Tag: newsletters

Changing Newsletter Services: Resources

Promo Tips

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I’ve used MailChimp for years, but I’m one of the many writers who is now abandoning ship as the platform experiments with new pricing and a different direction (toward customer relationship management).  For many writers, the costs won’t make sense for basic email newsletter marketing.

I have dreaded making a change since I realized I’d need to.  I changed banks in March and it was a heinous task,  taking two 8-hour days to dump a bank I’d used for the last 20 years.  It did end up being worth it, though, as I’m sure this change will be.

One reason it’s a pain is the fact that MailChimp is everywhere in regard to my stuff…on Facebook, integrated through WordPress on my site, as an email signup link for over 30 books, on my Amazon author page…the list goes on and on.  I’m not sure why I didn’t set up a landing page on my own site and then use the service’s form on it…but apparently, that’s exactly what I did.  I even had a splash page, but didn’t use it to host my newsletter signup.  I certainly won’t be taking that approach again, obviously.

If you paid for a MailChimp pay-as-you-go plan, as I did, you may have to delay leaving (not sure how or if they refund that money, so I just decided to send out one last email).  All of my final changes are taking place after my last MailChimp newsletter.  So far, I’ve set up a new account with the new service and have transferred my subscribers (the audience is still also at MailChimp for that last newsletter).

So far, the change has been easy because it’s been automated.Continue reading

Newsletters for the Reluctant Author

Business of Writing

Row of mailboxes.

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I’ve mentioned here before that I was slow to start sending out a newsletter. What really made me finally commit to sending them (in 2013) was that readers were getting irritated.  They wanted me to send out a newsletter to let them know when I had a new release.  I had been a published author since 2009, so I was 4 years late to the party.

So I finally followed through.  I realized that, for the readers who wanted to sign up for my newsletter, they expected me to notify them of releases.  That’s how I started out and how I still handle my newsletters today.

I use MailChimp which is free for up to 2,000 subscribers.  I do have more than that, so I have to pay to send out my newsletters. Since I only send out newsletters when I have a release, I send out only 3 or 4 emails a year and decided to choose the pay-as-you-go plan (they also have a monthly plan).  More on costs here. Continue reading

One Important Element for Your Newsletter

Promo Tips, Uncategorized

A man holds a smartphone with 'newsletter' showing on the screen.

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

A while back (far enough back that I can’t remember the source), I read an article that suggested writers should include their backlist titles in their author newsletter.

This surprised me.  I think of my newsletter as valuable real estate.  Did I really want to clutter it up with a list of 25 books?  I also figured that most of the readers who signed up for my newsletter were focused on hearing about new releases…that they’d likely read most/all of the other books.

But the argument in this blog post I read was fairly convincing.  For the newsletter that went out for my last release, I included (at the bottom of the newsletter) a full backlist of my three series, with each title linked to the specific book’s page on my website (which has complete ordering information for a variety of different retailers and formats).

To my surprise, when I read my newsletter stats, I saw that, aside from the link for the new release, the most clicks were for various books in the backlist…in particular, the first book in the Myrtle Clover series.

Since I write under several names, it occurred to me that maybe some of my readers weren’t even aware that I had other series.

Maybe some readers were clicking on book one to give it as a gift to a friend or family member to start them on a series that they enjoy.

Maybe some readers simply couldn’t remember if they’d read a particular book or not.

At any rate, it was something that took very little effort on my end (I just copy-pasted my back matter from a document I keep for that purpose) and it resulted in a nice bump in sales for my backlist.

As an extra step, you can link to a printable list of your backlist in PDF form (with ISBNs) for those readers who like to order from bookstores.

For more ideas on elements for your author newsletter, read “50 Ideas for Author Newsletter Content” by Zoe McCarthy.

Have you ever included a book list in your newsletter?   What else have you included in your newsletter that has received a good response from readers?

One important element for your newsletter: Click To Tweet

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Confirming Newsletter Subscriptions After Group Giveaways

Uncategorized

A hand holds a cell phone with 'newsletter' on the screen. The post title, "Confirming Subscriptions after Group Giveaways" is on the right hand side of the photo.

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I have mixed feelings about group giveaways that are geared to grow newsletter subscribers.

I’ve had success in the past with the (very few) times that I’ve participated in group giveaways.  My bounce rates and unsubscribes stayed pretty low.  I think this is a testament to the fact that 1) I rarely send email newsletters and 2) the groups I joined had books very similar to mine.

But I still always felt like I was spamming unsuspecting readers–even though they had expressly agreed to sign up for all the authors’ newsletters in exchange for the chance to win a grand prize.

Additionally…and this is me being cheap, as usual…my email list is of such a size now that I have a paid plan on Mailchimp.  I don’t particularly want to waste my money sending out release newsletters to a disinterested recipient (a.k.a., someone who didn’t seek to sign up for my newsletter and mine alone).  To be clear, I do segment my lists, sending new subscribers a different newsletter than other segments.  But this is still pricy (and time consuming, to boot).Continue reading

Gaining Newsletter Subscribers With Instafreebie

Business of Writing, Uncategorized

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig 

I’ve been using InstaFreebie since July of last year, but my use was limited to a convenient method of distributing free ebooks to readers or reviewers (and having InstaFreebie’s support to assist readers with any problems).

A short while afterward, I started using InstaFreebie as part of organized multi-author giveaways (there was an author assistant for a group of cozy writers who set it up).  I was in a couple of those and my mailing list grew to the point where I needed to get a paid account with MailChimp.

After reading numerous posts on how InstaFreebie was helpful, long-term, for growing a newsletter list, I decided to alter my approach on the account. I’m not one of those who likes to send out lots of emails to my newsletter list, so I decided to use InstaFreebie as more of a discovery tool. (And I’d like to note that I’m not affiliated with InstaFreebie in any way.)

I started their 30-day free trial, integrated InstaFreebie to my MailChimp list (they provide directions on how to do this).  Then I promptly forgot about it.Continue reading

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