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Starting a mailing list for your readers is essential. If you have not started one yet, I recommend finding a mailing list provider that you love (we LOVE Flodesk), creating an email opt-in freebie, and sending out emails.
Treat your mailing list like it is more valuable than social media because it is. While social media is a wonderful way to connect with your readers and to share a little more about your life, your mailing list will always have a focus and create a platform for you to dive deeper into the topic of your book.
Once you have your mailing list set up with your opt-in freebie, be sure to start sending those emails right away. If you use Flodesk, you can create a workflow where your emails are automatically sent to your subscribers. This way, you can write your emails in advance and schedule them! It is an easy way to connect with your readers with valuable content.
Here are 20 email topic ideas you can use when promoting your book to your mailing list subscribers:
Book Signing – do you have a book signing coming up? Be sure to send an email to your mailing list subscribers telling them when and where your book signing is. Did you have a book signing? Be sure to send an update about how it went and include pictures for your readers to see!
Promotional Pricing – Offering your newsletter subscribers promotional pricing is a beautiful way to build trust with your new readers.
Fun Facts – What are some exciting and fun facts about you? About your book? Be sure to share these with your readers and ask them to share some fun facts about themselves with you, too!
New Releases – Always update your readers about any new book releases you have coming up. If you are on a book launch team, sharing the book would be good information to share.
Sample Chapter – Give your mailing subscribers a free sample chapter of your book. This could be your mailing list opt-in freebie, or you could share the free chapter with your readers in an email. You could even create a video of you reading the chapter and sharing the video with your readers.
Bonus Material – Bonus material for a non-fiction book could be a printable journal or journal prompts sent weekly. You could send character profiles, short stories, or more information about the story’s geography for fiction books.
Author Interviews – Be sure to share your author interviews on podcasts and blogs.
Character Insights: Offering more insight into the characters of your book would be interesting for your readers.
Supporting Research Material – Sharing research articles, news articles, or other information on your book’s topic is always a great way to keep your readers informed.
Discussion About the Book – Find people you can discuss your book with, including those who make an appearance in your book or close friends and family who have read your book. You could do a transcript of this discussion or record it like a podcast and offer it to your readers.
Book Review: Find a book similar to yours and share your review of that book with your readers.
Reader Survey – Conducting a reader survey can help you get more insight into what your readers liked about your book, why they follow you, and what they would like to see move in the future.
Latest blog post – Always remember to share your latest blog posts with your readers.
Lessons You’ve Learned – Sharing the lessons you learned throughout writing your book always makes the stories shared more personable. You can also share lessons learned after the fact, too – we are all on a journey of learning and growing!
Giveaways/Contests – If you know of a giveaway or contest that would be beneficial to your readers, then share that with them. Or you can create your giveaway/contest just for the readers on your mailing list. You could even offer a monthly book giveaway to one lucky subscriber every month.
Free Resources – Do you know of any helpful resources available that would complement your book’s topic? Be sure to share those with your readers.
The reader of the Week – You can spotlight one of your subscribers every week. This is a unique way of building community among your mailing list subscribers.
A day in your life – Sharing more about your life will allow your readers to connect with you more. I’ve seen day-in-the-life posts done on youtube and social media, and I think your mailing list readers would appreciate an email on this topic, too. YOu could also share one aspect of your life, like your morning routine or daily writing schedule.
Fun Holidays/Observances – Writing about upcoming holidays/observances is a fun way to connect with your readers.
Graphic Design – You can create so many fun graphics for your readers to download for free. A few ideas: phone backgrounds, scripture images, or quote images from your book. You don’t need to have graphic design skills to create these freebies. You can hire someone else to make them for you.
I hope these email topic ideas are helpful to you! If you need more marketing help with your book, then consider scheduling a coaching call or download our Book Launch Strategy Planner in our shop!