- Email might seem outdated compared
to Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok,
but when it comes to marketing your book,
nothing is more valuable or provides higher return
than an email newsletter.
If you're wondering what's better to market your book
or if you need an email newsletter at all,
then this video is for you.
(upbeat music)
Hey, I'm Julie the Book Broad of Book Launchers.
We're your professional self-publishing services team.
If your ideal reader uses social media,
then you should certainly build a presence
on that platform that they're using,
but an email pops directly into the inbox
of your target audience,
creates a much better opportunity for connection,
and builds that foundation for a long relationship
that can help you achieve bigger goals.
Even blog posts will not connect to your audience
as intimately or as consistently
as a newsletter in their inbox.
Think of your email list as your biggest fans
and most devoted supporters looking
to discover more of your specific expertise.
Someone who follows you on social media may simply
just scroll past your posts
and not bother to engage,
or depending on the algorithm of the platform,
they might not even see you on their feed at all.
Newsletters might seem like a little more work
than a daily tweet or an Instagram Story
but the benefits outweigh the effort.
And one of the biggest ones, you own your newsletter
unlike your social media.
You rent or borrow your platform on social media.
It's not your media.
You have control mostly over the content you post,
but you don't even control any of the experience,
the data or the platform strategy.
Like I said, a lot of your followers may
never see your content on social media.
And no matter what, you're playing
by the rules of that platform.
An email newsletter is your own media
and there are three big elements here,
content, community, and content. (laughs)
By delivering your newsletter to your audience directly
and not through a third party,
you own your content channel and strategy.
With this content, you build more
than a transactional relationship.
You're providing value to your own community
while being able to access your own data
to help with your decision-making
as you market your book, build your brand,
and provide better services to your audience.
Now, where do you start?
Well, the first step is building that email list
and reaching out to your audience.
Figure out the right opt-in
to connect your audience with your brand.
Basically, what do you promise to provide them
in exchange for their email address?
For example, if you wanna write a business book,
you can go to booklaunchers.com/businessbook
and see an example of an opt-in with a value ad offering.
And that opt-in content should pack value
like our business book download does.
It's a workbook to walk you through everything you need
to do to plan to write a really great business book.
So you really need to add value
so somebody gives you their email address,
so you can start to build that relationship.
This becomes a curated collection of quality leads
that you're building a relationship with.
These are people that will go to your website
and enter their address in to receive your emails,
and that means they're already interested
in what you have to offer, or what you have to say,
or what you can teach them.
You just have to know how to put together
an excellent newsletter that they won't hesitate to open.
Now there's lots of useful services out there
to help you maintain that list
and send out your newsletters.
Mailchimp is a good one and it's free
if your list is 2,000 subscribers or less,
which makes it great for getting started
and it can provide some automation
while making sure your opt-ins comply with any laws.
Our recommended service for our authors is ConvertKit,
and they also have some great tutorials
on how to set up and manage your email newsletter
through their service as well.
After you connect your newsletter service
to your website and create that opt-in,
it's time to create your template.
If you're not design inclined,
consider hiring a graphic designer to create a header
or some other kinds of images,
but there's nothing wrong with simplicity
if you wanna just rely on text.
That can be a great way to go too.
What matters most is
that your newsletter matches your brand,
reflects you, and adds value to the lives
of the reader with every issue.
Now that a new subscriber has signed up,
you wanna set up an automated email sequence
so that they receive a welcome email.
In that welcome email,
you wanna provide that promised content
but then you also want to let them know
what they can expect next.
Think of this as your first handshake with them.
What are you gonna be sharing over the days,
weeks, months, and years together?
Do you remember handshakes?
Before elbow bumps, handshakes are how we used to say hello.
Decide on how often to send your newsletter
and the content that you'll include.
You better be doing this at least monthly.
I highly recommend bi-weekly or weekly,
but for some, a monthly newsletter works
and for others, they may wanna share content more regularly.
Figure out what works for you
and what works for your audience.
And most importantly, remember to do this consistently
and provide value when you do.
Otherwise, it's gonna be added to the trash folder
or they're gonna hit unsubscribe.
Adding value will keep them opening your emails,
but I also recommend playing with catchy
and original subject lines.
My monthly tips for you, or Julie's newsletter,
or here's that email you signed up for,
(buzzer buzzes)
that's not gonna get them to open up your email
unless you're trying to bore them so much
that they think of taking a nap
every time they see your name.
No, craft your subject lines
to catch your subscriber's attention right away
and convince them that there's something
inside they don't wanna miss.
By the way, this is a great place
to test your chapter titles or your book titles.
Stay away from generic statements
and spam-triggering words.
Instead, tease the benefit of what you're offering.
Your subscribers might get a hundred emails a day
and their time is precious.
Let them know from a first glance
that you're not wasting their time.
When done right, your newsletter is
the foundation supporting your marketing mansion.
The content inside of them isn't just limited to emails.
Recycle it later into blogs, social media posts,
and in those posts, link to your opt-in
for a chance to boost your subscribe list.
To deepen your connection to your audience
and count on that connection to further your business,
you can't just count on your social media.
It's your email newsletter that really gets the job done.
And now my job's done, at least for this video,
but make sure you subscribe and turn those notifications on
because there's a video coming up
that you're gonna wanna see next.
And while you wait, may I recommend this one
that YouTube thinks you're gonna like to see?
Or this one, which is the latest
and greatest from the channel?
Take your pick and I'll see you there.
(upbeat music)