Book Marketing Tips and Author Success Podcast
Ready to supercharge your author journey? Join bestselling author and book marketing maven Penny Sansevieri and savvy publishing insider Amy Cornell for lively, no-nonsense conversations filled with smart strategies, creative inspiration, and publishing know-how you can actually use.
Whether you’re self-published, traditionally published, or somewhere in between, this podcast delivers real-world advice to help you sell more books, build your platform, and thrive in the ever-evolving publishing landscape. From clever promo hacks to critical industry insights, each episode is designed to move the needle on your success.
Fresh ideas. Actionable tips. Unfiltered talk.
If you’re serious about your author career, hit subscribe and tune in—your next big breakthrough could be one episode away.
Book Marketing Tips and Author Success Podcast
Your Newsletter Is Worth More Than Your Social Media Followers
Have you been neglecting the most powerful marketing tool at your disposal? Your email newsletter provides something social media simply cannot—a direct line to readers without algorithm interference.
Many authors resist starting newsletters because they believe they don't have enough subscribers or content ideas. This mindset creates a significant missed opportunity. Those first few subscribers who share their contact information in today's privacy-conscious world are often your most dedicated fans. They're the readers who will recommend your books, leave reviews, and engage meaningfully with your content.
We explore how to grow your email list strategically using "set it and forget it" methods, which are so easy to implement, you'll wonder why you haven't done it sooner!
In this episode, Penny and Amy share insights and examples and easy ways to grow your list. We also discuss what kind of content to put into your newsletter and we also dive into reader magnets that will help you attract new sign ups!
Whether you're just starting out or looking to revitalize an existing list, implementing these newsletter strategies creates reader connections that drive engagement and builds a loyal community around your work. The time to start is now—your future book launches will thank you.
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Hello and welcome back to the Book Marketing Tips and Author Success Podcast. This is Penny Sandsbury and Amy Cornell and we are. We're. It's the end of August. I can't even believe that we're already here. I'm very excited for fall, love, fall favorite season, all the things. But we we really appreciate we got some great feedback from y'all. We re-ran some older shows that we think that folks seem to have really, really enjoyed. We've really grown our listener base in the last 18 months so we decided to re-run some older shows that maybe missed, that are relevant. So we hope that you've enjoyed that. We may do a couple more before the end of the year.
Speaker 1:I can't believe we're saying that this was something that Amy and I well, this is a topic that Amy and I feel strongly about.
Speaker 1:All the topics that we do, this one in particular really hits home because it's often neglected or forgotten or authors will say I don't, you know, I don't really know where to start, I don't have anything to say, and your email newsletter is a direct line to your reader. It's a direct way to connect with them anytime that you want. So it's an extremely valuable tool. You don't have to worry about the wonky algorithm on Instagram or Facebook and a lot of times like, I'll talk to authors and I'll say you know, do you have a newsletter? Well, I have the sign up but I haven't done anything with it, or I have, I don't have a newsletter. I don't have anything because I just send stuff out on social media and you and I both know, amy, that we just don't. I mean, I miss so many updates from people that I actually follow on social media just because the algorithm is can be really iffy at times, yes, and it changes all the time.
Speaker 2:You and I have both experienced that lately, where it's like, wow, all the things that I used to see I don't see anymore, and all the accounts that I know I follow. I rarely get their content anymore, and we do. We're big fans of social media for authors, especially if you know that your reader market is prone to hanging out on certain channels and it really makes sense to spend some time there and at least have a following and to show up there and be available. And it can be really pretty too, which I love. It's very visual.
Speaker 2:But social media moves so quickly and you have to keep in mind that everybody, most people that get on social media, they're there for a million different reasons and sometimes the reason is just to zone out. So things move quickly, so they're scrolling, they might laugh at something, they may like a post, which is awesome. We love when people like our posts. So we're not knocking that by any means, but you just have to be realistic that so much about social media is in one ear and out the other, and so the impressions are great. It's nice to pop into people's feeds and they see you still. Those are great reminders, but it's likely that the same amount of quality engagement is not going to be there that you can generate with a really well done newsletter.
Speaker 1:That's very true. And the other thing that I've noticed too, and I don't know you know you and I've talked about this, like the Instagram algorithm. I was looking at something the other day. I was looking at something came up in my feed about a dog genealogy test. It was not a genealogy test, that's not the word, but you know what I'm talking about, right, and I just I popped it just to look at it Cause I think I thought the dog was cute, right? I mean Cosmo's almost 17. So I pretty much know who he is Like. He doesn't need a genealogy test, swear to God.
Speaker 1:The second the next time that I opened up Instagram, I had like five or six ads for different dog tests. I'm like literally not interested in that. So you know, the algorithm is just so, so sketchy. And your mailing list I mean, even if you're on your fifth book and you're listening to this and you're like, well, it's probably too late for my mailing list, it's literally never too late to start a mailing list. And you know, a lot of times and I know you and I have talked about this too sometimes authors will say, well, I have a mailing list, but I only have 10 people and sometimes I'll talk to authors and they'll literally be embarrassed that they only have 10 people and I think that everybody has to start somewhere, right, right, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And I think we brought this up on another show recently. It was kind of had I forget what it was about, but it was kind of even a light bulb moment, to reframe it for myself in that those 10 people are those people gave you their contact information. That is such a big deal today, when we all get a boatload of email, we get spam texts, all of the things. So if you have a small group of people that were willing to hand over their contact information and hear from you, please don't ignore them, like those could be your biggest super fans forever. That will recommend every book you read to their friends. That will actually forward your newsletters.
Speaker 2:I mean, those people deserve some attention because they showed up for you without a lot of song and dance, yeah, and that says something. I think that is so amazing. Those small lists, those people are your people and, yes, keep building on it. But definitely don't sit on it and say like, well, I'll start a newsletter once I have x number of people or once I feel like I have something interesting to say. Don't let those people languish, because they showed up for you, so you should show up for them in return.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's absolutely true, and I think that you know to your point the first few people that sign up for your newsletter before you're even really doing a lot of newsletter promotion. These people are really diehard fans, like they are the ones that really want to hear from you and, look, I don't care if your newsletter, if you say, well, I have 10 people, and three of them are, you know, family members get your sea legs as early as you can, right, get in the habit of sending a newsletter. Get in the habit of coming up with content, which I know is another pushback that I get from authors Like I just want to write a book, why do I have to come up with this content? But I'm telling you right now, a newsletter will benefit you in ways that we really that we can't even describe. And a few years ago there was an author and this also sort of dips into the superfan slash street team discussion, which we're going to also do a show on but she has a newsletter, has a newsletter, I guess still and she was traditionally published decided to independently publish her book and within 48 hours of the book hitting Amazon, she had 4,000 ratings and reviews. She had spent the time on her newsletter, communicating with fans, igniting them, exciting them, turning them into Herstory team super fans, etc.
Speaker 1:And there are some real-world benefits to connecting directly with your reader. So let's talk a little bit about how to grow your mailing list, because it's one thing to say, oh, I really want to do this, and then it's another to be like well, but where do I get started? So, first things, first, letter in the back of all your books. Put your books to work for you Paperback, e-book. There should be a letter to readers in the back of the book and the letter to reader will just say you know, listen, thanks for reading and invite you know, I invite you to sign up for my newsletter list, have some kind of a reader magnet, which we're going to go into in the second half of the show, but put your book to work for you and a lot of the strategies that Amy and I are going to talk about in terms of how to build your mailing list. These are pretty much one and done, like you don't necessarily have to continually go back and reinvent the wheel, kind of like you do with social media, where you have to come up with like I have to come up with new topics like every single day, and you know that I'm running out of ideas and blah, blah, blah. So, letter in the back of your book, put it up on your website. And actually these are a little bit in reverse order, so you should put it up on your website first. And actually these are a little bit in reverse order, so you should put it up on your website first.
Speaker 1:I really recommend your newsletter sign up to be prominent upper right-hand corner of your website. So when consumers look at a website, we go from left to right. The right is really the power corner. And pop-ups also. Even though pop-ups feel annoying, pop-ups absolutely work right. I get so annoyed when I see a pop-up, but then I'm like, oh well, maybe I just want to like. Then I'm not so annoyed when I see whatever the offer is or something. What else, Amy, how else can we, can authors grow their newsletter list?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can mention it also on Amazon. You just have to be smart about it, right, right? Hello, yeah, amazon's getting pretty good at detecting when people are trying to send people away from Amazon and so URLs, things like that Amazon is getting much better at catching. And then they'll say like, no, you can't do this, we're not going to let you update stuff, but there's no reason you shouldn't mention it. You can mention it. You can even mention what the reader magnet is, what your offer is, and as long as you're not directly saying like, leave Amazon now and go check this out, it's probably going to make it through. So mention it just so people know that it exists, and then they'll go looking for it, which is perfect. Mention it just so people know that it exists, and then they'll go looking for it, which is perfect.
Speaker 2:Yes, and then obviously, anywhere on social media, we're big fans of using a another app, like a link tree app or something like that, where you can add a bunch of different content to your bio on your social media profiles, and a lot of people are using these now and it's really great because you can send people to different locations and you don't have to worry about like using up your characters or only sending people to one place. So having a separate call out for your newsletter sign up on one of those apps is also really smart, because it's a lot of people again. They get on social media. They're distracted. There's a lot going on and a lot of times you can't bank on people to think things through necessarily. I know that sounds really awful, but if you give them something very specific to do, you're probably going to have higher engagement.
Speaker 2:So just straight up putting a newsletter link and teasing what they can get by signing up, you're more likely to get clicks on that than you will just saying like, check out my website and find my stuff. Like, most people don't like having to go looking for things, they just want to get there. Yeah, that's having. Yeah, so having both your website link, there's nothing wrong with that. Do that for sure, because that's great traffic. But then also have your newsletter link separated out, because if you catch yourself going like, but they'll find it, or once they're on my website, they'll see it, you're already giving yourself reasons why you should make a more direct route Once you start saying if they or when they. That means it's too many steps, right, right?
Speaker 1:right, right, right, right, exactly, um, and I think, and like, like we said, I think that once you, once you set up these, you know your reader magnet may change. I mean, our reader magnet has changed over the years, right, I think. But once you set up a lot of these things, I mean it really is sort of set it and forget it, right, so you get your link tree set up, as Amy said, very, very, very, very carefully mentioned on Amazon, very, very, very carefully mentioned on Amazon, right, put it in your email signature. But it really is tremendous, like you will be so glad that you got started with this or maybe enhanced what you already have Now. The next piece of this is really where authors get stuck. It's how often should they send a newsletter? I've talked to authors who send their newsletters every week. Godspeed to y'all, because I, literally we used to. So this is really this part of the conversation would be super triggering for Amy. We used to send our newsletter once a week, do you remember?
Speaker 2:that, yes, it was right when I. I think it was right when I started. Yeah, it was awful, it was so. It was so stressful because even though my hands weren't in it right away, but I do I was CCing on the emails coming up with like the stuff, and it's like, oh my gosh, this is a lot of pressure.
Speaker 1:I know, I know, and we were literally CCing everybody on the team and I think Amy had just started like okay, we need content, and Amy's like I literally need to learn the name of the strategies I'm talking about.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, it was wild, but it's so much better now too, because we'll talk about, I mean, little snippets of things to avoid too. But it got to be so much and it got to be. We've revamped it so many times over the years because we really pushed ourselves to like talk about what are they looking for. You know we do that with show ideas too. We've mentioned it on the show. We love getting show ideas because we could go on and on about the stuff that we just want to blab about, but we are we so much would rather focus on things that that y'all are super interested in finding out and I think that's how our newsletter improved over the years too. Is that we pulled back from we could do this, we could do this, we could do this, just coming up with ideas for, you know, to fill it up versus what are people likely looking for when they open this. Yeah, it was just like a game changer, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think that you know, in terms of how often that you send your newsletter. I mean, look, figure out something that works for you. Where you finally land up is probably not where you started, kind of like, with us sending a newsletter out every week. I must have been out of my mind. You know, if you want to start once a week, just like I really need to just get in the habit, great, but I think you know once a month, and sometimes authors will say, well, I really only want to send a newsletter out when I have a new book coming out, and that, to me, is a mistake, because essentially, what you have to do is you have to keep. So don't put yourself in a situation where you have to warm up your list every time that you have a book coming out. So let's say that you have, you know you have, you release books every once a year or, you know, if you're more aggressive, every six months, and there's literally no communication in between those books. So basically, you're literally just going out after those people. When you have a, when you have a book, you know when you have a book release and that's not a really good, it's not a really it's not a great way to build relationships, right? So figure out something that works for you. I mean, during launch times, you could definitely send the newsletter more often, but I would say, land on something that feels comfortable.
Speaker 1:The other thing that Amy mentioned which is really worth talking about is identifying really what so you know when to send the newsletter. Okay, so had that conversation Now what to put in the newsletter. That was the second part of kind. Of what Amy said is you really have to figure out what's going to resonate with your reader. So if you have a nonfiction book and you want to do you know tips on, you know different things I mean great, as long as it matters to your reader.
Speaker 1:The thing to remember about our newsletter is that, even though it's a sales tool, you really don't want to be overtly salesy, because we get sold a lot, right? I gave the example earlier on the show. Like you go into Instagram and all of a sudden, like I'm buying, like there's 15 different dog who knew that there were that many. Right, everybody's trying to sell you all the time. So keep the newsletter. Yes, the newsletter is a sales tool and we're not telling you, no, don't sell anything. That's not the message here. It's make sure that there is enough meaty content that really matters to your readers. So, for example, like if you've written. You know, for fiction authors, newsletters tend to be harder because they're like I don't really know what to tell.
Speaker 1:What to talk about. Well, talk about what you're researching. Talk about, like, the insider scoop on how do you name your characters, how do you design, you know, how do you design on a cover. Talk about the odyssey that it is sometimes designing a cover, because I think people are really interested. You know people are really interested in you know kind of that backstory. Like I just finished a book that I'm actually going to recommend to you, amy. Oh, my gosh, it's so good and I'm so intrigued as to how the author came up with this story, because it's not necessarily, it's unique in the way that she told it, and so if she put that in her newsletter, I would open that up first thing and read through it, because I would find that so compelling. I love that, yeah, absolutely. Oh, go ahead, go ahead.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, Go ahead. I was going to say I love that thinking outside the box, because another aspect of this when authors say I don't know what to say, I think that you're putting yourself in a box of it all needs to be based on you, whereas, again, like Penny said when we started this, it really needs to be based on you, whereas, again, like Penny said when we started this, it really needs to be based around what you think your readers will find interesting and, believe it or not, and this may creep some people out sharing some personal things. Yeah, it's very humanizing. It makes you seem more real. You know what I mean and what that does. It also encourages people to support you more. Seem more real. You know what I mean Like and what that does. It also encourages people to support you more, like leaving reviews when you ask them to forward your newsletter. Share with a friend. If you seem like a real person that they can connect with, they're going to be so much more likely to follow through when you do have those asks, if you are human and so. And also stick with something.
Speaker 2:What's great about the personal touches, especially if it's like a hobby that's super important to you, or if you have a pet that you're obsessed with. What's really great about that? Also? Or, if you were, if you love to cook, it might have a recipe to share every once in a while. What that also does is it creates something expected and consistent that helps you, that gives you some direction for future newsletters as well. I mean, you'd be surprised or maybe you won't how excited your newsletter list might be to get updates on your dog, like their latest adventures, like because everybody loves a cute dog moment. You know what I mean? Oh for sure, maybe your dog's kind of a goofball. So the latest you know what I mean the latest nonsense that your dog has gotten into Pictures obviously, it's a great way to use pictures.
Speaker 2:These personal touches encourage people to open because, again, like you said, penny, you're not selling them anything by sharing that, you're just inviting them into your world and that is a very real, very human experience. That really will encourage people to open more of these. Because if they get a sense that you're only selling them something, or that you're only there to talk about my book, this, my book, that my book, this, my book that it's like eventually they're going to go yeah, I get it, you know what I mean. Like you like to talk about my book, this, my book, that my book, this, my book, that it's like they're eventually they're going to go. Yeah, I get it. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Like you, you'd like to talk about the book, and there's nothing wrong with talking about the book, but you need to make it a more well-rounded, organic experience for them. Unless you again, like Penny said, unless you're setting out a special edition because you have a release coming out in the coming weeks, absolutely Go for that. We do that as well, but in between, remember to keep it unexpected but predictable, if that makes sense. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, exactly. I think that is really, and I think that that's part of the reason why we say you know, if you already have a list, you're listening and you're like, oh, I really need you know, I haven't done anything because it's only a small number. It's really a great way to get to to you know, to get your feet wet with this, is to try out, try out the content and see what resonates, see what gets open rates, and let me tell you, let me give you, let me give you another tip too is that when? And we're going to talk a little bit, I think I think the call.
Speaker 1:We have a lot of notes on newsletters because we have very strong feelings about this topic. But in terms of a call to action, every newsletter should have some kind of a call to action in it, and that is designed not just to get people to buy something Obviously, we talked about, you know, the low sales piece of the newsletter but it's also designed to get your readers to respond to you directly. That not only creates a great personal connection, but it's also a very weird algorithm thing where if somebody writes you from, you know somebody responds to your newsletter, writes you. You should every single time, always write them back, because that pings the system to say that your newsletter content is low, spam, low, no spam, things like that. So if you have people responding to you, you should be respond, you should be respond.
Speaker 1:Don't just be like, oh, that's a really nice thing and then delete it. Respond right back Again. Not only is it great connection, but it's really good for the, for the new, whatever newsletter system that you use, okay. So, and then just in terms of the length, I mean, I think you know, make it skimmable. I, I just I don't know about, I don't know about y'all, but I know Amy and I, like if we get an email, I mean in particular, like if you send me an email that's more than one paragraph, literally glaze over like like, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:I mean, I think you know, one to three short sections is really, and this is where a lot of times, authors really overthink their newsletter, like, oh, I have to. You know, I have to do all this stuff. It has to be novel length, it has to not novel length, but you get the idea right. Headings, bullet points, images If you have a system that can do images, images are great. And again, make sure that you always preview it on mobile, because if they're reading your newsletter, they're probably reading it on their phone.
Speaker 2:You know, yeah, that's a very good point and, yeah, I think the the length too and I think we got stuck in this cycle. We were better about moving away from it is to not force it. You know, don't, don't force content. If you had a section in your newsletter for something, don't feel like you have to leave it in every single time. Again, this goes back to giving people useful content, funny content, whatever makes sense for who your readers are and the kind of books that you write. But I think you're going to get a lot better return and better engagement rate if you focus more on.
Speaker 2:Is everything I'm putting in here heartfelt or quality or interesting, or you know what I mean versus like checking it off your list like I did this section, I did this section. You know what I mean. There's nothing wrong with having, you know, sections or a template to work from, to build around. But again, I I would think that me personally, I'd rather yeah, I'd rather read a shorter newsletter that was really interesting or that had something to my benefit, versus a longer newsletter Because nobody's sitting there going. Oh, thank goodness that this newsletter is six pages long, otherwise I would have been disappointed.
Speaker 1:I know, I know it. Yeah, I completely agree to that. And one of the things that we started doing too in our newsletter which I'm very certain was Amy's idea, because she has all the great ideas is that we now link out to other content. So we link to blog posts, as opposed to we used to. Like I said, we used to have long newsletters and it was very weird and a lot of work, but now we link out to blog posts that may be of interest to our subscribers, right, so they can have a newsletter. The content's short. If they want to dive deeper, here's some links, and that's something that also absolutely works too. Works too.
Speaker 1:So then, in terms of so a very simple call to action and I covered this also in my book From Book to Bestseller is do some kind of a giveaway, right, do some kind of a giveaway in your newsletter. So, and again, the call to action is yes, you definitely want to mention if you have a promo coming up, a new book, et cetera. So your book should definitely be mentioned, but have some kind of a giveaway and mention it. So, in your newsletter intro, mention like okay, we pulled another raffle, even if it's like a $5, you know Amazon gift card, you can rent a movie. I don't know if you can rent a movie for $5. Almost An older movie, maybe, right? Yeah, I'm like I saw a movie rental for like I think it was like $21. I'm like are you serious, right?
Speaker 2:I know I guess still cheaper than going to the theater, I suppose.
Speaker 1:Yeah, going to the theater, I suppose. Yeah, it seemed really maybe I misread that it's very possible, but anyway. And here is something, and I've recommended this to a lot of authors so doing a giveaway per newsletter, right, encourages them to open up the newsletter. Okay. So in the intro mentioned okay, we have, we pulled another, you know, reader giveaway in this newsletter. Yay, super excited. Make them scroll all the way to the bottom to see if they've won.
Speaker 1:So never announce the winner in the intro, always announce it at the bottom. So, last thing, that before they leave the newsletter, there's the winner. Now the winner has to contact you within the first, like I would say, five to seven days after you know. So within seven days, if they haven't contacted you, you don't reach out to them and say, hey, you won. They have to take the action to contact you and let you know and then they won. Otherwise the prize goes back into the prize pot and then maybe next month, if you're doing a $5 gift card, maybe next month it's $10 or it's $20 or whatever, or you could just repeat the $5 gift card every month.
Speaker 1:I've known people to do this and do so very successfully because A it's. You know, there's nothing like a little freebie to get somebody, like incentivize somebody to open up a newsletter, but, and a freebie where they don't have to actually buy something to get like, no, you don't have to buy this, you know, $200 handbag to get your 5% discount or something. Right, right, yes, you know, um, and then you know. And then getting them to scroll through the newsletter does encourage unless they're just rapid scrolling to see if they won, it encourages them to go through the content. I mean, what do you, Amy, what do you think? Yeah, I mean, I think.
Speaker 2:And getting the like you said, call to action, even if it's subtle and we mentioned I mean you mentioned earlier, penny, about talking about how you name your characters, how you come up with things like that.
Speaker 2:I mean you can get so creative might have a bit of a leg up in terms of the creativity with call to actions, where you may not think that you have a lot to say, unlike where nonfiction, in theory, that author has a lot to say.
Speaker 2:I mean their goal is to be a thought leader, to be an influencer, to be you know what I mean. Whatever it is that they're specializing in, it's sharing their knowledge so they can tap into all sorts of stuff for their newsletter. But I think some of the call to action stuff is where fiction authors can really have a lot of fun. You know you can have people weigh in on choices coming up in your book or in your writing or have them respond to different cover ideas and things like that. Like, just think of things that you normally would potentially ask a friend or a colleague or in your writer group and start including your fans in that as well and see what kind of responses you get. And to your point, penny, if anybody responds, definitely respond back, include them. And then it's amazing how, when you start getting these conversations going, that can turn into content for a future newsletter as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it can absolutely get, yeah, it can absolutely do that. And then, I think you know, start to. So one of the other things that you mentioned to one of our authors that we've worked with is, you know, encourage people to follow you on, for example, Goodreads. We just did a. We literally just did a Goodreads show.
Speaker 1:And in fact, it was probably last week's show that we did the new Goodreads. Some of the Goodreads changes, so follow me on Goodreads, follow me on Amazon, follow me on Instagram for you know daily writing updates or whatever. Forward this newsletter to a friend.
Speaker 2:In the follow back. Sorry, penny, now that you're saying follow me, like, encourage them, like tell them you'll follow them back if they respond and share their Goodreads account, you know what I mean. Like there's no reason not to again everything that you put out there. Like there's no reason not to again everything that you put out there. Try to turn it into a two-way conversation in some way shape or form. You know, because, as you were saying that, sorry, I was like oh my gosh, yes, because a lot of people would love to be followed by some of their favorite authors too. Oh my gosh, yes.
Speaker 2:So, as you're asking people to follow, you say you know and respond back. I'd love to follow you on Goodreads. I'd love to see what you're reading, you know. Respond back and let me know what you know, your username or whatever. Yeah, I'll start following you because people get excited when they feel like they're a part of what's happening. You know people love to share their opinions and they love to be involved, you know. So, as much as you can make everything a two-way conversation, a two-way street you know what I mean Do it Like brainstorm the hell out of those opportunities.
Speaker 1:I completely agree with that. And now, in terms of, you know, involving chat GPT in this, there are. So this is a really really, really great way to creatively use chat. Amy and I just refer to chat GPT as chat, just because chat GPT is kind of a mouthful, so, um, this is a really great way to involve chat in this process. So one of the things that I would recommend, if you're going to so what ideally what you would use chat for, is kind of your second brain, so to brainstorm content ideas, put the you know, put the draft of the newsletter, for example, in chat and maybe have it tighten it up or say it in a different way. I do this a lot actually for, even for, like, social media posts and stuff, because sometimes I just get for me anyway, like I get caught up on the verbiage, like sometimes I'm a little bit too verbose as it were, and I will put it into chat and say you know, could you just tighten this up and shorten it, or maybe say it a different way?
Speaker 1:So, if you're going to use so, here's a little tip. If you're going to use chat, the best way to use chat is with the strongest prompt. So be clear on what you want it to do. Don't just say, hey, I'm going to run a newsletter, give me some ideas, because chat will just spit out like some rando ideas that Generic stuff Right, the 80% of them probably don't even apply to you, right, and that make people hate chat or the idea of it. Right, exactly None of these ideas are going to work for me. Well, but your prompt was really ambiguous.
Speaker 1:So put in links, like, put in links to your website, to your author page on Amazon, to your or to your individual book pages. If you want really give chat a good platform to work from, right, a lot of information about you, and then ask it for. So just give me like 10 content ideas, right? So I just did this actually for and I'm just going to be like full disclosure here I just did this for social media. I was like, oh you know, I really want some some, some fall themed social media posts. So I threw in chat in, you know, I threw all of our links to all of our social media accounts, all sort of succinct, so one week we're not talking about one thing, in the next, like all of it should be slanted towards fall and then ramping up the holiday shopping and things like that. And so that's really where the more concise that you can get in your prompt in your directive, the better that chat, you know, the better example, the better feedback that you'll get from chat in terms of examples and things like that.
Speaker 2:So Absolutely, and I love the idea of using it to revise the phrasing and the wording because you can specifically especially, like Penny said, if you've given chat, you know your website, your social handle and things like that, so they can get a feel for who you are and your tone and and things like that they can. They can keep things within the boundaries that make sense for your current tone and how you write and how you communicate, but they can. It's a great way to make sure that what you want to express makes sense to somebody who is not inside your brain. Let's be honest, Right, Because a lot of times, the things that we write make sense to us because we are firsthand like no, we know what we want to say, and we've mentioned this before on shows, we're not saying it's going to be ready to copy and paste and send, but it's worth getting different variations and you can ask for that Like I do that too, Penny where it's like give me three different versions of this.
Speaker 2:Here's what I'm looking for. Again, the prompts matter, but what's really great is that you just get a different. You get an idea of how else something could be said and you might be really impressed with the changes and how it does still sound like you, so it's still very much what you want to say, but it's worded in a way that is going to resonate quicker, easier, make more sense for the person on the receiving end, and I think there's a lot of value in that. Especially when it comes to a newsletter and you were quite literally asking people to stop what they're doing and spending a few minutes of their day immersed in your content, the least you can do is put in the effort to ensure that it's an enjoyable experience in terms of understanding what you're trying to communicate in things like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, and you know the other. I mean not to belabor the how creative chat can be, but email subject lines are really important. So we open emails. I mean, unless it's an email from somebody that we know or somebody, a work project, whatever, generally speaking, the email subject line drives the open rate. So I love throwing some ideas into chat because I do I very much and I know like I write like writing, I love writing, but I do sometimes get into my own way by being too wordy or not saying the right way. So that's a really good, you know. So it's another. So email subject lines for newsletters another great way to brainstorm. So reader magnet Now this is the thing that's going to be in your to get people to sign up for your newsletter.
Speaker 1:So you know, a sign-up magnet which I think a lot of like. We see this around. We're like, oh, get 10% off this if you sign up and whatever. The reader magnet obviously, when you're buying clothes or you're buying shoes or whatever, the discount is the magnet right, the discount is awesome, hopefully it's awesome, but your reader magnet has to be something that really relates to your reader. And this is another area, just really frankly, that we, amy and I really struggled with, I think, when you first started we had that. We had a series of prompts that would go out to authors over a period of time. It was like it was an email drip campaign is what it was and that was the reader magnet. I don't dislike those, but I mean they were a lot of work. They were. They were a lot of work, especially if you are in and this is particular, this is very particular to nonfiction authors If you're in a, if you're in an industry that changes frequently, like ours, does they become a little bit of a nightmare?
Speaker 2:Right, keeping them current and updated, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Keeping them current and updated, right. So a reader magnet is something that you are going to give your sign, that people are going to get for signing up. Do not overthink this, right? This is another area where authors much like the content of the newsletter and how often to send it. Authors oftentimes really overthink this. So it should fall in line with your author brand, so it should be something that's on brand.
Speaker 1:So, for example, if you wrote and this is a real example, I swear to you, I talked to an author who wrote a cozy mystery. It was either a mystery or something under the mystery. It was either a cozy mystery or just a straight mystery and this author gave away copies of Moby Dick as their reader magnet, which has literally nothing to do with the genre that they write in, but it's free, like it's in public domain, and so don't use public domain. And this was for a long time and this use public domain and this was for a long time and this goes back about 15 years, but for a long time people were using public domain stuff as reader magnets and I'm like, well, that's weird, Like, like, I mean like could you?
Speaker 1:imagine if we did that on our website. Hey, so welcome to author marketing experts. Here's a copy of Moby Dick Like really Right, Exactly.
Speaker 1:It's like yeah, right, so it has to. Sorry, I just think that's so funny. It has to relate to your, so it has to be something that is your author brand. So quality obviously counts. Not that Moby Dick is not a high quality book Like I get it. It's not related. It really dings your credibility. It's not related to your topic. And a reader magnet I mean, amy, I'm not putting you on the spot, but what are some reader magnets that you've seen that you think are really cool?
Speaker 2:Like I said, this is another one of those areas where there's pros and cons, I suppose, to being fiction and nonfiction when it comes to coming up with these. Because, again, nonfiction, you kind of have built in reader magnets because people are seeking out what you have to say, because they're looking to fix a problem, they're looking to get better at something. They're looking you know what I mean. The list goes on for what other kind of added benefits that you can tack on to your book's topic? But for fiction, you also have some great opportunities. And another thing too is that I wouldn't try not to go too broad, don't give away everything with your reader magnet, because I think that's another thing too that it kind of stunts your growth in terms of ways you can evolve your reader magnet, some of your content, ideas, things like that.
Speaker 2:So, for example, I love character deep dives for fiction because a lot of times if I've really enjoyed a fiction book, there's so much more I want to know about that character and I I obsess over wanting to see pictures of what, of who, what the author thought the character looks like. I realize some people hate that because they have something in their head, but I love to see what a character potentially looks like. I just actually searched for it for a client that we work with, cause. I was reading her books and I'm like I wonder if she's posted character pictures on her social and totally stalked her social until I found it Right. Yes, and it was amazing. So I think those can be really cool because it's it's it draws people into your world more. You know.
Speaker 2:So short stories, character profiles again, don't give it a, don't give away all of it. So it's like I actually wouldn't suggest that you do like all of your main characters in one and provide all of that for free for signing up for your newsletter. Maybe stick to like the top two or three characters and tell people there's more to come in the future. So keep like, keep opening the newsletter. And then you've kind of pulled them further into and given them reasons to stay current with everything that you're sending out.
Speaker 2:But I mean, oh, there's so many different ways. But I do think if you are fiction, the additional you know, take people to another level in the world that you've created. And then, penny, you mentioned research earlier. I think that's also a really cool reader magnet as well, that if you've written something that required a lot of research and you can produce maybe a short story or something like that that kind of dives into the research process. I think that is also such a cool way to again give people different layers of how they engage with you and what they know about the world you're creating.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, exactly. I think that there is again. You're going to want to experiment with these because, like we did, you know and I mean quizzes, checklist worksheets for nonfiction you know, what's so funny is people love quizzes.
Speaker 2:Mm, hmm.
Speaker 1:I, I am guilty of that Like I love. Like, what kind of cocktail are you? I mean? Right, it's so fun. Quizzes are so fun and, again, they don't have to be really complex. I've never used chat to do a quiz. I'm sure you can, but quizzes are really once. I got over the hurdle of trying to make them way too complex. We've done quizzes for our stuff and people just really people, people just really love them, People just really love them. So reader magnets really important, great way to get people to sign up. You get their newsletter, you get their email address and they get in turn something really cool and you can brainstorm some reader magnet ideas. Like, if you already have something set up in chat for, you know, for your newsletter, you can also pop in there and just see what it says in terms of reader magnet ideas. Again, sometimes chat overshoots things a little bit. We've seen that too. But you know, if you ask for 10 reader magnet ideas, you might find one or two that are actually really you know that are really doable.
Speaker 2:And don't forget your cutting room floor stuff. Oh yeah, you know that's something else that is that fans tend to love. It's like, well, I actually was going to end this chapter this way and I'm going to shoot. You know what I mean. Things like that that could be really fun. Alternate endings you know chapters that you cut out, ways that, like, maybe a character went in an entirely different direction. You know what I mean. So, really have fun with the stuff that you also consider how you can use things that didn't end up making it into the book as well. Those are great ideas for both newsletter content and reader magnets.
Speaker 1:Well, and the thing about it is, though, too, is that when you have a book that is, you know that is really popular those cutting room floor things are readers really eat those up. I mean, think about I'm going to really date myself here, but anybody who's listening remembers when DVDs and and like videotapes right, you had the director's cut, and I'm a huge Star Wars fan, don't you know? I was at Blockbuster Video renting the director's cut of Star Wars. I want to see all the stuff that didn't make it into the movie, and that's something that fans just really, really want. In fact, and I've read a book recently where they finally caught like it was a thriller, and they finally caught the crazy person, and like I want to see this.
Speaker 1:This is going to make me sound really awful. I would love it if the author would write a bonus chapter that I have access to that tells me what an awful life that this person now has, now that they were caught. That's funny, right, because I was so engrossed in this book and in the outcome. So I think that, as you're you know, you're obviously reader magnet idea. Reader magnets are going to evolve, as you have, you know, different as different books come out and things like that. So, um, so, yes. So the moral of the story, listeners, is don't overthink it. Just get started with your newsletter. I promise you your newsletter and across the board this is an. Every single author can do this your newsletter is going to repay you in ways that you can't even imagine. It is a great, great addition to your brand and to all of the marketing stuff that you do.
Speaker 2:And now we've given you permission to do it, even if there's only 10 people on your list.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's exactly what you wanted to hear, right, yeah, and I'll tell you something. If you have a newsletter, if you're listening and you have a newsletter, send us your last newsletter. I want to see it. Send it to us. Our contact details are in the show notes when you start the newsletter. Just make sure that you are consistent with it.
Speaker 1:So I think starting and stopping something is never a good idea. Okay, plan out your next several issues so that you don't have to, like, think about it every single month. You're like I have to. You know, when we first used to do our newsletter, I remember just really dreading it like, oh my gosh, okay, and of course we were doing it every week, so I was really dreading it. No-transcript, we are, and hopefully this will fall in line with the queue. We are also going to do a show on street teams and super fans, which hopefully will be next week. Sometimes our scheduling gets a little bit misaligned, but hopefully it will be next week because it is a follow-on show to this. So if it's not, you know, if you don't see it in the queue for next week, next Friday, be sure to look for it, because we're definitely going to do going to do a show on street teams and super fans, which is kind of the next level from.
Speaker 1:Okay, you have your newsletter, now let's take it up another level. Thank you so much for listening to the show. We appreciate all your show ideas and your show feedback. We love that and your reviews, thank you, thank you. Thank you everybody for some of the new reviews we've gotten, thanks to Amy, who put in easy ways to review on Apple Podcasts, which has helped us tremendously. So thank you so much for tuning in and we'll see you next time. Bye-bye.
