For the longest time, we tend to believe we have to create a lead magnet if we want to build an email list.

Well, people don’t that easily give out their email addresses unless there’s something in it for them.

But they will certainly sign up in a heartbeat if what you offer is what they need or it’s something they find interesting.

And it’s even more if it’s free.

Over the years, I also subscribed to the idea that we need to create a lead magnet if we want to grow our list by tenfold or a hundredfold.

But we all know how it turns out for fiction authors in particular – what we get is a bunch of freebie seekers instead.

And it’s even more frustrating when you have someone who will go as far as using a temporary email address to claim your free offer.

While I can’t say it happened to other authors, I can attest that it happened to me before.

And that leads me to this epiphany moment – what if we don’t have to do any of that?

The myth of having to create a lead magnet

Well, you can choose not to create a lead magnet if you wish.

But don’t complain when your subscribers grow at a snail’s pace, they say.

Yes, I won’t deny it’s harder to build and grow an email list when you have nothing to offer in exchange for the email address.

If you’re talking about perhaps five to ten years ago, then maybe it is.

But over the years, that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.

Lead magnet or not, people will still join your email list even if you don’t offer anything in return.

That’s what I noticed with my email list for The Efficient You blog.

I do have people joining my email list even if I don’t offer anything enticing for them in return.

People actually sign up with my email list!

In case you’re wondering, the website itself has been around for a long time, with the website undergoing much iteration in between.

So naturally, I do have people joining my email list over the years.

But here’s what you should know about the current list for The Efficient You blog – I didn’t migrate any of the subscribers when I switched to MailPoet.

Instead, I decided to build the list from scratch.

And rather than offering something in return, I only let them know what they get will be my latest blog related to managing the author business.

They don’t get anything else, except for occasional special promos once in a while.

The result?

People did subscribe!

Just to be clear I didn’t have people joining the list in droves.

If anything, I get one subscriber here and there and get the next few subscribers in months or so.

Yes, it’s growing a lot slower than a tortoise’s pace considering that I only resume blogging on this blog for almost three years at this point.

And it doesn’t help that I decided to cut back on blogging this year to pave the way for whatever book projects I plan for this year.

But amazingly enough, it has a better trajectory than the email list for my fiction author blog.

And I’m content with it even if I only manage to get one subscriber in months.

We have this new wave to thank for

Not going to lie that it can feel discouraging to see when you can only get one subscriber in a few months.

Maybe I should create a lead magnet to get the ball rolling, I suppose?

But even with that, I’m still bullish on the idea of not having a lead magnet in place just to get people to subscribe to your email list.

What’s behind my bullishness, you ask?

Well, I should say we have Substack to thank for.

Sure, I could be wrong about how Substack works since I don’t have one, and the ones I am currently on happen to be people migrating their existing subscribers to Substack.

But from what I see, the way Substack works isn’t the same as having an email list on MailPoet and a WordPress blog combined.

If anything, what Substack offers is way simpler, with no bells and whistles you can get from the free plan on MailPoet.

You can say it’s a fuss-free way of sharing your writings online.

If they like it enough, they will subscribe to your Substack.

That can happen to you too even if you’re not on Substack.

They will subscribe to your email list because they like what you write and want to receive updates from you.

And they’re not expecting anything in return either since they’re used to Substack not giving them any reward for subscribing.

With many people now subscribing to free Substack publications, it gives me hope that we don’t have to rely on the old way of list building anymore.

Just be sure that you have the email displaying your blog post in full to mimic the Substack experience and you’re good to go.

There’s a time and place for having a lead magnet to build and grow your list

Judging from everything I have said thus far, it looks as if I’m against the idea of having a lead magnet as a way to build and grow the email list.

Yes, I admit having a lead magnet can be a recipe for building a list full of freebie seekers.

But with the right strategy, you can still build and grow an email list full of eager readers who want to hear about you and your books.

And what’s the best way to do that, you ask?

Well, it’s none other than offering a lead magnet in your book’s back matter, of course.

The cool thing about this list-building strategy is that only people who have read and love your book will join your list.

You can bet they’re also the eager ones who will buy your next book when it comes out.

If there’s one way to use a lead magnet to build your email list, it has to be having an email signup to claim the free offer in your back matter.

That’s what I did to the back matter in all of my books.

Don’t worry, Amazon and other retailers allow you to have a link to your email signup page.

So, add that link to your back matter if you haven’t already.

Will I be offering something for free in exchange for the email address on The Efficient You someday?

Well, you bet I will.

But it won’t be for growing the email subscribers for the blog, though.

That lead magnet is for something else.

I can’t say much about it for now since I have yet to finalize the plan.

All I can say is that they’re something you can implement in your author business too if you’re thinking about monetization beyond your book.

So, please look forward to it and I can’t wait to share it with you once I have everything ready.