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| Book Marketing Starts with an Author Newsletter ♥️
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April 30, 2021
Oakland, CA
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| | A mailing list (or newsletter, news note, or “note from the trenches,” etc.) is a great way to stay in touch with your readers, fans, and supporters.
Whether you contact them only when a book comes out or more frequently, you want to have a way of staying in touch with your readers and fans over the long haul.
Social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) come and go. We can’t rely on them as our sole means of communicating with the world.
That is why you need a mailing list.
Your mailing list can be informal — via your email account — though I don’t recommend that except for the most intimate of connections.
Even if you don’t have a book out yet, I highly recommend you start a mailing list.
You can even start collecting names on a spreadsheet if you’re not ready to start with a service, though there is no reason to not start.
Here’s why it's important to start now: Once your first book comes out, you’ll want to be able to tell your fans and supporters that your book has arrived.
I can’t think of a good reason why not to have one, even monetary. You can start with a newsletter service for free.
HOW TO SET UP A MAILING LIST
Use a service like MailChimp.com (free for up to 2,000 subscribers), GetResponse.com (what I use), MadMimi.com, or another service.
Add an easy way for site visitors to sign up.
Add a sign up box to your site or blog, ideally in the upper right on each page, where everyone can see it right away. Generally, according to lots of studies, that where the eye goes first.
Decide on a frequency.
I send my newsletter out each time I have a new book coming out, a sale, or a special event. No matter what, I’m committed to sending my newsletter monthly.
My reasoning: I like being accountable to others. Committing to a monthly newsletter reminds me why I write fiction: for my readers.
Welcome Your New Subscribers
Set up a Welcome message, so that when people sign up for your list they get a friendly welcome from you.
Optional but useful: Create a Newsletter page on your site. You can draft more information to entice visitors to sign up. You can also do social media Calls to Action to invite people to sign up as you get ready to announce a new book.
Example: My newsletter sign up page: http://author.bethbarany.com/contact-me/newsletter-sign-up/
FREEBIE
These days it’s customary to give something away as a bonus gift when people sign up. But I don’t think it’s mandatory. I didn’t have anything to give away when I started. Don’t let that stop you.
Currently, I let people choose between the first three chapters of my YA fantasy, Henrietta The Dragon Slayer or the first book in my Touchstone series, a contemporary sweet paranormal romance novella.
In the past, I'd also offer new subscribers a half dozen bookmarks of my YA fantasy series. I love sending goodies to people in the mail and they love receiving them.
For nonfiction authors, I highly recommend giving away something—like a PDF report, a Top 10 Tips sheet, or audio recording.
WHAT TO SAY IN YOUR NEWSLETTER
As I mentioned earlier, send out your newsletter each time you have a new book coming out, a sale, or a special event.
People like to hear a little about us. Share only what you care to and you feel is relevant to your books. - Share news, like sales, releases, and special events. Keep it short, invitational, personable, and be sure to include a Call to Action.
- Include a short author bio so that your readers can remember who you are and what you write.
- Add a Call to Action to connect on any social media sites you’re on that you enjoy.
Here’s an example of one of my recent newsletters:
Though this resource is for visual artists, it's useful for us writers too:
If you think we have it hard, think of how they need to market too.
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Have a happy and creative week!
All my best,
Beth
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| | Top Posts on the Writer's Fun Zone Blog
Want to write for Writer's Fun Zone? Check out our guidelines here:
https://writersfunzone.com/blog/guest-columnists-welcome/
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| | | | You have been reading the Creativity Sparks Newsletter!
Now in its 15th year, this newsletter is a service of my coaching and consulting business, helping genre fiction writers write, market, and publish their books through courses, coaching & consulting, NLP sessions, a 12-month group program, and books to the delight of their readers.
You may share this content intact and with no changes with this attribution:
c. 2006-2021 Beth Barany, Creativity Coach for Writers, www.BethBarany.com
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| ABOUT BETH BARANY
Beth Barany is creativity coach for writers, a teacher, workshop facilitator, and speaker, who helps fiction writers experience clarity, so that they can write and polish their novels, and proudly publish them to the delight of their readers.
Owner of the Barany School of Fiction, an online training hub, Beth takes great interest in how humans learn, create, and grow, and includes all her students’ life experiences, including the ancestors, into the moment.
Want a course to help you prepare to write your novel? Discover the comprehensive Plan Your Novel course here, I teach alongside with award-winning, bestselling thriller author, Ezra Barany.
She's also an award-winning novelist and writes magical tales of romance, adventure, and mystery to empower women and girls to be the heroes in their own lives.
Uncover her Henrietta series here (YA Fantasy) and her Touchstone series here (Fantasy/Paranormal Romance). And her new Sci-fi Mystery here.
beth@bethbarany.com
Barany School of Fiction
Writer's Fun Zone blog
Photo Credit: by c. 2018 Ezra Barany
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| | | Here be the legalese: In connection with the operation of this newsletter and business, Creativity Sparks includes affiliate links, including links to Amazon.com (“Affiliate Links”). Barany Consulting earns a commission from the Affiliate Links which commission is based on the number of sales that are made as a result of users of the Newsletter clicking over to the Affiliate Link and purchasing from the Affiliate Link a product and/or service. Thus endth the legalese. |
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