A nonfiction lead magnet is the digital, downloadable incentive you offer your target readers in exchange for providing their address so they add themselves to your email list.

Whether you call it a lead magnet, reader magnet, freebie, or ethical bribe, it’s what people get when they “opt-in” – choose to add themselves – to your email list.

And you need one.

Nonfiction lead magnets and email list-building

Years ago, author email marketing was novel enough that all you needed was a newsletter sign-up form on your website to begin building your essential email list. Now that email marketing is the norm, things are more complicated.

Today, people expect a gift in exchange for their address, and why shouldn’t they? When they opt-in to your list, they’re giving you permission to contact them regularly. Thank them with a small, useful, and relevant gift.

“Useful” and “relevant” are key. Your nonfiction lead magnet has to be something your readers, fans, or audience need or want. (Do you write fiction? Read “3 fiction lead magnet ideas.”)

Make sure it solves a promise, is short and easily digestible, and offers high value.

Lead magnet examples

My primary lead magnet is a one-page PDF file with my “Top 5 Free Book Promotion Resources.” Authors receive it when they complete the form on the right side of this screen or on a page I’ve created specifically for that purpose — a “landing page.” (I use ThriveArchitect, a WordPress plug-in, or my email service provider, ConvertKit, to create most of my landing pages.)

I have several others, too. I offer each on its own landing page. They include:

• Virtual Book Tour Basics: How to Connect with Your Audience and Sell More Books Without Leaving Home
• Guest Blogging Cheat Sheet
• Book Marketing Plan Template
• Platform Building for Authors Cheat Sheet

What can you offer as a lead magnet? What does your target audience want that you can provide? Here are five ideas.

Nonfiction lead magnet idea #1: The Template

A template is a fill-in-the-blanks form.

What can you pull from your book that you can turn into a form? If your book teaches a system, you might have a worksheet that you can pull out of the manuscript and turn into a downloadable PDF file.

A fitness book author might offer an exercise tracking Excel file; the author of a book on small business website design can offer a form that lets people outline site content.

Example: Momentum Planners by Productive Flourishing

Nonfiction lead magnet idea #2: The Cheat Sheet

I’m a sucker for a cheat sheet, which is probably why I like to create them. A cheat sheet offers best practices or your best advice on a specific reader problem or challenge.

I created my author Guest Blogging Cheat Sheet after volunteering as the editor of an association blog with a monthly member column. Many member-written posts and headshots arrived in my inbox with issues I had to fix before the next step. I used them to create a short list of best practices for authors using guest blogging as a book marketing tool.

Any nonfiction author writing how-to or instructional content can easily pull a list of tips on a specific topic out of their book. Memoir writers can distill their lessons learned about the key problem or turning point in their lives into a cheat sheet, too.

Example: Guest Blogging Cheat Sheet

Nonfiction lead magnet idea #3: The Plan

A plan is a form of calendar where you’ve mapped out what someone needs to do on a schedule – it might be daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly.

Are you a cookbook author? Create a menu plan based on your book. Is yours a career book for new college graduates? Provide a simple “do this, then do that” plan for landing that first job.

Example: 100 Days of Real Food (when you move your mouse to leave the page, you’ll get a pop-up with a free meal plan offer)

Nonfiction lead magnet idea #4: The Resource List

People love resource lists because they save them time.

What are your favorite resources that are related to your topic? What tools, products, or sites do you use that will help others who are interested in what you write about? Drop them into a one-page resource list.

Are you a social media guru? List your favorite content creation and scheduling tools. Do you write travel books? Give us a list of what you won’t leave home without.

Example: The Content Hacker Educational Resource List for Today’s Marketers-in-Training

Nonfiction lead magnet idea #5: The Checklist

Who doesn’t love a checklist that will keep them on track and prevent mistakes?

Do you offer dating advice? List the elements of a dating app profile that gets results. Is your book about how to make soap? Give us an ingredients shopping list.

Example: The Ultimate Optin Form Checklist

Designing your lead magnet

Before you can create a compelling lead magnet, you need to know what goes into one and what it looks like. For that reason, I recommend downloading the examples listed above.

Add yourself to lots of other email lists, too, and study their lead magnets to see how others are doing it.

Once you’ve selected a format and written text to go with it, you’ll decide whether you’re going to design it yourself or outsource the work.

You can also create an attractive, effective lead magnet with low- or no-cost resources. I’ve used each of the following. The first is for out-sourcing; the second two are do-it-yourself options.

Fiverr 

Fiverr is an online marketplace for freelance services. For tasks like this, I think it’s an easier way to find a graphic artist than alternatives that include ask friends for recommendations or using a job site such as Upwork.

On the site, search for “lead magnet design” until you find one or two designers that you like.

When placing an order, attach to your order a lead magnet that represents what you’re looking for. It will help your designer better understand what you need in a finished product.

If you don’t have a lead magnet to offer as a sample, scroll through the design samples offered by Fiverr designers to find something that resonates with you and your book’s personality.

In general, I find that I get the best results on Fiverr when I can give the designer an example of the type of look I’d like to have.

Designrr 

Designrr is one of my favorite book marketing resources. It’s a web-based tool that lets me take content I’ve already created on my blog, in a Word file, or on a web page and turn it into a range of end products. I pay $27 for it annually and use it specifically for lead magnets.

Just last week, I used it to turn my 2021 Literary Calendar blog post into a downloadable PDF. Now, authors reading that article can also download and save the calendar when they provide their email address.

It was as simple as selecting the template I wanted to use (this one was my first time using a two-column design), pasting my URL into the form for the text import, and  playing around with the result.

Every time I use it, I get a little more brave . . . and a little more creative.

Canva 

Canva is an online design tool with both free and premium levels.

Creating a lead magnet is easier, of course, if you already know how to use Canva. If you aren’t taking advantage of it yet, it will probably take longer to create an end product than other options. Reviewing templates and learning how to customize or replace elements isn’t hard, but it takes time.

If you know what you want  – say, an e-book or a checklist   – simply type that term into the search box. You can also search for “lead magnet” to get some fun ideas and templates.

As an alternative, on the home page, review the options under the Canva header image. These categories are your best bets:

• Documents
• Education
• Marketing
• Events

Click around each collection to find something that speaks to you.

Set aside time to browse your options, as there are plenty of them. To get started, in the “documents” collection, try the “A4 document” options. Or, in the “events” group, select “announcement” in the “events” collection.

There are many more lead magnet options available to you, so spend some time Googling the topic to see what else you might discover. Once you’ve got your lead magnet (or magnets!) in place, remember that it won’t help if people don’t know about it.

Your goal with email list-building is to constantly send ideal readers to your landing page so your list — and your reach — grows steadily.

If you have a lead magnet, please tell us what it is in a comment and explain why you selected that format and topic. 

Reader Magnets

That doesn’t mean that nonfiction authors can’t learn from it, though. It just means that if you write nonfiction, you’ll have to fill in a few blanks on your own. (More on that later.)

Use free books as reader magnets

The premise behind the book is that fiction writers can attract the right readers to their email lists by giving away their first book, which contains a link to a page on the author’s website where the reader can download a second book for free in exchange for providing their email address.

It seems that the detailed instructions provided in this 50-page book apply to fiction authors who have written at least two books. Because of that, it would be easy to conclude that the advice in Reader Magnets won’t help a novelist writing that first book, or who has written just one book so far.

But that’s not the case.

Approach this strategy with an open mind and creativity, and you will see that you can still use Stephenson’s approach and helpful how-to information with different “ethical bribes” to get readers on your list. Instead of offering a free e-book, offer a short story, novella, printable illustrations from a children’s book, and so on.

What do you have in your files already that will give readers a sample of your storytelling skills?

If you write nonfiction

If you write nonfiction and have authored just one book — and perhaps don’t intend to write another — you can use other content for your ethical bribe. Consider offering a collection of blog posts on a specific topic or a special report, checklist, template, audio interview, demonstration video, and so on.

Here’s what I really like about this book: Stephenson shows you how to do it with screenshots and detailed instructions. While most content of this sort says, “Create an account with Mailchimp and follow the instructions to add a template to your site and create a list,” expecting you to figure out the specifics on your own, Stephenson says, “Here’s what you will see on your screen when you take this step.”

He explains how to set up what’s called a “landing page,” a web page with a single purpose: to offer that reader magnet in exchange for an email address.

Using Mailchimp as an email list management service example, he shows how to set up your email system.

Finally, he explains what to send to your mailing list, and when, so that you stay in touch with readers in a way that’s rewarding for both them and you.

Naturally, because this book is just 50 pages, it isn’t the only resource you’ll ever need to truly understand email marketing best practices or landing page design. Still, it offers enough details and specifics to get you up and running while you learn more.

I recommend it for any author of fiction or nonfiction who understands the importance of email marketing to book sales and author success.

Have you started building an email list?