Newsletters are KEY for building a fanbase. If you’re looking for an example of how I newsletter, here’s one that went out today:
https://app.mailerlite.com/b4f2l7
I tend to only send out newsletters when I have new releases, sales, giveaways or other value-add things that my subscribers would like to see… however, I have those things happening SO OFTEN that I have to be careful to not over-newsletter (I try to have no more than one-per-week). I don’t waste my subscribers’ time with WALLS OF TEXT emails, preferring to keep things simple, to the point, click-on-this-and-move-on-with-your-day. That’s just my style – yours can be different. If you’re daunted about “what to write” in a newsletter, don’t try to be ME or follow any RULES, just be yourself. I’d much rather see a quick one-paragraph email from someone I want to follow, saying “hey, just wanted to let you know I’m still writing that damn book! Hope all is well with you” than some 1000 word essay of “quality content” they’ve labored over for hours. If I want that… I’ll read their books! But again, that’s my style. Figure out your own (hint: it’s whatever is most comfortable for you).
TIPS (just my way of doing things):
**I often send out TWO emails with duplicate content – one full-color-image, the second text-only. The second one only goes out to people who don’t open the first, and it has a slightly different headline. This is to help evade the spam filters and make sure people who sign up for my newsletter actually get it.
**Visual appeal – I try to make things streamlined so “skim readers” will still find my content. I also optimize for mobile (preview your email in mobile mode) because 90% of my opens are on mobile devices.
**Remember not everyone knows everything – Just because my Mindjack stories have been around forever doesn’t mean the people who subscribed last week have any clue about it. Periodic refreshers to explain my works/portfolio generally have good response. Even people who have been subscribed for a while miss all kinds of things.
**If you don’t think you have content to send out, don’t send out stuff just to send something – this is usually a sign that you should WRITE MORE so that you have a new release to share! I publish monthly under my penname, so that’s super frequent, but even SKQ who publishes less often has a lot of material for newsletters without coming up with anything “forced”. Here’s the last five newsletters SKQ sent out:
**today’s sale on Mindjack Short Stories
**a sale on my self-publishing Guide
**new covers for my sweet romance, plus a 5day free run for Bk1
**new release of the feminist anthology I wrote the foreword for
**announcing this new Facebook group for writers
(those five newsletters went out over seven weeks)
And that doesn’t even count the weekly newsletters that have been going out to my special Debt Collector list for their weekly free book.
Just my thoughts this morning before I settle down and get serious about wordcount…