If you’re a seasoned author looking for ways to grow, or a fresh writer wanting to build a faithful following, then you’re in luck. We are about to share with you the most effective email marketing strategies for authors – going beyond sales to create a wonderful and long-lasting relationship with your readers. This brings great value to authors who want to take it a step further and communicate directly with their readers.

Email marketing still remains one of the most reliable and effective strategies that allow businesses to connect with their target audiences. It gives them a better and more convenient experience through online newsletters.

Why Email Marketing is Important for Authors

There are many marketing strategies out there that can boost businesses in different ways. The reason why email marketing stands out is because of how quickly and directly information gets to its subscribers.

This is especially true for authors who need a way to reach their readers. The use of effective email marketing strategies helps self-published authors communicate straight to interested readers. These should be the kind of people that want to get updates from the author whenever something new comes around. The subscribers on an author email list are typically people who want to get info as soon as it is announced.

Whatever kind of content may have in your newsletter, what’s most important is that you give your subscribers what they signed up for: quality content and consistent communication with you, the author.

If everything is done right, you would have created the best email marketing strategy that benefits you and caters to your audience.

6 Email Marketing Ideas for Writers

Now that you know the importance of email marketing for authors, we can get right into the process of how to plan out email marketing strategies. Here are six ideas and tips proven to help writers craft the best email marketing strategy.

1. Start Your Email List

Email marketing strategies always begin with attaining a list of targeted people to contact. There are many methods behind finding the right people to add to your author email list, and each process deserves a spotlight guide of its own. This will be a  quick summary of a few popular methods to start your list.

• Use social media and simply offer people a subscription to your newsletter – This is the safest and most trusted way of getting quality contacts for your author email list. Reach out to people you know, introduce to them your book, and ask them if they would consider subscribing to your newsletter to get updates and news from you directly.

•  Be vocal and promote your newsletter – a few ways you can promote your newsletter are through affiliate marketing, social media pages, and ads on different websites like Google, Facebook, or on Amazon.

• Set up a landing page on your website  – Having a newsletter landing page on your website will bring great value to your business and is an effective way to get people to subscribe to your newsletter. 

It is possible for you to buy a list from an email service or lead generation company but we would not advise this since it usually won’t lead to valuable interactions. In a worse situation, it may be an unsolicited email.

It would be best to stick with the hard-earned but more rewarding outreach methods and promotions to build up your author email list. 

2. Get Your Readers Hooked

Once you have a good number of interested people on your list, you need to make them want to actually open and read your email. This means that you need to create a strong hook that will grab people’s attention and pique their interest to see what you have to offer.

Being a writer, you may have some good copywriting techniques you can employ to increase the effectiveness of your hook. You need to be able to steal your readers within the first two sentences and make them want to continue reading through the content. The best email marketing strategy always starts with a powerful hook. 

3. Put Forward an Attractive Offer

Newsletter incentives are what get people to sign up to be part of your author email list. You need to give your subscribers a reason to stay with you.

You can offer content like valuable and relevant industry news updates, special offers, info on upcoming events, and interesting statistics on case studies. Be open and up to date with your offers in your newsletter – your subscribers are your readers who deserve only the best content you can provide. 

4. Carefully Craft Your Emails 

It comes as no surprise that the best email marketing strategy must include carefully crafted content. Tailor your writing to the kind of audience you have as well as the intent of the message. 

Emails that are boring will be quickly dismissed by your readers, or worse, you may lose their interest as subscribers. On the other hand, overly casual and unprofessionally-sounding emails will end up in the spam folder.

You need to take time to carefully create personalized messages for your readers. Let them feel heard by acknowledging and thanking them for their continued support. Be excited to offer them something brand new so that they can get a sense of positivity from your email.

As a writer, you should know who your readers are and how best to speak to them in your email.

5. Create an Emailing Calendar

The best email marketing strategy needs to have well-thought-out planning to reduce risk and greatly increase your chances for success. An email calendar is a useful tool to plan out and keep track of all emails that are sent and will be sent to your subscribers in the future.

To create efficient email marketing strategies, you need to prepare your emails in advance. Have your content planned out and set a specific date to send it in your newsletter. Also, take into consideration how frequently you communicate to your readers, whether it’s weekly, bi-weekly, or every month.

6. Look Into Email Service Providers

It is tough to manage and email such a large amount of people, that’s why it’s common to use email service providers (ESPs) instead. Many email marketing strategies include ESPs because they save you time, effort, and money in the longer run. So we advise you to consider ESPs to handle your email logistics for you.

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You are now equipped with the knowledge to create the best email marketing strategy as a writer. Always cherish the value and connection of your author email list because those people are your greatest assets.

If you need any help with your writing and publishing process, be sure to check out our services. We offer top-quality guidance for aspiring authors who want to up their game.