in Publishing
A newsletter is worth more than a following
Social media followers belong to the platform. A newsletter list belongs to the author, and it reaches readers when it matters.
Authors are often told to build a platform, and the advice usually means social media. Followers are visible, easy to count and easy to compare. But a following on a social media site is not quite what it appears to be. It is an audience held by a platform, reached on the platform's terms.
A newsletter is different. It is a direct line to readers who have chosen to hear from you, and it remains yours regardless of what any platform does.
The problem with followers
On most social platforms, what a follower sees is decided by the platform's systems. A post may reach a small fraction of the people who follow the account, depending on how the platform chooses to present it. The rules change, often without notice, and what worked one year may not work the next.
Platforms can also decline, change direction, lose their audience or close. Accounts can be suspended. A following built over years can become much less useful in a short time, and there is usually no way to take it elsewhere.
None of this means social media is useless for authors. It can be a good place to meet readers and to take part in conversations about books. It is simply not a reliable foundation.
What a newsletter offers
A newsletter is sent to the email addresses of people who have asked to receive it. Email is not controlled by a single company, and a list of subscribers can be moved from one mailing service to another. The author holds the relationship.
A newsletter reaches readers in a place they check regularly. It lands in the inbox, not in a feed where it competes with everything else. People who subscribe to an author's newsletter have usually done so because they are interested in the author's work, which makes them among the readers most likely to buy the next book, attend an event or tell someone else about it.
When a book is published, a newsletter can reach those readers directly, at the right moment, with a clear message and a link.
Building a list
The best subscribers are readers who have already enjoyed the author's work or heard enough about it to want more. Invitations to subscribe can appear on the author's website, at the end of books, at events and in other places where interested readers already are.
Offer something genuine in return for signing up: news of new books before anyone else, short pieces of writing, background to the books, or simply a well-written letter that people enjoy reading. The newsletter should be worth receiving for its own sake.
Growth is usually slow. A small list of engaged readers is more valuable than a large list of people who do not open the emails.
Doing it properly
In the UK, sending marketing emails to individuals is governed by data protection and electronic communications law. In general, it requires the recipient's consent, a clear way to unsubscribe in every message, and responsible handling of subscribers' personal data. Mailing services generally provide tools to help with this, but the responsibility remains with the sender. Where there is doubt, specific advice is sensible.
Do not add people to a list without their consent, even if they are acquaintances or have bought a book. Do not buy lists.
Send regularly enough that subscribers remember who you are, but not so often that the newsletter becomes a nuisance. Consistency matters more than frequency.
Write for the reader. The newsletter should not be only announcements and requests. Share what readers would find interesting about the work, and the occasional announcement will be welcome rather than intrusive.
A newsletter builds slowly and lasts. When the next book is ready, the people who wanted to hear about it will be there.