m at my lowest. But he intrigues me as much as he terrifies me.
When a shadowy organization called the Agency gets hold of a meteoric alloy that can induce superpowers, it falls to two young American patriots to stop them and save the world.
Benny Brown never wanted to be a superhero. Vanessa Hastings was betrayed by the person she trusted most. They both wanted the American dream: grow up free, get a job, fall in love. They’ve faced tragedy from birth, lost family and friends, been shunned for their superpowers. Still, they’ve soldiered on.
But unbeknownst to them, their lives have been manipulated by a murderous doctor with one goal: create a legion of superhumans to take over the world. And when that doctor decides they’re ready to help him, he’ll stop at nothing to get them.
Vanessa will become Aegis, capable of projecting nearly impenetrable shields of force. Benny will become Ironside, channeling blows into armored skin and super strength. Among the shattered remains of their childhood dreams, they’ll either defeat an organization that’s been creating and killing superhumans since before they were born, or they’ll die trying.
David E. Bruno writes patriotic superhero fiction based on time-honored conflicts between good and evil. In his debut novel, World War II never truly ended. The world’s newest heroes were created as a result of genetic experiments conducted by an evil government agency with links to the Third Reich. Comic book fans will enjoy the writing style of Ironside & Aegis: Origins. Readers (especially those who grew up in the ‘80’s) will also appreciate the accompanying tracklist of classic tunes that follows the story.
Last thing!
You can now get a free copy for yourself!