How to Create an Email List as a Fiction Writer and Get Your First 100 Subscribers
Own your audience, forget the algorithm
As I always say, writers need two things:
Mastery of their craft and readers for their work.
I wrote about how you can attract more readers as a fiction writer through blogging. There are a lot of gems in that story, however, one thing I want to hammer on is that while social platforms are a great source of growing an audience, it’s dangerous to completely rely on them.
Algorithms can change overnight. Your audience isn’t really yours — it’s rented. And once the algo goes gaga, you are a goner.
To truly own your audience, you must build an email list. Everyone and their dog have heard this advice over and over again. At this point, it’s probably a cliche. But it by no means makes it any less valuable.
Every business needs an email list. As a fiction writer, you’re a business. Unless of course, you have no plans of ever selling books or earning from your writing, then that’s fine. Feel free to ignore this.
If you want to build a brand and grow your writing business, then having an email list is nonnegotiable. When you have access to the emails of your subscribers, you can directly communicate with them — whether announcing your upcoming projects, marketing your products, or just staying in touch with your readers.
Algorithms don’t matter. You’re in complete control.
If you’re completely new to the whole thing, don’t worry. I’ll break everything down step by step, from choosing your email marketing software to getting your first 100 subscribers.
The steps are outlined as follows:
1. Choose an email marketing software.
2. Create a lead magnet to entice subscribers.
3. Create a landing page where people can input their emails in exchange for your lead magnet.
4. Write an autoresponder email containing the link to the lead magnet.
5. Promote your lead magnet online.
6. Send a regular newsletter to your subscribers.
1. Choose an email marketing software
An email marketing software or tool collects and manages the email addresses of your audience. There are so many out there to choose from.
Substack, Beehiiv, ConvertKit, AWeber, MailerLite, Mailchimp, and so much more.
Don’t be stuck forever thinking about what to use. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner. Just choose one and start immediately. You can always migrate to another software later.
I started with Substack. But as my subscribers grew, and I wanted other features that weren’t available on Substack, I simply downloaded my email list and moved to ConvertKit.
So far, I’m enjoying ConvertKit. It has a free version. However, the paid version gives you access to even more powerful automation features that are invaluable in email marketing. I use AWeber for their free automation features. But I’m getting tired of going back and forth between them, so I’m going to have to stick with one.
Most email marketing platforms (if not all) require that you add your website. If you don’t have one yet, create a free or premium website on WordPress. Then use that email from the website to sign up for your ConvertKit account (or whatever email marketing platform you choose).
2. Create a lead magnet to entice subscribers
Now that you have your email marketing system set up, it’s time to attract your subscribers. There are several ways of going about this. However, the quickest way to do this is by creating a lead magnet.
A lead magnet is a free offer (product or service) you give to someone in exchange for their email. It’s called a lead magnet because it’s a gift (magnet) that attracts subscribers (leads).
As a fiction writer, the best lead magnet you can offer is a novel. Yes, a free book. If you’ve written several books, especially a series, the first book in the series is perfect.
But of course, that’s not your only option. So don’t worry if you don’t have a free book to offer yet. There are other ways to do this. A novella or short story counts. If you have several short stories, curate some of your best into a single collection.
Only one short story? There’s nothing wrong with that either.
An excerpt of your book, deleted scenes or chapters, a character profile sheet, or anything people will find interesting. They all work well as lead magnets.
But there is a caveat…
Your lead magnet must obey two rules:
1. It should be complete: It must not leave the subscriber confused, wondering what the whole point was. Your short story could be based on the world of one of your novels. But it should be a complete story with a beginning, middle, and ending. Even a deleted scene, or any scene you offer, should read like a complete story.
2. It should be entertaining: Your duty is to entertain your readers. So any gift you offer should be equally entertaining. If your lead magnet is boring, they’ll have no reason to stay on your email list. They’ll unsubscribe immediately.
Just because you’re giving them something for free doesn’t mean it should be useless. Put as much thought into it as you would a paid offer.
Offer value. And value = entertainment.
3. Create a landing page for your lead magnet
A landing page is a single web page that performs a specific function. In your case, your landing page will persuade people to download your lead magnet in exchange for their email address.
It’s pretty simple. Nothing fancy.
Most email marketing tools have tons of free landing page templates you can use. Simply go through them, select the one that can do the job, and customize it to your liking.
But as you customize it, remember to use your colors well. It can make or break your landing page. You want to use a great blend of colors that will keep people on the page, not scare them off.
Copywriting is an essential skill if you want to persuade people to take action. If that’s something you struggle with and need help with writing copy for your landing pages and emails, DM me on Instagram.
If you’re looking for inspiration, take a look at this landing page I created for my lead magnet, How to Build a Solid Writing Habit in 30 Days.
4. Write an autoresponder email for your lead magnet
When you sign up for the newsletter of your favorite creator, you’ll receive a welcome email. This email is sent automatically to you right after subscribing.
The creator isn’t sitting somewhere writing a welcome email every time someone joins their email list. Rather, they’ve already written this email, which is automatically sent to a new subscriber.
These emails sent automatically to subscribers after they take an action are called autoresponder emails. They’re one of the greatest things about email marketing because they keep your business running even when you’re asleep.
Write an autoresponder email for your lead magnet.
But what do you write inside that email?
First of all, thank them for downloading your lead magnet. Tell them briefly who you are and what that lead magnet is about.
Then add the links to the file of your lead magnet in both PDF and EPUB format.
Not everyone’s e-reader supports PDF that’s why you need both.
5. Promote your lead magnet online
You’re finally done creating your lead magnet and landing page. It’s now live, and you’re ready to start getting your subscribers.
The thing is that no one’s going to know about your lead magnet if you don’t talk about it. It is up to you to promote it as much as you can, everywhere online.
Put up the link in your blog posts, social media posts, bios, everywhere.
If you publish on Medium, write a call to action (CTA) telling people to download your lead magnet. Add your CTA at the end of every blog post. Kind of like how I’m telling you right now to download my free guide on how to build a consistent writing habit in 30 days.
Sorry, I had to. Actually, I’m not.
Promote the shit out of yourself. No one will do it for you, so you might as well start doing it now.
6. Send a regular newsletter to your subscribers
As people download your lead magnet and join your email list, you’ll need to stay at the top of their minds, so they don’t wonder who the hell you are when you finally send them an email.
To do that, send a regular newsletter. No need to do it every day. But it should be regular enough that they know to expect emails from you.
Sometimes I get an email from nowhere and wonder why some rando is spamming my inbox. But then it’s not spam. It’s a newsletter I subscribed to or a lead magnet I downloaded eons ago. However, the person never sent me an email again until several months later. So of course, I forget who the hell they are.
I’ve unsubscribed from so many email lists because of this.
This is something to always keep in mind.
Even if you give something of value once, people will unsubscribe if you don’t give them a reason to stay. I’m not saying send them freebie after freebie. That can get exhausting pretty quickly.
However, once in a while (say in a week or fortnight), update them on your projects, what new stories you’re working on, what books you’re reading — anything inspiring or entertaining.
Let’s say you offered your subscribers a novel as a lead magnet. After a week or so, ask them for a review. And if you receive a lot of positive reviews, then they may love to buy your other books.
But you won’t know this until you regularly interact with your audience through the power of email.
If you’ve started building your email list, that’s awesome. All the best to you. If you haven’t started yet, start right now. It will be the single best business decision you ever make this year.
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