Welcome back to guest blogger, A.P. Fuchs!
The
Internet is a painfully crowded place, especially these days. I remember in the
late nineties when the Web was starting to take shape. There were some basic
websites and, well, that was about it. Communication on-line was pretty much
email. Now look at us—everyone’s on-line, we’re all shouting, and social media
is the main form of communication.
Unfortunately,
there’s just too many people and these days, with every one and their monkey
writing a book, there’s too many authors and it’s near impossible to get
noticed. Sure, it happens, and some authors build a sizable and—keyword:
pragmatic—social following, but for the most part, many struggle in this area.
Newsletters
bypass all the number games associated with social media, the whole
like-for-like and I-follow-you-you-follow-me tactics, and all the rest. (Which
are pretty much useless because those are about quantity not quality.)
Productive
numbers are where it’s at and newsletters, by their very opt-in nature, cater
to that. Do you want to know who is truly invested in what you do? Start a
newsletter.
It’s
focused marketing: sending out communication and information to people who have
chosen to hear what you have to say.
Actually, I don’t even like to use the word “marketing” in this case because
that totally devalues the point of a newsletter, which is connecting with
readers who genuinely care about you in return.
Look at the
word itself: newsletter. It’s a
letter, not a brochure.
Sure, your
newsletter numbers might be smaller than your Facebook likes, but they’re
quality numbers, which have more value than just a high like count. The people
who have chosen to receive a newsletter from you are the same people who are
more likely to get a copy of your book because a genuine interest in you has
already taken place.
There are
so many ways to go about doing a newsletter, some of which are:
▪ The Plain
Jane promo newsletter.
This is the
kind that only goes out when an author has a new release. It’s not about communicating
with the reader, but simply selling to them. I find these shallow; see the
newsletter work breakdown above.
▪ The
monthly update newsletter.
Typically
something sent out once a month, this is the newsletter where the author says
what’s going on with them, where what project is at in the production process
and to promote a book(s) or event or something.
▪ The
weekly newsletter.
My personal
favorite and the kind I run, which I’ll get to in a moment. The weekly version
can be like the monthly one, just sent out weekly. Or it can be about creating
a dialogue with the readers and talking points of interest, usually to do with
writing or books or entertainment.
My weekly
newsletter, The Canister X Transmission—presently
in its second year—has four main points: writing/publishing/marketing tip of
the week; book/comic spotlight from my catalog; creator spotlight focusing on
indie and mainstream creators who’ve impacted my career; rant of the week,
which is basically a positive or negative thing depending on what’s been
heavily on my mind for the past seven days.
I also
offer a free thriller e-novelette download if you sign up.
The
benefits:
▪ regular
connection with readers who actually want to hear from you
▪ exercise
in self-discipline to maintain the newsletter schedule, which then trains you
to keep deadlines for other projects like, um, your books
▪ an
opportunity to market work to readers without spamming, which can lead to sales
options outside of the usual channels
▪ a chance
to encourage and inspire others
Ultimately,
newsletters make the on-line world a smaller place and, frankly, in today’s
obscenely overcrowded rat race society, it’s sorely needed. It’s a chance to
quiet down, meet with a reader, and open up about what’s going on on your end.
And you’d be surprised. Readers respond to newsletters with their thoughts,
questions and more.
Beats an
overcrowded social media channel any day.
About the
Author: An independent writer and cartoonist, A.P. Fuchs has been part of the
underground publishing scene for twelve years. He is the author of more than
forty books, loads of comics, short stories and poetry, and has a weekly
newsletter called The Canister X
Transmission, in which he currently discusses publishing and marketing
tips, past work, indie creator spotlights and whatever’s on his mind that week.
Heck, he’s so passionate about writing and publishing he even wrote several
books on the subject, one a collection of the first year of his weekly
newsletter, another called Getting Down
and Digital: How to Self-publish Your Book. Plus a few others. Sign up for
his newsletter at www.tinyletter.com/apfuchs and get a free thriller
e-novelette out of the deal, and be sure to visit him on-line at his main hub
at www.canisterx.com
