Five things you can include in your author newsletter 1. Once you tell your readers how often they’ll get a newsletter though, stick to your schedule so they can look forward to receiving it and know you follow through on your word. So! These elements apply regardless of whether you're creating an email or print version. Calls for feedback. 616 votes - 76%. Display social media links. “Let’s just create an email newsletter!” If marketers had a dime for every time we’ve heard that suggestion at a meeting. Getting Started: Newsletter Size and Dimensions Cover and title reveals are the most obvious option, but you might also like to offer additional sneak peeks with things like excerpts and ‘first looks’ at upcoming books. We’ll also take you through the steps for setting up your newsletter, and talk about what sort of content you might like to include. Once you’re all set up with a mailing list provider, create a sign-up landing page using their platform. So a ‘What I’ve been reading’ segment can be a really useful and relevant inclusion in your newsletter. Try to include things readers might find helpful, entertaining or insightful. So! What have you used successfully in your newsletter? If you suspect that many of your readers/subscribers might also be writers themselves, take a leaf out of Susan Dennard’s book and include some writing advice and/or insight into the world of writing and indie publishing. 1. Susan Dennard’s author newsletter archive, Pinterest boards/aesthetics for your novels, Spotify playlists you use while you write, Sketches of characters or scenes (if you’re the artistic type, like. Talk about your recent and upcoming releases. This article has been viewed 590,521 times. 49. Invite friends, family and readers to sign up for your newsletter either online or at your launch party. We know, we know. If you missed it, check it out! It’s no secret that email remains a valuable marketing tool in the business world, where a single dollar spent wisely can deliver an impressive return on investment of $42. ... and within those templates you use drag-and-drop elements such as text boxes to create your newsletter design. Susan Dennard’s author newsletter archive is an example of a good balance of content. Not long ago, publishing was a one-way street. And speaking of blogging – whenever you contribute a guest blog, you should use it to your newsletter’s best advantage by including a subscriber link in every post. Mastering your online author presence is something all modern writers need to learn how to do – especially those who are self-published. You might like to talk about current news in regards to your books and writing; give an update on where you’re at with your latest book; or even just write about something that’s been on your mind or happening in your life. We’ve talked before about the importance of building your author platform. Include Helps and Links. Now you know why you need an author newsletter, it’s time to learn how to create one. How you can implement a newsletter; What they should include to keep readers invested; Benefits of school email newsletters. How often you mail out a newsletter depends entirely on you. It’s best to do this with some small, unobtrusive icons. You should also post teasers about what’s going to be in your upcoming newsletters in order to pique people’s curiosity enough to sign-up ahead of time. It’s also a nice way to show support for other authors. Once you do have the technicalities smoothed out of signing people up for your newsletter, post a link on twitter and Facebook, both your professional and personal accounts. An email newsletter is a virtual newsletter sent via email to … How to Start a Newsletter. You’ll also want to include high quality images to add color and catch people’s eyes. Including a shout-out to a fellow indie author and directing people towards their books is great indie author karma, and basically just a cool thing to do. You don’t need to worry about working out the code for the subscription form yourself; whichever newsletter program you’ve chosen will provide instructions on their website for embedding a sign-up box. If you’re stuck between two book cover … To create this article, 37 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. You can edit the text in this area, and change where the contact form on the right submits to, by entering edit mode using the modes on the bottom right. You wrote a newsletter, article, or white paper, sent it to your readers, and they either read it or ignored it. ‘Wait a minute,’ you’re probably thinking. If they like what they read in one form, the more likely they are to check out the others. With the right motivation, you’ll get a good start on a list of people who already love your work. Let’s take the great reason to blog (regularly engage your mailing list) and make it easier by turning it into a monthly newsletter. Ask yourself, “How will this benefit them?” If you add value to the lives of your readers, they’ll be more likely to read what you send and share it with others. People love freebies, and a little bonus might be what it takes to get them entering their email address. Send many. A regular newsletter keeps you at forefront of readers’ minds and provides an insight into who you are as an author and a person. One of the big misconceptions about newsletters is that it needs to be a multipage “book” about you and your writing. One of the most exciting benefits you can offer to newsletter subscribers is access to exclusive reveals for your books. Now you know why you need an author newsletter, it’s time to learn how to create one. Author newsletters are a great way to reach out to your readers on a regular basis and interact with them in various ways. Others mail one out every quarter or as often as every month. Formats . Begin a campaign on social media promoting your brand-new newsletter. To do that, your newsletter format should be simple and easy to read, yet attention-grabbing. Create a Newsletter in InDesign. People can be very choosy which e-mails they sign-up for so make sure yours is worth reading! Never give out your e-mail list to anybody else and assure your readers their information is kept private. How to. There’s a lot involved in being an author these days, and an awful lot of it doesn’t have a thing to do with actual writing! We’ll be delving deeper into newsletter content below, but basically, at this point you want to have something ready to send out to your first batch of subscribers. We tend to agree. It’s considered “spam” and they’ll simply delete whatever you send. 47. 48. You don’t want to annoy people or drop off their radar completely. No matter what design you choose, make sure it’s easily viewable on smart phones as well. Create a contest. We provide editing, design, publishing, and marketing of fiction and non-fiction. It’s a great place to update your readers with upcoming releases and events, divulge behind the scenes information, and share topical discussions you know they’ll be interested in. include a sign-up form in an unmissable place on your author website, at the back of your e-books (add the URL in print books), in the footer of your emails, and anywhere else you can think of It’s gold in terms of marketing and you don’t want to lose it. Some ideas for bonus free content include: You might also like to run competitions or giveaways exclusive to your subscribers, where they can win a copy of your book or some literary ‘swag’. Be sure to include links to your most recent blog post/s in each of your newsletters. Let your subscribers know what author events you have coming up, such as book launches, talks and other appearances. Author newsletters are a great way to reach out to your readers on a regular basis and interact with them in various ways. As we mentioned above, the first few months of your author newsletter are a great time to test the waters a little – finding out what works and doesn’t work, and refining your content to find that perfect formula and balance. It gets the word out there about your current and upcoming books, and provides an easy way for readers to click through and buy your novels. What do you like to see in an email from an author? This should be easy to see – perhaps even appearing as a permanent sidebar or footer on every page of your site. If you don’t already have an author blog up and running, get to it! Monthly is the safest option, according to novelist Katie Rose Guest Pryal: Sending a newsletter out monthly seems to be the sweet spot based on all of the research I’ve done. Let’s look at the process, step by step. Last week we looked at some easy email marketing tips for authors , including how often to contact your email list and structuring your email newsletter. Once you have your program all set up and your sending strategy in place, it’s time to create your first newsletter! Create . In a sidebar you can post links to all the articles, recent posts on your blog, links to your website, and an online site where your books are sold. Consider adding a reader-contributed segment to your newsletter to build response, interaction, and open rates. With the right incentive, you’ll be amazed how many people will sign up for your newsletter. Once you’ve created a personalized template to match your branding, save it and use the same one every month by simply switching out the content. To encourage people further, you might want to offer something in return for subscribing. The easier you make it for people to subscribe to your newsletter, the more people you’ll have reading it. An author newsletter can be one of the most powerful tools in your book marketing toolkit but it isn't always easy to create enticing content. So how often should your newsletters go out? A lot of people you know who may not yet be a fan of your author page will want to get the freebie and read your newsletter. Test the waters and see what works – it could be that a slightly shorter newsletter every two weeks gets a better response than a longer monthly one. We’ve put together this resource of many great author email newsletter ideas of what to include. With the high amount of e-mail these days, I wouldn’t recommend you send one more often than once a month as they can become repetitive and thus ignored. If you send it more frequently, readers feel like they’re getting spammed. You also need to keep your voice the same across all your platforms whether in your books, blog, social media, or newsletter. With all the spam arriving in our in-boxes every day, there are a few things you can do to make sure people who have subscribed to your newsletter don’t unsubscribe. Try these 50 suggestions for author newsletter content. But we’re here to explain why an author newsletter is an invaluable tool for authors (especially indie ones). That’s right. Never add anyone to your list without asking them first. You can still keep the regular engagement going by only mailing once a month. Try a simple A/B test on your subject line. It could also be a great spot to feature your book covers. Use this list of ideas to get you started and then come up with some of your own to suite your individual style: Mailchimp (or similar newsletter service) has a long list of templates and styles to choose from. Your first port of call should be a subscription form on your author website. You can also add your two cents about what you love and hate about author newsletters here. It’s all about balance. Driving traffic back to your website/blog should be one of the main aims of your author newsletter. An important part of that platform and online presence is an author newsletter. The 4 Content Types When I first decided to start an author newsletter, […] To create a newsletter that gets results, use the following eight components. A lot of authors don't have a newsletter, but an author newsletters are an incredibly useful tool. It’s nice to include a short general message or update in every newsletter as an introduction. Don’t just send one email. Let’s jump in and see what a good author newsletter should look like. Perhaps the most important benefit is that regular email contact helps you create an additional connection with readers, beyond your books and your social media presence. Many on your list arrived through contests and promotions. Your author email newsletter is one of the best ways to communicate with your readers. When your first newsletter is ready to go, it’s time to drum up as many subscribers as possible before you hit ‘send’. Though you want to keep your readers happy, make sure to have an unsubscribe link somewhere in your newsletter. Click to tweet. Most authors immediately think Amazon is the only place to sell a book. If you write poetry books, design a small e-book with samples from all your published work. It shouldn’t just be all you, you, you; yes, your readers are obviously interested in updates if they’ve signed up, but a bit of variety is nice! ). Choose a newsletter program to use While not overwhelming the reader, make sure to take advantage of the space available. Even better news? If you don’t have any, perhaps just have a reminder section about upcoming important dates, such as book releases or even cover/title reveals as we discussed above. 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