How to launch a NL from less than zero?
I often share that my biggest regret isn’t sticking with my newsletter when I first started it 15 years prior to relaunching my career and making it a priority. “If I could redo one thing about my writing career, it would be to have started my newsletter 6 months to 1 year prior to launching my first book.”
Recently, someone reached out and asked me how to do that when they are both starting from 0 (no fan base or social media) and also have nothing published. It’s a fair question and seems like a real quagmire—any action you take results in just spinning your tires.
I actually did this very recently with a pen name for a side project I’m doing. It was partly proof of concept and just to say that I could do it, but the project is off genre for me. (I’m broad enough already.) I’ll give you a guide, using the same steps I took.
1. Write a reader magnet/short story to giveaway. I did this about the same time as I was doing the outline for this project (I detailed the series overview and then made a detailed outline for book 1 and wrote a short story that flowed into the first book, but which also stood alone.) Just write it and edit it; do not launch it yet.
2. Get a cover for B1 and the reader magnet (mind your branding.) Put B1 up for sale on prerelease. Generate a link to the book and use that link and cover when writing back matter for the reader magnet, also include a 1-2 chapter (edit this—make it clean) preview of B1.
3. Get setup with a NL list provider and set up onboarding automation. That means you should be optimistic and use a paid service since most don’t let you do it for free. There are many to choose from, so pick one that’s right for you, I made my choice based on the ease of doing “resend” campaigns and sending a second copy of the email to people who did not open the first time around since open rates are important to me. The book Newsletter Ninja provides a good guide for onboarding automations, so does Mark Dawson’s course, and many others.
4. Sign up for Bookfunnel and/or Storyorigin and setup your NL swap dates. (This is your planning calendar for when you will send newsletters. Setup 2x share slots per month, meaning you will accept 2 authors to share with per NL.) Do not miss your dates, especially when you are new and haven’t yet created trust with readers and swap partners. These services also cost money and are worth the cost of investment.
5. Ask a few authors you know in the same genre to share the landing page for your magnet and list. His or her readers will, if they are interested in your short story, need to sign up for your email list in order to download it. (Don’t spam every author you know and beg for this—make a targeted ask—even 1 or 2 shares is beneficial. Remember, you are asking for something of value and offering nothing in return… people do favors based on value/strength of relationships, and they may not be in a position to help you.)
6. Get 2 swap partners for your first monthly email and submit/get accepted into 1-2 group promos. Do not do more than this. I know it’s counterintuitive as you want to get as much traction as possible to have a base to begin with, but you need to start smaller and scale up. Focus on getting GOOD readers rather than adding to a subscriber count. I’m going to be crass, but your NL is special access: some folks will appreciate it and others are just joining to get the thing that they want (a free book, etc.) Think of it a little like your virginity. You can add to your “body count” and rack up a bunch of faceless, nameless numbers by attending a local orgy at the back of a sketchy, local dive bar, or you can build meaningful relationships with people. The analogy stops there, because you eventually want both. But to begin with, you have to focus on strong connections or your list will plateau after a few months and all your traction will stall out (making the money you spent on services into a bad investment).
-The Group Promos are a way to be a part of a local, digital event where everybody shares to the common landing page (usually, participating books are randomized so everyone gets a spot at the top.) Think of these like an online book fair. Only join group promotions that are in the same genre as your book. Anything else is wasted effort at best, and can hurt you long term at worst by messing with also-boughts, generating spam complaints, dragging down your sender rating (making your emails end up in spam filters), or harm your click-thru and open rates.
7. As you are preparing to officially launch your shiny new NL, set up at 1-2 local events with the purpose of getting sign ups (these will be your best followers, in my experience.) Find events that are relevant to your genre if possible, but if not, it might include a table at a craft fair, holiday or farmer’s market, arts festival, comic convention, quilting bee, etc. Get creative. You may choose to have a few copies of your Reader Magnet printed, but resist the temptation to gear your booth to selling the magnet (You might also print a “dummy copy” ARC for B1 since you have the cover art and a pre-sale link already generated; this will build interest). You are there to build connections and sign up new friends. Remind visitors they’ll get the free book immediately upon signing up—that’s what Bookfunnel and Storyorigin does on your behalf. Bring a device to register visitors on the spot. Don’t play around with pen, paper, and illegible writing: use a tablet with an internet connection and let these people type in their email address on the landing page/signup page from either your NL service or your Bookfunnel/Storyorigin landing page. Refresh the page after each signup for the next person.
8. Optionally, search for anthology collections that will accept stories that are reprints and push your NL signup in the back matter/author bio section. This will have a similar effect to the group promos mentioned above.
This plan is very strategic and takes some forethought. Remember that this is a crockpot and not a microwave. The anthology I got into was not released yet by launch time, but after 1 month I generated about 500 subscribers with an initial open rate of 37% and a click rate of 14%.
