There you are hard at work on polishing your manuscript that you plan to send out to agents and publishers, or that you plan to self-publish, eventually.
The date of publication is nebulous or non-existent, somewhere out there in the distance.
There's also so many marketing decisions to make out there in the nebulous distance, including for an author newsletter, like:
- How to do it?
- When do I get started?
- How do I get started?
So many things to learn and decide...
A student recently asked me when was a good time for an unpublished writer to start on their author newsletter.
I told her now -- that's my recommendation.
As soon as youâre ready to put your attention on your email newsletter, do so.
Other author marketing matters are important too, but are not the topic of this email. They include:
- your author branding statement and tag line
- your author bio
- your author persona
Plus, other outer facing tools (public facing tools):
- your author website
- your author social media
- your book-specific marketing materials
Let's dive in...
You may feel that there is so much to do to market yourself as an author and youâd be right.
But just like you wrote your book bit by bit, you can build your author marketing (and book marketing) foundations bit by bit, step by step.
Today, letâs look at starting your author email newsletter.
Even if youâre not published yet.
Yes, now is a good time to start.
What can starting look like?
Do Research
Start by doing research to educate yourself about author email newsletters:
- about your menu of options on tech tools
- on what you like and donât like regarding content and look and feel
- on what fits your personality and your author persona
To research, you can subscribe to other authors newsletter and evaluate how they communicate with their readers.
Start with authors in your genre. You'll be talking to the same or similar kinds of readers, after all.
Make Decisions
Then once youâve done your research, itâs time to make some preliminary decisions:
* How often do you want to send out your newsletter?
Some people do it monthly; others weekly. Others only when they have news to share, like a new book coming.
* What service provider will you use?
Some of the more common ones:
* What content will you share?
Here's a suggested order of what you can share:
- Share something personal that relates to the main value/topic of your book.
- Book news: just published, a sale, or special giveaway.
- Events/appearances.
- (Optional) Sharing other peoplesâ books.
- End with something emotional that fits your brand, like funny, poignant, cute, silly, or sincere, etc.
* What is your intention for having a newsletter?
Spend time on clarifying your WHY. And keep this front and center every single time you write your newsletter and do any communication with your readers and potential readers.
* What are your goals (or purpose) for your newsletter?
- Do you want to cultivate super fans?
- Do you want to mainly inform about news?
- Do you want to create a chatty community?
- Something else?
* Who is your readership?
Clarify for yourself who reads your books or could read your books and create reader personas, the way you create character sketches.
* What is the timing on all this?
Timing depends on your style and approach to your projects.
I tend to have lots of projects on slow burn until I dig in and take great strides in a short period of time. I took probably six months to 2 years to research and make decisions.
Some people speed through all the research and decisions in a few months or weeks.
Some people start and stop over an even longer period than 2 years, dipping in and out of the research and decision making.
Implement
Then thereâs implementation â actually:
- Signing up for a email newsletter service.
- Writing and sending your newsletter on a regular basis.
For me, itâs hard to implement without a reason and some kind of external event, like a book coming out or an event or appearance.
Some people start communicating their author and book news on the social media channels and never start a newsletter. I donât recommend this.
Sure, start the buzz on socials and do use it as a vector of communication, but donât rely on it as these companies change their rules all the time and capitalize on your content.
Start Now By Gathering Your Community
Build your email newsletter list now, by asking people to join your list so they can be notified when your book releases. So what if that is in the unknown future?
There are lots of moving parts to marketing our fiction, so start now learning all the bits.
Just like you learned how to write stories, and are probably still learning (Iâll never stop!), it takes time to learn all the parts of doing an email newsletter.
If nothing else, start gathering friends, family, acquaintances, old school friends, colleagues, and cohorts into spreadsheet -- with their permission -- to contact and invite into your newsletter when you are ready to start one.
Your turn!
Let me know how it goes getting started in your author newsletter.
What questions do you have about getting started on your author newsletter?
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