Five Consistent Ways to Get Newsletter Signups

By Savannah Cordova

Email marketing is one of the best ways to promote yourself as an author. You can build a loyal fan base, reach all your readers at once, and retain 100% control over your content—unlike on social media, where so much is algorithmically dependent. 

But how do you actually find subscribers… and moreover, retain them long after they’ve signed up? I’m here today with some ideas to help. Here are five ways to get newsletter signups from reliable sources, whether you currently have 10 followers or 10,000.

1. Include a signup link in your books

The most obvious place to find fans of your books is… inside your books! And the best way to do this is to tell readers about your newsletter—right after your final chapter. In just a couple sentences, let them know what they can expect to receive: insider info, exclusive discounts, updates on future books, and/or the opportunity to have their questions answered. 

Something else you can do is to make signing up as easy as possible. For ebooks, insert a link to your signup page. For print copies, create a QR code and include it in the back matter, along with the web address written out in full—just in case of technical issues, or less-than-tech-savvy readers. 

You might also consider putting this signup link in your front matter, though you risk getting more fair-weather subscribers that way. Someone who’s just finished (and loved) your book is going to be more invested in your newsletter than someone who happens upon the signup before they’ve even read the first page. 

That said, in book marketing, almost anything is worth trying once. And if you really want to pull out all the stops, try (subtle) signups in both your front and back matter.

2. Offer a reader magnet

Of course, not everyone will be content to give their email address away for free. Some people who have read your books—and almost everybody who hasn’t—are going to want something in exchange for their personal data. We in the business call this a reader magnet. 

Your reader magnet should be free, exclusive to your newsletter subscribers, and (most importantly) genuinely interesting and valuable. To grab as many people as possible, I also recommend having multiple reader magnets: one for each book (or series) and one all-purpose magnet to attract new readers. 

Here are some ideas for reader magnets in fiction and nonfiction—and some of these are applicable to both: 

You can advertise your reader magnets on your author website and social media pages. You can also run paid ads, which might be particularly useful for reaching people who haven’t heard of you before. Make it clear that by signing up for the freebie, readers agree to receive your newsletter (but that you won’t spam them and they can unsubscribe at any time). 

Once a reader signs up, be sure to deliver the magnet immediately (via an automation from your chosen email service provider) and include a “thanks for subscribing” message. Since readers use a variety of platforms and devices, you might want to use BookFunnel or StoryOrigin to distribute your magnet; with these platforms, users can choose exactly which file type they would like to receive.

3. Run a giveaway competition

If you think more expensive offers will attract greater interest, you can also run a giveaway in which people enter their emails for a chance to win a larger prize. Though it’s not a good idea to do this too often, it can be a fun way to jazz up your marketing strategy! 

Naturally, this giveaway should be related to your books or genre. You could send the lucky winner a themed prize basket, for instance, or you could team up with fellow authors to give away a bundle of books. (If other authors are participating, figure out just one place where readers can input their email address so it can be shared amongst all of you.) 

Then advertise the giveaway in the same way as your reader magnet—particularly on social media, where giveaways tend to get a ton of shares. You can even ask people to tag a friend in order to be eligible! But consider yourself warned: you’re likely to attract some freebie seekers who aren’t actually interested in your work. 

To some extent, that’s okay; a few extraneous subscribers won’t hurt. But if you want to avoid damaging your unsubscribe rate, you can also put the competition entrants in a separate one-off list. Thank them for entering the draw and send them your generic reader magnet. They can then choose to download it and sign up to your newsletter if (and only if) it interests them.

4. Cross-promote with another author

Just as it can be a good idea to team up for a giveaway competition, collaborating with other authors to cross-promote your newsletters can be invaluable—when it’s done right. 

Here’s how it works: you promote another author’s newsletter to your subscribers, and they promote your newsletter to theirs. You might present this “recommendation” in the form of interviewing them in your newsletter, or guest-writing each others’ newsletters—tacit endorsements—or you can simply link to their signup page in the next newsletter you write. 

Now for another warning: make sure your endorsement is 100% genuine. Read your colleague’s books and make sure their target audience is fairly similar to yours. Don’t just pretend you know each other; make an effort with them so your enthusiasm is authentic. 

You don’t have to be bosom buddies, but you should be able to recommend them in good faith. Remember, your subscribers will lose trust in you if you make a poor or insincere recommendation—and no amount of cross-audience exposure is worth that.

5. Don’t underestimate word of mouth

Speaking of recommendations, my last tip is: never underestimate the power of your existing subscribers over your future ones! The final way to get more subscribers is to produce content of such high quality that your readers tell all their friends and/or followers to sign up. 

Yes, this is easier said than done… but if you’re invested in gaining subscribers in the first place, might as well give them a reason to stick around, right? After all, if people are just going to unsubscribe due to low-quality content, there’s no point in enticing them to sign up. 

In any case, you can nudge people to spread the word by offering a small incentive to anyone who shares it on social media and tags you. This might be an additional discount on your latest book, the opportunity to have their questions answered in your next newsletter, or an entry in a giveaway like what I’ve described above. 

Building a fan base takes hard work and patience, but with a combination of these five techniques, you can steadily grow your mailing list and nurture a robust following that is immune to the trends and fads of social media. Best of luck with this evergreen endeavor!

Savannah Cordova is a writer with Reedsy, a marketplace that connects authors with resources and professionals to help them publish a book. In her spare time, Savannah enjoys reading fiction and nonfiction, writing short stories, and analyzing literary trends into the ground.