Email Newsletter Marketing for Novelists: The Basics

[douglas_clegg]

Email Newsletter Marketing for Novelists: The Basics

I've been asked about this before and a reader (who is also a writer) just asked again in email. So I'm answering here in hopes it'll help some of you who write books. I believe that any novelist who is online and has books coming out in bookstores should be doing this.

Always keep "free" in mind.

Comments

[morbidloren]

Thank you so much for this!

[douglas_clegg]

You're welcome. This is just a basic outline of getting started with a newsletter. I hope to add another article at some point in the future that might have a bit more depth.

Thanks for reading it.

Best,

Doug

[glamberson]

Good list. I'd like to add one: Do not embarrass yourself or your readers by begging them to buy multiple copies of your latest novel because your contract with your publisher is in danger. I've seen authors absolutely humiliate themselves with this shameless begging, and have shared laughs with other writers over such behavior--usually within hours of the newsletter being sent out. And when the same authors do this newsletter after newsletter, I find myself looking forward to each issue for all the wrong reasons.

[douglas_clegg]

Greg,

I feel bad when a writer does that. My experience is that human nature is such that nothing makes people run away more than the whiff of desperation.

Ultimately, the writers who do that are trying to use sympathy and pathos to create book sales. Not a wise approach. I'm getting to the point where I think the best practice is simply to present your work and the opportunity to find it and not worry about whether anyone buys it.

My goal these days is to break down the barriers using the internet so that any potential or actual readers can decide for themselves if my fiction is something they'll want. All I can do is be myself and when necessary, get out of the way.

Thanks for the post. Shameless begging has never worked in any situation I've ever seen. And you're right -- it usually leads to the exact opposite reaction in someone who reads it.

Best,

Doug