Newsletters are the Frosting on the Reader’s Cake
Dear Qwerty,
Do I really need a newsletter? They’re so time consuming.
Creating
a newsletter that keeps readers engaged is a challenge to everyone, especially
if you’re an author who only has books coming out once or twice a year. What do
you write? Do you have to come up with something once a week? Or, goodness help
us, more than once a week?
No,
you don’t. You do need the promotional use of newsletters. They are a great
writer tool. It’s another form of advertising. You’re connecting with readers,
and that is huge!
Once
a month is fine.
Or,
pay to use someone else’s newsletter to promote yourself, and your book(s).
There are plenty out there who can help. Rates are $10 and up, depending on how
many readers they have on their list.
So,
how do you create a newsletter that keeps a reader engaged and interacting with
you? Come up with a list of subjects that interest you. (Don’t forget your book
launches) And go! Write away, that’s what you’re good at.
Keep
it simple, don’t get into long, drawn out articles. You’ll lose your reader and
you definitely don’t want to do that. For example, in one newsletter write
about something you experienced recently. Try to keep it positive, negative
newsletter are emotionally draining. You don’t want to do that to your readers.
Or, a favorite recipe? A vacation you fully enjoyed? A movie? Or, what? Even a
book you read from another author. Want more suggestions? How about a book
event you attended? The little free library you discovered…
Not
coming up with an idea? How about helping out an author friend who’s releasing
a book? Get her to guest write for you newsletter, or make it an announcement
newsletter.
Think
about it. Someone has given you their explicit permission to contact them
directly through their e-mail. That’s huge, and not a privilege that you want
to lose.
Whether
you have tens of followers or hundreds, they want you to keep it short and
sweet.
Then,
of course, promote it. What? Yes, promote what you’ve written in the
newsletter. That will get you more readers, or at least more readers to your
page.
How?
Okay, you’ve twisted my arm enough. I’ll tell you. Let’s say you wrote about
visiting a winky-dink town in Texas. It had three residents (sort-of joking)
and a huge taxidermy museum. You write about the museum, hopefully with
pictures.
Then
you tweet it, post on Facebook, add a dash of the story to your blog, and then
promote it on Facebook and Twitter. Don’t put it all on your blog, otherwise,
why bother to sign up for the newsletters?
@TaxidermyMuseumName
had some fantastic animals on display. Come see which one was my favorite and
tell me which one you liked best. Subscribe to my newsletter www.mynewlettercontactinfo.com
Always try to keep it interactive, ask questions to them. It
may have started out about you, and what you’ve experienced, but to make it
interactive, it has to be about the reader, about what also interests them. If
you don’t grab their interest, they won’t want to interact. Remember, you’re
trying to entertain them.
Another thing you can do is find out what they like, what
their interests are, and how you can expand on their needs and desires. Give
them what they want.
You
want them to feel important. The biggest thing that authors tend to forget,
it’s not about you, it’s about the reader. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it
again. Follow back! They’re what’s important to you, by following back, you’re
showing them how important they are to you.
Keep it them and you.
Now, you don’t need to buy a program, or even a newsletter
service. Unless, of course, you want to because it’s easier for you. You can
make it super simple. “Email me mynewsletter@myname.com” to join
my newsletter. And keep a simple email list on a saved document.
If you prefer a newsletter service, get some suggestions from
other authors, set up your list, templates, sign-up form, and off you go.
Either way, once you get started it’s easy to keep up
with the format of the emails and addresses.
All in all, newsletters help find readers and increase book
sales. Bonus? You get to meet some awesome readers!
Do you have a subject you’d like Dear Qwerty, to cover? Let us know, DearQwerty@adcmagazine.com
This book’s for you. My whole point of writing it is to help all authors. I’ve had many established authors, aspiring authors, and WIP authors ask me a multitude of questions and I was more than happy to help. (WIP-work in progress) I took the most commonly asked questions and solutions and put them in a nifty, absolutely priceless book.
What you’ll find in Be More Successful with Marketing and AdvertiZING:
Social Media Marketing and AdvertiZING for Books or Any Business
Becoming a Bestseller
Saying NO and Being the Bad Guy
How to Write Incredible Click Enticing Promotions
Promoting Your Book With or Without a Publisher
How Much is That Advertisement in the Window?
Self-publishing Doesn’t Have to be a Disaster
How to Make Your Website Awesome
Taking the Plunge into Publishing Audio Books
How to Make More Sales at Book Signings
The Uniform of Success
Purchase Be More Successful with Marketing and AdvertiZING at your favorite bookstore or on Amazon.
E-Book $4.99
Paperback $9.99
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
You can find me:
Amazon.com/Pamela-Ackerson/e/B00QY1ARI4
Wondering what my qualifications are? Don't want to get any advice from someone who doesn't know what they're talking about? I understand! There are too many people out there giving bad advice.
The first thing I'm going to tell you is that the book industry is constantly changing and even the "experts" have to keep their ears to the ground to stay in the game!
Okay, so...Here goes.
I'm President of Marketing and Advertising for AdC Magazine. Affaire de Coeur Book Review Magazine has been in business since 1980. No small potatoes there! We've managed to survive all the ups and downs in the industry. www.adcmagazine.com
I'm an award-winning, Wall Street Journal, Amazon and Barnes and Noble bestselling author. I've been a published author since 1972. Yup, you read that right. My 10th grade high school teacher entered my sci-fi short story in the Science Fiction Reader's Digest Contest and I took first place. I continued to write and publish short stories for several years after that.
A short break--which felt like forever--in 1996 I finished my first novel. I was picked up by a publisher two years later and I haven't stopped since.
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