by Anne R. Allen
“The one with the biggest email list wins” is the current mantra of pretty much every book marketer on the planet. The author newsletter is supposed to be the most important weapon in your book marketing arsenal.
Marketing experts tell authors their #1 goal should be to collect as many email addresses as possible for the purpose of sending our victims fans weekly or even daily doses of our spam news.
This week Kristine Katherine Rusch wrote a great in-depth post on newsletters. She pointed out there are two types of newsletters that authors are using today: the old school, chatty letter that reads like the newsy Christmas letter you get from Aunt Susie. Those newsletters appeal to your established fans who know your characters, and want to know what’s coming up and what’s going on with you personally.
Then there’s the newer type of newsletter which is like an advertising circular that aims at getting new customers. It’s all about marketing.
It’s the latter I have the most trouble with. (So does KKR) but if you’ve got a lot of marketing savvy, it may work for you. Unfortunately I personally have negative reaction aggressive marketing, so I’m not comfortable with doing it myself.
Should You Lure Newsletter Subscribers with an Obnoxious Pop-up…or Five?
One of the tenets of the newsletter religion is that you MUST block the content of your website with a pop-up subscription sign-up, so nobody can find out about you or your books unless they’re willing to give up their personal information to a complete stranger.
Not my favorite thing.
A few days ago I clicked on an intriguing Twitter link that took me to a blog that was blocked by at least five popups, one right after the other. I gave up at #5, but who knows–there could have been hundreds. #5 blocked the whole screen and if there was a way to close it, I sure couldn’t find it.
At that point, I no longer cared what the writer had to say. I knew everything I needed to know: the guy’s a jerk. He doesn’t care how many readers he loses as long as he can grow that email list. He only cares about numbers.
Thing is: numbers are meaningless if they don’t represent actual book buyers.
As artist John P. Weiss said on Medium last week. “It’s better to have a small but loyal list of fans than a large group of lukewarm Internet surfers who succumbed to your pop-up. Email pop-ups convert a lot of people who like to sign up for email lists. But how long before they unsubscribe and move on to the next pop-up offer?
Marketing gurus also tell you to offer free books, gift cards, and even iPads and other big ticket items for the purpose of luring people to sign up for those precious newsletters.
But as Mr. Weiss pointed out, marketers don’t seem to notice that a lot of subscribers immediately unsubscribe as soon as they get the bribe. People who sign up for tons of newsletters aren’t necessarily people who will buy your book.
So could we re-think this for a just a minute? I know people will say I’m guilty of heresy here, but is the author newsletter really the Holy Grail that marketers think it is?
The Golden Rule
As you’ve probably guessed, I don’t share this mindset. I don’t even have an author newsletter. Yes, we have a subscription function for the blog. When new posts go up on Sunday, people can get a notice in their email inbox if they subscribe.
But we don’t use the list of subscribers for anything else.
I may start a list of people who would like a heads-up if I ever finish my blogging book and/or Camilla Mystery #6. But I won’t send them a newsletter bloated with self-congratulatory verbiage and dozens of selfies. Not my style.
For me, it’s mostly a Golden Rule thing. I don’t spam unto others what I don’t want spammed unto me.
Yes, I realize pretty much everybody in the book world disagrees with me. Although I was interested to see that Katherine Rusch feels “deeply uncomfortable” when asked to join in a “build your newsletter list” campaign.
And there’s superstar author Catherine Ryan Hyde, who has sold well over a million books on Amazon in the past couple of years. On her website, Catherine says:
“For years I’ve been encouraged to keep an email list of readers, but I have always refused. I feel that emailing you to tell you I have a new book out is spamming you. So, though you give me your email address for the purpose of giveaways, I don’t save those addresses or use them for any other purpose. I put news on my website, on this blog, and on my social media pages, so you know where to find it. If you want it. That’s the key.”
It’s no wonder she’s the person who brought the expression “Pay it Forward” into our culture. She lives her own life that way.
Subscribing People to Your Author Newsletter without Their Consent Is a Bad Idea
I have to admit I have a special reason to loathe author newsletters. It’s because I get dozens a month. Last month I got 6 in one day.
I did not subscribe to any of them. I do my best to unsubscribe as soon as they arrive, but they often have no unsubscribe function (which is illegal.)
None of these missives come from authors whose names I recognize from this blog or social media—and I’ve never read any of their books. Usually they don’t even write in genres I read.
Most are addressed to my old yahoo address, which I haven’t used for years. It’s the address I used back when the Russians hacked Yahoo in 2014.
This makes me strongly suspect that these authors—or their publicists—are buying email lists from illegal sites.
Buying email lists in order to spam is a bad idea on many levels. It’s not just unethical and annoying. It’s also against the law.
The CAN-SPAM Act
Before you send out that author newsletter, it would be a good idea to read up on the CAN-SPAM Act. If you send people emails they didn’t sign up for, you are officially a spammer, and can be fined up to $40,654 per violation. That’s PER EMAIL
Yeah. Do you have that much in ready cash?
I realize you don’t think of your newsletter as spam, but the law does. It covers all commercial email, which the law defines as “any electronic mail message the primary purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service.”
The law requires you to have an unsubscribe function that’s easily seen and is simple to use. Light gray letters in a flyspeck font don’t cut it. And you have to honor an unsubscribe request within 10 business days: “once people have told you they don’t want to receive more messages from you, you can’t sell or transfer their email addresses, even in the form of a mailing list”
There are additional fines if you have harvested the email address without the recipient’s permission (or bought it from a Russian hacker.)
Why risk it?
Don’t Get Flagged as a Spammer
When most people get unwanted email, they’ll send it to the spam folder. Google has a pretty good memory, and when you mark something as spam in Gmail, Google remembers. When something is sent into spam by enough people, Google will helpfully do it for us.
This means that email address will be marked as spam forever. Even people who actually want your author newsletter won’t be able to get it unless they fish it out of their spam folder.
BTW, this is also a reason not to mass-query agents and bloggers. Mass emails usually get sent to spam. Your query is reaching nobody and you’re marking yourself as a spammer. Unless you do your homework and address each agent or blogger individually, you are not only wasting your time, but destroying your own reputation.
Why Not Consider a Blog Instead of a Newsletter?
Here are the reasons I prefer a blog with a subscription signup feature rather than an author newsletter.
1) A blog can attract new customers
An author newsletter is an ad you send only to existing customers who have asked to get it. (If you’re doing it legally.) These are generally people who have already bought your book.
So unless you’re one of those speedy writers who can pop a book out every month, you’re directing your sales pitch at precisely the people who are guaranteed not to buy: the ones who already have what you’re selling.
But a blog is out there in public on the Web. Any new reader can stumble on it and learn about your book and maybe even buy one.
2) A blog is interactive.
A lively comment section is often a blog’s biggest appeal. If you respond to comments (which I strongly recommend) you can answer questions and expand on the information in the post.
An author newsletter is broadcast to a limited audience. There can’t be any discussion, except one-to-one.
Your reader can’t ask questions about your content unless they email you back. Yes, of course you can start an email conversation with every reader individually, but nobody will see your answer but that one reader.
That’s a huge waste of your time compared to open conversation on a blog that everybody can see (including Google) and everybody can join in.
3) A blog gets the attention of search engines.
Something you put in a newsletter stays in the newsletter. Search engines will never know about it. Your writing will be a secret locked up in a closed environment.
Some of the biggest breaks in my career have come from simple Google searches that picked up my blog posts. I wrote a guest post about “Bag Lady Syndrome” to promote my book about homelessness, NO PLACE LIKE HOME. An editor at More magazine was writing about the syndrome, Googled it, and contacted me for an interview. As a result, I got a featured spot in a major New York glossy magazine that targets my demographic, older educated women—and it was absolutely free. Advertising there would have cost me thousands.
If I’d written that piece in a newsletter, that never would have happened—nor any of the other publicity I’ve received when people contacted me because my blog posts came up in a Google search, from a piece in Talking Writing to an interview with American Bar Association Journal.
4) A blogpost can be shared.
I’m always disappointed when I read something great in a newsletter and realize I can’t share it with my Twitter followers or Facebook peeps. Sometimes I even go to the trouble of visiting the author’s website to see if the article is there.
It almost never is. So your piece—and the advertising attached—is forever sealed into a handful of inboxes instead of being spread around the Web.
Unless you have a paid newsletter with premium content, this does little for your bottom line.
5) It’s tough to get subscribers to an author newsletter unless you already have a blog.
How are subscribers going to find you? On your website? Websites don’t get much traffic unless they have an active blog attached. Are you going to blog regularly AND send out a weekly newsletter?
I realize why some authors are resorting to buying mailing lists. It’s miserable trying to get readers to your website if you don’t have good, fresh content to draw them. And if they’re not at your website, they aren’t going to see your subscription signup even if you have the most obnoxious pop-up in the world.
I know people do get signups through contests or giveaways on their Facebook author pages, and that can work, but it usually costs money, and as I mentioned before, people often unsubscribe immediately after getting the bribe.
So you might consider the lowly blog instead of an expensive newsletter for keeping your readers “in the loop” between books. I know blogs are out of fashion, and aggressive business bloggers have given blogs a bad name. but they’re solid workhorses that can advance your career much better than the currently more stylish newsletter.
When an Author Newsletter is Better than a Blog.
I do understand that not all newsletters are spam–far from it. I subscribe to some that are entertaining and useful and I read them carefully.
There are good reasons why newsletters work better for some authors.
1) Your audience isn’t tech-savvy
I’ve heard from some writers who find a blog doesn’t work for them at all because they write for older people who don’t understand the concept of blogs. All this demographic can do online is read and write email and maybe post photos on Facebook.
Those people need a newsletter, for sure.
2) Your content is controversial
Some content is safer to put in an email than out there on the Web. People who write about size acceptance or feminist topics are subject to horrific trolling and bullying and often prefer to use a newsletter. Ditto some medical and political content and erotica.
Recently an artist who had been displaying his work on a Blogger blog for years found his entire blog had been taken down. Blogger had received a complaint and ruled his nudes to be a violation of their TOS. They shut him down without warning.
Obviously, this would not happen with a newsletter.
3) Your author newsletter is popular but the blog never took off.
What works, works. Some authors started their newsletters long before blogs were invented. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I look forward to getting C. Hope Clark’s Funds for Writers newsletter every Friday. But I hardly ever visit her blog. Her newsletter came first and that’s where I’m used to reading her content.
4) You’re afraid of hackers
Hacking happens. I’ve certainly been a victim of it. A newsletter is safer. I can’t argue with that.
5) You hate to blog
Blogging and writing for a newsletter can be a little different. Some authors find a blog schedule too inhibiting and they prefer to send casual newsletters at random times when they need a break from fiction writing.
Blogging when you hate it is always a mistake. Readers can tell.
6) You’re a freelance writer
When you write for many blogs, magazines and websites, you probably don’t want to post on a blog every week, but a monthly newsletter can tell your peeps where to find you. I get a newsletter from a writer whose work I really enjoy who has never written a book. But she writes lots of great nonfiction pieces for many magazines and websites. I enjoy getting her newsletter, which provides links to her many articles I’d never see otherwise.
What about Having Both?
Yes, I know the gurus tell authors to maintain both newsletters and blogs.
I also know that too much marketing stuff can keep you from the actual work of writing books. And it can be hazardous to your health.
If you do both, I think it’s best to focus on one or the other. Either only send out a newsletter when you have a new book out, or keep a blog on your website that you only update once a month. This isn’t just for your own sanity. It also keeps your reader from getting bored with you.
Remember that old country song, “How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away?”
Don’t be that person.
Whatever path you choose, remember the reader is the most important person to consider in your decision.
***
by Anne R. Allen (@annerallen) April 9, 2017
What about you, scriveners? Do you have a blog or an author newsletter? Or do you try to maintain both? Which works best for you as an author? And as a reader?
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Always good information here, Anne. Thanks.
Wow! I knew about the CAN-SPAM act but had no idea the fines were so hefty. I forward spam e-mails to spam@fightspam.gc.ca. Now I wonder how many of the violators I reported ended up poorer as a result.
I have signed up for a few mailing lists but usually unsubscribe after a short trial. I prefer receiving notifications of new blog posts, with a teaser to pull me in–like today’s notification for this post.
I had a newsletter. Once. But I turfed it in preference for the blog approach.
Oh, regarding blog posts: I prefer posts between 500 and 1000 words. Inbound Marketing for Dummies recommends that word range for best search engine results, and today’s busy people tend to gloss over anything longer.
Kathleen–The last time I checked the website, the fines were lower. This must be a new thing to get the big companies who didn’t mind paying a fine because they were getting a lot of customers that way.
I’m glad to hear you’re in the blog camp. Blogging just seems easier to me. But then, I like to write blogposts and respond to comments. Not everybody does.
Actually, the recommended length for a blogpost has changed because of Google. Early bloggers were told to blog between 300 and 500 words, But Google now pays more attention to longer posts, so for best SEO, they recommend 1200-2000 words. Of course if you have a daily blog, you can write shorter ones. .
Anne—As always, sane and sensible advice! Seems to me that what works for one writer does nothing for another. Just another fact of life in publishing (and everything else, too!).
Ruth– Yes. I think the “one-size-fits-all” mentality causes us a lot of unnecessary grief. One author has a huge success with a newsletter, so ALL authors are no supposed to have a newsletter. One author has a successful blog, so ALL authors are supposed to blog. It gets overwhelming–and a lot of it is pointless.
So far my little Goodreads blog has worked for me. This week I had 210 views, 9 likes and 29 comments. Not to brag but I love these short posts that allow me to connect with my readers, friends, and writer pals who drop by. I try to write one or two a month. At least that’s my goal for now. I had a book out in January so I posted every week or so excerpts from the anthology, and gave the readers information about how the book came about, etc. I also use the blog to let folks know what’s going on in my life. At my age, unfortunately, there’s a lot. So for now, I’m a blogger and love it. What a great post, Anne. I couldn’t wait to share it on FB and Tweet. Another keeper for sure. Paul
Paul–That’s a nice slow blog that serves your purpose perfectly, and doesn’t take up huge chunks of your writing time. A newsletter would add another huge commitment, and you’re already doing so much, with your own books and your anthologies.
Hey Paul, good idea on the Goodreads blog. I hadn’t thought of doing that. I just popped over and took a look.
Hi Anne
Great post, on a subject I feel strongly about. I’ve been invited to take part in a number of those ‘grow your list’ initiatives and so far I’ve refused. Two reasons – you usually have to throw away a book at them which they’ve only chosen because it’s free. The other reason – these subscribers haven’t yet figured out if they like you or not. I wouldn’t give my email address under those cirumstances and I reckon I wouldn’t find meaningful subscribers that way.
I do send newsletters – but no more than once a month and sometimes not even that. I write them like a personal letter, rather like the Christmas letter comparison you made at the top of your piece. (I liked that, BTW!) Perhaps that’s offputting to some, but I’m aiming to develop a long-term connection with people who’ll like my work. I get replies, which I enjoy. And it seems to work – I get a few new subscriptions every week, and very few unsubscribes when I send a newsletter. It’s slow, but it’s working. But isn’t that the way any relationships develop?
BTW, a slight adjustment to your article. I use Mailchimp – the free version – and the newsletters have a URL that is shareable, just like a blogpost.
Anyway, I’m off to tweet. I think the world’s gone a bit mad with newsletters at the moment and this is a timely call for sanity.
R x
Roz–I’m so glad to hear another author is getting tired of the newsletter frenzy. I agree that “throwing a book” at people who don’t even know yet if they like your style or genre seems a waste of a book and your time.
Your infrequent, breezy newsletter seems to be working.
I did not know that about newsletters! I used MailChimp and I’ve never been aware of a share button. I’ll have to look into it. Thanks!
I don’t think it’s even as complicated as a ‘share’ button, Anne. When you hit ‘send’, Mailchimp tells you the URL of the newsletter. It also sends you an email with the URL. If I’m trying to explain to someone about the book I’m working on, I paste the newsletter’s URL in just like any old blogpost.
You might want to delete this next bit (and that’s fine!), but I include it to demonstrate. This is the URL of my latest newsletter
http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=f398644df264175ec0ce43531&id=f7dfdf1696
Click the link and it takes you straight there … and also if you look at the top left you can see several tabs. Past issues is all the goodness you’ve missed (lucky people!) and the Share tab lets you squirt it out to Facebook, Twitter and G+. (And just to put me in my place, I can see no one’s used the Share function, although I have shared it on Twitter, G+ and FB by pasting the link.)
Thanks for the tech info, Roz. I’m kind of a tecnnomoron, so this stuff doesn’t come to me intuitively.
Actually the Mailchimp share thing is even easier than that. When you send out a newsletter, there’s a place you can check for where you want it to post on various social media. You pick which ones and it does the rest. I did that with my very first newsletter (I’ve only done 2 so far) and it actually got some attention and a few sign-ups on Facebook, something I wasn’t expecting.
Jeanne–That doesn’t allow readers to share, though, does it? That’s only for the sender. I was saying that I think newsletters are wasted on just one small audience. A reader can’t share the content with her peeps.
Readers can share it from FB, twitter, tumbler or whatever social media you asked Mailchimp to send it to. It just shows up as a regular post.
Roz, your email newsletter makes me want to start doing one! It’s so beautiful and personable. Exactly what I aspire mine would(will?) be like. It’s an idea I’m toying with, but if I do start a newsletter, your example is sure inspiring 🙂
I have a blog, not a newsletter. I only blog once a week, about anything writing/reading/literacy/ education/book/language related, and I find that quite hard work, but it keeps me on my toes and has gained me some followers who have been very encouraging. My novel production rate is roughly once every four/five years (I hope!) What the hell would I send a newsletter about? And like you, I dislike receiving them. Not sure if the UK laws on spam are the same as yours, but it was salutary to read your warnings. Ditto the warnings about marketing and health. Thank you.
Jessica–I’m with you–slow all the way. I blog 2 or three times a month. Having a blog partner who blogs once a month and a monthly guest keeps the blog obligations to a minimum.I have a book blog for my fiction that I update once a month.
And so far, no newsletter. That’s worked for me.
And I’m a slow writer, too. It’s been two years since my last release. Hoping to get two out this year, but life has a way of intervening. I think we need to work at the pace that allows us to do our best work.
I’m a slow writer also. And although I have a blog, I can’t say I “blog” – I have no desire to do so. However, I have started interviewing Indie authors who I’ve read. Those get posted on my blog and, on the rare occasion I might send a newsletter, I’ll include links.
Perhaps at some point in the future I’ll have something interesting enough to commit to blogging, but I’m not there yet.
Jeanne–If you write a newsletter, you can put the same kind of thing on your blog. But if you only want to do one, which I think makes sense, then stick with what works for you–the newsletter.
I’m on the blog side here. In fact, if Blog was a team I’d be on the cheer-squad: I might look rather spiffy with a big “B” sweater on and lots of Brylcreem in my hair to hold it out of my eyes. And I wouldn’t need a bullhorn to chant insults at the Newsletter team: natural microphone, that’s me. “Nyah, Newsletters, you’re no good, you have no HOME games!” I kill myself.
Thing about a blog is, you can love it. Like your tales, you can invest and do a good job (at least in your own eyes) and like you said, people comment and then you’re rapping over something you care about. Who ever loved a newsletter? Unless it was, well, newsy and had cool articles and stuff you really wanted to know… in which case it’s just a blog with traveling shoes anyway. Might as well post it for the world to see!
Said the guy who hasn’t posted to his blog in too long. But I’ve got some in the pipeline now, then I can hold my head up high again.
Will–I’m picturing you in a cheerleading outfit now. Must stay away from my teacup while I’m in danger of laughing again. Could be the death of my keyboard. Haha.
I love the idea that a good newsletter is simply a traveling blog! And I think you’re right. Newsletters are always on the road–they have no home games. So they don’t feel as comfortable.
I look forward to your new blogposts!
Thank you so much for this! I’m so glad I’m not the only one who’s questioning the effectiveness of email lists. Intuitively it seems to make sense that directly targeting customers is a good marketing strategy. But then I look at my inbox and it’s looking more and more like my snail mailbox–just bills and people trying to sell me stuff. Do you remember after email took over how exciting it was to get a real letter? I’ve started to feel that way about personal emails! How effective can email marketing remain when everyone is doing it? At a certain point it just becomes noise and consumers screen it out. I know I have.
Laura–You’re right! I never thought of it that way, but email inboxes are just like snail mailboxes now. An actual real, personal letter shows up maybe one in every 1000 emails. The rest are all spam–retail spam, political spam, and author spam. Some author spam is worth reading–just the way certain catalogues are worth reading. But it’s not the same as getting a real email from a friend.
The newsletter thing has become so saturated all newsletters have become noise.
I much prefer the blog because it’s interactive.
We have a newsletter for the IWSG, but I never got around to my own. I never wanted one just to have one.
I’ve been getting a lot of newsletters I didn’t sin up for lately as well. Must be a trend.
And your blog is a great example of interactive, Alex. You are also brilliant at commenting wherever you go. Strength and praise to the Ninja Captain.
I blog once per week, like you. People keep telling me newsletters sell books, but I pretty much agree with everything you say. I do receive some newsletters but they’re informational and not promotional.
Susan–I think that’s the secret whether you use a newsletter or a blog–It needs to be at least 80% informational and 20% or less promotional.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Anne. An email newsletter was on my to-do list because I read somewhere that it was better than Facebook and Twitter and other social media for “selling” one’s books. But I was dreading having to set up a newsletter. Like Jessica (above) I have a website and post to it once a week, now usually posting about the craft of writing. (For example, recently I went to a four-day writers workshop and I blogged about that and about the experience of my fellow writers at the workshop — a month after the workshop!!!)
I think a website/blog is superior because it is your own property, and your own body of work collected in one place. I actually like posting a useful or entertaining article once a week because even if I’ve failed to work diligently on my new thriller, I still have a sense of accomplishment from publishing my blog on deadline. And, OMG it is so slow growing a subscriber list, but slowly it’s happening!
I also detest pop-ups demanding you sign up for a newsletter before you even read the content to see if you’ll be interested in a newsletter.
Joanna–Not all blogs are self-hosted, but I still think even a Blogger blog or even one on Goodreads or some other social media site is better because people can stumble on it and you’ll get new readers.
And there is a big sense of accomplishment with finishing a blogpost! I guess people feel the same about newsletters, but the blogpost usually gets more immediate feedback.
As you probably figured out, pop-ups are my pet peeve. I’m glad you agree with me.
Anne, as I mentioned in my post on another of your articles, I turned off my pop-up because of what you wrote. I so appreciate it.
Jeanne–Yay! for losing the popup. I think they are universally hated these days.
I much prefer the blogging approach and dislike the number of newsletters that I get signed up to by giving my email to one writer that I want to follow. I attempted a newsletter via Mailchimp and ended up with two subscribers – I have 1,787 followers on my blog and get comments regularly from people not on that newsletter list. When I launched my debut novel, I invited all my hundreds of friends there, a good percentage friends from my journalism day – and they bought and reviewed the book. So I will stick with the blog.
Roland–I’m glad you agree. The worst offenders are the people who put everybody in their address book on the mailing list. You have to ask people to subscribe first
2 subscribers on the email list, 1787 on the blog makes it pretty clear which one is going to work for your target audience. Sounds as if you made the right decision.
Anne, I just discovered your blog. Great stuff here today. I favor the blog over newsletters as a reader and as an author. I have a short story blog where I offer free reads of famous authors’ fiction. Newsletters are spammy to me too and I don’t like them much. I love researching short stories for my blog and the comments that come in. Whatever you choose to do as an author, you have to enjoy doing it! Your book sounds fascinating.
Paula–Welcome! I love the idea of a short story blog with classic fiction! I’ll have to check it out. Newsletters ARE too much like spam. I think that’s why so many authors balk at starting one. I’m glad you’re interested by the Gatsby game. It’s a fun read for people who like classic American fiction. 🙂
I have come to loathe newsletters. I was subscribed to a few for a while, but some were emailing multiple times A DAY. I’ve been busily unsubscribing from all newsletters lately. I was going to try to start a newsletter some time back, but never did. And if I hit one of those sites that has the pop-ups, I usually just shut down the tab. Nobody has time for that nonsense.
I also wonder how many of those marketing articles that say you MUST have a newsletter are just recycling old info because they need to continually pump out content? It seems like dated, unexamined advice that just keeps being regurgitated, whether it has any validity or not.
D.D.–Emails that come more than once a week feel like an assault, don’t they?. They just have no respect for the recipient. I unsubscribe immediately when a newsletter comes more than once a week.
I agree with you that newsletter gurus seem as if they’re partying like it’s 1999. We have blog technology now and they’re much more versatile. A lot of what marketing gurus spout turns out to be stuff that worked 5 or 10 years ago. In digital terms that’s ancient history.
Assault is the right term for it. When I get a new newsletter, I at least make an attempt to determine if I might like to read the author. But mostly, unless they are someone I’m aching to read, if they start bombarding me with newsletters, I unsubscribe. I don’t have time for it. If I might want to read them and they are nice about not sending me too many notices, I’ll keep them.
How topical Anne! Great post – I always love your approach to subjects! Filled with common sense. I’ve just finished my book on just this subject and I’d like to add a bit of fine tuning. The fines are dependent on the country of the person complaining – not the sending company. Although most newsletter services or email marketing services claim to be CAN-SPAM compliant – that’s the US version. Most services are based in the US and that’s the only law they seem to care about. There are differences, however. The Canadian version (I’m Canadian) as you says covers all forms of electronic communication – newsletters, emails, etc and our fines can be as high as 1 million dollars (we are a bit more blood-thirsty) This is a real thing that authors need to pay attention to – I know authors personally who have been fined – this isn’t just a big business thing!
I, too, am troubled by the folks that advocate approaching list building like hoarders and then advocate following “highly converting scripts” for newsletters. I subscribe to a lot of newsletters for various reasons – often for research – and I don’t appreciate being used as a wallet. I do, however appreciate learning new things – being treated like a trusted friend. Your advice from the beginning of your post is spot on from my point of view. As I say in my book, you wouldn’t talk to a teen the same way you would talk to a senior so why would you assume that a one-sized-fits-all approach to newsletters would actually work?
*stepping back down off my soapbox now*
Barb–Thanks for the clarification! So if you spam a Canadian, it’s going to cost a whole lot more than if you spam somebody living in the US!! Take heed, newsletter-senders.
I know you work with a lot of authors, Barb. It must be a total tragedy to get hit with a million dollar spam fine!! Yikes!
I had to Google “highly converting scripts”. I didn’t even know they existed! So people buy a kind of template for these emails that are supposed to coerce people into buying? I noticed that the first entry that came up on the SERP was by a company called “Marketing Sharks”–and that’s exactly what I think authors appear to be when they do this stuff: sharks.
People may buy haircare products or golf clubs from sharks, but I don’t think that kind of marketing sells books. Especially not fiction.
And I agree 100% about the one-size-fits all newsletter. So many of these newsletters are aimed at newbies. When I get a newsletter that says “Anne, how would you like to be a published author one day?” I’m clicking the unsubscribe button as fast as I can.
Thanks, and congrats on your new book!
Hey Anne,
How fortuitous, I just finished reading KKR’s post on the topic and then in came yours.
I don’t know if I have a preference or not. I do have a very tiny mailing list but really have no idea what to send to them, when there isn’t a book release to announce. Although I do like the personal letter, chatty down home approach mentioned and maybe I’d try that.
I’ve had my blog for years and though I’ve had periods of not blogging, I’m not willing to give it up either and I do have quite a few followers as well.
I think it would be nice if you could have both, but on terms that align with who you are. I like the idea of a newsletter going to fans who want to know about your next project, appearance, etc. But I also like the blog where anybody can drop by and say hey and comment on what you’ve written.
Pop-ups, however, should be banned from the universe. Hate them. Won’t stay on a blog or site that has them.
Annie
Annie–Kris Rusch wrote her post after I’d already written this one, so I changed a few things after I read hers. She made some important distinctions between different types of newsletters that I hadn’t thought of.
I think if you have an established blog, you only need to use the email list to send out news of launches and offers of ARCs. The rest is overkill IMO.
Hi Anne,
Thank you for the great post. It made my reflect on my reasons for doing what I do, which I decided on some time ago and haven’t reconsidered since.
I blog twice a week, and try to write pieces somewhere on the continuum between humorous and thoughtful. I started my “newsletter” because the ubiquitous advice to start collecting email addresses seemed sound. (I’m not yet published, and won’t be for some time.)
Then I faced the difficulty of how to stay in the consciousness of the people who had found me interesting without emailing so often that my emails became a chore to read and they unsubscribed. I settled on the idea of a monthly newsletter. In it I give links to all the blog posts I’ve written in the past month (so people who don’t want to sign up to receive every post can check out the ones that interest them), write a short piece similar to the content on my blog (because I want people to expect to be entertained by opening my emails), and sometimes offer something extra (theoretically like a short story not available on my blog, but more often to beta read or to review on Amazon/Goodreads a book they’ve written). I hope my readers enjoy my newsletters and get value from them—I get very few unsubscribes, which I take as a good sign.
I read the post by Kristine Katherine Rusch that you mention and it cast up a few doubts about what I’m doing. I’m clearly not aiming my newsletter at people who already love my books, because I haven’t published any. But I don’t think my newsletters fit well into the advertising category either. Like you, I’d be very uncomfortable with anything that seemed like blatant advertising, though I expect when I publish a book I will let my mailing list know.
It’s not clear to me if I can improve on how I’m doing things, but I am pretty happy with how my blog and newsletter are going. My blog has a nice little community of regular commenters, most of whom I know from Twitter, and gets a modest number of reads from people who swing by without saying anything. Perhaps when I publish I’ll find out if what I’m doing helps me sell books, or maybe I’ll just settle for the fact I enjoy what I’m doing and it doesn’t take too much time away from my novel-writing.
A.S. Akkalon
A. S. –It sounds as if you’re doing all the things the marketing experts say you should do. If you’re able to do it all and still have time to write–great!
After you publish, if you find you’re not able to meet deadlines and do all the promos expected of you, you may have to cut back either the blog or the newsletter.
Absolutely. I fully appreciate that now is the point in my writing career when I have the most time. My hope is that the work I do now will build a useful foundation for later, when I might find I only have time to blog once a week or send a newsletter every two months, for instance.
Hey Anne – Thanks again. Some day I’ll struggle with this question. For now, I’ll just keep writing & submitting, posting on my humble little blog, & wondering what it would be like to have readers clamoring for a newsletter. Either way, all is well.
CS–Who knows? In a couple of years we may be expected to do podcasts, too, and post videos on YouTube.. Or maybe send friendly missives to our readers via drone.
Marketers are always thinking up ways to keep authors from actually writing. I think we need to stand our ground and save the bulk of our time for writing books.
Some pretty good advice here
Joanne–I’m glad you liked it! Thanks for stopping by.
I’ve been struggling with this recently. I don’t really want to do the newsletter route. The fact is, I don’t know what to write about other than releases. I LIKE blogging! I get super happy to have conversations with readers of my blog and work hard to give them a reason to stop by. I don’t ignore my writing in favor of the blog though anymore. I did that when I first started, another thing I heard from experts as the route to go. I put up four posts a week, mostly with writing and reading links and then I do a book talk and wrap up with writerly things. Some weeks, it’s more than I can handle and I give myself permission to ease back on what I do. I want to be a storyteller most of all so I feel that’s where I should put my biggest effort. THANK YOU, for confirming what my gut has said to do all along: enjoy the blog, don’t worry about the newsletter, and keep writing my priority.
Traci–In the early days of blogging, search engines noticed quantity of posts rather than quality. But Google is always changing its algorithms, as they try to give people what they most want in a search. They found people wanted longer, in-depth articles rather then the daily 300 word posts bloggers had been told were ideal.
And those rules are only important if you’re a business blogger. An author blog doesn’t have to focus so much on SEO. That’s why a once-a-week blog is now recommended for author bloggers.
So if you’re feeling pressed for time, you don’t have to feel bad about cutting back on your blogging time in order to make your fiction writing your top priority.
And with all that blogging, you certainly don’t need a newsletter!
It was refreshing to read this post Anne. Although I consider myself a modern girl, I still have some ‘old school’ beliefs and honestly, this is the first post I’ve read that talks about why it’s not always great to have a newsletter.
Because I’m self hosted, I have a ‘subscribe’ to this blog by email, and every Tuesday morning, the only thing that goes out to my subscribers is blogs I’ve posted from the previous week, for those who prefer to wait for them by email.
As a person who abhors pop ups in my face before I’ve read a single word on a post, I know how I feel and am of the same belief as you when it comes to doing unto others, so I choose not to fill my reader’s inboxes with bla bla bla. I also write in longhand, and don’t know any other writer friends who do, but that’s how I roll. I don’t feel creative in front of a screen.
I can tell you, my blog is definitely an asset to selling books. And I also notice that when gratefully, others share my posts – interviews, book promos, etc., my book sales go up exponentially, so I’m quite happy with the way I’m running things on my cozy blog. 🙂
Debby–It sounds as if you’re doing exactly what works for you, so why change it?
BTW, you don’t have to be self-hosted to have a subscribe function on your blog. You can use MailChimp with any type of blog. And Blogger itself has several subscription options, which I use on my book blog. It’s not as slick as MailChimp, but it usually does the job.
Thanks Anne. And I wasn’t aware of using Mailchimp with WP.com. But that’s what I use for my blog. If it aint broken . . . 🙂
I used MailChimp on my old Blogger blog. It’s very versatile. 🙂
I’d feel very uncomfortable collecting emails too, Anne, and would much rather blog – although I’m really new to it. Enjoying your posts and learning a lot!
Sara–I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying blogging. When I was in my 20s and 30s, I never thought I could write nonfiction. but it has turned out to be the type of writing I’m best at. 🙂
Great post, Anne! I completely agree with your “golden rule” attitude.
I do both a newsletter and a blog, but I keep them separate. I don’t use pop-ups for newsletter signup, and visitors/subscribers to my blog updates aren’t added to my “new release” newsletter.
But like you said, you have to focus on one or the other or drive yourself crazy. I send my new release newsletter only when I actually have *news* on the book front (0-4 times/yr) because so much of my energy goes into my blog.
I think the newsletter issue is a quality vs. quantity approach when it comes to subscribers. Is the newsletter open to just anyone through giveaways and whatnot to use it as a *discovery* tool? Or is it meant for actual readers of our work and used as an *engagement* tool?
Did you see my post at Janice Hardy’s blog last Thursday? In that guest post, I shared my one experience with the quantity approach–a giveaway newsletter signup. After the giveaway, I welcomed all the new subscribers, told them about my freebie (just a short story), and then made sure they knew how to unsubscribe if they weren’t interested. LOL!
I definitely follow the “quality” approach–I only want subscribers who *want* to receive my news. 🙂 Thanks for laying out our options so well!
Jami–Thanks for weighing in. I missed your post at Fiction U last week, but I just took a look. It’s great. Here’s the link for people who want to check it out. http://bit.ly/2oWvWHj
I especially like what you say here: “We don’t want to blindly follow what a successful author did because their choices might not be right for our goals.”
A 4 times a year newsletter isn’t excessive, and it can help you keep focused on your books (and all the blogging you do on your great blog and also Fiction U.)
I hope your health issues are improving. I’ve been going through medical hell for the last month and it sure is hard to keep up all this when you’re in pain and on weird drugs.
Oh no! I’m so sorry to hear about your medical hell. *hugs*
And *fingers crossed* for us both! 🙂
You don’t have to rely on email addresses to give you number. You can total the number of contacts in your social network–right. That can be your potential readership. Right?
I know that you know that I know that you know that I blog. : ) I don’t have a newsletter and after reading this post, I’m so glad I don’t.
Leanne–You’re so right that authors shouldn’t depend only on the number of email addresses they can gather to gauge their popularity. “Platform” consists of so many things.You’ve been blogging even longer than I have. Your blog and social media should be more than enough.
Thank you, Anne. Here’s hoping the right publisher agrees with you. : )
Always did the blogging thing in regards to my writing. Have made some stupid moves in regards to my blogging over the years, but I still persevere. At the moment I’m at a crossroads with both my blogging and my social media usage. After 9 1/2 years of Blogger blogging, I jumped ship to Tumblr, which I found much easier not only to use (no real hoops to jump through) but allowed me to experiment with serialization. Not so much with stories but more with a continuing stream of conscience that’s tied together with a common theme of my writing. I post weekly on Tumblr, which is less stressful, since I usually started writing it either on NotePad, WordPad, or just plain Word. When I’m done, I copy and paste.
Not sure what I what I want to do about Facebook. I have both a personal and public page, and I’ve been toying with the idea of posting more than once a week on my public page, but right now, the motivation is geared more towards writing than social media.
G.B. I think there are as many different ways to use social media as there are authors. I know writers who have made a huge amount of sales and contacts through Facebook–even to being offered representation or lucrative writing jobs. So we should not discount the importance of Facebook.
I personally haven’t been on Tumblr, but If it’s working for you, I believe you. I think it’s more image-oriented, and that can draw the younger reader.
The important thing is to experiment and find out what works for you–not follow the crowd. Where the crowd is–there’s saturation and too much competition.
Thanks for this post Anne. I never could understand why authors blog as well as send out newsletters. It appeared to me that they were just giving out the same information in two different ways, so thanks for some clarification. What you say makes sense that it can be an either/or thing and what Jami says makes good sense too; that way readers won’t get swamped and it’s less stressful for the writer.
Pop up windows are also a pet peeve. It’s very much ‘in your face’. So too, are receiving newsletters I didn’t sign up for – I hate that. I don’t think either one of these methods benefits the author in any way.
Debby–I’m glad somebody else thinks that’s overkill. My theory is marketers tell us we need to do so many time consuming things in order to get us to hire marketers. But I know some writers who have publicists working for them who are just annoying. You can’t get away from their 24/7 hype. That does not make me want to read their books.
I’m glad to hear you agree with me about popups. I honestly don’t know anybody who actually likes getting popups–even authors who use them.
Again, we need to remember the Golden Rule.
Great Advice, Anne. A lot of lousy over-done “marketing” advice out there. Some formulae sites are now so obvious I don’t even bother reading. If they have no respect for my time, I’m not going to give it to them.
In Canada, the rules are much the same. Subscribers should always be presented with a double opt-in to be legal. ie: fill in the subscribe box then confirm by email. Basic blog platforms include a subscribe function but using a mailing service is much better and they work to avoid your emails being marked as spam. MailChimp and Mad Mimi also allow you to build lists for free – up to 20k or more. A lot more stats like how many are actually opening the emails, and easy to manage subscribers.
Myself, I chose the blog route and feel similarly. I subscribe to only a few newsletters and the number is dropping. A friend of mine does blog and newsletter but only provides a subscribe for the newsletter and tries to make it exclusive content. But that much reduces the value of her active blog and it ends up with references people can’t access even if they later subscribe. It also divides the content awkwardly. Personally, I don’t see that as a way to build a list.
I’ve had social sharing result in massive surges in hits but most were just skimmers. I much prefer people what are interested in the content as they’ll be the ones who will buy the books.
David B–Lots of wisdom in your comment. We’ve used MailChimp for a number of years. We also had the Atom RSS feed and the Feedburner feed when we were on Blogger. We lost a lot of subscribers when we moved, but it was worth it for the security.
But most authors are fine on Blogger. The only problem with MailChimp is the 2000 limit. I have to keep deleting “old wood” to keep us under that mark. I don’t see any reason to pay for subscribers who don’t open.
I also have a private email list for people who prefer not to be on MailChimp.
I do think that making the newsletter “premium” by removing content from your blog is pretty much shooting yourself in the font. 🙂
You’ve hit on the basic issue here talking about “skimmers.” If they’re only there for the freebies, they’re not going to be valuable to your bottom line. It’s like people who only read free books–they’re not the audience you want if you intend to actually have a career.
Our webmaster is in Canada and she’s told us horror stories of authors who have crossed the Canadian version of CAN-SPAM–it’s much fiercer. Do not spam a Canadian or you’ll find out they’re not always so polite, eh?
I have only found your blog recently and have to say that I love hearing your take on the industry. You encourage writers to find their own path and to be ok with not doing what EVERYONE says to do. So thank you for writing what you think and not just the status quo.
The last 2 articles have been amazing keep it up.
Chris–Thanks much for the kind words! I guess I’ve always been a bit of a rebel and dogmatic thinking makes me cringe. One size usually doesn’t fit all. And, as I sometimes say, “When I step in dogma, I scrape it off my shoe”. 🙂
Thank you for being honest. I only started a newsletter because it was said I need one, if I want people to know I take my writing seriously. I now see that one doesn’t have to do everything everyone else is doing. I love blogging. But got lazy with it. Thank you for being different and reminding me to not always jump on the latest marketing wagon????.
Murees–I figure we should do what works, and not what other people say *should* work. If the newsletter is working better than the blog, then it’s probably the right path for you. But if the blog worked when you did update regularly, and you prefer to blog, then you might want to consider going back.
Thank you, Anne, for another terrific blog! I hate HATE newsletters, and as the former Executive Director of Crime Writers of Canada, I get put on hundreds of lists without my permission. It got to be a nightmare. I expect agents and critics find the same thing. If your name is out there in the industry, new authors spam them in a desperate bid for attention.
A blog is the classy way to go. Give me the choice.
Melodie–Thanks for weighing in! A lot of indies think only self-publishers get the pressure to do all this marketing stuff, but the truth is, established, trad-published authors like you get the same pressure to follow every marketing fad.
I get put on 100s of lists too, especially after we get another award. It’s got so I’m relieved when we don’t make the latest “top blog” list, because when we do, my inbox fills with author spam that takes up whole days to deal with.
Thanks for pointing out that blogging is actually the “classier” alternative. You’ve got a great blog, because its primary goal is to entertain, not sell, sell, sell. 🙂
I’m on my third attempt at a newsletter, but I’m not spamming or stealing e-mails to make it happen. I consider it a slightly different extension of the kind of writing I do on my blog – with a hope that it encourages any possible subscribers to take creative steps for their own projects. I am going to put one advertisement of some sort in there, but the newsletter will only go out once a month.
I’ve blogged for years and I would say that it kind of works, but it can also be time consuming.
Tyrean–Best of luck with the newsletter. I do think that blogging AND sending a newsletter can take too much time away from writing the books that actually make the money. So if it makes sense for you to pull away from blogging in order to send a newsletter, and that sells more books–that’s great. Whatever works, works. The point is to listen to your readers, not just marketing fads.
Another great post, thank you. I don’t do and don’t want to do an author newsletter and was beginning to feel like I was being silly for rejecting the concept. I much prefer blogging. Thanks for letting me know it’s not just me 🙂
Writeanne–I hope this post will put your mind at ease. We’ve heard from some pretty big name authors here who don’t like newsletters either, It is possible to be a successful author without one. Keep blogging!
I’ve been trying the whole ’email marketing’ thing and I go for the ‘this is what’s new and cool that I’ve seen/done, and hey, here’s a free story, by the way, what are you reading right now?’ type of email. Granted, I don’t have a lot to sell, but I like to make sure I’m putting something of value into that subscriber’s day. They might get a cool photo of something awesome, a story, book recommendations, of whatever. It’s not about me per se. But I subscribe to so many lists where I get sent a horrible flashy email that looks like it came from a department store, with hundreds of pleas not to miss out on the latest book by whoever. Half the time I don’t know who these authors even are because they do nothing to differentiate themselves from the countless other spammy newsletters I get. And some of them only email when they have something to sell. It’s icky.
I do post a lot of content on my blog but it’s most definitely NOT about my books. It might be related to them, but I don’t want my blog to be a ‘hey, it’s the Icy Show’ kind of deal.
Icy–It sounds as if you’re putting a lot of energy into marketing, so it should be paying off. You can have the same content in an email as you do on a blog, but most authors use the newsletter to create a sense of an “inner circle” where you can get free books or short stories and be “in the know” about what’s coming up.
A blog can be about pretty much anything as long as it entertains or informs. I know of blogs that are full of personal anecdotes and pet peeves that are brilliant–because the author has a humorous style. So a blog can be about you and your books. You just have to make sure that the entertainment value makes it worthwhile for visitors to stop by.
I’m not selling any books and I’m lucky if I get 30 sign ups a month to my list, so I’m beginning to wonder if there’s much point – though I am starting to get replies from people which is cool. But I get plenty of shares of my folklore posts and folk seem to comment on the tweet/Facebook post rather than the post itself so there is definitely some interaction there. I just hesitate to talk about the content of my books because whenever I did that in the past, no one showed any interest. But I think I figured a way of doing it when I relaunch my dark fantasy series later this year so *fingers crossed*. You have however convinced me to add a ‘subscribe to this blog’ option as well as a straightforward mailing list option.
Icy–A subscribe function on your blog is essential, I think. That should get you a lot more regular blog readers.
I found the same thing about blogging about the contents of my books. I started a second blog, just for my books, and it didn’t get much interest. So instead I started a series on poisons, and wham! the blog jumped into competitive Alexa numbers and it was off and running. I think you need to have a huge fan base before talking about your book content is really going to draw in new readers.
I must be a glutton for punishment as I do both. The blog is where I record the personal–research for my books, trials and tribulations along the writing journey, places I have been to that inspire me. As this is a personal blog, I knew it was never going to get huge traction as opposed to a blog (like this one) that informs and educates but a blog is essential to a good SEO ranking. A newsletter that would specifically target mystery series readers seemed to be a logical next step but I knew I could not put max effort into both. Using hashtags for my blog categories, I plucked out 5 topics and formed the newsletter around them. The formula has reduced production time, given a magazine-quality feel to the newsletter, and multi-purposed evergreen content. FYI, the newsletter is more financially rewarding. Announcing a new book release to newsletter recipients resulted in 200% more sales than blog + social media combined. I also get a on of emails in response to every newsletter edition. So for right now, blog and newsletter are in balance and I’m having a good time with both!
Carmen–it sounds as if you have a huge amount of energy and your hard work is paying off. Thanks for the stats on how much better the newsletter did at selling your new release. That matters.
Unfortunately, I’ve reached an age when I can no longer work 18 hour days, so I couldn’t do all you do. But obviously when you do have that kind of energy, it pays off. Thanks for the input!
I think I have just hit on the right formula for my audience and one that doesn’t suck up all of my time. At this point, I think the audience is key. If you know where your readers hang out, that’s where your content and effort should go. And finding that out is trial and error.
What a fascinating subject! You really get us all thinking!
Carmen–You’ve got a lot of marketing savvy. I’m really looking forward to your guest post for us in May!
This is fascinating. I have had the opposite reaction with my newsletter vs. blog. Perhaps you are doing something unique in your newsletter? Or, maybe I have it backwards. I feel like my newsletter is somewhat more intimate and I share special previews, excerpts, give-aways, etc, but get more shares and comments on the blog. Hmmmm. Thanks for sharing your experience.
About a year ago I was doing the personal newsletter, too. It was time consuming and I wasn’t seeing rising numbers in terms of either subscribers or book sales. I changed it to a magazine style format to appeal to a wider mystery reader and writer audience and it has really taken off. http://carmenamato.net/mystery-ahead/ if you want to check out the format. Good luck!
Carmen–Thanks!
I don’t think I’d be able to maintain a newsletter. Even if the people sign up, it still feels too spammy. Maybe thanks to all the newsletter pop-ups I get assaulted with when I try to read certain sites. Nooo, thank you.
I don’t blog about my books all that much. I was doing writing advice for quite a while there, because I feel that writing is the topic I’m most familiar with. But I write speculative fiction, not writing advice books. So people interested in writing advice are not necessarily the people interested in my books.
Now I’m trying to branch out to it being more about me and my life and proving that I am a person and not just a keyboard with personality. Sure, I have a list of my books up on my blog, but it’s on its own page, so people only go there if that’s what they want. I only mention my books in actual blog posts in footnotes when a book is published or almost there.
Sarah–I think an author can blog about anything that might be of interest to readers, so branching out with your blog sounds like a great idea.
The trouble with a blog like this one is that it only reaches other writers. Luckily I write “how-to” books for writers, so that does sell books. But it doesn’t do as much to sell my fiction, even though my fiction is mostly about writers and literature.
But simply having your name and your books “out there” to be discovered by searches seems to be to be better advertising than simply sending emails to people who already own your books.
I totally agree with you Anne, as always, you have excellent advice!
But I’m not sure blogs work that well anymore. They used to, no doubt, but no more. Too many blogs out there! Result: alas, many if not most author blogs are not read. Your blog is exceptional, as its excellent Alexa ranking amply confirms.
Yet for most people, they are lucky if they get 100 visits/day on their blog and a couple of comments per post – probably most of the time their blog posts are met with total silence. I honestly believe it’s better to write articles for online magazines (check their Alexa ranking before you send your pieces to them!) For example, if you write for Impakter (where I work), you know that your article is going to be read by some 40 k visitors, the magazine gets 2.7 million visitors a month…What blog can rival this kind of traffic? And what is true for Impakter is true for most literary magazines of any renown. To be sure of the outreach you get by publishing with them, just check their Alexa ranking!
Claude–It’s true that most blogs don’t get the kind of traffic this one does, but being high-profile is a mixed blessing. I have to spend at least an hour a day dealing with emails from wannabe guest posters, clueless advertisers, and other people who think being an “influencer” means you owe them 1000s of hours of free labor.
100 hits a day with a few comments is actually very good for a blog. Compare that with the number of people who would read your newsletter (maybe 100 people once a month?) and blogs still win.
But it’s not either/or with writing for magazines and guest blogging. I always say the #1 way to promote yourself and your writing is to guest blog or get an article into a high-profile zine. That brings people to your blog, raises your SEO and sells more books.
Some great tips here to help people decide which is the right way for them! I did both newsletter and a blog but always did more blogging and now build my email list there only. What’s great is my blog posts are designed to look like newsletters via email through my email service, AWeber (once you hit 2,000 subscribers via MailChimp you have to pay so I found a new paid service). Tip: I love TinyLetter.com better than MailChimp. It’s actually an arm of MailChimp. MUCH easier to do a newsletter without spending hours formatting AND you can have up to 5,000 subscribers for free.
Two notes from my perspective though. You CAN share newsletters – and my readers have shared and other authors I know have their readers also share their newsletter. You can promote it as well via social media. Also, you CAN attract new customers to your newsletter. I had a link on my home page and gathered many new subscribers there, and also through Rafflecopter Giveaways. I like to clean out my bookshelves and do a giveaway or often band with other authors to do a group giveaway – more cross-promotion there. I have gotten 200 new subscribers this way from one giveaway and they are best-fit followers as they like the genre of the books being given away which are the genre I write in.
Thanks for sharing your tips!
Donna–Thanks so much for the info about TinyLetter! We’re about to hit that 2000 mark, so I keep having to go in and delete people who haven’t opened our notices for a while. TinyLetter might be just what we need. I’ll look into it asap. Thanks a million!
I’m a big fan of group promotions, but you can do that with a blog or a newsletter. Glad to hear the newsletter is working for you.
Enjoyed reading your comments and thank you for sharing TinyLetter.com. Your site is amazing!
I can’t tell you how much I LOVED this post.
I’ve about drove myself mad the past few months trying to follow all the ‘rules’ about gaining new email subscribers, finding my tribe, creating a niche theme for my blog… blah, blah, blah.
After reading this post, I felt a burden lifted from my shoulders!
Yesterday, I spent the day re-tweaking my blog to make it like I want it to be. I realized how much wasted time I’ve spent trying to do all the RIGHT things instead of doing the WRITE thing.
Thank you again for your wisdom and honesty. I’ve learned so much from reading your blog.
I would love to meet you in person one day. If you ever think about holding a writer’s retreat, I live on the beautiful Alabama coastline, hidden gems of white sandy beaches and lovely Spanish moss-draped oaks, so much deep rich history.
(Wink, wink.)
Thanks again!
Cindy–This is a great quote: “Don’t try to do all the RIGHT things instead of doing the WRITE thing.” It should be on a coffee mug or something.
I’ve always figured that doing a couple of things well is a lot better than doing a bunch of things badly. Works better and saves you a lot of grief.
The Alabama coast sounds beautiful. My best friend from childhood lives in Alabama. Maybe I’ll get there again some day. (Although I think I’d better travel by train. The stories of the airlines these days sounds more like going into a POW camp, not having an enjoyable vacation. I’d like to see the CEO of United in jail!)
Haha, you’ve just given me a new idea – I’ll be selling T-shirts and mugs now.
Thank you! I’ve been struggling with this for quite some time. Your comments verify and validate how I’ve been feeling and thinking. It’s so hard to do both and my blog posts seem to do more for boosting sales than the newsletter, (of course I don’t think I’m doing the newsletter “right”).
Thank you for relieving some of the stress and burden of trying to do it all. Not sure I will give up my newsletter, but this gives me pause.
Tam–I think there’s no “right” in this. If your blog is working for you better than the newsletter, then that’s what works for YOU. You might cut back the newsletter and only use it when you have a new book. Maybe give out advance copies for the “special fans” who get the newsletter.
Excellent advice.
I learned some of it by watching what others were doing, but most of it by trial and error…error…error (Sorry — Star Trek fan here).
I started blogging because, I was told, I needed a “platform.” A friend helped me start a blog, but what began as a way to sell books soon morphed into writing therapy.
You are correct — some of us are not good at selling and not ruthless enough to gather people’s emails for our own gain. The best advice doesn’t say, “You have to do it THIS way.” It just makes things worse if you don’t have THIS in you. 🙂
Thank you for this informative and comforting article, Anne! I’ve been blogging since March of 2014 and stressing because I didn’t know what to do about an Author Newsletter. Now I’ll stress no longer about this issue. I have been shying away from creating a newsletter for the same reasons you mentioned here, thinking that maybe I should do it anyway. I hate giveaways and don’t do it as a rule. I realize it is a marketing tool that folks swear by, but it feels like I’m denigrating the work that went into the book’s creation. Thanks again!
John–Let the stress go! Give-aways can be effective at certain times–like for getting reviews. But I think using them to bribe people to sign up for a newsletter that has dubious sales value to you is a waste of your time and your book. Besides many people just take the bribe and unsubscribe. You gain nothing.
Interesting perspective and lots of good points. I have both a blog and a newsletter and find that they are both helpful in two different ways.The blog is helpful because it is more interactive and gives me the most feedback.The newsletter is helpful because I do have people subscribed who don’t follow my blog, are not all the into social media, and who would like to stay updated on my work but do not follow my blog. They are people who are interested in my work and who would not be updated if not for the email. My list is also small, something I love.
“It’s better to have a small but loyal list of fans than a large group of lukewarm internet surfers who succumbed to your pop-up.”
Personally, I think this is why I love the email list as well. Not only have I had it before I started blogging, but I don’t have a lot of subscribers which makes it pretty cool.
While I love the email list, I think the problem is knowing how to use one. Just send one email a month (or twice) with some valuable information or updates in it for readers and that’s it. I never understood weekly emails of recapped blog posts (that I could just get by subscribing to your blog), buying lists (which is insane) or subscribing people who don’t want to subscribe.
I think some emails are spam but not all of them. While I still think having an email list is important and there’s a lot of information on building one, I also think there needs to be more education on content.
Yecheilyah , It sounds as if your email list is the kind Kris Rush said was like a family Christmas letter. You’re writing to your longtime fans in order to make them feel special. And that works great. As you say, you enjoy it–that’s because it’s like writing to family. That’s an ideal situation, because you’re not marketing, you’re communicating.
Interesting that you had a newsletter first. I do think that what you’re successful with FIRST is going to be your most useful tool.
It sounds as if you’re using the newsletters in just the right way!
I blog and I have a newsletter – but it is not emailed but on the blog in the form of a weekly round-up of my activities links to blog posts – I have been doing that for two years and I know that a high percentage of those who follow the blog, and on my social media, pop in on Sunday and Monday and read several posts and catch up in the comments. I will not sign up for any blog that demands that I leave my details including my email address to follow them. Even with weekly notifications I was getting over 100 emails a day with social media notifications and I cut them all off two years ago. I now have a system in place for social media twice a day and I work through the blogs I follow across the week. It has left me a great deal more time for writing. I prefer to spend that time not only on my own projects but promoting 25 to 30 authors and 20+ bloggers a week and that has given me a much better response than sending out emails or newsletters. I honest feel that focusing on building a solid foundation of blog and social media is more effective. It is also important that the blog promotes others who are usually very willing to reciprocate. I know that we all find a method that works for us, but we need to measure the response and review regularly to make sure that it is producing the results we would like.
Smorgasbord–What you’re calling a “newsletter” I’d call an effective blogpost. I think you can provide any kind of content on a blog and personal news is a good one.
You also bring up a great point I didn’t mention–the opportunity a blog offers to network with other authors. Networking with other authors in joint promos, anthologies and boxed sets can be the best tool ever for actually selling books. It has been for me.
And–yes, I agree! Authors should urn off social media email notifications. Just visit 2-3 times a day. Otherwise social media will take over your life and you’ll never get any books written.
Wonderful reading. I hate pop-up requests for newsletter signups especially without a close option. I run like I’m on fire when having that shoved in my face.So much advice out there but this is down-to-earth and makes perfect sense to me. How thin does one need to spread herself? Best to have one ‘house’ where you can entertain your readers. I like the simplicity and am not a formal type to have a newsletter or a pretentious author page. Who has that kind of money? It’s refreshing to read your down-to-earth post. Thank you. 😀
Let’s–I have yet to meet anybody who likes to come across a pop-up signup window, and yet lots of writers say they use them because they “work.” But I’d like them to define “work.” We get lots of new signups every week with a static sign-up window and my feeling is that if people want to subscribe, they’ll find it. What we don’t need is people signing up to get free stuff, then unsubscribing.
I’m with you about being less formal with a blog instead of a static website and a newsletter. But I know those do work for some people, so I don’t knock it. But I do want authors to know there’s an alternative.
I’ve never signed up for anything when prompted by a pop up. I’ve also never bought anything from a phone solicitor, or a door to door salesman— unless they were kids selling cookies. I hate ‘in your face’ sales. I’ve been reading all about the necessity of a newsletter, and feeling overwhelmed at the prospect. I think now, I’ll stick with blogging. I want to connect with potential readers, not bombard and annoy them. Thanks for the helpful post!
Tammy–You’ve put it better than I did. “I want to connect with potential readers, not bombard and annoy them.” I love that you say a popup is like phone soliciting and door-to-door sales. It’s a combination of guilt trip and a sneak attack.Thanks!
A very informative post, thank you. I have a blog but I don’t have a newsletter. I don’t read newsletters much so I assume that most people don’t really read them, rightly or wrongly.
Robbie–You sound like a person after my own heart. Since I don’t read newsletters, I figure people in my demographic (my readers) won’t like them either.
I’m so glad to see this post! I thought I was the *only* one left who feels this way! I agree with you wholeheartedly, Anne; newsletters are so often simply spam. I’m annoyed by them, and so I just can’t bring myself to make my own, no matter what the gurus say. (And don’t even get me started on the signup pop-ups!) But my blog does pretty well, so I think it’s time to embrace my leanings and stop worrying about the “shoulds” and stick to what I like. 🙂 Thanks for this!
Annie–I’m so glad to hear you agree with me. Blogs have got bad press recently because they’re just coming off their peak fad period. (Today I read an article that said starting a blog is like starting a Blockbuster franchise) But they’ve confused the get-rich-quick *business blogs* with author blogs–which are really just an interactive website.
I’d rather have a website where people can find me and talk to me, than a newsletter that has very little chance of being read.
Really an informative post. It’s made me rethink my newsletter strategy. At VerseTab we host topic writing contests, which i tend to inform my subscribers via newsletter. However, since I still post about the contests a typical subscription would do.
Now I really need to take out time to re-think the whole newsletter strategy. What if you sell you products? Won’t a newsletter be handy then?
With newsletter I believe they can be personalised as opposed to automated emails. Once again i really love this post, it has opened my mind to an area of my business I never released.
Kelvin–This post is addressed to authors, mostly fiction authors, who generally don’t sell products from their websites. If you have an online business, you’ll have very different goals. Most authors only have 1-4 “products” to sell per year, so those newsletters tend to be really, really tedious.
But if you’re selling lots of products every day, you probably want to do what most businesses do, which is pretend to have a sale every day so you can send daily emails to past customers. I don’t know if that works, but I do know I get about 500 of them every day from every business I’ve ever bought anything from. Of course I wish they wouldn’t, but since they all do it, I guess there must be data to back up the “barrage” approach to email.
You’re right. it might be different as a business. However I still don’t spam my subscribers with content they are not expecting.
Thank you for clarifying. I wouldn’t even suggest newsletters unless you publish often like John Locke who sold 1million brooks in 5 months.
Kelvin–Mr. Locke isn’t a great example, since he did it by buying fake reviews. Also, that was 2009-10 when Amazon was a friendly playground for indies.
But Catherine Ryan Hyde, one of the top 25 Amazon authors according to her FB page today, doesn’t use a newsletter. She also doesn’t sell her own books, since Amazon does a fine job of it for her. (She’s with an Amazon imprint.)
Authors need to think long and hard about selling books from their own websites. It’s generally more hassle than it’s worth. But if they do, a newsletter is probably a good idea.
One huge advantae of Newsletter over Blog is that it’s delivered to people instead needing to go looking for it. And this is huge. It’s simple to type an URL and go to a blog but on the internet, people are lazy as heck and we want everything delivered to us. We don’t want to look for TV shows on websites, we want to find them easily on Netflix with as few clicks as possible. Same here. Yes some readers will follow your blog but not many, dare I say it will be single digit percentage. And the new people it reaches, most of them will forget the blog (not because it’s bad just because it’s information overload all around so it’s easy to forget good stuff).
Tip for email lists – don’t send ‘Newsletters’, that’s boring, better build up a world! Make a ‘club’ for your readers where they can come in and have good entertainment/information/stories and only part of it is promotional buy my book stuff. So instead of author websites saying ‘Join my author newsletter’ it should be something more, an exclusive club is the best metaphor for it and authors can do really cool stuff here (like email with book reviews, movie reviews, other insights into entertainment that only you guys see and we regular people don’t). That makes it interesting and valuable. And not spammy.
Still, sad to see authors criticise email lists without even using them so basically not knowing how it works… Biggest issue is that authors have emotional misconceptions about marketing and argue from that, instead of observing. Just because there are some lame overl promotional newsletter, don’t mean they all are. Pop ups aren’t bad if they are done well too (right timing and placement!). It’s proven by thousands of authors that email lists are great tool for marketing but somehow people find ways to argue it.
Adrijus–I wish you’d spent as much time reading this piece as you did criticizing it. I’m talking about a blog with a SUBSCRIPTION app, like MailChimp, which this blog HAS. It’s right in the top right corner of this blog.
That means it arrives in people’s inboxes exactly like a newsletter. BUT, it’s also available for people like you to stumble upon.
I am talking as a READER when I say I hate newsletters. I have plenty of experience getting them.
If you don’t respect your reader and you only think like a marketer-shark, You’ll alienate your reader and everybody else.
Being a jerk may sell some products, but I don’t think it sells fiction.
However, your club idea is great. I’d definitely consider something like that–where people actually want to join and aren’t coerced into it by relentless popups and bribes.
I wasn talking about sending updates about your book release not general blog announcements. That’s what I meant to ‘defend’.
To continue, we agree that there is some bad marketing/email list tactics! BUT I think you have some holes in your understanding of email lists… You don’t even mention that main way of getting email subscribers is having specific page in your books that sends readers to sign up for email lists.
Authors don’t generally buy email lists (using FB ads is not buying an email list, that’s two quite different things, buying email list is done through vendors who sell those specifically like it was done with buying list of physical addresses of certain professions (for example doctors in NYC) and it’s not something I’d recommend either… FB ads, is different story).
I don;t get why you think it’s disrespectful to send promotional emails or be marketer ‘only’ – good marketer KNOWS it’s only moral marketing that works best. Marketing isn’t about scams, it’s about providing value.
Also Readers like newsletters in general because they choose to join them (we only hate them when they are executed poorly or didn’t ask for it) and they don’t even mind pop-ups. It’s politically correct to say pop-ups suck, but somehow they are still working and have worked for long time. IF done right they don’t alienate. So this is the case of ‘don’t listen to what people say, look at what they do’. Which is they like to subscribe to things using pop-ups!
You are a bit focused on negative side of marketing it seems. It is a tool, and it can be misused but it’s scam promotion is not the normal marketing. That’s where authors have too much assumptions and devalue it. Bribes and pop ups aren’t bad. They are just like any tool – you can use it well or misuse it for bad purpose.
And to show I’m not talking out of my as.s, I have two different newsletters myself that inform and sell, directly or indirectly, my services to authors. One is giveaway guide and autoresponder series helping authors with book cover design education and other is more promotional where I email few times a month when new premade book cover designs go for sale. Both email lists use pop-ups to as part of collection method and people use that a lot! Both emails have positive feedback and even thank you letters for providing good content. And both end up making me money (whether directly through sales from email or just staying relevant in people’s minds for when they actually need a design later on). That’s why I defend email lists, they work. They work in all industries, in music industry, in design, in publishing etc. That’s why it’s one of the must have’s in marketing in general. Not just in Publishing.
So, without criticism really, from the outside looking in, authors do not understand marketing and misjudge it. This article is part-example of it. I’m calling it out a bit, but in any case, it’s just 2 cents. As long as it facilitates discussions and some people learn that marketing isn’t bad (in whatever form, email lists or pop ups or Fb ads etc), I hope it helps.
Of course I didn’t mention techniques for getting people to sign up for a newsletter in this post. I also didn’t mention how to make a foolproof chocolate mousse or how to commit the perfect murder.
The fact that I didn’t mention those things in this post doesn’t mean I don’t know about them. 🙂
That’s because this is a post about BLOGS.
I have yet to meet a person who likes popups. Most people hate them with a passion.
Yes, I can tell you’re a marketer who sells services to authors. And I’m sure your service is helpful to authors who can afford it. Some may even get a positive ROI.
But most authors can’t afford a publicist or marketing person. Especially when they’re starting out.
Right now there are a whole lot more people making money FROM authors than there are authors making money. Fleecing wannabe writers is a growth industry.
The best way for an author to succeed is to learn to write good books. If they spend 90% of their time marketing, that’s not going to happen.
I have a blog on my website. I also have an invitation for people to sign up for my email list there and on my FB page. I used to send a newsletter every now and then, but it’s been ages. I Just. Don’t. Like. Them. I don’t like receiving them, and I don’t like sending them. I do enjoy blogging a few hundred words on a regular basis, and as you point out, I enjoy the organic engagement that generates (#MondayBlogs, anyone??). I’m ready to just blow off the whole email thing. I understand the logic of collecting emails in case of tech giant apocalypse, but that doesn’t mean I have to do anything with them just yet.
Now it’s 2021. I was preparing my material for a newsletter . . . as a duty not a joy . . . and I realized I just want to focus on my blog and on writing and reading this has made me so happy. Thank you!
Gabe–Hooray! I have to admit I still don’t like author newsletters. I know some of them are great for getting reviews and keeping readers engaged. But personally, I find reading them as much of a chore as writers do composing them. Send out a notice when you have a new title and put your energy into writing that book. Meanwhile, a blog is a great way to keep in touch too, and it can bring in new readers.
Brilliant. I use Blogger as my website so it’s both a blog and a website for posting current material and I noticed the subscribe to email for new content (like ARCs and Book sales). I have a newsletter and do swaps with other authors but it’s getting tiresome and spammy. I think my devoted readers will sign up for the email, which I assume they can unsubscribe from any time.
Eva–Most readers don’t mind an email or two about new publications and ARCs. But I think newsletter swaps–which worked once–are overdone and really irritate readers. This morning I found two unwanted newsletters in my email inbox from writers I’ve never heard of. I had one yesterday as well. Grrrr. They did have unsubscribe buttons (otherwise they’d be illegal), but I find it so invasive. Spam doesn’t sell books. A Blogger new post notification will have an unsubscribe function.