Happy Saturday fellow readers and indie authors! I recently found an awesome new (affordable) tool  to help build my email list as an author. It’s also fantastic for readers who want to get free books from new authors in exchange for reviews.

And no — it’s not NetGalley.

The name of the tool is Voracious Readers Only, and it’s a start-up based out of the U.S. The company found me after I listed my debut novel, The Apollo Illusion, in Publishers Weekly last year, and offered me a free trial. After receiving around 20 new email subscribers within two days, I decided to sign up for a few months and was thrilled with the results.

Here’s How Voracious Readers Only Works:

As an author:

• You pay around $20 per month and choose the book you want to give away for free.
• Voracious Readers Only finds target readers for you and shows them your book.
• The readers who are interested sign up for your email list in exchange for a free reviewer copy.
• Voracious Readers Only follows up with the readers to gently remind them to leave reviews. Then, the company notifies you after the reviews have been posted.

As an indie author and debut novelist, building a readership has been imperative, but I don’t have tons of money to invest in ads. I decided to invest about $60 over three months in Voracious Readers Only.

The result? I went from about 30 email subscribers to about 220 subscribers within those three months.

And guys — I didn’t have to do anything. I don’t know about you, but those $60 were well worth it. My new email subscribers regularly open, read, and engage with my e-newsletter, The Readers Club. They will most likely become future buyers of future books.

As a reader:

• You sign up for Voracious Readers Only FOR FREE.
• The company will send you book recommendations based on your likes and interests.
• You choose which books you want to read.
• Sign up for the author’s email list and download his or her book for free!

Just remember to try and review the book on Amazon and Goodreads, or even your blog. Indie authors give away their books to help build buzz, which will eventually lead to sales. And we LOVE you guys for helping us get there!

So There You Have It

If you’re an indie author, I highly recommend you check out Voracious Readers Only. I think they still have the free trials going on, so you can test it before investing your money.

And by the way, the company doesn’t know I wrote this blog post. THIS IS ALL ME. When I find a great tool that benefits both readers and indie authors, I believe in sharing the good fortune! And I wanted to help Voracious Readers Only find some new clients too, because they were so good to me.

Best of luck, and Happy Reading!