Writing and Publishing: Reaching 1,000 Newsletter Subscribers—Top 5 Conclusions

Hello, everyone!

This is a post meant to help all of you writers out there, that like me, are looking for answers.

Now, I don’t have the answers, but at least I can share my experiences and you can take what you need from there. Perhaps you’re starting or perhaps you’re super experienced and are a best-selling author. Regardless, I know I’m always looking for bloggers who tell me the truth about what’s going on. I’d like to do that today.

One of the things I’ve learned an author must have is a newsletter. Especially if you’re starting out and your genre is very popular. A newsletter will help you let the readers know when you’re releasing your next book. You aren’t supposed to use it to sell, sell, sell, everything, but by talking regularly to your subscribers, they keep on following you and will be there when you announce something’s up.

I started my newsletter a year ago. I was thoroughly inexperienced and didn’t get far. I created my website (with a link to get my reader magnet… here it is if you want to get an idea—www.claudia-silva.com), I added a link to my landing page in every one of my books, I pinned it on Twitter, I have a “sign up” button on my Facebook author page, and I have my website info on Instagram (which I don’t use as much as I should for it to make a difference).

The first few months, I got all of 11 subscribers. ALL FAMILY AND FRIENDS. When I got my first unknown subscriber and I paid for a BookSweeps promotion, I decided to split up my subscribers into groups.

I should say I started with MailChimp and moved to MailerLite when MailChimp first announced its changes a while back.

In September 1999, I had 3 books in my series out and 2 shorts linked to my series. I finally realized I needed a major editing overhaul and stopped all advertising. When my reader magnet was ready (in January 2020), I began paying for mailing list integration in BookFunnel.

So, here are my top 5 conclusions I’ve come to as I near my first 1,000 subscribers.

1. Family and friends shouldn’t be mixed with the rest of the subscribers. They love me and I love them, but I know some of them are excited for me and don’t really care for my genre. And that’s totally ok. Also, a few of these friends and family help me out as alpha or beta readers, so they have an insight into what’s happening in my author life frequently. As you can see, they have a 100% open rate. I’m lucky to have them. Let’s keep them in a group of their own.

2. BookSweeps. When I joined BookSweeps (now almost a year ago), I earned close to 500 subscribers. Their advertising said from those 500, you usually lost 5-10%. I clearly have lost over 50%. Now granted, that could be because of me because my newsletter emails were in their early stages and weren’t that enticing. And also, the promotion for urban fantasy usually always includes paranormal romance, which it’s not my book. So a lot of subscribers might have left because of that. I don’t post steamy covers in my newsletters and I can understand how that’s a let down. I don’t think I will ever join a BookSweep promo again. But, it was a good to start with, I suppose. I still get a better open and click rate than the BookFunnel subscribers.

3. BookFunnel. I’ve paid about the same during these four months in BookFunnel (it’s $10/month) to integrate subscribers to my newsletter than I paid for that BookSweeps promotion a year ago. As you can see from the numbers, I have gotten over 500 subscribers through this method. Besides, I get to choose the promotions I join and I try to avoid the paranormal romance or reverse harem genres in the promos. Still, these subscribers have the lowest open rates, the lowest clicks. I may be nearing 1,000 subscribers, but the majority group doesn’t open my emails or click on the links. Whenever I send my newsletter (once a month) and I include the promos I’ve joined, I don’t get a lot of clicks, either. So I look bad to the promo organizer and I hate that. But that’s how it is. And even so, I’d rather have a 4.6% open rate from 638 subscribers (29 people), than 5.66% from the 225 BookSweeps subscribers. (13 subscribers) clicking on my emails…. right?

4. StoryOrigin. Now that my list is going into the paid tier in MailerLite, I will change from BookFunnel to StoryOrigin to deliver my reader magnet. I will create a new group for the StoryOrigin subscribers to be able to track their behaviors, too. A good thing about StoryOrigin at the time is that integration is free. I don’t know how long it’ll last. Now that my first in series’s new edition has been released, I will use BookFunnel for KU promotions only. I will use StoryOrigin for both reader magnet and KU promos. I expect the subscribers will behave about the same from the BookFunnel subscribers.

5. Organic Subscribers. These are the best kind of subscribers and the ones we love the most. They are not friends and family and they didn’t get to your list because they wanted something for free. These subscribers have a lot of ways to get into this list:
1. Link at the back of the book
2. Website
3. Facebook that leads to website
4. Twitter that leads to website
5. Instagram that leads to website
Whether because they are curious or the genuinely liked my books, these subscribers are in the newsletter because the want to. It is harder to entice them (especially now that my books aren’t being advertised) but once they’re there, I must take care of them. They will open my emails and they will click on my links. And if I release a book, they’ll be the most likely to go get the book because they are close to becoming fans (or maybe they are). I love them dearly and when I write about my adventures as an author in the newsletter emails, I’m talking to them.

If I could add a sixth point, it would be to unsubscribe whoever doesn’t participate at all. MailerLite gives you a list of subscribers who haven’t opened an email in 6 months. I unsubscribe them immediately. I unsubscribe more readers than the subscribers do on their own. 

So there you have it. Any insights you care to share? Write them in the comments.
Cheers!
Claudia