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In this week’s episode, we chat with Wayne Stinnett, a former Marine who began writing short stories in his spare time. In one of life’s you can’t make this stuff up moments Wayne’s wife found one of his short stories, written on the back of …. well, you’re going to have to listen to find out where. Anyway, she loved what she read and encouraged him to write more.
The initial financial goal for Wayne’s author business was to earn enough money to furnish his woodworking shop. He met that goal after the first few books in his Jesse McDermitt adventures series.
In addition to his work as an author, Wayne has worked as a deckhand, commercial fisherman, Dive Master, taxi driver, construction manager, and truck driver, among many other things. He lives on one of the Sea Islands of the South Carolina Lowcountry, near Parris Island, with his wife and their youngest daughter. They also have three grown children, five grandchildren, three dogs and a whole flock of parakeets. He grew up in Melbourne, Florida, and has also lived in the Florida Keys, th
In this 50 minute episode, we’ll discuss how writing a prequel to answer reader questions propelled a surge in sales that continues to this day. Then we’ll get into the publication schedule that has allowed him to publish 10 books in his Jesse McDermitt series and 3 more in a spin-off series based on Charity Styles in the past 3 ½ years.
We also spend time discussing how he learned the business, the value he gets from a mailing list targeted exclusively to people who like to BUY his books, the counter-intuitive strategy he uses to gets new subscribers to that email list, his plan for audiobooks and more.
Links:
Website www.waynestinnett.com
Wayne’s Amazon author page
Wayne’s Facebook page
Clio Editing Service website
Tammy Lebreck Editor website
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Before getting into the business of writing I spent twenty-five years in the technology business as a financial guy, and then as a serial entrepreneur. I know what it takes to start and run a successful business.
Regarding the instafreebie issue – bear in mind that customers are used to having something for free before they buy in all sorts of areas of their life. Free samples, free trial periods, buy one get one free – these are all common and legitimate ways of marketing. Sure, a list of 3,500 people who are all buyers is better than a 3,500 strong Instafreebie list, but probably not better than a 35,000 list generated through freebies. Mark Dawson has around 70,000 on his list, almost all of which have come from giveaways.
Thanks for chiming in. You make a good point at Mark Dawson’s list (which may be considerably larger than you mentioned) and yes, his list does come from giving away his books. What I love about Wayne’s story is that he’s taken a different approach it’s working extremely well for him. I love seeing the other side of the story. We’ll be doing a show on email list building and automation pretty soon and I’m pretty sure my guest will discuss the value of segmenting your list for the different ways in which new readers join.
Stephen… marvelous interview. An hour well spent. Every aspiring writer should consider Stinnet’s story. His approach is a welcome take in an often confusing business. Thanks. ~ PJ Reece
Thanks, PJ – I’m glad you enjoyed the interview. You’re so right about Wayne’s approach to all of this. I loved his, “well, yeah, everyone else is doing this but it doesn’t make sense to me,” answers to some of my questions.
I’m a bit behind, so sorry for the late comment. Very interesting interview. I would disagree a little bit with his view on the freebie to grow a mailing list. I believe the freebie has validity–yes, the newsletter signups aren’t as clean, the open rate and click rate is lower when I use a freebie to get sign-ups. BUT, I can clean up the list from time to time and do, ridding the list of people who don’t open the emails. And, I do pick up series readers by offering the freebie and getting my books in front of them. So, the sign-ups for the freebies do actually buy books. Not all of them, of course, but they are easy to take off the list. Really LOVE your interviews! I learn so much!
Mr wayne..you have captured my imagination.better than others..Jesse m.and crew are a true delight to follow..I thank you for taking me on an island journey…I wish I could take my young son on the same..love ya mon..mean it