Why are Author Newsletters a Low Hanging Fruit?
(An extract from my coming Micro Publisher book)
When building any information-based business, influencing new readers is all part of the process… and we don’t do that overnight. Monthly newsletters make this super simple. Rather than solely worrying over promos – what new campaign to offer your email list – you set up a systematic schedule of writing and emailing a newsletter.
The beauty is, anything you put into a blog can be transferred to a newsletter, either with RSS setup or simply copying the details and headings. I would suggest putting as much real and actionable content into your newsletter as possible and don’t rely on ‘read more’ links. Over time, my list shows that 2-3% click the read more link, so I switched to one long article and one promotion of an ebook or service per newsletter.
An editorial piece at the top and author photo signature at the bottom is also a nice, friendly touch. Editorial introductions are for your own perspective, whether positive or negative about something wrong in the industry. My preference is for witty or newsy newsletters rather than ones littered with take-action-now promotional links.
How do Soft-Touch Newsletters Work to Sell Books?
Of course, there are newsletters run by an Email Marketing service you choose, and there are newsletters on a platform, like Medium or Substack.
Substack authors use the easy ‘newsletter’ platform to share their ideas, share their book chapter previews, and in some cases, to remind at launch time with a picture of their book. In fact, one chap, Malvin H Waller has used these and similar methods to make bestseller on Amazon 29 times.
Substack author Veronica Illorca-Smith has converted her avid subscribers and past book readers to gain a traditional publishing contract. Her Substack growth has been aided by her collaborations with those on the up-and-up.
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Why Witty News?
These days, all email subscribers have too much promotion coming to them. Too many ‘act now or miss out’ superlative laden emails too. I believe we’re crying out for some fun in our inboxes.
It’s how special small brands stand out — e.g. Who Gives a Crap toilet paper and their fun messaging. Any old service, such as plumbers, can sell more with humour. Think what an opportunity Master Flush Plumbing missed — Master of Flush so much better. Instead of a serious message … a funny message will get noticed every time.
Remember, you can’t bore readers into paying attention — they don’t have to even open a newsletter. But they will if that newsletter subject line is intriguing, and keep opening them if the content is valuable information delivered in an entertaining way.
Google Gemini might be smart as a whip – but none of us understand what the heck they are saying. Newsletter says: “Gemini is now powered by 2.0 Flash, our latest model that is designed for the agentic era. It delivers fast responses and stronger performance across a number of key benchmarks for everyday help with tasks like brainstorming, learning or writing.”
For those of us without a degree in higher maths, that means – it’s faster, it’s better performing, and it can help you with brainstorming. If complexity was popular, we’d all be following scientific nerds rather than Mr Beast.
