Email marketing continues to be one of the best ways for authors to grow their readership. Building an email list can take time and effort and per Caren Wolfe, Vice President of Marketing with W Publishing Group, one of the best ways to get potential readers to sign up to your email list is to offer what's called a "lead magnet". By definition, a lead magnet is a free item or service that is given away for the purpose of gathering contact details. For authors, Wolfe says this incentive can be a lesson from your book, a short story, or other offering that addresses your target readers' felt needs. Your lead magnet needs to be enticing enough to get someone to opt-in to your list and agree to receive emails on a regular basis from you. Wolfe encourages authors to promote their email list sign-ups on social media, Google, and their websites.