Newsletters: the whys, wheres, hows, and whens
Should you write a newsletter? Let’s figure it out.
Dear Pen Pals,
Newsletters. I know they are very important - please highlight beyond the basics. Setting up an auto freebie file to newbies? Or different freebies depending on when/what link someone uses to sign up? Automated 'welcome' emails? Sorting subscribers in diff lists for diff subgenres and/or A/B testing? What email providers do you suggest? Can I hire you to set up a more complicated thing AND to teach me how to do this?
Signed,
Person Who Gets The Basics But Feels Overwhelmed With Becoming An Expert
Hey Person Who Gets The Basics But Feels Overwhelmed With Becoming An Expert,
Thanks for your patience, pal–you asked this earlier in the year and I kept getting distracted by other topics. We have a lot to cover so let’s jump right into it!
Why should I write a newsletter?
Some prevailing reasons:
You enjoy long form content
You have an audience-base that enjoys reading long form content (you’re a writer, so this should be covered)
You have a handful of regular updates to keep your audience aware of (your book, podcast episodes, guest articles, appearances, etc.)
Newsletters offer a chance to come to your audience directly without them needing to seek you out. Even within social media algorithms, there’s still a certain amount of seeking required of your audience to find you. With a newsletter, you show up right in their inbox.
This is also the answer to the most frequent question I get around this topic: Why a newsletter and not a blog? People need to actively search out your blog/remember it exists and to check it on a regular basis. You need to focus deeply on SEO and website optimization, and even then you’re going to see much less traffic than if you appear in your audience’s email directly. Think of how many things you need to keep track of on a daily basis–would you add seeking out a blog on top of that?
What is your newsletter?
That is to say, what is the primary focus of why you want to write a newsletter? Some of the most common reasons are:
You’re offering a service or resource (PenPals falls under this one)
Keeping readers up-to-date on your various ventures (as mentioned above re: book, podcast, etc.)
You’re selling products (this could be your book, but this could also be classes, additional paid resources, other products, etc.)
Having a creative outlet (writing short stories, thoughtful essays, poetry, etc.)
Most newsletters are a combination. For instance, unless you’re focusing on running a product-based company (in which case, why are you here with the “I hate marketing and I just want to write” crowd?), then I strongly advise against having a newsletter that focuses primarily on sales tactics only. Just like we’ve talked about with social media, you don’t want 100% of your content to just be about selling your book, because people will get tired of that quickly and won’t stick around.
Even when your newsletter is multi-faceted, you still need to identify your core reason for creating the newsletter as it will help you understand your main audience and what they may respond to best.
Where do I write a newsletter?
There are a plethora of newsletter platforms available today. Em and I landed on Substack because we love the hybrid feature of being a newsletter with a blog-like landing page, and the potential for some community and discussion based features. I’d say Substack is the most popular right now (also because there are options to monetize–we haven’t utilized this yet, but we’ve had brainstorm sessions about what extra things we may be able to offer a paid-subscriber tier). And it’s free to use!
I used to use Mailchimp frequently. It’s fairly intuitive and user-friendly. It doesn’t have as many features as Substack, but works just fine as a base platform and is also free to use.
I have a handful of clients who set up online classes through Kajabi, which is a service that will also help you build a website and has a built-in newsletter feature. I believe Kajabi is free up to a point, and then requires payment.
There are a lot of other options out there, so before you start your own newsletter, do a little research and decide which one feels right for you. You can always switch down the line, but that may get harder to do later on depending on the platform you’ve been working with and how your subscribers interact with you.
How do I write a newsletter?
Decide on a consistent format. Emily and I had long brainstorming sessions, and ultimately when we came up with the name our letter-writing format came into place.
I recommend using three consistent sections. A common format I see for my authors is:
An opening that offers some insight, advice, or entertainment
A call to action (buy my book, sign up for my class, enter this giveaway, etc. – keep it to one main call-to-action per newsletter)
A bulletin update on your career and upcoming events, podcasts, livestreams, etc.
Set up an automatic welcome email. Most newsletter platforms have that feature built in. If you use a platform like Substack where the newsletters live on a landing page after being sent out, you can go back and edit to include links to some of your favorite newsletter entries as a “where should I start?” guide.
Reuse or expand upon content. Emily will normally have a TikTok video she posts that mirrors what she talks about in the newsletter. This achieves multiple goals: Creating content for her TikTok; having a natural opening to talk about the newsletter; and offering a teaser for what’s in the newsletter for anyone who wants more information.
But what if someone gets all they want from the TikTok and then doesn’t subscribe to the newsletter? Then that person never would have subscribed anyway. Some people only want short form content. You still got their attention on social media, so it’s a win.
Content bank, both ideas and the newsletter themselves. Emily and I have a Discord server where we can brainstorm, drop notes for ourselves and each other, and post drafts to upcoming newsletters.
Outsource ideas with reader submitted questions (we love you all, keep submitting!)
Now for your question about sorting your newsletter into A/B testing, or sending certain versions of your newsletter to some subscribers, and another version to others. People A/B test in order to figure out which version is most effective, but for the majority of people reading this, it’s completely unnecessary. A/B tests work best for companies with a large subscriber count whose main goal is to sell product. The publisher I work for, for example, has a wide range of books from self-help to business to metaphysical–and not every subscriber has all of those interests. Newsletters promoting tarot decks aren’t going to go to subscribers whose main interest is business.
If you end up building a business empire, that’s one thing–but in general as a writer, you don’t need to worry about this. You’ll likely be focusing on one product type: Your book(s). And even when you write across different genres, if someone is subscribed to your newsletter it’s because they like your writing.
How do I get subscribers?
Most simply: Talk about it! Post on social, tell friends and family. If you appear on a podcast or someone else’s live stream, tell people where they can subscribe.
Offer incentives: Freebies for signing up, like you mentioned in your question (this could be an excerpt from your book, an additional resource, 20% off a class, etc). Giveaways that require subscribing to enter are also great.
Grassroots marketing: Think about where your audience is and how to find them. Em and I have a plan to start printing out flyers to put in coffee shops, libraries (standard and Little Free Libraries), college campuses, and anywhere else we can think of where writers hang out.
When should I send out my newsletters?
How often?
Just like with social media, consistency is best, so send them out as often as you feel you can realistically handle given your current workload. Every other week is a great place to start, you can always increase frequency once you get a solid feel for your process.
What day of the week?
It mainly depends on your audience. Emily and I decided on Monday morning because:
Mondays see a spike in people checking their email, due to the standard M-F work schedule of most of our subscribers
People are more likely to procrastinate on Mondays while getting settled into the work week, and are more willing to set aside extra time to read a text-heavy newsletter (if you’re reading this while drinking your coffee and avoiding that one email causing a stress response, we see you).
People are more open to motivating advice at the start of the week then at the end of the week. Monday is a day for making resolutions and plans, and since we offer a lot of suggested calls-to-action, we don’t want to catch you on a Friday when you’re more likely exhausted from the week and ready to check out.
We both tend to have more bandwidth to work on newsletters and do final edits over the weekend as opposed to during the workweek when we’re more occupied with our jobs.
That said, it depends on your content and audience. If your newsletter is based around commerce, you’re going to have better luck on a Friday or during the weekend after people have been paid. If you’re offering primarily entertainment-based content, Wednesdays may work best, since that’s when people are usually hitting their slump and could use a pick-me-up.
Ultimately, put yourself in the shoes of your audience and imagine your newsletter. What day and time would you be most likely to click?
Shameless Plug
This is a long one today, so I’m going to keep today’s plug short and sweet. In the spirit of offering our audience even more resources:
Buy Emily’s PDF writing worksheets! They’re fantastic, truly. I’d say that even if she wasn’t my best friend.
And to answer your last question: unfortunately, I don’t currently have the bandwidth to take on a freelance client that would require the amount of attention launching and maintaining the technical side of a newsletter does. If any of our subscribed pals do similar work or have a good recommendation for our pal here, leave a comment with contact info!
Have a lovely week, Pals (and thank you all so much for the very kind words many of you offered after my last newsletter topic❤️)
Best,
Pip (he/they)
Newsletter enthusiast
P.S.
Yesterday was Trans Day of Visibility! If you’d like to donate to an awesome organization that supports mental health for transgender people, Trans Lifeline is a great org run by trans people for trans people.
P.P.S
I really wanted to make a Newsies joke in this but couldn’t figure out where to put it, so here’s an extra treat for my fellow meme-lovers who made it to the end (and also so I can make this the thumbnail):