Introduction

Email lists are one of the most powerful ways to grow a loyal readership who will be eager to hear about every new release you have throughout your career.

But compared to previous topics, the topic of Email Lists starts to get into some of the tech territory that can feel a bit daunting. If tech is something you’ve struggled with, I recommend reviewing The Right Mindset materials for Overcome Tech Overwhelm and Perfectionism.

The most important things to remember when working with tech is to be patient and give yourself more time than you think you’ll need. If you’ve never worked with email marketing service providers, a lot of this stuff is going to feel new and probably confusing. But I assure you, you can do this. Read through the materials presented here, follow in-program guidance and support documentations, lean into whatever support is provided by the tools you use, and remember, I’m here for you too.

Pathfinders can leave comments at the bottom of this training or send me your questions with the Need a hand form. There are no dumb questions and really, nothing is “out-of-scope” to at least ask. If for some reason I can’t directly assist with a particular question, I’ll explain why and provide the guidance you need to keep moving forward, one way or another.

By the nature of the content covered in this topic, it starts out pretty tech-heavy. But a lot of it is one-time setup stuff and then the technical side of things reduces. If you’re more tech savvy, you’ll breeze through these parts. But if you’re less tech savvy, I’ve got your back so you don’t need to worry.

Once you’ve completed the content in this topic you’ll have your email list setup and functioning, a warm and engaging email welcome sequence running on auto-pilot, and a solid plan for what to include in the ongoing emails you’ll be sending.

If you don’t yet have your own email list, it’s time to make it a priority. If you have an email list but it’s not really doing a whole lot for you, it’s time to ask why and implement some changes.

You’ll find that I’m pretty passionate about the importance of an email list for every author, whether you’re traditionally published, indie/self-published, or a hybrid. Much like I advocate that a website is non-negotiable, having your own email list is also non-negotiable.

But why?

The Concept of Email Lists

An email list is simply a collection of email addresses you obtain through various means. A piece of paper at an in-person event, a form on a website or landing page, a Google Form for ARC reader applications… these are all different ways of collecting email addresses.

But it’s not just about owning the email addresses. The point of growing an email list is to have real people, potential buyers, voluntarily raising their virtual hand, by providing you with their email address, to say, “Hey, I like what you’re putting out and I want to be part of that.” And from that perspective, it’s not so different from people following you on social media.

Someone sees your posts, likes what you have to say, and taps the follow button. They want more of whatever you’re doing.

But the biggest difference between an email list and a social media following is ownership and control.

We all know someone whose social media account got hacked, suspended, or banned completely. It happens daily. And it can happen to anyone through no fault of their own. And if you build your entire audience or customer platform on social media and then lose it… you’re pretty much hooped. In most cases, you can’t recover it, and you’re starting over from scratch. And we also all know how difficult that is, not to mention the stress and emotional toll it takes on us.

Social media is borrowed space. Never forget that.

When you respect the nature and limitations of social media, you learn to look at it differently, to treat it differently, and to leverage it to build something you fully own and control… your email list.

Why Email Lists Matter

For many authors, obtaining email addresses doesn’t seem to be all that significant. It’s like, great, I have a list of email addresses, now what?

But in the business world, growing an email list became a critical component of conducting business, and thus email addresses became such a highly valued asset that they often get sold and passed around. (NOTE: Do not buy email lists… we’ll come back to this.)

The reason behind this is that many, many studies have proven that in the digital landscape, emails often convert into sales better than pretty much all other digital selling channels, even ads.

Since I’m all about due diligence, don’t take my word for it. Do a Google search for: do emails convert better than any other type of digital selling and see the overwhelming number of results for yourself.

So, as often happens in the business world, people saw email lists as a commodity to be sold and earn a buck. But as with most “how to make money” offers, buying an email list misses the entire point of what makes an email list valuable or effective, and is a process that makes the seller money, not the buyer.

Buying and selling email lists isn’t inherently illegal (it should be), but it is widely considered to be poor practice. It’s also a waste of money.

The single most important thing that makes an email list valuable is the relationship it creates between you and the subscriber. An email list gives you a direct line of communication, straight into the inbox of someone who wants to hear from you. When you build an email list the right way.

This is important to sit with. It’s no secret that more people make purchases from people or companies they: know, like, and trust. It’s a bit of an overused business phrase, but it’s true. Most people are more likely to open their wallet for a name or brand they’re familiar with, for something or someone they like, when they feel a level of safety that their money is going to return something they want that meets their expectations. That’s what: know, like, and trust really means. It doesn’t mean you need to be besties and going out for drinks on weekends with them.

And yes, it is possible to build that know, like, and trust factor through social media to some extent. But it’s harder, takes longer, and statistically doesn’t convert into sales at the same conversion ratio that emails do.

But when you buy an email list (or do your own email harvesting, which is something else you shouldn’t do), there is no relationship. You’re sending emails to people who know nothing about you and never asked to hear from you. All those spam emails you get telling you how amazing your book is (that they’ve never read) trying to sell you something… those often come from people who are buying or harvesting emails to do cold outreach. Nobody wants to hear from them.

Receiving an email from someone we want to hear from is an entirely different experience.

Do Authors Need an Email List?

At this point, you already know my answer is: yes. But understand that it’s not just about gaining as many subscribers as possible by any means.

The quality of your email list matters more than anything else. This is why using features like BookFunnel promos can be both good and bad. When these types of list-building methods are used strategically and with intention, they can be an incredible way to grow your audience and increase book sales. But when they’re not planned properly, they can result in large email lists that end up costing you money for little to no return.

This is in part why many authors are doubtful of the value of an email list. They end up with thousands of subscribers who never buy a book because they’ve built a list of freebie seekers. And these days, thousands of subscribers can get expensive pretty quick.

So always focus on gaining high-quality subscribers, even if it means nurturing a smaller list, than trying to play the numbers game with emails.

But aside from the fact that you own and control an email list, one of the biggest benefits to authors who make building an email list a priority is the longevity of them that provides a return of an ongoing reader/buyer relationship.

To take another page out of the business world, it is always cheaper to keep a customer than it is to gain a new customer. It takes time and money to gain visibility with strangers, and only a percentage of them will end up making a purchase. But statistically, once someone has made one purchase, and if that purchase met their expectations, they’re more likely to make future purchases.

This is why so much author advice is about “write the next book”. If a reader loves one of your books, there’s a high chance they’re going to want to read more of your books. And it’s both easier and cheaper for you to sell ten books to one reader than to find ten new people to buy one book. But that only holds true if you stay on that reader’s radar.

When you build an email list of people who love your books and want to know when your next one releases, each release performs better and better at launch because your launch audience grows with every release.

You’ll always continue to attract new readers too, which is the side most authors think of when it comes to building a backlist. Because each new reader now has an inventory of your books to consume. It’s the same concept from a different direction, and it continues to work in both directions. Each new reader who loves your books will read everything you already have and be the first in line for each new release.

When to Start an Email List

But you don’t need to wait until you have a backlist to start building and benefiting from an email list. In fact, you don’t even need to have one book published yet. There are many ways to grow an email list before a book is published, and the topic on Reader Magnets provides nearly 100 ideas to choose from. Throughout this Email List topic, you’ll also learn different ways to nurture subscribers before, during, and after each release, even your first one.

So the answer to when to start building an email list is: right now. 

Start before you feel ready. Don’t wait until you’ve published. The more readers you have on your email list, who are eager and engaged, when it comes time to launch a book, whether it’s your first or tenth, the stronger your launch will be.

If you’re brand new and releasing your debut, then you can expect it to take some time to start growing your email list, and that’s okay. Don’t worry about the size of your list; focus on the quality. Every single person, one at a time, who signs up for your email list today raises the likelihood of having ready and waiting buyers when you do release your book. And with much higher purchasing odds than any number of social media followers that you manage to gain.

The studies on conversion rates vary widely and there are a lot of variables that come into play, but for the most part authors can expect their email list to perform anywhere from 3x to 10x better than gaining sales from their social media following… when they treat it as an intentional and strategic part of their marketing efforts.

As an example, on a good day, 1,000 social followers might gain you 5 sales, whereas on a good day, 100 email subscribers could gain you 10 sales or more. And an interesting thing with small lists is that early subscribers are often your most devout fans, so it’s not uncommon to see email conversion rates hitting more like 20-50% for smaller lists. Nothing is guaranteed, but done well, this is the kind of power an email list can have.

But only if you make building a high-quality email list a priority as early in the process as possible. Every single person who has ever had an email list of thousands started with a list of zero and built it one person at a time.

Nurture an Effective Email List

Once you start gaining subscribers, don’t ignore them. Consistency on social media is important for the algorithm and growth, and consistency with your email list is equally important.

For one, your email list is about deepening relationships way more than you can with social media. But you need to consider each person’s memory capacity. If someone joins your email list and then doesn’t hear from you for a year, there’s a much higher chance that they won’t remember joining your list and might not know why you’re emailing them. This will often result in unsubscribes or, worse, reporting your email as spam.

The program you use to send emails will also grade your account based on your consistency and spam reports, which will impact the deliverability of your emails, even to those who do want to receive them.

So no matter what, make sure you’re emailing your list at least once a month. But don’t overthink it. You don’t need big announcements or email content with a corporate polish. You need to say, “Hi, remember me”. You can share what you’ve been working on, what you’ve been reading, you can ask questions. Start simple, keep it light and interesting, and talk to your list like the real people they are.

As you get into the swing of things, you’ll find that the most effective emails are the ones that you treat as an extension of your writing. Remember, your subscribers are there because you’re an author. You attracted them through your creativity and storytelling abilities. So give them more of that; that’s what they came for. You don’t need high-converting sales copy to build an effective list. You need high-quality relationships.

If you have let an existing list go dormant, don’t despair. Make a plan, create a re-engagement email to bring them up to date, and then carry on with moving forward. You will probably lose some subscribers; don’t sweat it.

The thing you don’t want to do is email a sales pitch for a new release after months or years of radio silence. Reconnect first, do a cleanup to weed out inactive subscribers, rebuild relationships and get them excited. Then weave in offers organically when it makes sense, or excitedly when you have a new announcement.

Remember, your email list isn’t just for selling books. It’s about building relationships, nurturing your biggest fans into becoming advocates who will help to spread the word for you, which is where the real momentum comes from.

Where to Start

If you have questions, let me know. If you’re feeling good about this and confident to jump in on your own, then the key steps are:

1. Choose an email service provider
2. Setup and configure your platform
3. Create an automated welcome sequence of 1 to 5 emails
4. Make a plan and schedule for your monthly emails
5. Setup your entry points and subscribe forms
6. Invite people to join your list
7. Perform regular health checks to maintain a high-quality list

If you’re feeling a bit nervous or unsure on how to approach each of these steps, or just want a clear, guided approach to tackling this component, then becoming a Pathfinder is your next step, because implementing all of this is exactly what this entire topic is about.

What is an ESP?

As much as I wish it were true, no, we’re not digging into extrasensory perception, second sight, or telepathy. ESP in this context stands for: Email Service Provider. As you’ll discover below, there are different types of ESPs and understanding the differences is kind of important when it comes to figuring out how to work with email list marketing.

If you don’t currently have an email list and you’re not sure where to even start, these initial sections are for you. You’ll gain insights into different types of email service providers and how to go about comparing and choosing the best fit for you. You’ll get my personal recommendations based on specific scenarios, and I clarify some of the technical terms you’ll encounter along the way.

If you already have an email list then this section will be a good spot check and refresher to confirm that you’re using the best provider for you, that you’ve considered different ways to organize your list, and that you’re implementing best practices.

A couple of points before we dive in. If you already have an email list and you’re happy with the setup, my belief is: if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. My recommendations are based on current information for new accounts. If you’ve had an email list for a while, you could have grandfathered-in perks that new accounts don’t receive. So if the information provided here causes you to question whether you want to switch providers, just be sure to do your comparisons against what your active plan actually includes.

If you ever need to switch providers, most ESPs allow you to export your subscriber list and import it into a new one. It’s a manageable process but does require careful attention to things like domain configuration, field mapping, and list hygiene before you migrate. Both your current and new provider will have documentation to guide you through it, and I recommend following the guides rather than winging it. It can feel like a daunting process if you’ve never done it before, but taking it one step at a time will ensure it goes smoothly.

Overview of Email Service Providers

There are many different options to choose from when it comes to email service providers (ESPs), and it’s not super straightforward.

One of the challenges with tech is that every provider likes to package their products and services slightly differently, which makes comparison tricky.

The biggest tip I can offer is to always start with free plans or trials and test products out before making a financial commitment.

If you’re new to the world of email newsletters and email marketing, then there’s an added layer of confusion here, because technically any service that provides email is an ESP. So let’s break down what ESPs are first.

Email Address Providers

Most commonly we understand that Gmail, Outlook(Hotmail), and Proton are “email service providers”. They’re the services that give us a free email address. Then there are email hosting providers that provide custom email address services using our own custom domain such as Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, and Zoho Mail. It’s typically discouraged to use these services for email marketing. Many of them have rules against it, major sending limits, and it’s an extremely manual process to try to manage, making it inefficient and time consuming.

Email Marketing Platforms

Email marketing platforms are different. They’re still often referred to as email service providers, but they don’t typically give you an email “address” that you can use to send and receive emails. Instead, they provide the tools and services that allow you to collect email addresses from other people and use your own email address to send emails to them, especially in bulk, such as your author newsletter and other marketing purposes. Names you may have heard before are MailerLite or MailChimp. We’ll get into assessing and choosing from these options in a moment.

Newsletter Providers

The next layer of confusion comes from platforms such as Substack, Patreon, built-in website tools (such as WordPress.com and the Jetpack Newsletter feature), or any platform offering this type of “Newsletter” feature.

These platforms collect email addresses for you that you can usually download (or export), so you do own that list asset. And when you publish content on those platforms they can send an email copy or notification of your post to your subscribers when you want it to. Which is similar to the functionality of a proper email marketing platform.

The primary difference is that the content of the email isn’t customizable, it’s a copy of a post you published. In this regard, these systems are more similar to the ways of blogging where you publish an article and your blog subscribers receive it via email. Generally speaking, this is public content, though it’s also possible to have a paid newsletter through these platforms which gates the information.

That’s not to say this is a bad option, either free or paid, it’s just to note that it is different to email marketing, which is really what we’re referring to when we talk about building an email list that you own and sending that list a newsletter.

The emails you send through a proper email marketing service provider are often more personal in nature. You’re providing behind the scenes insight and updates, or exclusive content, or special offers. In most cases, this isn’t content you’d typically publish publicly. And for many people, charging subscribers so that you can email them with sales offers feels a bit odd.

Through these type of platforms you also typically have little to no control over the styling, layout, or even content included in the emails that are sent, beyond what you publish in your post.

The nice thing is that currently these are free options for collecting unlimited email addresses and staying in touch with them. There are some excellent use-cases for working with these types of platforms, as well as various monetization options, which is an entirely separate topic that we’ll cover at a later date.

The key thing to note is that email marketing service providers are their own unique service with specific functionality that is different from your Gmail or Substack type accounts.

Choosing a Provider

For the rest of this topic we’re going to focus on proper email marketing service providers, primarily because platforms like Substack are simply a different use-case. The main thing to note here is that everything else that will be covered throughout this topic cannot be accomplished with Substack and platforms like it. They simply don’t have the functionality for what a proper email marketing service provider can do.

That functionality includes features like: advanced automation, audience segmentation, and full branding control. Since these may be new terms that you’re not familiar with yet, you may be wondering if you even need them. In the majority of cases for fiction authors I would say yes you do. Automations are what allow you to send reader magnets and welcome sequences automatically and segmentation is what allows you to send specific emails to specific groups of subscribers.

But every author is different and like with everything else, there’s a lot of “it depends”. If doing a deep-dive into your specific situation to assess your needs is something you need, reach out to me and let’s talk about it.

But some of the key factors that can help you determine if you need a fully functioning email marketing system would be if you have or plan to have:

• Multiple books
• Different genres
• Multiple entry points for subscribers
• Multiple reader magnets
• Non-public exclusive content you provide for free

If any of these are true for you, you’ll benefit from having a proper email marketing system.

There are many providers to choose from and as previously mentioned, they make comparison for choosing incredibly difficult.

Some may provide a higher number of subscribers on their free plan than others, but then they limit certain features differently like how many emails you can send per day or month, or how many different entry points or automated sequences you can set up. It’s never as simple as comparing apples to apples. So you need to understand what your needs are and try to predict to some extent what your short-term and long-term needs will be.

You’re never completely locked into one provider, but switching providers can be a process, so it’s worth spending some time figuring out which one is likely to be the best fit for you.

We’ll cover the specifics of what the following information means throughout the materials in this topic, but as a starting point, the key factors to consider across the different providers and plans are:

• Do they have a free plan?
• How many subscribers does the free plan include?
• How many forms and/or landing pages does the free plan include?
• How many separate automation sequences does the free plan include?
• Can you edit active or live automations?
• Can you segment your audience?
• What support is provided?
• How does the pricing scale as you grow?

All free plans will have some kind of limitation, but it will vary across providers. It will be up to you to decide which features have priority for you. For example, some might include email support on the free plan while others don’t. For some authors that would be a deal-breaker, for others it won’t be. That’s something only you can decide.

Comparing and Choosing

The Technical Bits

Most of this section is going to make more sense once you starting setting up and configuring things with your email marketing service provider. But reading through it now will help to orient you with some familiarity in what will otherwise feel a bit foreign.

Forms vs Landing Pages

Forms and landing pages are the core entry point for a subscriber. It’s the piece of the system where your subscriber fills out their name and email address and clicks a submit button. That action is what puts the entire system into motion.

Lists, Tags, Segments, and Fields

Lists, tags, segments, and custom fields are all features used to managed and organize your subscribers.

Each ESP will function a bit differently in this area and may use slightly different terminology in different ways, but the core idea is the same across all of them.

Double Opt-In vs Single Opt-In

The type of opt-in you choose determines whether a new subscriber is instantly added to your list or if they have to confirm their subscription first.

Domains

Your domain is relevant when it comes to setting your “sender email” address.

Email Regulations

Most countries have their own governing rules that dictate how you can email people and these governing rules apply regardless of where you’re located. You may see reference to: CAN-SPAM, GDPR, CASL and others depending on your location.

Setup Your ESP Platform

The initial setup and configuration of your email list account is the most complicated piece of the process. But it sounds scarier than it is. Take your time, work through the process one step at a time, use the documentation provided by the ESP you choose, and give yourself more time than you anticipate needing. 

Step one for getting an email list started is to get the pieces in place. To build your base infrastructure. That’s what this Quest is all about. You won’t be turning on the lights yet, we’re going to build out your system one section at a time.

Through this Quest you’ll get additional guidance on the decision making processes and what some of the key considerations are for getting through the initial setup.

🦋 Quest Time! 🦋

Choose Your ESP

Configure Your Account

Initial Setup

Create a Form and Landing Page

Create a Custom Thank You Page

Brand Alignment

Amongst chaos and dragons a few of the topics and sections are still being updated, but they’ll be up soon!

In Progress:

• Welcome emails and automation
• Ongoing emails (common traps, ideas, length, frequency, and more)
• Growing and maintaining your list