One Author Newsletter

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In Today’s Journal

* One Author Newsletter
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

One Author Newsletter

I recently received an author newsletter from bestselling novelist Rachel Amphlett. The newsletter was just over 780 words plus a few book covers, but in it she seemed to touch all the bases. So it’s an almost-excellent example of what to do if you’re sending out only a monthly newsletter.

Here’s the structure Rachel used. Other than my inset note, the bold items below are the sections of her newsletter:

Greeting

The greeting was personalized to my first name. There’s a way to do this in most newsletter platforms like MailerLite, etc. by using a Field that automatically fills in the recipient’s first name.

This greeting was only three paragraphs (103 words). In the first paragraph, she was chatty. In the second, she thanked me for my “kind comments and reviews” regarding her latest release, and in the third she reminded me to share my review at “Goodreads and/or the retailer of your choice.”

So, what’s next?

In the first short paragraph of this section, Rachel briefly talked about her current project(s). The second paragraph was only a link to “Read on for more details…”.

Excellent. This invites readers who are interested to delve deeper, but keeps her newsletter from becoming overly long or cluttered.

Cover Reveal: Title of Novel

In this section, Rachel announces her next title, that it’s the 7th novel in the series, and its publication date.

Then she provides a description in a few paragraphs. This is the only place in the newsletter where she fell down. How? She gave away too much of the plot (what happened).

Then she writes what would be a great teaser line if she hadn’t already given away the plot and then inserts a photo of the cover.

NOTE: NEVER give away the plot in sales copy.

If the reader already knows too much of “what happened,” he no longer has a reason to read the book.

Again, I recommend Dean Wesley Smith’s book, How to Write Fiction Sales Copy. I also recommend buying the paper edition. Mine is dogeared. (No, I don’t get a kickback for referring you.)

After revealing the cover, Rachel’s back on track with an appeal to let her know what you think of the cover and the book description. (I didn’t email her about the plot stuff I mentioned above. After all, of the two of us, she’s the bestselling author.)

Books you may have missed…

Here she begins with a reminder that if you buy ebooks from her website you save more than 20% off the retail price. Of course, there’s a link. Always make it easy on the reader to click through.

In the second paragraph, she mentions her novel count (over 30) and provides a few titles and covers as examples.

Read my books for FREE: new library apps added

Here she mentions her love of supporting libraries and that she’s glad to offer her books in all forms (ebook, audiobook and paper) “free” through libraries. (She’s paid, but by the library, not the reader.)

Then she lists some of the major libraries, along with active links to those, and ends with an appeal: “If you don’t see my books listed on your library’s app, please request them using this form (she adds an active link) and email it to your library – they will be only too pleased to help you.”

The final few short paragraphs are her closing. She provides a preview of when she’ll be back (in a month), her upcoming appearance at a “Crime Festival,” and a personal invitation to visit with her there.

All in all (other than the sales-copy description I talked about above), I suspect this is a very effective newsletter. That’s why I chose to write this quick review and share it with you.

If there’s an author newsletter in your future, I hope this will help. Back tomorrow with the Bradbury Challenge results.

Of Interest

Dr. Mardy’s Quotes of the Week: “Kisses & Kissing”

3-Tier Backup for Writers (Thanks, Carrie.)

The Numbers

The Journal…………………………… 670

Writing of

Day 1…… XXXX words. To date…… XXXX

Fiction for July..………………………. 2590
Fiction for 2025………………………. 523397
Nonfiction for July…………………….. 9400
Nonfiction for 2025…………………… 161030
2025 consumable words…………….. 676813

2025 Novels to Date…………………….. 13
2025 Novellas to Date…………………… 0
2025 Short Stories to Date……………… 31
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………….. 117
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)…………… 10
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)……… 301
Short story collections……………………. 29

Whatever you believe, unreasoning fear and the myths that outlining, revising, and rewriting will make your work better are lies. They will always slow your progress as a writer or stop you cold. I will never teach the myths on this blog.

Writing fiction should never be something that stresses you out. It should be fun. On this blog I teach Writing Into the Dark and adherence to Heinlein’s Rules. Because of WITD and because I endeavor to follow those Rules I am a prolific professional fiction writer. You can be too.

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Questions are always welcome at harveystanbrough@gmail.com. But please limit yourself to the topics of writing and publishing.