Today we are going to talk newsletters because it is a subject that is a great mystery for many of my writer friends. I’m going to be talking about it some because I’m just going through the process of reworking mine. Now my newsletter is not very big. I’ve got like thirty subscribers, however I did just take a seminar on it, so we’re going to pretend I’m an expert for now.
In truth, though, I have been studying newsletters for a while. Wile I haven’t put all those practices into my, er, practice yet, I’ve been trying to do a bunch of other things. I recently took Bryan Cohen’s Amazon ads course, and that took precedence over my newsletter. And I did just launch a book in January, so it’s still a little new, and I am still working through all of it.
So what is a newsletter? A newsletter is a regular piece of communication that goes out to the people who sign up for it. Usually it’s because you are interested in what they’re doing. A lot of the time it will include things like a new book launch or if you have a sale coming up. Mine includes writing tips for authors and includes links to my blogs. It also includes things like what I’m reading, so my fans can get excited about the things I enjoy with me. Also, it’s a great way for authors to help one another grow since while they’re waiting for my next book to come out, they can enjoy one by someone else!
It’s not an either/or game, since there are typically long wait times between books, and readers don’t sit around waiting and not reading! That’s something authors can do to help one another, too, and you can build up other authors and network that way. Everybody wins.
I use Mailer Lite for my mailing list. If you want to see a detailed breakdown of how that works and what it looks like, check out the embedded video to see a visual of how I set up my newsletter and what goes into it.
Generally, my newsletter includes a few things, though. A welcome piece, an article (specifically sent to my author list and a separate one to my readers list), what I’m reading (which is where I advertise other authors’ books), a call to action of some kind, and finally a picture or meme or quote that I want to share with folks. I also have my header image, which I made in Canva. I go into these sections in more detail in the YouTube video, so please go check that out if you are curious about what that might include.
“But E,” I hear you say, “aren’t newsletters out of date?” Well, no. Part of the reason they’re so important is they allow you to keep your contact list. So, for example, Facebook went down for a whole day not too long ago. It was catastrophic for a number of businesses and folks who rely on that specific platform. Your newsletter is yours. That email list is yours forever (unless someone unsubscribes, in which case remove them from it), and you are not beholden to any specific service in order to keep them.
I know authors who have hired someone to manage their social media and had it stolen from them and either deleted or otherwise turned into something they didn’t want, and they couldn’t recover it. This cannot happen with a newsletter because those emails can be transferred to other platforms. As such, no matter what happens (unless you don’t download your email list regularly). Your email list is theoretically comprised of your most dedicated fans, too. They are the people who have chosen to hear from you once or twice a month, and they are going to be the folks most likely to buy your book.
If Facebook died tomorrow, if Twitter went away, if TikTok blew up, your email list would last. Sometimes social media has things go sideways, but this is ironclad as yours and cannot be taken.
Now, how to get subscribers?
Always the sticky point. Certain services, like the aforementioned Mailer Lite allow you to make landing pages where people can sign up directly to a newsletter, even if you don’t have a website. Or you can use their popup maker to create something to go on your site. My site, for example, has a popup as well as a form that will let folks sign up to my newsletter immediately that I have on the front page of my website. I may end up moving it eventually, but it’s one of the first things people see on my site.
I share my sign up page on Twitter or in various places, and I used that link to send to people who actively said they wanted to get to my newsletter. This is one of the ways you can find new folks to sign up to your newsletter. It’s simple and straightforward and is an easy way to reach folks who want to hear from you.
Another way is to find authors in your genre and do a newsletter swap because, as I said earlier, we aren’t really in competition like that. So sharing your list with other authors (insomuch as sending their content to your audience) and vice versa is an excellent way to support other authors.
Finally, let’s talk content. Obviously you want to talk about you as an author, how your book is going, etc. You also want to include some personal stuff. Not deeply personal, but I’ll talk about ADHD or disabilities and so on. Remember, you want to keep the content of your newsletter focused on your brand, but your brand is ultimately whatever you want to show your audience. It’s what you chose to show them. As a result, it shouldn’t be too difficult to come up with content. Particularly if you’ve been blogging already.
A newsletter is more than just a blog in email content. You want to keep it short, focused, and keep a variety of things in there. I share tips, tricks, and tools. I’ve advertised some of Bryan Cohen’s stuff before since I find them super useful.
There’s another extremely important element of a newsletter, but I am not going to go into it here because it’s better shown than talked about. However, I do talk about the onboarding sequence in the video in more detail. It’s the one I learned from the aforementioned Bryan Cohen (who I promise is not sponsoring me), but I walk you through what mine looks like and what I do when and why. I also discuss reader magnets and why you want one.
