New authors have a lot to think about when they start promoting their work. One of the questions they invariably ask is about newsletters. Here’s my take on author newsletters, both advantages and disadvantages and other sundry thoughts.
I started a newsletter very early on, close to the time my first release came out because I figured I’d have a captive audience. After looking at what other authors did, I started a yahoo group–a list only one–and did one post a month. Yahoo is simple. It’s a text only newsletter with no frills. Most online readers are familiar with it and are already members so find it easy to sign up.
When I did the redesign on my website in 2007 I decided I’d do the same with my newsletter, and I changed to a new newsletter service, one suggested by my web designer. This allowed me to send out a HTML newsletter with my special web header and I could also include pictures.
I send my newsletter out around the 20th of the month, but it depends on my workload and on the odd occasion, I’ll skip a month. Other authors send their newsletter out on the first of the month. Some send quarterly newsletters or two-monthly. There are no rules. Each author needs to decide what works for them.
I pay about $5 a month for my current newsletter. There are other options and the charges depend on the number of newsletter members. Bravejournal has a newsletter service and you’ll also find author groups such as Access Romance and Writerspace offer to do author newsletters.
CONTENT:
Once again, I looked at what other authors did and took note of features I enjoyed to use in my own newsletter. Most authors have a news section detailing recent or upcoming releases, author appearances etc. I do or have done excerpts, contests, interviews, columns about New Zealand life, recipes and sometimes talk about books I’ve enjoyed reading. Some authors offer serial stories, which can work well.
Experiment with content until you find a mix that works for you. I like to keep my personal life out of the newsletter, so you’ll never hear about the private workings of my marriage or about the wild weekend I had last month. You might hear about travel and I might mention my husband in passing, usually a little gentle fun at his expense, but that’s it. I don’t like to hear about people’s sex lives or intensely personal stuff and apply the same rule to my newsletter.
THINGS YOU SHOULD NEVER DO:
1. You should NEVER sell the names or addresses you collect. NEVER. Just don’t do it because it’s not right.
2. Don’t overwhelm your members with newsletters i.e. something every few days. That’s called spamming.
3. Don’t add people to your newsletter without their express permission. That’s not right either!
HOW DO YOU COLLECT MEMBERS?
1. Have a sign-up place for your newsletters in a couple of different places on your website. Mine is at the top of the sidebar of my blog and on my About Me page. It’s also on my MySpace page (or it will be soon. I’ve just realized it isn’t there!)
2. Make it easy for readers to sign-up, and the despite the fact we want to keep members, make it easy for them to unsubscribe, too. Nothing irritates me more than a newsletter without unsubcribe information.
3. Offer incentives for readers to join – maybe the chance to win a prize or a free read are a couple of the options.
4. Some author group sites offer competitions where they collect the names of everyone who enters and they forward them to you at the end of the contest. Examples are The Romance Studio book-a-day contest. Cataromance ran a special contest over Christmas where readers signed up to win a prize and agreed to be added to author newsletters. Fresh Fiction also sends out a list of entrants’ email addresses once a contest is completed. NOTE: be careful to check the wording of a contest before you add names to your newsletter. For example in TRS contest not everyone agrees to be added. Some opt out.
SUNDRY:
1. There are rules that govern newsletters, especially in the USA. You should have contact details and unsubscribe information. I tried to find a link to the rules and regulations but couldn’t. If anyone has the exact details please let me know.
2. Subscribe to other writer’s newsletters and see how they do things. How often do they send out newsletters? What content do they offer? It’s a great learning tool.
3. Content is king. Basically a reader will keep receiving your newsletter if you give them good entertainment value.
4. Just because you have a newsletter member, it doesn’t mean they’re going to read your newsletter. Unfortunately there’s no way to make a reader look at your newsletter. I know when I’m busy I hit the delete button. I’m sure other subscribers do the same thing. That’s life!
5. A newsletter isn’t for everyone. You might not have many releases and therefore have nothing to put in a newsletter. I’ve already mentioned good content attracts readers, so if you have nothing to say, it’s possible you don’t need a newsletter.
6. Club together with two or three authors who write similar books and do a joint newsletter. Take turns at doing a feature column. This will work well for authors at the same publisher and there’s cross-promotion for all of you.
If you have any questions or anything to add let me know, and meanwhile, what do you like to see in a newsletter? Are there features you particularly like or dislike? Are there any author newsletters you’d like to recommend?
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