Execution: Step 4. Writing and Distributing a Newsletter
Once you’ve settled on your newsletter service, now it’s time to launch your newsletter. You’ve already done the planning above to know what you’re going to write about in your newsletter. You know how you’re going to use your newsletter to share with your audience what you do, deliver value, and point them towards books or products they can buy.
But you can’t send an email to no one. First, you need to get some subscribers on your list.
Getting Subscribers
Newsletter services have a number of ways you can create sign-up forms for subscribers. You can create a form that goes at the top of your website. For example, you can add a newsletter sign-up block in Squarespace that automatically feeds into your newsletter service, or you can create a sign-up block in your newsletter service and add it to your website.
But you don’t want to send people to your homepage hoping they’ll use the form to sign up. You want to make it easy for subscribers to sign up. Create a simple landing page that has a link that you can then distribute — and you can do this easily through your newsletter service. Or you can create a separate page on your website and host your sign-up there.
Once you have that link, add it to all of your social media profiles. Put it at the bottom of your email signature. Post about it once a week on your channels, and include the link. Send the link to your friends asking them if they’d like to sign up. Message some of your loyal followers on social media asking them if they’d like to sign up.
As you promote your newsletter, though, you want to answer the question your audience will inevitably have: “Why should I sign up?” This is when you go back to your topics.
Maybe you’re an author and will use your newsletter to share about themes in your novel and how you wrote it. Instead of saying, “Do you want to sign up for my newsletter?” you can say “By signing up for my newsletter, you’ll learn more about how I wrote my novel and the research I did into ____ topic.”
Similarly, if you’re a literary non-profit that focuses on childhood literacy, instead of saying, “Do you want to sign up for my newsletter?” you can say, “By signing up for our newsletter, you can learn more about how to support childhood literacy and get involved in your community.”
Remember: Legally, someone must sign up for your newsletter/give consent to be on your newsletter list. You can’t simply just add them. Additionally, you must give a way for them to opt out, and not use misleading subject lines like “Re:” when it’s not a reply. You can learn more about the CAN-SPAM Act here.
Double Opt-In
One thing you’ll need to decide is if you want to have your subscribers double opt-in when they sign up. This means that to sign up, your subscribers will have to enter their email address on your website or collection form AND they’ll also have to confirm their sign-up in an email that’s automatically sent to them.
I’ve heard the argument for either way. Those who only use single opt-in say that it makes the sign-up process quicker, and allows them to have a bigger audience because there may be people who will ignore the double opt-in email. However, double opt-in (which is what I use) weeds out spammers, giving you a truer, more engaged list of subscribers.
Creating a Lead Magnet to Increase Newsletter Sign-Ups
Another way to encourage people to sign up for your newsletter is to create a lead magnet or freebie, which is a simple resource someone receives in exchange for providing their email. This could be the first chapter of your novel, a free mini writing class video, an ebook or webinar if you’re a non-profit on your topic of expertise, or even a discount code for your next purchase if you’re a bookstore.
These are relatively simple to create, and also simple to deliver. Once you create your lead magnet (include any relevant links or calls to action in that lead magnet, like including a preorder link at the end of a sample chapter), create a simple landing page like the one you did above for basic newsletter sign-ups. This landing page will talk about your lead magnet, what value it delivers, and why someone should download it. Add a newsletter sign-up box, and once someone inputs their email address, you can set up an automation to send them an email with a link to download. Your newsletter service may also allow you to upload your lead magnet to them so it can be hosted and accessed all in one place.
Sending an Automatic Welcome Email
Once someone signs up for your newsletter, use this opportunity to build the relationship by sending them a welcome email. You can set this up to be sent automatically through your newsletter service. You can welcome them to your newsletter, tell them a little bit about who you are, link to some of your popular blog posts or other resources like a book recommendations list, or even tease your upcoming book release (and include the preorder link in the email).
You can even enter them into an automated welcome sequence, where an email will go out each day for, say, four days educating your audience about something you do. While welcome sequences may be more apt for a business or service provider who is presenting a solution for a customer, you may find it to be of value for your literary organization as well. For example, if you’re a writing center, your welcome sequent may include emails about who you are, what problems you’re solving for your writing students, testimonials from current writing students, and finally a list of upcoming classes — and now that your subscriber has been through the sequence, they’ll likely be more willing to sign up.
Article Newsletters
Remember the subtopic list above? If you’re an author, you can write a short article about:
How I plotted my novel
How I chose and developed my setting
Introduction to my main characters
Or you can turn this into some advice and teaching for your followers if you know they’re writers (or a writing center can use these suggestions, too!):
5 methods to plot your novel using various story arcs
5 ways to make your setting stand out
5 techniques to make your characters more real
If your book requires some research around a topic, write about that, too. We can take the example of our cli-fi author above:
How five modern authors are using climate as a plot element
Recent legislation around climate change and how it impacts coastal cities
The future of climate change and how fiction may become reality
The same goes for a non-profit. For example, if you’re the aforementioned childhood literacy organization, your topics may be:
Why rising literacy rates are good for kids and communities
Five ways you can get involved in helping kids learn to read
A new study says ___ about childhood literacy — here’s why that matters more than ever
All these topics are ways to deliver value through education and awareness, can keep your readers engaged and looking forward to the next edition, and demonstrate your expertise in these specific areas, cultivating your thought leadership.
Wrap-Up or Recap Newsletters
A wrap-up or recap newsletter is another option as a way to bring value to your readers by collecting resources, information, interesting stories, or other tidbits. For example, this is what I do for the weekly Literary Boston newsletter: I include a short welcome from me about a topic, a list of the following week’s literary events, local literary news, local author new releases, and some literary history. This provides my readers with valuable information about the local literary scene and how they can get involved.
I see this approach used by bookstores a lot, too. They’ll recap new releases, feature staff recommendations, highlight upcoming events, and more. Literary organizations can also use this to feature an initiative or upcoming event, tell a story about what they do, and make a call for donations.
Always include a CTA
At the end of your newsletter (or even throughout), always include a call to action (CTA) for something that you’d like your reader to do. If you’re an author who’s written about how you wrote your novel, include a way for your reader to order your novel. If you’re a writing center with a newsletter that gives writing craft advice, include a link to sign up for a class. If you’re a non-profit that shares about childhood literacy, include a link to donate or to get involved. A CTA can also be linking to other blog posts or content if you’d like your reader to learn more.
The Importance of Subject Lines
You may come up with the best newsletter plan and topics in the world — but if your subject lines don’t get your readers to actually open your email, it won’t matter that much. Your subject line functions as a hook or enticement to get your reader to open your email. Having your email subject line read something like “My weekly newsletter #34” or “Bookstore Monthly: August” isn’t going to be interesting enough to open by just anyone — you may get super loyal fans to open it, but that’s it.
Instead, get creative with a question, interesting statement, or promise that your newsletter will then deliver on. For example:
Keep these Fall events on your radar
Now announcing our book festival headliners
Do you have trouble with POV too?
5 fascinating things I learned from researching 19th c. Paris
How to make a book launch MUCH easier
Herman Melville might’ve been right
Keep it short and creative, and consider using an emoji as well. Experiment with various subject lines to see which ones work for your target audience, and even try out your newsletter service’s option for A/B testing as well.
Sending Your Weekly/Bi-Weekly/Monthly Newsletter
The two big things to remember when sending an email are consistency and value. Whichever frequency you choose for your newsletter, make sure you can sustain it and that it will be consistent. This will increase audience trust since they’ll know they can expect an email, and it will keep you top-of-mind with your subscribers.
Be sure to deliver value as you share about who you are and what you do. This can be through writing an article about a topic, including a list of tips, tricks, or advice, or creating a round-up of resources for your subscribers.
In the next step, we’ll look at how to track data and gain insights from your marketing efforts.
Hi! I’m Jessica, and I help literary businesses, organizations, and authors build and execute their marketing strategies. If you'd like to learn how to do this 👆, come work with me!
