#Newsletter-Marketing

[larissa-the-scribe]

Hey! I'm looking into potentially starting a newsletter for writing related stuff, do you have any advice on where to start?

Yeah, for sure!

So, I'll be dividing this response into several parts: the technical details, the content details, and the growing details. (disclaimer that I am by no means an expert, this is just stuff I've learned and/or observed and/or heard about)

Also sorry this is so long adfasdasdadfa it kept building on itself

The important thing throughout, though, is to have fun and be yourself. I'm only partially joking.

Technical details:

So what program do you use? How and why? Personally, my criteria for this was pretty simple: what was the cheapest but still functional option, and/or what option offered the best features for free (without being overcomplicated)?

The answer to this will vary depending on what you want to do. For example, Substack, from what I know, seems good; it's free, simple, straightforward. However, I wanted extra features that Substack didn't provide (automation sequences,* landing pages, etc), and so for me the best fit was Mailerlite. As far as I know, it's the only free option that offers automation, and besides that it seems like it has all the features I'd need. No need to pay until 1,000 subscribers, and after that it's still one of the cheaper options.

Some other possibilities include Mailchimp (though their pricing system can get a bit wonky), Brevo, Sendpulse, ConvertKit, HubSpot and like a gazillion others.

Basically, figure out what features you need/want, and go from there, but personally I'd recommend MailerLite. It can be a bit clunky at times, but overall I've found it more intuitive than Mailchimp, and it has a handy assortment of free features.

Honorable mention: Canva is a free service for graphic design, and that can be helpful for setting up any backgrounds or banners you might need.

*["automation sequence" refers to emails you can set up to send automatically without you needing to do extra manual work. For example, if someone signs up for your newsletter, you can set that up as the "trigger" for a sequence of emails that will deliver a freebie to the new subscriber, give them information, welcome them, etc, without you having to remember to do it every time someone new shows up].

Content details:

One of the other big questions that you'll have to answer for a newsletter is 'what am I going to be talking about for the next forever?'

An idea of how to start brainstorming is to sketch out broad categories, and then once you figure those out, see how many related ideas you can list out for each category (say, if you want to write about book publishing, how many topics or details can you cover?). If you can't list more than like 10-15 ideas for a shortish "post" off the top of your head, you may want to look at a different category.

Also, one of the best ways to answer this question is by asking the follow-up question of "what do I want to talk about for the next forever?" If you don't like writing about a topic, it's going to be an absolute chore, and the less you like doing something, the more of a drain that will be on your time and mental resources. And it will be harder to think of things to talk about. Don't worry about what you should write. That's a trap and only helpful in select cases.

So, what can you talk about and what do you want to talk about?

If that's still a lot of topics, you can ask people for their opinions on what they'd most be interested in hearing about, and in general asking 'the audience' for questions can also be a good way to find content ideas.

You'll also want to find a way to talk about your books regularly, too, since you're trying to cultivate an audience that will enjoy the stories you tell. That can be sharing snippets, updates, or even just talking a lot about similar types of books and have a line at the end of "if you liked--" etc.

What I do is I have three categories: 'updates', 'recommendations', and 'content'. Updates is behind-the-scenes stuff of the progress I've made on my creative projects (and a personal touch of things from my non-work life); recommendations is all about other peoples' books, with reviews, collaborations, and such; and content is a serial story I kinda designed for the email format (semi-inspired by podcast stories). I like talking about my projects (and that also makes the audience aware of and invested in my projects), I like reading and talking about books, and I like writing stories and am fairly fast at writing individual scenes. All three of my chosen categories are things I like to do with a lot of options for content, and that makes it easier to work on it regularly.

A lot of marketing-type people will also bring up that what you're sharing needs to 'bring value' to the audience, so that people will want to open your email; but that's really broad, and the 'value' you bring can just be... entertainment. It can be fun to hear someone talk about something they like (or dislike, depending). So like, it's a consideration (you don't want to just be saying "buy my book" over and over again, you want to be giving back to people), but also it is not that deep.

Also! Don't be afraid to talk about stuff you're 'selling'. As long as that's not most of what you ever talk about, people normally don't mind--and also, how else will they know.

Also also: You will want to figure out an upload schedule that you can stick to. Typically, you want to find the sweet spot between 'regular enough that those who signed up don't forget you exist and unsubscribe because they can't remember who you are' and 'spamming.' That can be anything from once a week to once a month. Conventional wisdom states that you don't want to go longer than a month without sending an email, but there can be exceptions.

Addition to the schedule idea: I've found it helpful to figure out a consistent routine so I'm working on my newsletter regularly, and don't have to panic-write an email the night before sending out. I try to work on my next email for 10-15 minutes a day as kind of my warm up for other writing stuff. Sometimes I really need that time every day, sometimes the consistent schedule means I finish early and don't have to worry about the next email for a bit. You could also try dedicating a day a week to focusing on the email versus your story, etc. Basically, play around with it until you can fit it into your schedule in a way that works for you.

[DISCLAIMER: I have a "category three" content system with more or less weekly updates, and I landed on that because I am an over-achiever who can't make up my mind on a thing to focus on. You do not have to make my mistakes. You can just focus on One Thing and do it like every two weeks or something. That would probably be a good idea for starting out]

Growing details:

Then..... the other hard part (on top of the other hard parts lol). You have a newsletter now. How do you get people to join and follow you?

Well, some sites/services make it easier. For example, currently I'm with StoryOrigin, which is a service that allows you to do newsletter swaps with other authors (they promote your book, you promote their book, etc). This does require you to have some kind of "reader magnet," though--that could be a paid one, like your book, but those can be harder to find swaps/followers for, etc. Another similar platform is Bookfunnel, I think, though I don't know much about them (I did research once upon a time but that was Ages ago and I have ADHD lol)

[Disclaimer: I linked to both, but the link for StoryOrigin is an affiliate link, which just means I get something if you go with them. But I do legitimately recommend them]

The downside to both of those is that they are paid. StoryOrigin is 100$ a year, and Bookfunnel is 20-250$ a year. Bookfunnel has a more tiered system, and StoryOrigin has one price and you get everything.

Now, you might find that to be a worthwhile expense, but it is nonetheless an expense. It also isn't a magic way to get your book promoted; sorting through the different groups and swaps takes time, and it takes even more time if you do what I do and try and read anything you swap with (you don't have to do that, and most people don't; you can usually get by with some quick research), but I have chronic "what if I recommended the worst thing ever" disease, so.

However, while SO doesn't magically solve your problems, it does offer steady growth. I only properly started using their services in September, and I'm up to 215 subscribers. I'm also taking it fairly slow; I keep a tighter limit on my swaps (I don't want to spam readers with options, since I make a larger space to talk about the swaps), but I know other authors do like five swaps/groups at a time (basically just sharing the cover), and that can make you grow a lot faster. It kind of is what you make of it, but also it's still going to take patience and effort.

Other methods of growing your newsletter subscriber count: growing a following on social media and hoping that translates with landing pages and promotion and the like; directly contacting other authors you might know to do a swap; doing guest appearances on podcasts or blogs etc to get yourself better known; and most of all, be very patient, and be willing to make mistakes until you get good (those last are for any form of newsletter growth, tbh). I've, uh, only ever done the one way, so this part isn't as good as it could be.

NOTE: Feel free to experiment. You might not get it right the first time. You might need to drastically change your content to something you enjoy more, if you find out that your idea didn't work as well as you'd hoped. That's okay! Now's the time to learn and figure out, when you still have a small audience. Also, I've found that as long as you communicate with people, they tend to be pretty forgiving.

OTHER NOTE: While newsletters typically have a higher "return on investment" than regular social media, you're still going to be dealing with less numbers than you might think. For example, a good, healthy mailing list will have like 60% of people actually opening the email; more often it's about 50%. That doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong (actually it means you're doing well), it just means that the further you expand, the more you're going to get normal people who forget to open emails.

Other things to consider:

What email are you going to use for email list?

Typically, it's recommended that, if possible, you try and get a domain name email (connected to a website), because that will make it seem more legitimate and help it get through peoples' spam filters. Using something like gmail, since it's so easy to get an email from them, is associated with spam and as such it might have a higher rate of being blocked/flagged as spam. Getting a domain name email is a whole other can of worms, but it is something that should be considered. You can also start with gmail and then switch later once you have a more stable platform, but switching things like that can be difficult/a pain depending on what all is going on.

(also I think MailerLite requires you to have a domain name email?? I can't remember. But that it is another thing to consider when looking for an email provider)

Reader magnet?

This would probably go in the "growth" section, but basically--what extra incentive/reason do you have for people to sign up to your letter? That can be a short story or a guide or a piece of art or whatever, but it is helpful to have something to pique peoples' curiosity. Also, it's a good way to present what you have to offer in terms of setting their expectations for type of story, quality of writing/content, your knowledge of a subject, etc. And you tend to get more subscribers this way than if you don't have anything to share upfront.

YouTube:

Mailing List Research is a playlist of all the videos I looked at when researching. There are. a lot of them with varying degrees of quality and helpfulness, and it's a pretty messy overall. But there's some helpful stuff in there on a variety of mailing list topics. I was going to pick out the best ones but unfortunately I can't remember which those were. I think I removed the worst ones, though.

Podcast suggestion:

For marketing in general (and Instragram), it might be worth checking out Book Marketing Simplified (by Jenn Hanson-dePaula). She covers a variety of topics, and since she basically has a few core principles that she keeps coming back to, it can get repetitive after a while, but she's a good starting place. She has some episodes on email marketing and ideas for doing that.

Joanna Penn is another podcaster people talk a lot about, but the few episodes of hers I listened to were pretty supportive of AI so I got miffed asdfasdfas I should probably give her another go because I still have a lot to learn about everything, but I might go back to some of her older ones, pre-AI, if I do lol

If you'd want more resources, I could go digging more, but a lot of what I've used to learn has gotten scattered over the years, or is like a single episode from a longer podcast series, etc.

[the960writers]

by Lisa Norman

Statements I’ve heard recently:

"I keep getting errors from my friend's Yahoo email. Tell her to fix it!" (hint: Yahoo was refusing the person’s email because they didn’t have it set up right…the problem was not on the receiving end, but on the sending end)

"Why is MailChimp telling me to do something? What do I DOOOO?" (MailChimp was spitting out alphabet soup… read on to translate)

"MailerLite just changed everything!" (Yep. MailerLite had to release a new version in order to cope.)

As the resident geek to a herd of authors, I've heard a ton of this over the last month, combined with a lot of existential dread.

[digitalgirlguide]

the digital girl guide to navigating the front page of the internet 💋🧚🏾‍♀️

I've always had this thing for the girls in the romcoms, you know, the ones working at the New York Times or Vogue. Watching them put together these gorgeous collections for their readers left me in AWE. I used to dream about being just like them. I even started writing just so I could someday be a journalist (she did not turn into a journalist, she works in marketing)

Fast forward a couple of years, and those print magazines we all knew are almost extinct.

What the hell?

Online magazines just don't capture the same essence as grabbing a fresh J-14 off the shelf. They’re too minimal (and I’m getting tired of minimalism)

So, I thought, why not create my own?

Introducing my latest ✨creation✨—a blend of passion and childhood aspirations. Behold the Digital Girl Guide, a thoughtfully curated blog, magazine, and personality hub for girls who resonate with it, those hungry for more knowledge and eager to accomplish greater things.

Wanna join the club?

Click here to get the first volume delivered to you this week:

[virtualdispensary]

Explore Game Art Mastery through Dream.Design.Develop

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[goldenpinof]

How limited is the "limited time" do you think? I know they typically do 2 weeks but sometimes they've only done 1 and don't think I can get the calender until after I get paid T_T

where did you see that the calendar is also limited?

all in all, i hope it's 2 weeks as well, because i'm broke till December ✌️

[penpalsforwriters]

Marketing your book when mental health gets in the way

Hey Pals,

Today's newsletter is written by me, and delves into some personal ~ * ~ * vulnerability * ~ * ~. If you'd like advice for posting on social media about your book/writing when your brain feels broken and you want to lay face-down on the floor (which is how my last couple of weeks have felt) read on.

<3

Pip (he/they)

[caterjunes]

i fucking hate how like EVERY website decided that if you wanted to buy a single thing from them, you also wanted to sign up to receive promotional emails from them for ever and ever

[darrylhudson86]

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[aroaceleovaldez]

Once again the UK Rick Riordan newsletter is superior. Not only are there no spoilers (unlike a CERTAIN ReadRiordan leading up to Tyrant’s Tomb) but then they also just. “Oh btw here’s a link to read the first five chapters <3 but we’ll let you do that yourself ;D” FIRST FIVE CHAPTERS? FIVE? okay UK newsletter this is why you’re the favorite.

[graildemitrius]

Come on over and subscribe to my Newsletter for regular updates on my art and bookmaking!

A big part of my coping mechanism, as an artist, seeing a machine shamelessly steal from me and my community, is talking about it. That's what my letter is. A conversation. Please Join in on it!

[tsreviews]

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[cocosnowlo]

„Snack without guilt“

Please listen to me: please don‘t ever feel guilty whatsoever for choosing to snack on something you enjoy

[cosmikazie]

hey, listen, i have an incredible idea. you can use it if you want of course, im not gonna beg for credit or anything

but listen. how about instead of making me make an account, do email confirmation for said account, try to sign me up for a newsletter, and then make me download a whole separate client so i can access the VST you advertised as free

you just have the fucking download link on your website and cut out all this useless middleman bullshit

awesome idea, right?

[gracehosborn]

Hi Grace! It's so cool you're a writer! I'm really interested in your newsletter. What kind of stuff do you usually include in there?

Hey, Anon!

You’ve reminded me that I should actually get back to making the first issue of my newsletter, so thank you. 😂 Yes, I haven’t actually started it (life and school being the main factors as to why), however I’m planning to include the following:

General updates about my works-in-progress

Behind-the-scenes stuff (interesting things I’ve found while researching, building characters, general writing process stuff)

A section dedicated to my current reads with my thoughts about them

And potentially more! If anyone has something in particular they’d like to see from me, please share!

[gwyoi]

going back to college is not possible because 1. I don’t have the money and 2. I would kill myself if I had to move back with my mom (sorry) and work part time and go to school part time. so what are my options as someone who specializes in office services …… executive assistants get paid more but almost all job postings require a degree and some background in accounting ….. I feel like I may have hit the ceiling for my wage since I don’t have a degree and I can’t afford to take courses to be certified in some shjt……

[stardustings]

My business/creative studio is all set up on the admin side, I have my first contract with my old workplace, everything is coming together 🥹