Tips for Running a Subscriber Magnet Group

running a subscriber magnet group

Are you thinking of creating a subscriber magnet group promotion? There are significant advantages to being the creator of a subscriber magnet group, so why not give it a try? Namely, you can decide the theme of the group, choose which authors and books you accept, and put an optional giveaway on the group page that will collect more email addresses for your personal newsletter. Some of these latter sign ups will be duplicates of those who choose to download your book, but many will be people who didn’t, so it’s well worth the extra effort.

Best of all, creating a magnet group is not that hard to do. Below are the steps I’ve used to create the magnet groups that have given me tens of thousands of new subscribers.

Create an image

First create an image to use for your promotion. This image is to promote the group as a whole, not a specific book, so you’ll want to create an eye-catching image that will fit the genre of your promotion group.

You will need two image sizes: one for the banner that will show on Book Cave and one for a share image to use on social media.

Banner Size

Banners should be at least 1200 x 300 or 1600 x 400 pixels. Or in other words, a ratio of 4 to 1. Book Cave has this recommended size on the magnet group creation page, so it’s not hard to remember! The site will allow you to upload other sizes, but they cut off the banner at a certain point, so keeping to the recommended ratio is the best way to assure that your image will look good for all visitors to the site.

Share Image Size

The share image size is also listed on the magnet group creation page: 600 x 315 pixels or 1200 x 630 pixels will be great for your participating authors to share across multiple sites or in their newsletters.

Where to Create the Image

You can use many different programs to create images. Photoshop, Stencil, and Giphy are common standbys. Find an image that looks good for both the banner and the share image sizes, and then add descriptive text, such as a name for the group promotion, the promotion dates, and the words “Free ebooks” (readers love to see the word “free”). You can check out the current public subscriber magnet groups on Book Cave Direct to get an idea of what to do for your own banner and share images.

Create the Group

Next, you need to go on to Book Cave and create your magnet group. This is where you will upload the banner and share images. Just follow the prompts.

Create a Sign Up Form

Book Cave is working on a page that will show groups to authors and where they can join right on the Book Cave Dashboard, but until that is finished, Google Forms is a great option to use to have authors sign up for your group. You can include anything you like on the sign up form, but you will at least need to inform authors of what the requirements are and get their email addresses. Here is a template to give you some ideas!

Remember to include the group’s code in the sign up form. The author will use this code to join your group with one of their magnets back on the Book Cave dashboard.

Get Authors to Join

The most important part is getting authors to join your magnet group. The more authors you have in your group, the more readers you will reach.

Let Book Cave know you’ve created a magnet group. Just respond to the weekly author newsletter or email Book Cave with a few details about your group, including the promo dates, the requirements for being a part of the group (like genre and rating, if desired), and the Google Form link.
Post about your upcoming magnet group on Book Cave Direct’s Facebook magnet group.
Reach out to authors you know personally and ask them to join your group.
Post on author sites or groups to encourage authors to join.

Send Authors the Information

Email all the authors who have joined your group promotion a few days before the promotion, sending them all the pertinent information. Remember to include the images or include a link to them.

Here is an example of an email you may send to the participating authors:

Example of Informational Email

Okay, we are all set up for the [YOUR MAGNET GROUP NAME HERE] newsletter builder group magnet promotion on Book Cave Direct. Our promotion will run from [DATE] to [DATE]. Here is all the information, so you can begin scheduling your newsletters and posts.

The target for this promo is newsletter subscribers, and the emails of those readers who choose your book will be gathered on your Book Cave dashboard if you have set your magnet to REQUIRE emails. And you might as well make your magnet public while you’re at it, so even more readers can find it on the Book Cave Direct page. I’ll send an email about downloading leads later, if you haven’t done this before.

The page is live now, but please don’t begin promoting it until [DATE]. You should also check your book at the link below to make sure it looks good, and email me with any issues you might find on the page/text.

Please email me a copy of the newsletter you send out to your subscribers about our promo OR email me a link to read the newsletter you sent out. It would be best to send your newsletter toward the beginning half of the promotion, so people have more time to download and share.

If you tag @bookcavedirect on Facebook or Twitter on posts about our promotion, Book Cave Direct may periodically repost your posts as well. Even one share can get hundred more views. Please do your part! Oh, and make sure on Facebook and Twitter, that your posts are going to the general public and not just friends. Otherwise, we won’t be able to share each other’s posts and neither will anyone else who sees them.

Here’s the group page. Follow the link to see the URL. (Note: This group page is the page hosted by Book Cave to share with your subscribers and online.) Here is the folder where you can find the share images. Look for the name of our group.

In connection with our group promotion, I’m giving away a [$$] gift card to sweeten the deal for readers to visit the page! So feel free to let readers know. Thank you for joining. This is going to be a great promotion!

Send a Reminder Email

Sending reminders to participating authors will greatly increase the number of downloads the group will see.

Example of Reminder Text

We are halfway through our magnet promotion on Book Cave Direct! So far we have nearly [##] downloads. But it’s early yet, and we can get far more. Let’s keep pushing! Thanks to those of you who’ve sent me the links to the emails you’ve written about our group promo or who forwarded emails. If you haven’t sent the promotion out to your newsletter already, please do so today. I’ve rotated the books to equal out exposure and will do so once more. This is one of the easiest, FREE ways to gain subscribers, so let’s keep it up! Share again on social media! Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks for participating!

Additional Tips

When you create the group page, you’ll want to mark the group as public on Book Cave. That way the promotion will appear on the Book Cave Direct page and may be emailed out to the Book Cave Direct subscriber list.
As the group promotion organizer, you control what order the books appear on the page. I usually begin with authors who have the largest newsletters at the top because they’ll be driving more traffic to the site, but I recommend rearranging the order weekly (or at least halfway through the promotion period) to give the page a fresh look and allow the authors equal exposure.
You can publish the group promotion page on Book Cave a few days before the actual promotion starts; that way the participating authors can double-check how their book appears on the page and be sure they have the correct URL to share.
Authors may contact you about how to download leads or emails. You can either help them or have them email Book Cave.
Make sure to download the additional emails you get from any giveaway you create. Email your new subscribers with an entertaining email to welcome them.