For Authors: Is There A List Of Our Fans?

[Tony88888]

I see there are list here where readers can favorite their stories and favorite their authors.

I'm an author. I'd like to know who my fans are.

Is there any way for me to see a list of those that have marked me as a favorite author or marked some of my stories as a favorite?

If anyone has any info on this I'd greatly appreciate it.

Tony

 

[PennLady]

I see there are list here where readers can favorite their stories and favorite their authors.

I'm an author. I'd like to know who my fans are.

Is there any way for me to see a list of those that have marked me as a favorite author or marked some of my stories as a favorite?

If anyone has any info on this I'd greatly appreciate it.

Tony

If you go to the page where you check your stats, and click on "Recent Activity," you can see who has favorited you or your stories within the last 24 hours, 7 days and 30 days. I don't think you can go any further back than that, although someone else may know differently.

 

[lovecraft68]

I see there are list here where readers can favorite their stories and favorite their authors.

I'm an author. I'd like to know who my fans are.

Is there any way for me to see a list of those that have marked me as a favorite author or marked some of my stories as a favorite?

If anyone has any info on this I'd greatly appreciate it.

Tony

Pennlady is correct in that we can check 30 days. I once tried to do it every 30 days and keep track but it's tedious. I know it ahs been suggested by myself and several other authors to make it a feature for us even if it just gets updated monthly.
Last go around Manu made it so at the bottom of each story you can see # of views comments and how many favorites that story is on so I think this is something they can do.
Pm Manu and suggest it. can't hurt.

 

[Darkniciad]

You have to be careful with that sort of information, if you gather it every 30 days, or it eventually becomes available in whole. To quote Uncle Ben, "With great power comes great responsibility."

If you know who all your fans are and start a newsletter campaign every time you post something new, there's a good chance of pissing some of them off enough to take you right back off their list. The ones who don't get irritated are the same ones most likely to check your page regularly anyway ( that's why they bookmarked you in the first place ) so all you're doing is killing off your "independant voters", to use U.S. election terminology.

If you lose the middle, you'll lose the election.

If you do decide to announce things, save it for more important submissions. Contest entries. Stories that posted at crappy times, losing hours on the New list. Stories that are outside your normal categories/themes and are suffering low readership, but you believe might still appeal to your readership in general.

If you announce every chapter of Debbie Does Everybody, people are going to start growling every time they see an email.

That's not the only way you can kill your own numbers by keeping too close of a track on them, but it's a good example.

 

[TxRad]

You have to be careful with that sort of information, if you gather it every 30 days, or it eventually becomes available in whole. To quote Uncle Ben, "With great power comes great responsibility."

If you know who all your fans are and start a newsletter campaign every time you post something new, there's a good chance of pissing some of them off enough to take you right back off their list. The ones who don't get irritated are the same ones most likely to check your page regularly anyway ( that's why they bookmarked you in the first place ) so all you're doing is killing off your "independant voters", to use U.S. election terminology.

If you lose the middle, you'll lose the election.

If you do decide to announce things, save it for more important submissions. Contest entries. Stories that posted at crappy times, losing hours on the New list. Stories that are outside your normal categories/themes and are suffering low readership, but you believe might still appeal to your readership in general.

If you announce every chapter of Debbie Does Everybody, people are going to start growling every time they see an email.

That's not the only way you can kill your own numbers by keeping too close of a track on them, but it's a good example.

There are two authors doing that to my e-mail right now. I've asked both to quit but they keep on. So now they are blocked from my e-mail period.

 

[Experiencedguy]

And, a good rule for any author: Do not contact your fans unless they contact you first -- unless you have a damn good reason. Imagine going to a strange neighborhood and handing out free copies of your last novel. 95% would go straight into the nearest trash barrel.

 

[Darkniciad]

I've only emailed fans three or four times that I can think of. Once, I asked them to send me an address at the end of Danica if they wanted to know when I was launching the sequel, SOTM. Once I emailed an LST3K fan whom I hadn't seen comment in a while, and he was tickled to see that I'd not only revived the series, but had more than one that he hadn't read.

Other than that, it was direct responses to "Tell me when it comes out"

 

[PennLady]

I actually put together a mailing list, taking the addresses from readers who had used the feedback form and provided an email address. The first email was to ask if they wanted to be included on the list. I send out less than four times a month, I'm sure. I use it to announce story postings, e-book announcements, and occasionally just a status/progress update. Anyone can always ask to be removed, and only a couple of people have. The key was asking up front, I think.

 

[Darkniciad]

I actually put together a mailing list, taking the addresses from readers who had used the feedback form and provided an email address. The first email was to ask if they wanted to be included on the list. I send out less than four times a month, I'm sure. I use it to announce story postings, e-book announcements, and occasionally just a status/progress update. Anyone can always ask to be removed, and only a couple of people have. The key was asking up front, I think.

That's exactly it. When the one-time invitation comes as a response to specific feedback, it's not as intrusive. Just need to keep track of who has commented before but not asked for email alerts, so you don't do the invite again. An email signature could do that automatically without the intrusive feeling as well -- or something that looks like one when you're sending through the Lit feedback system.

One of these days, I'm going to get around to finishing the coding for the one I've had planned for a while, allowing people to opt-in/out automatically, and even specify pen names or storylines.

All I'll have to do is tick the boxes to generate the correct list for whatever I'm announcing, and go.

Just have to get off my lazy butt and finish it