Book Authors

Newsletters are becoming an increasingly popular tool for our authors, especially those who want to grow their public profile, write regularly, and develop an audience outside of social media.

Newsletters can be a powerful way to build both a following while also refining your voice and strengthening your writing. They also offer the freedom to publish on your own schedule, without relying on an outside outlet. Over time, a newsletter can become a writing portfolio that may help you pitch essays to mainstream media.

Choosing Your Platform

There are many different newsletter platforms available, all with slightly different benefits and formats. We often recommend Substack because it’s well-known and has a built in community to help new readers discover your work. But it’s worth exploring other options and choosing the tool that best fits your goals. In addition to Substack, our authors have used Beehiiv, Mailerlite, Buttondown, Mailchimp, and even simple email blasts through Gmail. 

How to Start

As with social media, building a newsletter following requires consistency, so decide on a publishing schedule that’s doable for you — whether that’s weekly or monthly. Make sure your newsletter sign-up is clearly advertised on your other online profiles.

Your posts can take many different forms. You might share op-ed style essays related to your field, updates on your book, extra stories and materials that didn’t make it into the final project, simple reading lists, or comments on others’ work that you found interesting. While your book should feature in your newsletter, the focus can be on your broader expertise. Your newsletter should establish you as an expert on certain topics, not just promote your book.

With that said, your subscribers will be a valuable built-in audience for your book. Use your newsletter to announce the release, share reviews or event updates, and ask readers to help spread the word. You might also consider offering a pre-order incentive or behind-the-scenes peek to reward your followers. 

A successful newsletter does not need to be elaborate, but it should be engaging and sustainable for you. Start working on it early, well before your book’s expected publication, and focus on building a genuine relationship with readers over time. 

For a few helpful examples, check out the newsletters of Eric Blanc, Jeremy Braddock, Natalia Molina, Allison Tait, and Surekha Davies.