Reader Newsletter Content

[Cargoplayer]

Built my reader platform: website, mailing list. Got my reader magnet up on Bookfunnel, joined a couple of promos, got a 100 and a bit subscribers to my newsletter. I realize that I’ll get better quality subs from backmatter in my books, which are up for presale now.

But… having read so much about newsletters, and how the best thing to do is be personal, talk about your writing, other things that are pertinent to your stories, (mc is a minstrel, I write and record the songs, so I talk about making music,) and I talk about books I’m reading. This is all recommended by pretty much every pundit in the indie marketing space. I still wonder how well it works for fantasy writers, especially epic fantasy.

So, if anyone would care to share, and you do a newsletter, what kinds of content are you putting in, and how’s your newsletter doing?

 

[skip.knox]

I publish a newsletter every other month. After a couple of years, I still can't say how well it works, as open rates are low and there's zero feedback. Does that mean it's not working? *shrug*

It's there. I'm trying to make it a habit, so that should the day ever come that I have, say, a thousand subscribers, there will be a layer already in place. I decided pretty much at the start that it had to be something I wanted--the thing for itself. Marketing secondary. So in that sense, it works just fine.

 

[Cargoplayer]

I publish a newsletter every other month. After a couple of years, I still can't say how well it works, as open rates are low and there's zero feedback. Does that mean it's not working? *shrug*

It's there. I'm trying to make it a habit, so that should the day ever come that I have, say, a thousand subscribers, there will be a layer already in place. I decided pretty much at the start that it had to be something I wanted--the thing for itself. Marketing secondary. So in that sense, it works just fine.

for sure, that’s my take as well. It’s writing, and I like it. Do you get additional sales from it at release time?

 

[Ned Marcus]

I always struggle with content for newsletters. I usually talk about any writing/book news that I have, what books I've been reading (which often isn't fantasy), and anything else that comes to mind that's roughly related. I try to send one a month but sometimes miss a month, which isn't really a good idea.

I keep it fairly short.

The open rates vary. For the last one, I got lazy and wrote a boring subject line. My open rates were, of course, lower. Coming up with a good subject line is worth spending extra time on.

When I ask my readers to review, like my FB page, or buy a book that's in a sale, then I do see some of them taking action. But it's not hordes of people. And some people write to tell me they enjoyed a short story or book, which is always welcome.

 

[skip.knox]

for sure, that’s my take as well. It’s writing, and I like it. Do you get additional sales from it at release time?

I don't even try to track it. I'm not sure it's possible to document directly.

 

[Ned Marcus]

I don't even try to track it. I'm not sure it's possible to document directly.

It's not. If you see a sales spike after you tell your list about a book sale—and if this happens fairly consistently—then there's a fair chance the newsletter is driving those particular sales. Assuming you're not running any advertising at the same time, of course.

 

[skip.knox]

With a "release" happening about every other year, and with only a couple hundred people on the newsletter (which means like maybe twenty, really), there is, to coin a phrase, "insufficient data for meaningful answer."