How to Grow an Author Newsletter
EPISODE FIFTY SIX
Newsletters are one of the most important elements to your marketing plan. But how do you actually grow that list? In today's episode I’m going to share three elements that you need to focus on to not just gain new subscribers, but to keep your readers on your list.
Podcast episode cover image photo by Joel Henry on Unsplash
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Transcript
Newsletters are one of the most important elements to your overall marketing plan. But many questions that I get from authors is How do I actually grow my list and how do I keep them on my list? So we are going to talk about that today, and I'm going to give you three tasks that you can do to help grow your audience on your newsletter, as well as keep them on your newsletter list.
My name is Jenn Hanson-dePaula, and I'm the co-founder of Mixtus Media. And the purpose of this channel is to empower and educate authors with the best marketing and social media and newsletter advice that you can apply to your marketing strategy. I'm really good at helping authors find their readers online through social media and helping them to simplify the book marketing process. So let's get started.
The first thing that you want to focus on is being consistent with the number of times per month that you send out your newsletter. Now, one of the questions that you might be asking is: “How often should I be sending out a newsletter?” So what I would advise you to look at is how many times per month can you realistically create a newsletter in order to be consistent? Consistency is key with your newsletter. And the main reason why consistency is so important is that it helps you to stay at the front of your readers mind.
Now, how we use newsletters is different than how we would use social media, for example. Everyone uses their email differently. Some people check it once a week, some people check it every hour, like myself. And when you can stay at the front of your reader’s mind through a consistent newsletter, you are going to know that when they are ready to buy, they are going to think of your book first because they consistently see your emails in their inbox.
And the second point is to really consider your ideal reader. Now, with your newsletter, you are creating consistent value. And when I say value, that means things that your ideal reader is interested in that you provide. So if you write fiction and you might share what your currently reading or some of your book recommendations in your newsletter, you might take readers behind the scenes within your characters’ development, or maybe even take them behind the scenes into your research. If you write nonfiction, you can share some key pain points that you have the answers to, that you dove deeper into your book. It's about giving them quick wins, and it's about speaking into the desires and the questions and the problems that your ideal reader has.
And the third and the most important element to actually growing your newsletter is to have a newsletter incentive. You can't just simply say, “Hey, I have a newsletter. Subscribe!” That's not going to be enough to get people to actually subscribe. You need to provide some sort of free download, something that gives them an instant gratification into what it is that you talk about and what you provide. So something as simple as a checklist, a simple download or some sample chapters or an e-book or a short story. The idea here is to really hook them with your incentive, and then you can begin to nurture and deepen those relationships. And really develop that trust that they need to have in order to actually purchase your book.
Your newsletter doesn't need to take over your life. I know that many authors are fearful that this is just one more thing that they have to do. But when you can reuse content and really take what you already have created through social media or your blog or a podcast or whatever content you're creating and recycle it in your newsletter, you are able to really nurture and deepen those connections. Right there in their inbox.
And if you are looking to dive even deeper into your own book marketing, I have something for you. It's the book marketing blueprint and it's going to help you get everything started to help you lead up to your newsletter so you can grow your audience and drive them to your newsletter and then ultimately see more book sales. Click the link below so you can grab your copy.
So again, the three things that you need to focus on are to be consistent with your newsletters. So look at your schedule and think: how many times per month can you realistically send out a newsletter? I would start off with at least once a month. And the second point is to consider your ideal reader. What is it that they are going to find value in? And third, think about an incentive. What is something that you can give your readers as a free download to get them onto your newsletter list?
And so these three key points not only help you grow your newsletter list, but they help you keep them on your list because when you are consistent and you stay in front of them on a regular basis, when you talk about content that is of interest of them and that they find value, and when you give them something right off the bat with your free incentive to get them on your list, that is what is really going to help keep them on your list because you are thinking about what they find of value, and you aren't just popping up in their inbox when you need something - like when you have a book release. So all three of these elements not only help you grow your list, but they help you sustain it as well.
(Automatic transcript by Adobe Premiere Pro’s Speech to Text)