Building Your Newsletter Subscriber List

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It takes some time (and work) to build your list of newsletter subscribers. I collected names for months before I sent out my first one. Here are some ideas for ways authors can increase their lists of subscribers.

  • Create a sign-up sheet and take it to all of your events. Make sure to leave enough space for them to print their name and email address.

  • When I do Facebook take-over parties, I always put a link in one or more of the posts for the participants to “keep in touch” via my newsletter.

  • Make sure you have a form or a widget, so that visitors can sign up for your newsletter on your websites. A lot of website design software offer a pop-up when folks visit your site to sign up. You may want to delay that for a few seconds (or minutes), so that that’s not the first thing new folks see on your site.

  • Newsletter swaps are a good way to build up your following. Look for another author who has a similar audience as you. You also want to have about the same size audience to make it worthwhile for both of you. You create content for her newsletter, and she’ll do the same for one of yours. Basically, you are featuring that author, and she will highlight you and your books in hers. Add a link in your article for readers to subscribe to your list.

  • There are quite a few newsletter builders out there. These companies charge a fee for you to participate. Usually, every author also agrees to give away a book or two for the contest’s prize. The contest entrants agree to subscribe to the authors’ newsletters for additional chances to win prizes. At the end of the event, you get a spreadsheet of email addresses to import into your newsletter software. If you do participate, make sure you sign up for ones in your genre. You don’t want to collect names of readers who aren’t interested in what you write.

  • If you participate in group author events, make sure to have your sign-up sheet available for folks.

  • I do a lot of classes for different civic and social organizations, and these aren’t really opportunities to sell books, but I do take my newsletter sign-up sheet in case anyone is interested.

  • Advertise your newsletter on social media sites. It’s good to post when you’re about to send one out, so that you can pick up any interested new subscribers.

What would you add to my list?