If you’re looking for the secret sauce to building your reader lists through giveaways, there are a few fast and easy ways to do it.

You’ll need just 2 things:

1: Upgraded InstaFreebie Account
2: Access to 10-15 Facebook READER Groups

With just two resources, you’ll be able to easily build a mailing list of readers. And better yet, it won’t cost you a fortune (the only cost other than your InstaFreebie account will be your mailing list provider).

Let me give you a quick overview of what InstaFreebie is all about, and why it’s such an important component in a successful marketing campaign. InstaFreebie is a service that allows authors to directly distribute free copies of their books to new fans and readers.

You simply upload a copy of your book and whenever a new reader wishes to snag a copy, they enter their name and email address and InstaFreebie will automatically deliver it to them in their preferred format.

With Instafreebie, authors can set up giveaways to run for a specific time, or until a specific number of books have been claimed by readers, or they can choose to only give books to loyal readers via a protected link.

And finally, InstaFreebie collects new readers’ email addresses for you so that you can quickly build an author platform.

It’s one of my most valuable tools as a self-published author.

Here’s how to get started:

Step 1:
Create an account at http://www.InstaFreebie.com
Upgrade from a free account to either the Basic ($20/month), or Plus ($50 a month).

Tip: You only need the Pro account if you plan to feature books from multiple pen names, or if you wish to further customize your giveaways with your own color schemes, templates and branding.  Otherwise, the basic plan is all you need.

You’ll want to fill out the author profile fields and customize the basic settings.

Step 2:
Sign up for a free account with http://www.MailChimp.com or http://www.MailerLite.com

Both Mailerlite and MailChimp are newsletter service providers that make it easy for you to create mailing lists of readers.

MailChimp offers free accounts up to 1,000 subscribers (meaning you only have to start paying once you’ve gone over this limit), while Mailerlite requires a subscription plan, though their rates are very affordable and you can upgrade your plan as you grow your readers base.

Note: You’ll need either a MailChimp or MailerLite.com account as because these are the only two services that work with Instafreebie.

Step 3:
Upload your book to InstaFreebie. Note that if you are interested in using InstaFreebie to build a targeted mailing list, you could upload a shorter story rather than your full-length book.

Step 4:
Join reader groups on Facebook geared towards InstaFreebie giveaways.  This is the fastest way to launch your giveaway campaigns without paying a dime for the exposure.

The key is to post within genre-specific Facebook groups. So, if you write paranormal romance, search for “paranormal romance Instafreebie” on Facebook and then join as many groups as you can find.

Step 5:
InstaFreebie is a great way to quickly build a list, however the real gold comes from mining those free-readers so you can locate loyal fans who will post reviews for every book you release.

Posted by Kate

Kate is a New York Times Bestselling author who loves making money from all things writing. When she isn't writing romance novels or business guides, she's usually found creating tools and resources that help other writers cash in on their skills.

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