Should a writer start a newsletter, and what goes in it?

Why does a newsletter matter more than followers?

A newsletter matters more because it reaches readers directly, and the list stays yours. A social network decides how many followers see each post, and can change its rules at will. A newsletter goes to every subscriber, every time.

Subscribers have also made a deliberate choice, since giving and confirming an address takes more intent than tapping a follow button. Choose a service that lets you export your list, so you can always move. Start well before your next book, so you have readers to tell on launch day.

What should you write about?

Write about what only you can offer: how your books get made, what you’re reading, and what’s happening in your writing life. Most issues should give readers something to enjoy; only the occasional one should ask them to buy. Write to one person, in your own voice, and keep it short when short is all you have.

• Any writer: your routine, a research detour, a book you loved, or an answer to a reader’s question.
• Novelists: a character’s history, a deleted scene, or the real place behind an invented one. Series writers can send a bonus story in installments.
• Nonfiction writers: one useful idea per issue, or news in your field read through your book’s argument.
• Around publication: the cover reveal, a launch email linking to every retailer, then a thank-you that explains why reviews help.
• Your backlist: an occasional reminder of older books for newer subscribers.

How often, and how long?

Send as often as you can sustain for a year, and never less than once a month. Readers come to expect a letter that arrives on a steady day. After a long silence, some won’t recognize your name, and they may unsubscribe or report you as spam.

Weekly or every two weeks works if you have the material. Even so, a monthly letter that never misses beats a weekly one that stalls. Let length follow frequency, with a few short paragraphs for a weekly letter and a longer piece for a monthly one. Save extra sends for real news, such as a cover reveal or a launch.

How do you write subject lines that get opened?

Write a subject line that says one specific, true thing about what’s inside, in words that sound like you. Clarity matters more than cleverness, because readers see it beside your name and little else. Give each issue its own line, since “March newsletter” gives nobody a reason to open it. Put the interesting words first, because phones often cut long subject lines short.

These invented examples show patterns that suit writers:

• A specific detail: “The 1920s train timetable that broke an alibi”
• A question for the reader: “Do you skip prologues?”
• Plain news: “Book two has a cover”

Avoid capitals, strings of exclamation marks, false urgency and promises the email doesn’t keep. Use emoji rarely, if at all.

Treat published rules about length and emoji with caution, because studies usually judge subject lines by open rates, which are now inflated. Apple’s Mail app can download a message’s images in the background whether or not anyone reads it (source). Over several months, notice which subject lines bring replies and clicks, and trust that more.

How do you find your first subscribers?

Find your first subscribers among people who already enjoy your writing, and make signing up easy wherever they meet you. Start with a simple sign-up page that says what you’ll send and how often. An invented crime writer might promise “the true cases behind the Harbor Street novels, plus one good book, once a month.”

• Back matter: an invitation and link at the end of every book, for readers who’ve just finished.
• Your other writing: a sign-up form after each blog post, and the link in guest posts, interviews and bios.
• Profiles and signature: the link in every social bio and at the foot of your emails.
• Events: say the address aloud, print it on a bookmark, or pass around a sign-up sheet and send each person a confirmation.

Never buy a list, rent one, or add people who haven’t asked. Strangers tend to ignore you or report you as spam, which hurts delivery to everyone else. Google’s sender guidelines say never to buy addresses (source). Expect slow growth, and remember that a few dozen devoted readers are worth more than thousands who never read.

What about the technical side?

Two habits keep your newsletter out of spam folders: double opt-in and email authentication.

Double opt-in means a new subscriber gets a confirmation email and must click a link in it before joining your list. It catches mistyped addresses, stops people signing up someone else, and records that each reader agreed. Most services offer it as a setting, and Google’s sender guidelines recommend it.

Every issue also needs a working unsubscribe link, which good services add for you. Consent rules vary by country, so check what applies where you and your readers live.

Email authentication lets receiving mail servers check that a message claiming to come from your domain really did. It uses three records in your domain’s DNS settings, where your web address is configured.

• SPF (Sender Policy Framework): a list of the servers allowed to send mail for your domain.
• DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): a digital signature on each message, checked against a key in your DNS. It shows the message came from your domain and wasn’t altered on the way.
• DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance): a policy telling receiving servers how to treat mail that fails those checks, from letting it through to rejecting it, and where to send reports. To pass, the domain checked by SPF or DKIM must match the domain in your From address.

If you send from your service’s own address, it handles all three. If you send from your own domain, the service gives you records to add, and your web host can help. Gmail requires SPF or DKIM from every sender, and all three from anyone sending more than 5,000 messages a day to Gmail accounts (source). It also warns bulk senders against putting a Gmail address in the From line.