Do you want to extend your blog and reach out in a special way to your loyal readers? Consider starting an e-mail newsletter (aka a mailing list or email list). Here are some tips:
The following are the topics I’ll be covering more indepth in separate posts in this series; I’ll add links as I post them:
- Is Author Blogging Dead?
- Blog or Website or Both?
- Social Media
- Author Blogs
- Connections and Audience
- Content Tips
- Goals
- Layout
- Types of Posts
- Specific Pages
- Promoting Your Blog
- SEO
- Ideas for Posts
- E-Mail Newsletters
- Author Blogs: My personal conclusions – and series resource list
- E-mail newsletters can be an effective sales and marketing tool, as well as a way to keep in touch with your faithful blog and book readers. They are an extension of your blog writing and can be set up through sites such as ConvertKit, MailerLite, Mailchimp, Substack, and more. For a good review of some of the top platforms, check out this post: https://www.marketermilk.com/blog/best-newsletter-platforms Many website builders also includes services for email management.
- E-mail newsletters more reliably sell books (and other services and products) than social media, and draw subscribers to your author website where they can find out about your books and connect to locations where your books can be purchased.
- Publishers are often interested in how many followers you have. It’s one thing to have many followers on social media—but often not many of them will actually buy your books. More followers of your blog might buy your books. But it’s likely that even more of your e-newsletter followers will buy your books, because they are usually your biggest “fans.”
- You can also place new blog posts on your e-mail newsletter so your subscribers can receive them immediately—even before you post them on your blog for general readers to see.
- Mailing lists are a good place to share short personal takes, behind the scenes information of your writing and publishing process, and special conversations with your readers who care enough to subscribe.
- To build your e-newsletter list, try the following:
- Write and publish more work. It will help to keep the followers you have and will draw more followers as they read your new work. Writing series can really help with this.
- Offer freebies on your author website and/or blog to encourage people to sign up for your newsletter.
- Put a link to a sign-up form/button in your books and e-books.
- Sign people up at your events. You legally need to have evidence that people have actually signed up specifically for your newsletter, so keep a list handy that states what it is for, and have people sign their name and email.
- Encourage mailing list readers to share about your newsletter with others.
- Building a list takes time and effort but it can pay dividends as your writing career grows.
- Social media is useful for frequent “quick blasts” and short messages to large numbers of people, but email communications are more effective for personal communication with your fans.
- Use your e-newsletter outreach to sell goods, promote a speaking engagement, feature long-form content, promote book sales, and share your latest blog content and promotional activities.
- Include calls to action in your newsletter. As these are people who are more likely to be true fans of your work, they are also more likely to respond to your items for sale, but also to your ideas that can help them in their reading, writing, and other life aspects.
- Provide “special” information in your newsletter that you don’t provide in your blog—treat your mailing list members with respect and gratitude for their loyalty. Provide material especially for them.
- Make your newsletter an interactive space. Conduct polls, surveys, quizzes, and so on. Offer free copies of your latest book as a contest award. Ask for input on ideas for your new book’s title, cover art, and even aspects of the story or other content. Make your readers feel that they have a personal part in your book’s development and success.
- Want to know more about the uses and set-up of e-mail newsletters? Here are a couple of useful posts:
- https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/guide-creating-email-newsletters-ht
- https://digitalmarketersworld.com/newsletter-best-practices/#null
WHAT’S NEXT? Do you see there is value in having an e-mail newsletter, but are not sure it’s for you? Some points to consider:
- With the excellent mailing list platforms, much of the work is already done for you. Most of what you need to do is simply “fill in the blanks” with useful content and illustrations.
- If you don’t have time to create “new material,” you can always post a copy of one of your recent blog posts.
- Newsletter content can be fairly short-and-sweet, and can be friendly, conversational, and newsy about your writing journey and other aspects of your life. Think of it as a “greeting card with a friendly note” to a good friend.
- If you find having both a blog and an e-newsletter to be too much work, you can choose one or the other. You can link from your author website to your e-newsletter subscription without having a blog as part of your website.
- While there are some advantages to having a “schedule” for your e-newsletter, it isn’t a necessity. You can just reserve it for when you want to make announcements, invitations, etc. to your loyal followers. In fact, if you email too often, you might find some of your subscribers feel overwhelmed when their e-mailbox gets overloaded, and they might “unsubscribe.”
- Some of the e-mail newsletter platforms provide free service up to a certain number of subscribers, so it doesn’t cost to give it a try and see how it works for you.
Be sure to share your thoughts about this post in the comments section. You’ll find a link to it in the top left corner. Do you have an e-newsletter already? If not, do you think you might try one out? Have you subscribed to other e-mail newsletters? Which ones do you like best? Why? If you want to start one, what will your focus be?
Norma J. Hill 