{"id":2615,"date":"2020-03-10T09:00:18","date_gmt":"2020-03-10T13:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/?p=2615"},"modified":"2020-03-04T00:31:32","modified_gmt":"2020-03-04T05:31:32","slug":"author-newsletters-all-your-burning-questions-answered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/author-newsletters-all-your-burning-questions-answered\/","title":{"rendered":"Author Newsletters: All Your Burning Questions Answered!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"637\" src=\"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Newsletter-pic.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2616\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Newsletter-pic.jpg 960w, http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Newsletter-pic-300x199.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Newsletter-pic-768x510.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 706px) 89vw, (max-width: 767px) 82vw, 740px\" \/><figcaption>Here&#8217;s a really, really bad example of an author newsletter.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Author\nnewsletters are one of those things that used to be super-hot when the first\nauthor stumbled upon one like the ape in <em>2001:\nA Space Odyssey<\/em> found the black monolith of human evolution. But now that\neveryone\u2019s got one, they\u2019re less potent than they used to be. Who doesn\u2019t have\na black monolith they keep in their basement but now mostly use as a clothes\nrack, amiright? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So\nyou might be wondering: do I need one or what? And what the hell am I supposed\nto do with it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p><strong>TL;DR:<\/strong>\nYou should probably have an author newsletter if you\u2019re serious about being a\nprofessional author, but it\u2019s not going to make or break your career. I will\nadmit they\u2019re a pain in the ass, but the benefits of one done well are worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\nare all your author newsletter questions answered!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong><em>What is an author newsletter?<\/em><\/strong> <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>An author newsletter is an email you regularly send to a group of people who\u2019ve signed up to receive your letter. How often you send out a newsletter is up to you, but having a regular schedule is better than sending one out randomly, or spamming your subscribers right before a big release. I used to do a monthly letter, but that became too much of a burden, so now I send one out quarterly, and also one (just one) right before a new book release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong><em>What\u2019s the point of an author newsletter?<\/em><\/strong> <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>A newsletter\u2019s job is to put you, an author either traditionally or self-published, in contact with your fans. These people care about you and your work, though some of them will have only signed up to get a freebie or giveaway prize (they\u2019ll eventually unsubscribe). You can tell this adoring mass all about what\u2019s going on in your life, as well as the projects you\u2019re working on to build anticipation for an upcoming release. Fans want to connect with creators, to be more immersed and understand their work better. The author newsletter is your venue to do this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Newsletter as website funnel:<\/em>\nSome authors\u2014particularly the ones who think <em>a lot<\/em> about marketing\u2014consider the ultimate purpose of a newsletter\nto funnel traffic to an author\u2019s website, where a reader will then peruse the\nauthor\u2019s work and ideally buy something. I don\u2019t agree with this logic, since\nif someone\u2019s signed up for your newsletter, then they\u2019ve probably already been\nto your website. Maybe that used to be the case, but not anymore. You might\nstill hear authors advocating for the newsletter-as-website funnel paradigm\n(probably via emphasizing calls-to-action; see below for more on that), but I\u2019d\ntake it with a grain of salt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong><em>What\u2019s in it?<\/em><\/strong> <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You can put basically whatever you want in your newsletter, but the focus should be on who you are as a person, and how that relates to your work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Be personal, but not too personal:<\/em>\nYou can write about personal stuff\u2014for instance, a major life change such as\nmoving across the country, or your thoughts on breastfeeding vs bottle\u2014but\ndon\u2019t get <em>too <\/em>personal or it\u2019ll get\nawkward, and only share what you\u2019re comfortable with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Stay on brand: <\/em>Also,\nit\u2019s a good idea to keep things as \u201con-brand\u201d as possible. For instance, if you\nprimarily write historical romance, maybe you\u2019d include a paragraph or two\nabout historical fashion trends in each letter (historical romance fans are\nSUPER into clothes, so makes sense). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Potential topics: <\/em>Pick\na handful of topics to write about regularly in your letter, so your letter has\nsome structure and people know what to expect. Popular topics include: upcoming\nreleases, what you\u2019re working on, what you\u2019re reading, food and\/or drink\nrecipes, upcoming appearances (if you\u2019re doing the convention circuit), and fun\nfacts about whatever your genre is (ala the historical clothes example above). Check\nout other authors\u2019 newsletters to get an idea of what you can put in your own,\nand how it should be formatted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Marketing: <\/em>A\nnewsletter is also a great place to market your latest book, since the\nsubscribers are (mostly) people who are interested in your work and more\nwilling than the average Joe to buy your books. However, don\u2019t treat your\nsubscribers simply as potential customers. Don\u2019t bombard them with pleas to buy\nyour stuff or pack your newsletter with ads, or they\u2019ll quickly become your\nex-fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Calls-to-action: <\/em>I\u2019ve\nheard some authors say you should include a \u201ccall to action\u201d in every\nnewsletter to encourage people to engage with you\u2014for instance, writing \u201cTell\nme what you think!\u201d or \u201cWhat\u2019s your favorite trope?\u201d or \u201cClick here to find out\nmore!\u201d\u2026it\u2019s equivalent to the <em>Like-Subscribe-Comment<\/em>\ntrinity you always see on YouTube. I wouldn\u2019t worry about it too much though,\nbecause I don\u2019t think it\u2019s effective in a newsletter, since newsletters are a\none-way communication (and you don\u2019t make money off views and subscribers like\nyou do on YouTube). \u2026I\u2019ve never gotten any significant response from a call-to-action\nanyway, though maybe my fans are just coy little minxes. Including links to\nyour books and website as a standard, unobtrusive feature is a good idea,\nthough. You can put these at the bottom of all your newsletters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Giveaway links: <\/em>One\nnewsletter item that deserves its own separate mention is a link to a giveaway\nor freebie. If you can, it behooves you to include a unique link to a giveaway\nwhere your newsletter subscribers can claim something for free, such as a novella\nprequel for a new release or a standard freebie like the first book in a series\nfor initially signing up. To do this, you\u2019ll need to enlist a service that\ndistributes ebooks for you, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prolificworks.com\/\">Prolific Works<\/a>\nand <a href=\"https:\/\/bookfunnel.com\/\">BookFunnel<\/a>.\nHow it works is that you upload your book to the site, and it gives you a link and\ncode your subscribers can use to redeem the book for free. The service is free of\ncharge up to a certain threshold, with monthly fee options available for more\nadvanced features. Just cut and paste the link and code into your newsletter,\nand you\u2019re good to go. You can also use the same service to send advance reader\ncopies (ARCs) to reviewers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong><em>How do I get people to sign up for my newsletter?<\/em><\/strong> <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>There are three ways you get people to sign up for your newsletter: organically, through a giveaway, and through review requests. I touched on these in my blog on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/13-nuggets-of-advice-on-marketing-your-novel\/\">marketing<\/a>, but I\u2019ll go over it in more detail here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Organic signup<\/em>: Someone signs up organically when they read your work, like it, and then take the initiative to sign up for your newsletter. They sign up via a simple signup form on your website, which should be a standard feature on every page of your website (I\u2019ll go into website specifics in a future blog). You see these signup forms on nearly every website these days, so examples aren\u2019t hard to find. There are several online services which specialize in automated emails for businesses (i.e. your newsletter), including <a href=\"https:\/\/mailchimp.com\/\">MailChimp<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mailerlite.com\/\">Mailerlite<\/a>; both are free up until a certain number of subscribers, ~1,000-2000 or so. These services will provide embedded code you can insert into your website to create and feature the signup form. They\u2019ll also catalog your list of subscribers so you don\u2019t need to keep your own list, and provide email templates for you to create your newsletter (more on that below).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Usually\nyou want to offer something other than your gratitude to entice people to sign\nup for your newsletter. These are known as \u201cfreebies.\u201d Your own books are the\nbest options; for instance a novella related to another one of your books, or\nthe first book in a series. It\u2019s not absolutely necessary, but helps sweeten\nthe deal and also give people the option to read your work and let you touch\ntheir soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Specifically, how it works is that a person signs up for your newsletter using the embedded signup sheet. They\u2019ll then receive an automated \u201cwelcome\u201d email you\u2019ve created from your service of choice, which will have the freebie link and redemption code in it as described above in \u201cGiveaway links.\u201d They can then redeem your freebie and become your biggest fan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Giveaway signups: <\/em>People\nalso sign up for your newsletter via a giveaway. While promoting your new release,\nyou might want to have a contest where you give away either your new book or\nsomething related to it. To enter the contest, people need to give you their\nemail addresses, thereby agreeing to sign up for your newsletter; you then pick\nthe winners randomly from whoever signed up. Many folks who sign up for a\ncontest will unsubscribe right after it\u2019s done though, so don\u2019t be shocked or dismayed\nwhen that happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Review request signups: <\/em>Finally,\npeople who agree to review your new releases may also agree to sign up for your\nnewsletter as part of the process. This is most often the case when you use a\nreview request service. Expect a decent chunk of these people to unsubscribe as\nwell (especially if they didn\u2019t like your book), but don\u2019t take it personally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong><em>How do I make one?<\/em><\/strong> <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The automated email service provides a template you can manipulate to your liking, including where blocks of text and images are placed. Personally, I create the newsletter in a Word document first, so I can take my time deciding what I want to say and how I want it arranged. Then I cut and paste the contents into the service provider\u2019s template, trying to get it as close to my Word doc format as possible. You probably won\u2019t get it to match exactly due to the auto template\u2019s formatting limitations, but don\u2019t obsess over it; if it\u2019s close enough, it\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Automated welcome email: <\/em>I\nrecommend, at a minimum, setting up an automated one-time \u201cWelcome\u201d email for\nwhen someone first subscribes. The welcome email can include a link for the\nsubscriber to redeem their freebie, as well as a little bit of info about\nyourself. Keep it short and sweet. You don\u2019t want to give the first impression\nyou\u2019re about to start spamming them with TMI and ads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>ARC list request auto-email: <\/em>You can also follow up that first welcome e-mail with another one-time auto email giving people the option to sign up for your ARC list. An ARC list is a list that you maintain of people who\u2019ve agreed to potentially read and review your future books. This is a great resource because they\u2019re people who already like your work (and will probably give your future work a good review), and it helps you get those early reviews you\u2019ll need for marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other authors\u2014again, the ones who spend <em>a lot<\/em> of time obsessing over marketing\u2014have a complicated series of auto-emails they send out for a variety of reasons, but be careful with the emailing. Like I said earlier, there\u2019s no faster way to piss people off and convince them to never read your books again than to spam them with emails. A one-time welcome email, a regular update email, and maybe a one-time ARC list invite email are probably all you need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong><em>Oh no, someone unsubscribed!! Should I cry?<\/em><\/strong> <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>No! Don\u2019t take unsubscribes personally. Everybody receives a LOT of email, and all of it is vying for our attention. If someone subscribed to your newsletter, they\u2019ve probably subscribed to a bunch of other author newsletters as well, and maybe they\u2019re just trying to cut down. It doesn\u2019t mean they hate you and will never buy one of your books again. It probably just means they want to receive less mail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Unsubscribes aren\u2019t bad: <\/em>Also, unsubscribes aren\u2019t a bad thing! Ultimately you don\u2019t want people clogging up your distro list who don\u2019t actually care about your work and will never buy your books. Since most auto-email services are free for users with subscribers numbers <em>under a certain threshold<\/em>, uninterested subscribers could push you over the threshold into having to pay for the service, but without providing any benefit to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Ignore the haters: <\/em>And\nhonestly, even if some of those unsubscribers decide they truly dislike your\nbooks, there will always be people who don\u2019t like what you\u2019re puttin\u2019 down no\nmatter what you do. Some people don\u2019t understand what they\u2019re signing up for,\nand then think it\u2019s your fault. You can\u2019t please everyone. Haters gonna hate.\nIt\u2019s an inevitable part of the business. Just accept it as a fact of life and\nmove on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong><em>Do I really need a newsletter?<\/em><\/strong> <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You don\u2019t <em>need<\/em> one. An author newsletter is essentially a form of marketing. Your ultimate goal is to sell books, even if you don\u2019t care about making money as much as sharing your story with the world\u2026which is probably the case for most authors. There are a lot easier ways to make money, after all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A\nwell-done newsletter is one of the only marketing techniques that will ensure\nyou a decent return on your investment: you stay in contact with people who\nlike your work, you can advertise with this pool of people who are more willing\nto buy your stuff than the average Joe, and you can build an ARC list out of\nwilling subscribers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Creating and maintaining a newsletter is labor-intensive though, so I recommend only doing so if you\u2019re trying to go pro. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2026And hey, you could always <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/newsletter\/\">sign up for mine<\/a> if you wanna see an excellent example. I\u2019m just sayin\u2019. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Author newsletters are one of those things that used to be super-hot when the first author stumbled upon one like the ape in 2001: A Space Odyssey found the black monolith of human evolution. But now that everyone\u2019s got one, they\u2019re less potent than they used to be. Who doesn\u2019t have a black monolith they &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/author-newsletters-all-your-burning-questions-answered\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Author Newsletters: All Your Burning Questions Answered!&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[496,631],"tags":[641,642,651,650,646,640,634,638,632,637,644,655,647,648,636,633,635,643,639,649,654],"class_list":["post-2615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-newsletters-websites-social-media","tag-advance-reader-copies","tag-arcs","tag-auto-arc-list-request-email","tag-auto-welcome-email","tag-auto-email-services","tag-bookfunnel","tag-calls-to-action","tag-ebook-distro-service","tag-freebies-and-giveaways","tag-giveaway-links","tag-giveaway-signups","tag-ignore-the-haters","tag-mailchimp","tag-mailerlite","tag-newsletter-as-marketing-tool","tag-newsletter-as-website-funnel","tag-newsletter-topics","tag-organic-signups","tag-prolific-works","tag-review-request-signups","tag-unsubscribes-are-not-bad"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Vyi8-Gb","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2615"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2622,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2615\/revisions\/2622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shanafigueroa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}