It’s always been our goal to make selling your work as easy as sharing it. But even if you don’t have experience selling your work yet, you probably know that going live with what you’ve created isn’t the end of it. And it’s certainly not the beginning.
Today we’re releasing a new tool for your belt. Audience gives creators who aren’t ready to sell yet a way to generate excitement and build an audience before releasing a new product, series, or venture. Experienced creators already selling on Gumroad can also use the tool to grow their existing audience.
With Audience, you can easily create and customize your very own landing page. People interested in what you’re up to can sign up to follow your creative projects. And voila! You can now send updates and attachments to those who sign up on your landing page (without having to first publish and sell a product). You now have a direct link to the very people who most value what you’re working on— your audience.
So why build your audience before releasing a new product, series, or venture?
1. Wanna go steady?
An email list allows creators to establish a relationship with their audience before making any sort of sales pitch.
2. Waiting can be fun.
There’s anticipation in a countdown. Take advantage of the allure of mystery.
3. When people wait, they chat.
As excitement builds closer to your release, those who have signed your list will help you spread the word about your project.
4. An object in motion stays in motion.
An email list helps ensure strong sales right out the gate. We like to think that Newton’s first law of motion can be true for sales, so that burst of energy on release day is important.
Audience will also give you valuable insight via our powerful analytics. Know where visitors to your landing page are coming from. Keep track of new and current followers. Understand who your customers are before making your first sale.
Not sure how to get started? Hesitant to share your work with the world? It can happen to all of us. But fear not, we’re here to help. We created a 30 day audience-building challenge to help you take the first steps towards creating for a living.
We’re releasing one tip a day for the month of January. Accept the Gumroad 30 Day Challenge to get audience-building tips delivered to your inbox daily. Building an audience, launching products, running a creative business— it’s all in reach. This is your year.