In my second post highlighting people and brands who put their audience first, I’m talking about Scott Sigler, another one of the speakers I saw at New Media Expo.
Scott Sigler
photo by Amy Davis Roth
Scott Sigler is a New York Times best-selling novelist. He is the author of Nocturnal, Ancestor, Infected and Contagious. He is also co-founder of Dark Øverlord Media.
Before he was published, Scott built a large online following by giving away his work in podcasts. His fanbase grew and grew and eventually helped him get a book deal. This is the point in the story where, without ever having read or heard any of Scott’s work, I became a fan.
His fans are his priority
When it came time to sign a contract with a publisher, Scott insisted that it be written into the contract that he be able to continue podcasting his books for free. Why?
“My father had a phrase, “you dance with the one that brought ya.”
His fans got him popular by listening to his free podcasts. Penalizing them for helping him get to where he is now didn’t feel right to him. That’s pure awesome.
It’s about relationships
There are a lot of other great reasons he continues to give away content for free. Ones that fall so in line with “it’s all about them”. Provide great content for free and people will come because it’s free. The opportunity to connect with them, to grow them into loyal fans who then WANT to help you and support you is so much more valuable than someone who paid $15 once and never came back to your work again.
This is how you build a relationship with your audience that can be sustained. Appreciating and rewarding the people who helped you get where you are.
It really does pay off
Scott sometimes includes some of his fans’ names in his books. It’s exciting for the fans and they get to show off that they’re in the book. And then things like this can happen:
Can you even imagine what this kind of exposure is worth?
Make what you do about your audience. Where would you be without them?
Do you know of any great examples of this? Leave a comment and let me know so I can check them out! And if you liked this post, please share! :)