Find Your Exact Genre, Find Your Lifelong Book Ambassadors by Shayla Raquel
Hi readers and writerly friends!
This week in Freelancing, Shayla Raquel is taking over the blog to tell you all about how to not only grow your audience but how to transform readers into lifelong ambassadors of your book! This post shows you exactly how to gain a clear understanding of your genre and target audience to grow an enduring, loyal readership! Be sure to leave her a comment and check out her website and other socials!
A best-selling author and public speaker, Shayla Raquel teaches people the ins and outs of writing, publishing, and marketing their books. Her in-person and online classes focus on author branding, self-publishing, book marketing, and the craft of writing.
She is the author of the Pre-Publishing Checklist, “The Rotting” (in Shivers in the Night), The Suicide Tree, The 10 Commandments of Author Branding, All the Things I Should’ve Told You, and “Savage Indulgence.”
In her not-so-free time, she studies all things true crime and obsesses over squirrels. She lives in Oklahoma with her husband and three fur babies.
Shayla Raquel, best-selling author, public speaker, and book editor.
Why do I need to know my genre and target audience?
Investing time and money into social media, email newsletters, Amazon ads, podcast interviews, and blog posts will net you very little ROI if you do not know your precise genre.
Because if you don’t know exactly what book you wrote, then, my friend, you don’t know your audience.
And if you don’t know your audience, what good is all that time and money you’ve put toward marketing your book?
My goal today is to teach you how to determine your exact genre as a novelist so you can pinpoint your target audience. Once you do that, you can have lifelong book ambassadors: people who fangirl over your book and tell the world about it.
Amazon Kindle Categories. Photo by Shayla Raquel.
So, What Is Your Genre?
If I ask an author, “What book is your genre?” and they reply “Fantasy,” I get a little worried.
Go to Amazon.com and toggle the search bar from All Departments to Kindle Store. On the left-hand side of your screen, select Kindle eBooks. (We don’t need the newsstand or singles or anything like that.)
Next, select Categories. It’s easy to miss sometimes because Amazon doesn’t make it prominent, but it’s usually under the search bar or off to the left-hand side.
Next, for this purpose, select Science Fiction & Fantasy. Narrow it down once more by selecting Fantasy. There are over 50,000 e-books in the Fantasy category alone. That’s a lot of competition.
Now you have to determine where your novel fits in the world of fantasy. Before I explain, I have a very important note: I desperately wish authors would do this exercise before writing their novels. If they did, then they’d ensure their story fit within the expected storylines of, let’s say, Gaslamp Fantasy or Arthurian Fantasy.
Next, select Fantasy. Photo by Shayla Raquel.
My point: Your novel will be difficult to sell if you wrote it without knowing its genre. You can figure it out, but it’s a little bit tougher because there’s a chance there are several genres packed into one story. (I did this with my first novel, so don’t be like Shayla!)
Okay, now that you have a warning to heed, let’s move on to subgenres.
So here you are in the Fantasy genre for Kindle e-books with all this competition. Where does your book fit? If your subgenre is Action & Adventure, that’s more specific than just saying Fantasy, but could you niche it down even more by mentioning the types of characters? (Amazon gives us a handy checklist for various genres.) If you have Elves or Fae, that officially means you’re only competing with 1,000 e-books now!
Elves. Photo by Shayla Raquel.
Your genre would be, let’s say, Fae Action & Adventure Fantasy.
Let’s shift to Mystery, Thriller & Suspense. If you’re going to find your niche, I suggest looking into Moods & Themes (another handy checklist). If I write Crime Fiction (50,000 e-books in this genre), I have several subgenres within that too:
Heist
Kidnapping
Murder
Noir
Organized Crime
Serial Killers
Vigilante Justice
Crime Fiction. Photo by Shayla Raquel.
But I have the opportunity to get super specific by selecting a mood or theme, such as Action-Packed. Therefore, it would be: Action-Packed Heist Crime Fiction.
Action Packed. Photo by Shayla Raquel.
It gets better! I can also look into Settings (beaches, islands, mountains, etc.) and Characters (amateur sleuths, British detectives, gay protagonists, etc.) on the Amazon checklist.
Setting. Photo by Shayla Raquel.
Characters. Photo by Shayla Raquel.
If your story has some love in it, you would go to the Romance category and narrow it down to, maybe, Time Travel. On the left-hand side, take a look at Romantic Heroes and Romantic Themes (originally called Tropes). By narrowing the genre down to Viking Time Travel Romance, I have certainly found a very specific group of readers!
Vikings. Photo by Shayla Raquel.
Now What?
Now that you know some tricks for finding your exact genre, you have a foundation for marketing your book to the right audience. And marketing it well.
But how do you get book ambassadors to see your book?
It depends on the platform, of course. If you label your categories and keywords properly through Amazon KDP and Amazon Author Central, you’ve just made your life way easier. (To learn how to request 8 additional categories and how to find keywords, read 5 Freakishly Helpful Amazon Tricks Every Author Should Use.)
Outside of Amazon, your blurb (back cover copy and Amazon product description) must reflect your genre. In addition to a steller book cover, a blurb helps sell your book. It’s your big flashy billboard: it’s meant to suck the reader right in.
When writing a blurb, follow these steps:
Drop the Hook — A hook is meant to entice the reader to bite. I love this hook from The Martian by Andy Weir: “Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there.”
Dangle the Characters — Reel them in with intriguing characters.
Dive into Conflict — Show them what this book is all about. What’s the plot? Why should the reader buy this book?
Determine the Consequences — What hangs in the balance for your characters? Formula: Conflict (“Character must do this”) + Stakes (“Or this will happen”) = Consequences.
Dine on the Big Question — End your blurb on an intriguing question or a point of tension—something that will convince the reader to take a chance on buying your book.
For the complete how-to, read Writing Compelling Book Blurbs.
If you’ve got these things down (genre, Amazon, and blurb), you need to spend quality time putting your book in front of people on various platforms to determine where you get the most bites (from readers who want to chow down on your genre). It could be through any one of these avenues:
Social media (especially TikTok)
Email newsletter (your own)
Podcasts (interviews specifically)
Book promotion newsletters (Book Gorilla, Many Books, Book Rebel, etc.)
Amazon ads
Social media ads
Book reviewers (YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok are full of reviewers)
Blogs
Some platforms work better than others for a variety of reasons, but you won’t know until you try and stay committed long enough to determine if it’s worth the ROI. If you write sexy stories, there is a community with 4.2 billion views on TikTok called SmutTok just waiting for you. If you want your book to be reviewed, there are loads of BookTubers on YouTube ready and willing to geek out over your book.
If you will do the hard work of determining exactly what you write, it will be smoother sailing when it’s time to find your readers.
Best of luck!
Thanks for reading Shayla’s guest blog post! I hope you enjoyed it and found her advice useful and actionable! If you liked this post, please leave us a comment below and don’t forget to check out the other posts on the blog!
Bibliography:
Further reading:
Related topics:
Book Marketing 101: Everything Writers Need To Know About Literary Agents and Querying
Book Writing 101: Coming Up With Book Ideas And What To Do With Them
Book Writing 101: Everything You Need To Know About Dialogue
Book Writing 101: How to Develop and Write Compelling, Consistent Characters
Story Binder Printables (Includes Character Sheets, Timelines, World-Building Worksheets and More!)
25 Strangely Useful Websites To Use For Research and Novel Ideas
Payton’s Picks —40+ of my favorite helpful books on writing and editing
Check out my other Book Writing 101, and Freelancing posts.
Recent blog posts:
—Payton
Book Marketing 101: Everything Writers Need To Know About Literary Agents and Querying
Hi readers and writerly friends!
This week in Freelancing, we’ll be covering everything from querying basics to how to find a literary agent and land a book deal in 2021, when more than 75% of books published by the big five New York presses get sold by literary agents. Literary agents are experts in the publishing industry and can be career-long mentors and managers and there’s plenty of reasons why writers both new and experienced alike could benefit from hiring an agent.
Agents are market experts and can secure the best possible book deal for their clients as well as negotiating fair contracts, protecting the writer’s rights, ensuring clients are paid accurately and fairly as per industry standards, and ultimately serve as the middleman between the author and publisher.
In 2021, more than 75% of books published by the big five New York presses get sold by literary agents. Literary agents are experts in the publishing industry and can be career-long mentors and managers.
Do I need an agent?
Honestly, it depends on the commercial viability of your book. If you want to be published by one of the five major New York publishing houses, (i.e., Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Macmillan, and Hachette) then you’ll need an agent to be sure. However, if you’re instead writing for a niche market (i.e., time period fashion) or wrote an academic or literary piece, then perhaps you don’t need an agent. Agents take on clients based on the size of the advance they think they can for the project. If your book doesn’t command a decent advance, then the project may not be with the agent’s time and you’ll have to sell it yourself. Unfortunately, most writers have a difficult time being honest with themselves about their work’s potential. We all want to see our names on the New York Times Bestseller’s list, but that’s just not a realistic expectation. It comes down to this: not every book is cut out to be published by a New York house, or even represented by an agent.
There are different levels of commercial viability in the publishing industry. Some books are “big” and are suited for Big Five traditional publishing houses, while others are “quiet:” books and are suitable for mid-size and small presses. If you’re realizing your work might not be a good fit for one of the major publishers, don’t despair. There are many mid-size houses, independent publishers, small presses, university presses, regional presses, digital-only publishers who might be thrilled to have you work —you just need to find them.
These types of books typically are suitable for a major traditional publisher:
Genre or mainstream fiction, including romance, erotica, mystery/crime, thriller, science fiction, fantasy, young adult, new adult
Popular nonfiction you’d see stocked in Barnes & Nobel —contingent upon a strong premise and existing author platform.
Major New York publishers usually won’t sign a nonfiction book unless it realistically anticipates selling 10,000 to 20,000 copies minimum.
To better understand what sells, consider picking up a month-long subscription to PublishersMarketplace.com and study the deals that get announced. It’s a quick and inexpensive education in commercial publishing. I’d also suggest taking a peek at the agent database at Literaryagencies.com
When to query
Naturally, the easy answer is once the book has been completed. Truthfully, there is no one size fits all approach to figuring out when you should query your novel, but the query questionnaire below might help you determine based on the state of your manuscript, feedback you’ve received, and your experience with the writing process, whether or not you’re ready to query.
What stage is your manuscript in currently?
If you are still in the preparation phases of the writing process, consider checking out my Manuscript Basics guide for some quick tips for formatting your manuscript for editing or submission.
How to find an agent
When it comes to actually selecting agents to query, you definitely should do your own research. Look into as much as you can find on current releases, popular titles, publisher names, top/mid-tier agents, authors, and trends in your genre. Finding a literary agent for your book is like finding a spouse —it’s a learning process and period of research best conducted by you and there is not one-size-fits-all approach to securing an agent.
PublishersMarketplace.com is the best place to research literary agents; not only do many agents have member pages there, but you can search the publishing deals database by genre, category, and/or keyword to pinpoint the best agents for your work. Some other resources to consider include QueryTracker (free and paid versions) and Duotrope.
If you really prefer to hire someone to find appropriate agents for you to submit to, try Copy Write Consultants.
Consider attending writer’s conventions and getting involved in editorial associations to build connections and organically network with industry professionals. Local writing workshops and bookstore/library events (such as indie author signings/readings) are great ways happen upon literary agents in the as opposed to seeking them out from behind the screen!
Assuming you’re ready to query, there’s a few common materials you’ll likely be asked to provide:
Query Letter - a one-page pitch letter that gives a brief description of your work
Novel Synopsis - a brief summary (typically no more than one or two pages) of your story from beginning to end
Nonfiction formal book proposal - complex proposal documents (Roughly thirty pages worth) to sell nonfiction books to publishers
Novel proposal - your query letter, a synopsis, and perhaps the first chapter. There is not an industry-standard definition of what a novel proposal is.
Sample chapters - the first two to five chapters of your manuscript. (Always start from the beginning of the manuscript; don’t select a middle chapter, even if you think it’s your best.)
Keep these questions in mind when researching agents in your genre:
What’s the agent’s sales track record? Examine their client list and the publishers they’ve recently sold to and determine based on your genre/category and your own sense of author identity if they’d be an appropriate fit for you and your project.
Does their communication with you and other writers inspire confidence?
Do they seem genuinely interested and enthusiastic in you and your project?
Additionally, you may want to keep these optional extra steps in mind if you’re waiting to hear back from queries:
Author media kit
Author/Book website
Author newsletter
New authors with an existing reader base are highly desirable to literary agents and publishers. Putting your work out into the world and building a fan base beforehand can easily give you a leg up over competing writers in your genre. (I’ll have a blog post discussing exactly how to do this in a future post so subscribe to know when that comes out!)
Hook, Book, and Cook Query Sandwich Formula
If the idea querying, marketing, selling, and putting yourself out there makes your skin crawl, then think about it this way: it’s much easier to sell to one person than to ten. If you have an agent, they will do all of the gross publishing heavy lifting so you can focus on writing and connecting with your reader base.
The three main ingredients of a great query sandwich are as follows: the hook, the book, and the cook. To start, the hook is the query —or the pitch, as mentioned earlier. Next, the book is the book itself (what key information about the book should you divulge to the agent on first impression). And lastly, the cook is the writer —you. In keeping with the sandwich metaphor — the “hook” and “cook” sections are the slices of bread and the “book” section is the meat of the sandwich — the slices are the least important part of the query and should take up the least amount of reading time in comparison to the meat.
Hook
You can probably guess why the first section of this metaphor is called the “hook,” but as expected, this section is specifically the pitch to the agent and it’s what “hooks” or demands their attention as a reader. Queries serve to sell the agent your story and the hook’s sole purpose is just that. It’s at most, a few lines to grab the agent’s attention and make them invested in your story and you as a potential client. If the agent reads the hook and finds their interest piqued, they might then read the description of the book and become even more interested to read more, (at which point you’ve “hooked” an agent and opened up connections for potential book deals).
Book
Center around character and work in subtle details about the world rather than info-dumping or over-worldbuilding. Your query isn’t the place for overly flowery vocabulary or backstory either. This section of your query should give the agent just enough of a taste to make them interested in being invested in the story, but not enough to give the plot away or disinterest them before they can even read it.
Be sure to keep storytelling elements character, conflict, and stakes at the forefront of your mind. This section of the query is designed to make the agent care, so show them enough character to make them make a connection and then weave in the conflict and stakes so that not only does the agent now know who the characters are, what they want, and what will happen if they don’t get what they want, but they’re also emotionally invested in the story, which is what will drive them to read it for themselves.
Pro tip: Don’t open the “hook” or “book” sections with rhetorical questions as a cheap grab at the agent’s attention. It’s overdone, comes off as try-hard, and doesn’t deliver the effect as intended so it’s better leaving them out altogether.
Example: “Can Clara save the world and still make it to the school dance by 8? Keep reading to find out!”
Cook
Two women talking at a conference table. Photo by Amy Hirschi.
While the “cook” section of your query is technically about you, don’t give the agent your whole life story or try to cultivate any specific perception of you as a person other than being a writer. This section is your time to showcase your knowledge and experience as a writer and make the agent confident in your abilities. Consider any certifications or degrees you have earned, any workshops, courses, or masterclasses you’ve attended, or any writing clubs or critique groups you’re involved with and how you can use these connections to demonstrate that you’re a capable, competent, writer who is serious about sharing their work with the world.
Additional errors to avoid include mentioning side characters or love interests that do not critically pertain to the prevailing plotline, bogging down descriptions with hard-to-pronounce proper nouns and/or stylistic spellings. Likewise, remember the KISS method —keep it simple, sweetie. Simplicity, clarity, and subtlety are the keys to a great query.
Personalize your query
Some optional personalization to your query email includes introductions, genre comparisons, and any additional important/useful information about your novel/series as it pertains to the agents and marketing side of publishing.
One example of a great introduction/connection in action is when a friend of mine attended a writing conference where she unknowingly met her agent. She had never given agents much thought beforehand, but after attending a panel where several literary agents spoke about the book marketing process, she realized she needed to reach out. When she finally completed her book, she was able to break the ice in her query email simply by mentioning they’d attended the same conference and how her advice had helped her.
Don’t include that you’re a first-time or new author; your agent will assume unless you include any relevant published works or previous agents, that you are a new author. The “cook” section of the query is an excellent place to mention relevant writing/marketing experience.
You might also consider providing some comparisons for other books in your genre. Genre comparisons demonstrate to agents that you’re well-read in your niche genre and that you’ve done your research and understand the market you’re writing to. Genre comparisons can also provide a lot of marketing information such as where it might sit on the shelf, what demographic the book might appeal to most, what tones, themes, and tropes are to be expected from a book of any given genre. However, make sure you don’t outright put down other authors or genres when providing comparisons. You’d be surprised how many stories I’ve heard about writers who have included “my book is like so and so’s book but better” when the writer simply means they’ve put an interesting new spin on an old storytelling element.
Additionally, it might be wise to mention that your book is standalone or intended as part of a series. While we might know where the story is headed as the author, it’s ideal for a novel to both be able to stand on its own as well as having series potential, so try not to have your plans set in stone.
Check agent guidelines before submitting
At the end of the day, every agent conducts business differently and their submission guidelines may vary from one agent to the next. Ensure you’re doing everything in your power to result in a successful query by double checking your agent’s submission guidelines prior to submission. When it comes to personalization, some agents enjoy getting to know more about the writers that send in submissions while others prefer you simply leave it out. Checking guidelines before sending your query through will ensure you don’t push potential agents away by making careless mistakes.
Additionally, if it takes some pressure off, remember that if you simply take time to research your genre and potential agents, proofread and put effort into your query, and ensure that it follows agent guidelines, you will be a step ahead of your competition. Just by chatting with other editors and agents, I’ve learned that the general consensus is that most people just send a query off without a second thought and if you put even just a little extra energy into your query, that time and effort will shine through.
Note: Almost no agent accepts full manuscripts on first contact. (This is what “no unsolicited materials” means when you read submission guidelines.) However, almost all agents will accept a one-page query letter unless their guidelines state otherwise. (If they do not accept queries, that means they are a completely closed market.)
Wait on your query for 24-hrs before sending it
Once you’ve drafted the perfect query email, save it as a draft in your inbox for at least 24-hrs before sending it. When that time is up, sit down and re-read your query for any missed typos. I personally struggle with this and it’s why I always say everyone can benefit from a second set of eyes, even editors. Grammar, usage, and spelling are unfortunate errors that conceal the quality of your work, so thoroughly proofread your query before hitting that send button. Read it out loud or consider having a mentor or critique partner give it a second set of eyes. If you’re your only proofreader, get some distance from your query by literally stepping away from it and coming back with a fresh perspective so that you can catch any errors you might have missed in your previous revisions.
Do I need an editor before querying an agent?
It’s completely up to you and how you feel about the state of your manuscript. Whether or not you hire an editor to polish your manuscript, your submission should be 100% complete and in its best version prior to querying.
Sara Megibow of the Nelson Literary Agency said “In general, too many submissions come through our slush pile that aren’t ready. In my opinion, an editor could have helped many of these books get to the next level. However, I acknowledge that hiring that person is expensive. If you are going to get an editor, don’t skimp - hire someone with credentials and client referrals in the genre of work that you are writing” and suggests that writers “read 3-5 books in your genre, published in the past 2-3 years, preferably by debut authors and published by major publishing houses” if they believe they need professional editing but can’t afford to hire an editor. (Megibow 2021) However, I think this advice is excellent for familiarizing oneself with their given genre. Inversely, you could find agents that represented your favorite books and research their work as well.
Close out your query concisely
Once again, keep it simple, here. Consider closing out your query email with a classic “Thank you for your consideration” and a “Sincerely, YOUR NAME.” Sign your email with your legal name (and if writing under a pen name or pseudonym include “YOUR NAME, writing as YOUR PEN NAME HERE” as well). Avoid statements such as “I look forward to hearing from you soon,” or “Will send manuscript upon request” because these are automatically assumed as part of the agent intake process. After closing your email, include your contact information and relevant social media links (author/public pages.)
Never mass email agents
The writer to agent intake process is inherently an individualized experience and should be treated as such. As writers with a vast overwhelming competition, it’s easy to see how mass-emailing could be tempting since getting a book deal seems like such a numbers game, but it’s more delicate than that. Agents are humans who make connections to stories just like our readers do and thus, you want to ensure you’re doing your research and finding an agent who will be a good fit for you. Querying an agent is a lot like cold emailing in business — it’s harder than most other forms of communication because you typically lack any prior relationship with your audience and you lack non-verbal feedback so you can’t modify your approach in real time, but it doesn’t have to be cold, per se. Much like with editors, writers can and should be encouraged to make a real, lasting connection with your agent and truly, your writing, book sales, and reader base will all benefit from having that genuine writer-agent relationship. Another way to add some warmth and attention back into your cold queries is to always address agents by their name (never “Dear agent,”) and ensure their name is spelled correctly. Additionally, if you decide to use pronouns to regard your agent, ensure in each instance that the correct pronouns are being used.
Use a professional email address and profile picture for your query email
This seems like a no-brainer, but don’t put in all that work to come up with the most amazing query email only to have it flop on the transmission level of the process. As an author, you should have a professional email for all your writing business needs, but if you get a lot of traffic in your inbox already, consider creating an account designated solely for query submission. Ensure the email address itself is self-explanatory, easy to read, write, pronounce, and remember. yournamequeries@gmail.com is simple enough. For your profile photo, consider a professional business-style headshot photo or a company logo if applicable. If you want to show some personality through your profile picture, try to avoid obscene or offensive imagery.
Don’t respond to rejection emails
Don’t waste your time by sending responses to rejection emails. It might be tempting ask them to elaborate on any feedback they gave you or to thank them for notice of rejection, but it’s just not necessary at the query stage. Agents can provide incredibly useful feedback when appropriate, but in response to a rejection email is not the place to seek out further feedback. Delete the rejection email, move that agent’s message history to your archives, and move on to the next query email.
Smart query
Smart querying is the perfect combination of querying best practices, batch querying, and cold email marketing tactics that serves as the single most effective strategy for landing literary agents out of thin air.
Create a diverse, yet genre-specific agent pool
Once you’ve done some market research and you feel like you have a decent grasp on publishers and agents that deal in your genre, start building a pool of agents who you can smart query and query again later. To establish a truly effective agent pool, come up with a mixture of middle and top tier agents as well as agents who typically are known for responding slower/faster to query submissions. It’s generally a good idea to have a healthy mix of different kinds of agents for your genre (as opposed to all top-tier or all quick-responding agents) because you may want options. A wide variety of stable, established agents as well as emerging agents with potential, is essential to successful and smart querying.
Test batch queries
One key element of smart querying is “test batch querying” where like the name suggests, you send out query emails in strategic batches. Unlike just mass-emailing, agents test batch querying allows you to essentially test-run your query before putting all your eggs into baskets. To batch query, choose 3-5 agents from your pool who respond quickly to queries (leave your dream agents out of test batches) and send your query to them first. If you get 1-2 interested responses (they’re requesting the full manuscript for review) then your query is working, and you can open it up to the rest of the agents in your pool. If you find that agents are getting to the manuscript and losing interest, your manuscript may need more attention first.
Pro Tip: When building your pool of agents to query, do your due diligence on social media. Research your prospective agents on and off the page and ensure your values and work ethic align to avoid any creative differences in the marketing process down the line.
Feedback
I didn’t want to spend too much time on this topic but remember to take any and all writing-related advice and feedback with a grain of salt, of course. Literary agents, like editors, like writers, are all just readers and book lovers at the end of the day, they too are looking for the next story to fall in love with. They make real, meaningful connections to characters and events, so the main goal of a query letter isn’t to sell your story to the agent, but rather to make your story matter to an agent.
After you send out queries, you’ll get a mix of responses, including:
No response at all, which means it’s a rejection. Don’t sweat it—this is normal. Move on.
A request for a partial manuscript and possibly a synopsis.
A request for the full manuscript.
If you receive no requests for the manuscript or book proposal, then there might be something wrong with your query. If you succeed in getting your material requested, but then get rejected, there may be a weakness in the manuscript or proposal. You might occasionally receive personalized feedback regarding the state of your manuscript but it’s not standard practice.
And that’s it for my extensive guide on literary agents and querying! Thanks for checking out my blog post! Did you find any of this helpful? Please let me know and don’t forget to share your experience the comments below!
Bibliography:
Copy Write Consultants. “Literary Agent & Publisher Research.” webpage, accessed September 11, 2021.
DuoTrope. “Homepage.” Duotrope website , accessed September 11, 2021.
Publishers Marketplace. “Home.” Publishers Marketplace website, accessed September 11, 2021.
QueryTracker. “Home.” QueryTracker website, accessed September 11, 2021.
Related topics:
Book Writing 101: Coming Up With Book Ideas And What To Do With Them
Book Writing 101: Everything You Need To Know About Dialogue
Book Writing 101: How to Develop and Write Compelling, Consistent Characters
Story Binder Printables (Includes Character Sheets, Timelines, World-Building Worksheets and More!)
25 Strangely Useful Websites To Use For Research and Novel Ideas
Payton’s Picks —40+ of my favorite helpful books on writing and editing
Check out my other Book Writing 101, and Freelancing posts.
Recent blog posts:
— Payton
20 Tips and Tricks for Email Newsletters That Don't Suck
Please note: This website recently underwent a re-branding so some of the photos present in this post are no longer consistent with the aesthetic of this website and other marketing. However, these images still serve as excellent examples for the tips I provided so I’ve kept them in.
Why do I need an email newsletter?
I sincerely hope you’re not asking this question, but if you are, don’t fret! I’m here to give you the zero-bull answers and actionable advice (how’s that for alliteration?) for creating an email newsletter that doesn’t suck. On paper, an email newsletter is a marketing campaign through which many corporations and entrepreneurs alike contact consumers and convert clicks to cash (okay, enough alliteration, I get it.) But in practice, it’s more complex and incredibly valuable. I can’t remember where I read or heard about it but apparently now, in the digital age, someone’s email is worth more than oil. Can you believe it?
An email newsletter is a valuable tool that every entrepreneur, writer, editor or freelancer should have in their toolbox. Newsletters allow you to advertise products and promotions to recipients in ways other advertisements can’t—you can give your readers special VIP access to content, discounts, and so much more. But there’s more to it than copying and pasting your most recent blog post into your email box. No—that’s how you get readers to unsubscribe, real quick. It takes some doing, but newsletter campaigns are an important and valuable way to connect with your audience. When I send out emails to my subscribers, they’re getting content they won’t find anywhere else.
There are some things to know before you jump off in the deep end of launching your first email marketing campaign.
Keep these in mind:
I always say authors should treat email newsletters like love letters, only not quite so romantic. You want them to be beautiful and actionable and you don’t want them to end up in the trash. Follow these basic guidelines as well as the extra mile tips to ensure your specially crafted newsletter translates to sales.
Respect your subscribers’ privacy.
There is nothing more annoying than getting emails you didn’t sign up for. Of course, coming by someone’s email isn’t always easy, which is why getting them to subscribe in the first place is the biggest hurdle here. But you should always be considerate of the fact that they agreed to subscribe to your email list on the promise that you will deliver relevant, useful content and use their email for nothing else.
Don’t spam subscribers.
Okay, maybe I lied before—the only thing more annoying than receiving emails you didn’t sign up for is getting your email inbox blown up. The number one reason I unsubscribe from an email list is when I get tons of irrelevant, non-useful, annoying emails. Subscribers don’t need to be updated 24/7 and you should be too busy to be sending out multiple emails a week anyways. If you need anymore convincing, its illegal to spam someone’s inbox, so at the very least, out of self-preservation, heed this advice: don’t spam.
Be professional, even if you’re not one (yet).
When it comes to email newsletters, you can get comfortable and friendly with subscribers, but be professional. You never want to send out unfinished, unbranded, unedited, or remotely incomplete emails. Additionally, typos, broken links, and content movement is inevitable. To avoid this, send out a test email. Test all the links, read your email carefully, and ensure it translates correctly to mobile. I always send my email campaigns out on my secondary, personal email account. This way, I can see exactly what my subscribers see.
Be consistent.
Subscribers are kind of funny in that they want routine, normalcy, and consistency in the content they consume. That’s exactly why YouTubers have upload schedules and TV channels air certain shows at the same time every week. This is important because when you reach out to your audience consistently, you build trust and recognizability with your audience and drive traffic to your site on a regular basis.
Add value first, then call to action.
This might be the single most important tip in this entire blog post, so if you take away anything at all, please, dear reader, let it be this. I always tell my clients that the single best way to separate yourself from the competition is to add value first, then call to action later. What do I mean by that? Don’t expect your audience to do anything for you if you can’t provide them with plenty of useful, knowledgeable, or actionable advice beforehand. You wouldn’t subscribe to a YouTube channel without first knowing that you either a) enjoy the personality/humor of the YouTuber for entertainment or b) have found their channel is loaded with helpful, actionable advice, tips, tricks that are relevant to you.
This is no different for your subscribers. The easiest way to achieve this is to think of your experience, knowledge, and findings as your product. As an online content creator, generosity first is always the way to go. By providing value to your subscribers, first, you’re essentially giving them a sample of the widely helpful content found all over your website and other social media platforms. Think of the value first approach as the sample lady at Costco. She’s the best, right? We love you, sample lady. Anyways, she is doing exactly what you should be doing and that’s providing you with value you first, so you’ll come back for more, later. Too bad you can’t come back for seconds of the samples. But if your content is truly helpful and relevant to the reader, they’ll be more than happy to subscribe—or as far as our analogy goes—pick up the full-size product.
So how do you do this? Consider using freebies—free, downloadable content that is filled with useful, actionable advice, field hacks, or exclusive content. Amy Landino entices readers (and listeners of her podcast) to sign up to newsletters by offering her list of seven tips for going after the life you want. Shayla Raquel does the same by offering her Pre-Publishing checklist via email for all new subscribers. Jorden Makelle, from Creative Revolt, offers instant access to her free marketing class for freelance writers upon subscription. I offer my Consistent Writer Checklist to my potential subscribers. See? Offer access to useful, irresistible content that subscribers will gladly give you their email for.
Don’t repost your blog post in your newsletter. You’ll see waaay more about this as you scroll down, trust me. But if you make peace with it now, then you can laugh at all the times I included it in this blog post. (Some people just don’t get it, what else could I do?)🤷
Okay, now that you know the basics, lets talk about some of the creative, more exciting aspects of email marketing.
What can I talk about in my emails?
As a book editor, and fantasy writer, it’s unsurprising that most of these topics will revolve around the publishing world, but they’re relevant to any content creator. Do not just dump your blog post in your newsletter. Don’t.
Add anything that adds value to your emails and shows off your personality!
Advanced reader book copies (ARCs)
Behind-the-scenes as a writer/content creator
Best tips and tricks that go with your content’s topics/message
Book reviews or featured books (products related to your niche are great)
Case studies that demonstrate how your information or service has helped someone
Contests/giveaways
Checklists
Deleted scenes and alternate endings to your book (content creators that aren’t in publishing, you can send bloopers or reject photos from your camera roll that just didn’t quite make it to Instagram)
Events
Exclusive Email-only discounts
Free, downloadable resources
First book in your series (this is great when you have the series already completed)
First chapter in your book (be sure you have formatted as a PDF, mobi, and epub)
Helpful printables (character sheets, NaNoWriMo kits, budgets, planners, calendars, bucket lists)
Hobbies and other interests (inside looks such as photos, videos, and writing that revolves around your hobbies, that might not be as well known on your website or social media)
Inside looks and updates publishing process (budding authors are so eager for these sneak peeks!)
Inside scoop on the research process
Interviews
Launch team invitation
Lists (current favorites, sites, books, podcasts, tools, software)
Motivational or inspirational advice that applies to your field
Photos of people and places that inspired your book
Playlists for your books (Abbie Emmons and tons of other writers do this to get in the right headspace for writing, but readers love getting inside looks into the process—and content around your novel, published by you is canon!)
Printable poster (Natalie Brenner did this with preorders)
Printable Christmas Ornaments (The Chicago Graham School did this with their Chicago Manual of Style)
Round-up of most popular blog posts (fan favorites)
Sneak peeks (book cover, teasers, excerpts)
Upcoming events/book signings/readings/Facebook Live events
Videos
Video series (Amy Landino does this with her Secret Podcast on her Patreon)
Your story (how you first got into writing, what inspired your recent book)
Here’s an example of one of my giveaway emails:
Alright, now that you not only know the basics, but you’ve got a pretty good idea of the kind of value you can deliver straight to your subscribers’ inbox, but how do you actually set up a newsletter campaign? Do you just…send emails manually? Yikes! Of course, it’s not that labor intensive, but it will take some work beforehand. Once you’re all set up, you can send emails regularly, like a pro! (Even automated ones!) I’ve organized the following sections into two lists—the first explaining how to set up the email campaign and the second that shows you simple, easy-to-execute ways to go the extra mile and stand out from competition.
Setting up your email newsletter
Step one: Buy a domain name email address. It’s likely if you’re reading this that you already have a website and that’s how subscribers are signing up for your email list, but if that’s not the case, I want to know your secret! Also, you’re going to need a domain name and email address. Gmail and other email services don’t like it when email newsletters come from third-parties without a domain email address. These email platforms are much nicer to you when your third-party emails come from a domain email address. When using online marketing tactics, the path of least resistance is always your friend. In fact, back when I used wonderforestofficial@gmail.com Gmail would hide my email newsletters in spam folders. That is definitely not the goal here, so to make sure your special, handcrafted email newsletter doesn’t get thrown in the trash, use a domain email address. Purchase your domain email address from Google Domains and add the new address to the settings in your third-party email server.
Once that’s done, be sure to verify and authenticate your domain. Email authentication improves deliverability. It’s a sender identification tool that helps keep your emails out of subscribers’ spam folders. Think of it as shiny, metal namepin (compared to a sticker nametag). If there’s a second major takeaway from this blog post, it’s that you really, really need to verify your domain.
Step two: Pick a campaign manager. If you use Squarespace, it might make more sense to use their built-in email campaign interface because it’s easier to work with but it can be quite limited with some elements. It currently does not support code injection, social icons, or file attachments. On the other hand, Squarespace email campaigns work seamlessly with your website.
Alternatively, you could use Mailchimp or another email campaign manager. These two are the most popular, but it’s totally up to you. Mailchimp is a little unconventional but it has a lot of capabilities.
Both of these options (and most others out there) offer free accounts with basic capabilities as well as different tiers for paid accounts with all sorts of additional features. Please note, automated emails are free with Mailchimp and require at least, the $14/month plan from Squarespace and free accounts with both services do not allow you to hide their branding (the Squarespace or Mailchimp logos will be at the bottom of your emails).
Mailchimp branding at the end of emails for free accounts:
Mailchimp’s logo in the footer of free plans.
Squarespace branding at the end of emails for free and some paid accounts:
Squarespace branding in the footer of plans $14 and under. I currently use the $14 plan so this is what I see in the footers of my emails.
I have used Mailchimp, but currently, I use the Squarespace email campaign manager, so most of the tips in this guide will be for these two services. I won’t go too in-depth with the features, but I’ll include links to the respective guides.
Step three: Enable social sharing images (Squarespace) or social cards (Mailchimp). Social cards allow people to show off an image, headline, and short description when they share your newsletter on social media. I’ve included a photo of a Facebook social card for my website so you can get an idea. Not only does this ensure the link back to your newsletter look professional, but it adds to the overall consistency of your brand and makes your newsletter look uniform with the rest of your branding. You can click here for a guide to adding social sharing images in Squarespace or social cards in MailChimp.
Step four: Add click-to-tweet features to your newsletters. Your true, passionate readers want to help you, so make it convenient for them. Like I said earlier, the path of least resistance is key. If you say something inspirational or encouraging in your newsletter, then write it again in a bigger font and hyperlink it with the click-to-tweet link. Additionally, anything that is particularly clever or funny is gold for click-to-tweet links because readers are more likely to retweet something they found striking. Be sure to add your Twitter handle, the line of text you want tweeted, and the link for your current email newsletter and bam—easy, autonomous marketing! And the subscriber is none the wiser.
Step five: Set up autoresponders. An autoresponder sends an email series after the subscriber has been put on your email list. Autoresponders go out even when you’re sleeping! Note that this is different a campaign. Set up a series to tell the reader more about you and give them that value (freebie) they willingly signed up for. Chances are, if they signed up, they already read something of yours they enjoyed and would like to learn more about you. Set it up so that it sends a couple of emails out over the following week to keep you fresh in the reader’s mind and build on that relationship.
Autoresponders in Squarespace are under the Automation Tab in the email campaigns manager, and automation in Mailchimp, under the Automate Tab in the main navigation.
Step six: Create a promotional pop-up or cover/landing page and an opt-in page. The promotional pop-up is a dialogue box that pops up when users enter your site. The cover page is a simple one-page website that is connected to your site and acts as a flashing arrow to your newsletter. Be careful with the pop-up though, because it there is too much going on or if it’s too hard to get past it, subscribers will give up and leave. Whichever you go with, on your website, create an opt-in page where the entire emphasis is on signing up for your emails. By making it a page instead of just a newsletter block, you can easily add the link to Instagram or use it in Facebook groups. I always suggest this because it is much prettier and simpler than a) an ugly MailChimp link or b) saying, “Just go to my website, and on the home page, on the right-hand side, scroll down halfway. . .”
No—just no.
Keep it simple, beautiful, and mobile-friendly. Redirecting new subscribers to your personal Facebook group allows you to engage with them better and form stronger relationships. One of my clients has a Facebook page set up for her book, where readers are directed so they can connect and share their thoughts on the novel. She often engages with her subscribers there and thus builds stronger relationships with them, not only as a writer, but as a person.
Step seven: Deliver on your promise. If your subscibers gave you their oh-so-valuable email address on the promise that you would give them some kind of freebie, then you better deliver. I unsubscribe SO FAST from email marketing that is just there to make a quick buck and doesn’t deliver. If you say you’re going to give me the first few chapters of your book, then link several versions of it. If you say you’re going to give me a free e-guide, the download link better be there.
Like I mentioned earlier, Squarespace currently doesn’t allow code injection or file attachments to their emails. I get around this by creating unlinked pages on my Squarespace website and putting multiple buttons with download links there.
Here’s what the email with the link to the download page looks like:
Here’s what the actual download page looks like:
See? For my freebie, the Consistent Writer’s Checklist, I offer four formats to chose from. And in my automated email, I provide them with the download page link. I also tell subscribers why they have to make so many clicks to reach the download, but hopefully Squarespace will support file attachments and code injection in the (very) (near) future.
Stand out from the competition with these simple steps
To set the from field as your name, open the email campaign > go to the “Email” tab> “Sender Profile” >and create a sender profile if you don’t already have one. Make sure your name is in the “Sender Name” field.
Use your name in the from field and the subscriber’s name in the email header. If you’re using your own publishing, website, or blog name, you might have more luck getting subscribers to open the email switching to your name (or for some authors, your pseudonym). I made that switch earlier this year, and it increased my open rate when subscribers saw emails coming from Payton rather than my company name, Wonderforest.
To set this up, make sure your newsletter form requires names and emails for submission and follow this Mailchimp guide here or keep reading for Squarespace.
To address the subscriber by name in Squarespace, go into your email campaigns manager and begin a new email campaign. You can design it as you like, but for the purposes of this guide, I am going to assume you wrote “Hi,” at the top of the email. Follow “Hi” with an open curly bracket or “{“ to reveal a drop-down list of options. Squarespace has coded this so that your newsletter automatically pulls names from your storage (Google drive or something similar where your list is stored) and places them straight into your email.
Additionally, you can add a substitute name to call your subscribers if you already have a running list with subs that somehow didn’t add their name in the name field of your newsletter form. This way, it still has a personal touch.
When creating a new Squarespace campaign, simply type an open curly bracket or a “{“ (without the quotes) and a drop-down menu will appear.
When creating a new Mailchimp campaign, select the “Personalize the “To” field” option to personalize the email by adding subscribers’ names to the header.
If you use Squarespace campaigns, I HIGHLY suggest you add a secondary email to your newsletter list so you can clearly see what it looks like as a subscriber, since any email you send to your main email (that either sends owns the domain OR sends the newsletter out) will always say, “[Test Email]” in the subject line and and may not format the subscriber names correctly.
![Email campaigns sent to your website’s main email, domain owner, or the email you sent the campaign with will always say “[Test Email]” in the subject line.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c92d965a9ab955029034689/1579268121304-DSWQA2UNLY85C7UM3P6M/test.png)
Email campaigns sent to your website’s main email, domain owner, or the email you sent the campaign with will always say “[Test Email]” in the subject line.
As you can see, subscriber the subscriber name (or in this case, my name) was not automatically ported into the name field. Instead, it defaulted to my back-up name, “writerly friend”.
What it looks like on your end:
What it looks like to your subscribers:
Spend time on your headline. This is where my experience in journalistic writing is so handy, because as a journalist, the fastest way to grab or lose a reader’s attention is in the headline. However, you should keep in mind that certain words in email headlines automatically trigger emails and send them straight to spam—words like free, call now, or bonus. Most modern email services are designed to help eliminate spam emails and there are so many things to be mindful of to ensure your newsletter doesn’t end up in the wrong folder.
If you’re following the rules in this blog post, you’re sure to land it in the inbox, every time. For more reading on designing inbox-safe, compelling headlines, CopyBlogger has a fantastic guide. Another way to stand out (especially to millennials and younger readers) in your headlines, is using emojis or emoticons! I prefer the surprised face, the crying-laughing emoji, and the explosion emoji because they’re interesting, funny, and relatable. 😲 💥 😂
For the headline guide from Copyblogger, click here.
Add a short bio and photo. Just because someone subscribed once, (and likely just to get access to the freebies, let’s be real) doesn’t mean they always remember who they subscribed to. It’s nice to remind them who you are. This also helps subscribers build trust with your brand because not only are they getting to know a little bit about you along with the content, they are putting a face with the name and the brand.
See how I introduced myself, directed them to my other sites, and told them what to expect from my newsletter and other social media? Do this to make your emails more personal and to help your readers put and keep a name with the face.
Speaking of which, you can also include a small profile picture or your signature to your email. I would recommend NOT using your real legal signature. Instead, use your author, artist, or business signature. Alternatively, you can create a faux signature in Canva, like I did. In real life, I sign my documents with a little star, so I tried to keep that personality with the heart sticker I added to my faux signature. This font is called The Artist Script which is available with Canva Pro. I also recommend The Something Script. These two script fonts are great because they look less like a font and more like actual handwriting.
If you have a signature you’d like to use instead of Canva, you can either sketch it out with a drawing tablet, or go old-fashioned by writing it out a couple of times on paper and then taking the best one and photo-copying it. I prefer using Canva or a drawing tablet because you can create an image with can be resized and won’t lose it’s quality with any adjustments that are made, but I completely understand that not everyone has access.
The Artist Script is available with a Canva Pro Account.
The Something Script is available with a Canva Pro Account.
Be a person first and a sale, second. Just because all the big creators are pushing book sales 24/7 doesn’t mean you have to. Thankfully, there are still some big authors who don’t do this. You’ll do a much better job of selling your products/services if you establish a relationship with your readers—not hound them to click the buy button. I’ll say it again for those in the back, action first, value later. Hey, maybe I should make that into a click-to-tweet for this blog post!
Don’t give people a reason to unsubscribe. In fact, make it nearly impossible for them to want to do this. If your headline tells them they’re going to get a free download, then make sure the free, downloadable content is there. Additionally, if you're emailing them constantly, it's going to get old quick. Same goes for using click bait—you’ll probably have some angry subscribers. Send every email with intention and think before doing it. Ask yourself, "Would this make me unsubscribe?"
Segment your email newsletter list. Emails are not one-size-fits-all. Certain emails will be better suited for your loyal subscribers and others might be better for the new subscribers. Set up one set of emails for the true fans and another set for the newbies. Additionally, segmented lists are useful in getting rid of subscribers who never read your emails.
Add your socials. Include links to your other social media accounts (with the proper branding), follow and share buttons to your newsletter. Don’t arrange them too close together because you’ll have too many call-to-actions in one spot. I like to keep my follow buttons at the top beneath me logo, and my share buttons at the end of the email. Like I mentioned earlier, Squarespace doesn’t offer this feature yet, so I just use good, old-fashioned links. I only link to the sites I have linked on my website (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Goodreads) in my emails, but you can add as many as you like! Just don’t let it get cluttered.
Pro tip: For adding links to a Squarespace email, use line breaks, or “|” between links to keep everything separate and orderly.
Social links at the bottom of this website:
Social links at the bottom of my email:
See? Not only keeping consistency via the social links I include, but also with my witty coffee comments!
Keep a close eye on un-subscribers and spam complaints. Don’t get too hung up on anyone that unsubscribes from your email list. It’s not a big deal, because you don’t want them on your list anyway if they aren’t reading the emails. Trust me, you don’t—numbers don’t matter if they don’t care. But if you get several unsubscribes after one certain email, then you might want to pay attention. Did you do anything that might’ve caused so many people to opt out?
As far as abuse complaints are concerned, that shouldn’t be happening unless you’ve opted them in without their permission, purchased lists, or hidden your opt-out link. These are all important parts of being a respectful newsletter email-er. Your opt-out link should be easy to find—either at the top or bottom of the email, in a normal, nondescript font. As far as willfully opting people into your newsletter list goes, Just. Don’t. Do. It. Seriously. It’s as bad as buying followers on Instagram—it complicates data and fills your subscriber list with a poor representation of your audience.
Unsubscribe people who do not read your emails. One Shayla Raquel’s most effective campaigns was when she sent an email out asking a segmented list if they still wanted to write a book. “This would prompt them to either unsubscribe or respond to me. Once they responded, I asked them how I could help, which meant they were engaging again.” she said. Like I said previously, do not keep people on your list if they never read your emails. It skews your analytics. Either re-engage them or unsubscribe them—it’s as simple as that.
Check out Shayla’s blog here.
So why were the previous two sections so worried about skewing the data? That brings me to my final tip for sending effective email newsletters and that’s to keep track of reports to better understand your demographic. Mailchimp and Squarespace both have excellent information on your demographics, which you can then use to adjust your newsletter according.
You’ll notice that you have subscribers across the globe, opening your newsletter at different times in different time zones! You can also see exactly what your subscribers are clicking on the most, which will help you narrow the focus of your content. Getting niche is important in the content creation industry because it helps you avoid falling into believing in oversaturation. (I have an entire other blog post on that here. Don’t even get me started.) You’ll begin to have confidence that you’re producing quality content and your subscribers are enjoying what you have to share with them.
You can also use this information for other marketing strategies like Facebook ads, which are proven to be effective because of Facebook’s brilliant ability to accurately display relevant advertisements to potential subscribers.
Bonus Information
Here's an actual email I received, just the other day. THERE'S ABOUT FOUR PAGES WORTH OF BLOG POST IN HERE! WHY??? You bet I unsubscribed. It’s 2020, we don’t need that nonsense in our inboxes, and neither do your subscribers! Your newsletter should serve as another lead magnet to pull traffic to your site. Include a snippet of your blog post to grab readers’ attention and provide a “Read More” link to the full post, should they want more. It would be better for the reader to spend more time reading on your website than reading in their inbox.
1. How long should an email newsletter be? What’s the difference between a newsletter and a blog post? Can’t I just repost my blog post in the body of the newsletter? Should I keep the word count to a certain minimum? The truth is there are no hard and fast rules to writing email newsletters and that’s because they are often specific to the creator and the type of content being shared. I would recommend no more than a page and half, depending your topic and message. Use the KISS method—keep it simple, sweetie.
Of course, the more relevant value you can add, the better, but don’t overload subscribers. Leave the long-form content to the blog. Look at the photo on the right. As you can see, this email is so long I had to zoom out more than 200% to see the whole email on one screen. That’s too much. If you really must share that much, include an email-exclusive download link to a PDF. Don’t forget the freebies!
However, do not, and I repeat: DO NOT REPOST YOUR BLOG POST into your newsletter. Why would I willingly give you my email for something I can find on your blog? The answer is no, I wouldn’t. If there’s somehow a third major takeaway from this post, it’s this: don’t repost content. Instead, you want to deliver irresistible, exclusive, and valuable content to your subscribers’ inboxes. It is okay to notify subscribers of a new blog post this way, but copying and pasting content is just awful. Don’t.👏 Do. 👏 It.👏
2. How often should I send out newsletter emails? Like I said in the section waaaay earlier about spamming, don’t send newsletters out too often. It’s annoying to go from a satisfying Inbox (0) to having a non-empty inbox in a matter of hours, every day. I can already think of a few companies that ruin this satisfaction for me. Now, naturally, I would be thrilled to receive an email from someone I happily subscribed to for valuable content, but the truth is I don’t want emails all the time and neither do your subscribers. If that isn’t enough of a reason—you shouldn’t need or want to create that many newsletter campaigns and that much exclusive content.
3. How can I make my emails sound more human and less-computer generated—less like marketing copy? Let me tell you, this is not the time to whip out your clever marketing copy, not even a little. I’ve already touched on this topic in the section of tips for how to set yourself apart from competition, but here’s the main idea: Only you can be yourself, and only you have that uniqueness and advantage. Just carry that notion into your email newsletters. Talk to your subscribers the same way you would to a friend over coffee. Treat your subscribers like the VIPs they are and let them in.
Be your adorable, quirky, nerdy self and gush about the things you love and are passionate about (in my case, that is in fact, coffee and the Chicago Manual of Style) Kevin Kelly talks about having 1,000 true fans—that to be successful, you don’t need millions of followers, you just need 1,000 true fans. Your subscribers are your true fans, number one cheerleaders, and VIP’s so build true, meaningful connections with them.
Read Kevin Kelly’s essay about 1,000 true fans here.
I asked—then you asked and I answered.
I asked some of my editor and writer friends for questions for this blog post and they came through! Below are some of the most asked questions and my answers to provide you with a little more guidance to email newsletter marketing.
I've struggled with doing a newsletter mainly from a time perspective and what I should talk about in it. So, I would love to see some suggestions on this :D -Stephen Howard from the Developmental Editors group on Facebook
I’ve sort of addressed this in the beginning of the post, but I’ll expand on it. In addition to all the freebies, you should have some text in the newsletter and that will depend on your field, specialization, and personal interests. As an editor and writer with background experience in both art, computer science, and marketing, I have a wide range of topics to explore in both long and short form content. I suggest you explore your field and see what the competition is doing. See how you can do the same but in your own way and with more value. Additionally, there is not a best frequency to send out emails. I suppose it depends on the type of content and how much you have to share, but I prefer at least once a month, and if I am doing a series or something special on my website, I will send out additional emails as needed. I know some people who send out bi-weekly emails and it’s really just up to you. See what volume of emails works best for your schedule, what makes sense for your content, and what response you get from subscribers so you can adjust accordingly.
I feel like I'd instantly run out of things to say! Also, how to get people interested in signing up for the newsletter if you don't have something to offer in exchange like a downloadable? (Or should you just make sure you've developed some resource you can use to encourage subscribers?) -Laura Elizabeth from the Developmental Editors group on Facebook.
I answered this above, but there are millions of topics out there, so I’d suggest exploring the competition in your field and seeing what you can do differently. And yes, you should create something first so you can give your potential subscribers a reason to subscribe. I prefer to set it up so that the item in question arrives by email once they’ve confirmed subscription. I know from personal experience that if you deliver before they confirm their email, then your confirmation email just ends up in the trash.
Why email marketing? Why do I grow my subscriber list? How do I figure out what to write about? What’s the best time of day to send emails? How often should I send emails to customers? -Geoffrey Andaria Shivayanga from the Writers Helping Writers group on Facebook
Email marketing is an incredibly valuable and highly coveted asset in the digital age. Like I said, emails are worth more than oil, and while it’s hard to believe, it’s true. An email is one of the most sacred spaces in the online world and it takes a lot of work to make your way into someone’s email inbox. It’s a personal way to contact someone and it’s one way you can be pretty certain your message will be read, as opposed to direct messages on social media, where tons of messages go unread for long periods of time due to the sheer volume the page owner receives on a daily basis.
You should be nurturing and growing your subscriber list because it will ensure people are reading your content, following you and your work and these are the type of people who will buy your products/services.
There is no best time to send emails, and like I said, you’ll notice your subscribers come from EVERYWHERE, which means multiple time zones. So, I suggest picking a good time to send emails that’s practical and sustainable for you. And again, you should send emails as often as it makes sense to do so.
Examples of email newsletters that don’t suck
Amy Landino’s Boss Notes email newsletters
Shayla Raquel’s writing advice email newsletters
William Bernhardt’s Red Sneaker Writer Newsletter
Let’s recap
At least cover the basics
Respect subscriber’s privacy. 🗸
Don’t spam subscribers. 🗸
Exercise professionalism with a personalized touch. 🗸
Be consistent. 🗸
Add value first, then call to action. 🗸
Don’t repost blog posts in the newsletter. 🗸
Go the extra mile:
Has a domain of their own. 🗸
Has a campaign manager. (Not manually sending out emails) 🗸
Enabled social sharing images. 🗸
Add click-to-tweet features to your newsletters. 🗸
Has set up autoresponders. 🗸
Created an opt-in page or cover/landing page. 🗸
Always deliver on promises. 🗸
Personalize and customize emails. 🗸
Use graphics, gifs, and emojis to grab attention. 🗸
Spend time on the headline. 🗸
Add a short bio, photo and/or signature. 🗸
Be a person first and a sale, second. 🗸
Don’t give people a reason to unsubscribe. 🗸
Segment your email newsletter list. 🗸
Add your socials. 🗸
Keep a close eye on un-subscribers and spam complaints. 🗸
Unsubscribe people who do not read your emails. 🗸
Don’t send an email more than two pages long. 🗸
And when in doubt, use the KISS method—keep it simple, sweetie. 💋
Amy Landino and Shayla Raquel consistently meet not only the basics, but the extra mile as well, in every single one of their newsletter emails. It’s not hard to do, but it takes some effort, attention, and time. Effective email marketing is possible and sustainable, and it doesn’t have to suck.
Again, you can check out Shayla Raquel’s website here and Amy Landino’s website here.
Thank you to everyone who sent in questions and if you have a question, comment below and I can reply or add it to the post if it’s really good! What do you think about email marketing? Do you use it? Will you use it, now that you’ve read this blog post? What makes you unsubscribe the fastest? What makes you subscribe the fastest? What do you love and hate about email marketing? Comment below!
Want an example of effective email marketing? Subscribe below to sign up for my emails so you can see how it’s done! Writers should DEFINITELY do this because as an incentive, I’m giving you my FREE guide to DEFEATING WRITER’S BLOCK for good. I call it my Consistent Writer Checklist and you can only get it by signing up!
Want to watch the video series instead?
The first video is out now, but four more will come out as well. These videos will go even more in-depth than my blog post, in shorter, easier-to-digest clips. The first video is more of an explanation of the first section of this post, the need-to-knows.
And that’s it for my 20 tips for newsletter marketing that don’t suck! I hope you enjoyed this list and found my humor amidst all the action. Have you heard of any of these tips before? Are there any that I might have missed? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Thumbnail photo by Cottonbro.