O.C. Writers

By Kristy Tate // 

If marketing tools were your cutlery, your newsletter would be your spork. Just like a spork can ladle soup and stab meat, your newsletter needs to be able to spoon-feed your readers content and spear new readers.

There are entire courses as well as multiple books on how to grow and nurture your list, and I would encourage you to seek those out. This blog post will scratch the surface (with tiny spork spines).

Foremost, you need an email provider. There are many to choose from. I personally started with Mailchimp because it was free for the first 2,000 followers, but eventually, as my list grew, switched to Mailerlite because it was half the cost. In hindsight, I wish I had started with Mailerlite, so I wouldn’t have had to go through the hassle of switching over. When I started, I thought 2,000 followers was a pie-in-the-sky number. I hope to convince you that 2,000 is easy-peasy attainable.

So, how to spear followers? You need bait. I personally use a short story. For years, I used a novella, but then a marketing guru told me you need to leave your readers hungry. Because a short story is more of an appetizer than a satisfying novella, I swapped out my novella for a short story. But you don’t have to give away a book. Marketing maven Molly Fitz uses pictures of her cat. Whatever you decide, it needs to:

• Reflect your personality and brand
• Be immediate/automatic (All email servers have this feature.)

You need a teaser which reads something like this: Would you like a free read? Sign up for my newsletter at: (you’ll need a landing page provided by your email host.) Or, if you’re like Molly Fitz, you say something like: Want to meet my cat? Sign up for my newsletter.

Here are the places you’re going to place this teaser:

1. At the beginning and end of each of your books.
2. On your website.
3. On your blog’s homepage.
4. At the end of each blog post (especially guest blog posts).
5. On your social media homepages (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.).
6. As part of your signature on your emails (so it goes out on every email you send).

If you don’t have any of the above, go and get them.

These organic subscribers may take a while. If you’re impatient, I suggest you use newsletter builder promotions. I personally use Book Funnel and have garnered thousands of followers by participating in their group promotions. But there are other services like Story Origin that basically do the same thing. I’ve also had incredible luck bonding with other authors in my genres who run email building promotions.

But once you’ve collected a healthy newsletter list, what do you do with them? That’s a really good question. I wasn’t quite sure, so last week I asked them this question: What are your favorite perks of being a newsletter subscriber?

• Book excerpts?
• Sneak peek book research?
• Random life stories?
• Book recommendations?
• Book sales from author friends?
• Contests?
• Review opportunities?

Their answers surprised me. The resounding consensus was they wanted to hear from me personally. They want to know about me, my travels, my pets, my life. Surprising, because as a writer, I spend a lot of time at home alone locked away with imaginary characters. (Dull stuff.) A few admitted they hate book excerpts. (What? Shocking!)

Although, what they say doesn’t perfectly align with what they do. I get my best open rate when I use the words, FREE, CONTEST, and WIN in my subject lines. And I get the most interaction when I ask for their help. What does that mean? I ask their opinions on ad copy, book covers, book titles, etc. This is invaluable information.

I also use my newsletter to cross promote with other author friends. Last year, I would feature three to four other authors’ books in each newsletter. Now, to prevent burn out, I try to share no more than two and usually only one.

Lastly, although maybe this should be firstly, get to know your readers. How do you do this? Ask them questions. Catch glimpses of them on social media. Check out their reviews on Amazon. You can do this by going to the books of yours they’ve reviewed and clicking to see what other things they’ve reviewed—the books they’ve read, the items they buy, what they like and dislike. To be honest, I expect the lion’s share of my readers to be female and about my age, because most readers are older women. But there are a surprisingly significant number of dudes on my list—stay-at-home dads, retired veterans, etc. In fact, one of them is my cousin—a manly guy who reads all of my books, including my rom-coms.

Because I pay for the number of my subscribers, I cull my list about every six months. I send four to eight newsletters a month and if someone hasn’t opened one newsletter in six months, they don’t need me and I don’t need them.

If, like me, you’re naturally shy and reserved, and the thought of sharing your life with strangers makes your breath catch and your knees wobble, remember the words of William Butler Yeats: There are no strangers here; only friends you haven’t yet met.

And those friends just might need a spork only you can give.

---

KRISTY TATE is the Social Media Director for O.C. Writers and a USA Today bestselling author. To date, her newsletter subscriber list is edging toward 15,000. www.KristyTate.com.