Why Authors Need an Email Newsletter
As a new author, you may be wondering if you actually need an author newsletter. Why not only use social media and ads? Are email lists truly worth it? In this post, we will cover Why Authors Need an Email Newsletter and how you can utilize your email list to sell more books.
Reasons Why You Need an Author Newsletter
1. Email lists are a direct line of contact to your readers
Email lists are a direct line that you can use to contact and communicate with your readers. With social media, there is always the chance that your fans didn't log on the day and time that you uploaded a post and they may never even see your content. The social media algorithm may never even show your post to your subscribers, so having a direct line of contact to communicate with your fans is a must.
2. Email lists are not at the mercy of changing algorithms
Raise of hands, who here remembers a website called Myspace? Many people built large followings on this massive platform only to lose them all with its fall. With the decline of Myspace and the rise of Facebook many people who built up an audience found themself having to grow a new following from scratch. Email newsletters are a way of getting your audience onto a platform you control.
Overall 90% of emails arrive in subscribers' email inboxes while Facebook only shows your post to about 2% of your fans in their news feed. For example, if you have 1,000 fans on your author Facebook page probably only 20 of them will see your post, if even that many. Now if you email 1,000 fans, about 900 would have it sitting in their email inbox where they have the option to click on and open it up. Definitely a much higher chance of your content being seen if you send it to them directly.
Facebook's organic traffic continues to go down making it tougher and tougher for authors to reach people. Even Instagram's reach is not as great as it was a few years ago. Eventually, some new social network will come along and TikToc will no longer be the hot new rage. An email list is something you control and is not reliant upon the ever-changing popularity and algorithm changes of social media platforms.
Email lists are a sound long-lasting investment that every author should make. Emails continually hold up consistently while social platforms continually change from year to year.
An email list is a hub that you control and a key part of an author's platform. If you would like to read more on this, you may want to check out our blog post What is an Author Platform and Why Do Writers Need One?
3.When you release books you have a quick way to sell to your readers
If someone is subscribed to your email newsletter, most likely they are someone who has read and loved your books in the past and would be interested in reading your future works. If they were not interested in you as a writer they would not be on your email list or would unsubscribe from your email list. The people on your email newsletter list are your true fans who want to read your work. So when it comes time for the release of your next book you have a built-in audience to sell to. Email newsletters are a great way to continuously stay in contact with your fans and sell more books.
4. You can build up an audience before you have even published your first book
If you are trying to get traditionally published, having a thriving email list can help you score a book deal. Publishers want to know that the authors they are taking a chance on have an audience to market to. By having a large mailing list publishers can see that you are serious about having an author career.
Even if you are just planning on self-publishing your books, building up an email newsletter before you go to publish your first book will help you sell more books. Without an email list, you will have no built-in audience to market to. There are lots of ways to grow a list before releasing your first book.
Some common ways of growing an email list, as an unpublished author, are by cross-promoting with other authors, hosting giveaways, and having lead magnets for readers.
Example: You can offer your readers a freebie (a lead magnet) for signing up for your newsletter. It could be a short story or the first few chapters of your book.
Other methods to gain email list subscribers include blogging on your author website and guest blogging on other authors' blogs, going on podcasts and talking about your writing process, and sharing your journey as a writer.
5. You can build a stronger connection to your readers
An email newsletter can be used to nurture the relationships between you and your readers. You can share your writing journey with your fans, cool bits of information you learn while researching your books, a bit of your personal life, and you can ask for their input on things. Example: You can ask your fans to help you choose between two book cover designs or ask them to help you choose names for your characters. They get to feel like they are a part of the process. By including your audience they can feel more connected to you as an author and will be more willing to support you when your book comes out.
Okay, I'm Convinced How Do I Get Started?
To get started creating an Author Newsletter you will need to pick out an email newsletter service platform. Our top two favorites are Mailchimp and ConvertKit. Both are amazing email newsletter services.
Mailchimp is a great option for beginners.
We used Mailchimp on our sites for years and still use it for some websites, especially if they are geared toward eCommerce. Mailchimp is super easy to use. But one of the best selling points of Mailchimp is that it is absolutely free to get started. It is free up to up to 500 contacts making it an awesome email marketing platform for beginners just starting out.
ConvertKit is our number one favorite email marketing platform.
If you are serious about growing an email newsletter for your writer platform and taking your writing career to the next level, ConvertKit is 100% the way to go! We love this email marketing service. Convertkit makes it easy to create stunning landing pages, sign-up forms, set up automations, tag and segment your email list, and much more.
There are tons of great features that really make the switch to ConvertKit worth it. They may have a slightly steeper learning curve than Mailchimp but they have so many helpful videos to help you along that it is a great platform even for beginners. Originally ConvetKit only had paid options but they now have a free version if you have under 300 Subscribers. Now that ConvertKit has a free version for newer authors, this company is even more awesome and we cannot recommend them enough.
I hope that this post has highlighted the importance of Why Authors Need an Email Newsletter. If you have any questions or comments, drop us a line in the comment box below. We look forward to hearing from you!
Blog Post You May Be Interested In: What is an Author Platform and Why Do Writers Need One?
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