Wit & Travesty

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Why Writers Should Start a Newsletter

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why writers should start a newsletter

Last week, Instagram and Facebook got a timeout. While it was a reminder for me to take some time off my phone, my thoughts turned to “what would I do if Instagram disappeared tomorrow?”

And have you legitimately thought about that? What if social media is no longer free? What if it’s broken indefinitely? What if it goes out of style like MySpace?

The answer, y’all, is to start a newsletter.

I love Instagram more than most things in this world, but I can’t guarantee that I can keep all my followers. I can’t even trust the algorithm to work in my favor!

So today, here’s a quick look at why writers should start a newsletter ASAP.

But First: What Is the Difference Between a Newsletter & a Blog?

I’ll admit, my first hangup with newsletters was the fact that I had no idea what they were or what they were supposed to do. If I want to write a post, I just do that on my blog, right? A newsletter sounds like extra work! If I’m looking at the pie chart of how I spend my time, I can’t afford to spend even less time away from my actual book writing.

If you feel the same, I can explain the differences as I see them.

A blog can:

  • Serve as a hub for all your projects and updates.
  • Provide evergreen content about you, your work, and your insight into the writing industry.

A newsletter can:

  • Turn blog followers into future customers or clients
  • Offer exclusive content, sales, and sneak-peeks for your loyal fans
  • Introduce your followers to content you’ve already created on your blog.
  • Share short-term sales, giveaways, and more that aren’t as effective on a blog.
  • Basically, what I post on social media, I can post in my newsletter.

If you’re still unsure about newsletters, I’d recommend that you check out Pinterest for articles about newsletters. Just about every person who runs their own business has a newsletter and they make the majority of their earnings on customers from their newsletter. Since my newsletter is a baby compared to theirs, I’d recommend checking out their numbers and trends.

No Algorithm Headaches

Okay, when you send an email, it goes to everyone on your list. Your newsletter host won’t pick and choose which email addresses they’ll use—they will automatically send it to all of them!

Also, think of how many of your friends are trying to cut back on social media. If they aren’t online as much, will they see your brilliant posts? If you want your work to be more visible to your followers, then a newsletter will help you beat the odds.

You will have to work harder on your email titles so they encourage your followers to open the email but you already have that challenge with social media; the odds are EVER in your favor with a newsletter.

More Sales or Sale Opportunities

How many of you have ever bought something because you got an email saying the item was on sale? Okay, I love all these online boutiques but I’m not regularly on their sites looking for new clothes or shoes. But I can suddenly fall in love with a nerdy dress if my favorite shop tells me it’s on sale.

Okay, as a writer, you have that same magic wand: you can transform a casual fan into a true fan by giving them healthy reminders about you and what’s going on.

When someone signs up for your newsletter, they are agreeing to hear more from you and buy from you. It’s an unspoken contract; they want to hear more from you so they gave you their email. Basically, you get to talk to them about your book until they unsubscribe. With great power comes great responsibility!

If you’re not comfortable talking sales and asking for money, your newsletter list is a place where you have full permission to talk about it. You will naturally sell more books if you actually talk about the book! You can also approach your newsletter with a bit more strategy; if you want more blog views, more book sales, or more work opportunities, you can create newsletters with those intentions in mind.

Permission to Tap into Your Strengths

Even if your book is a drop in the sea of books, you can provide something more to your followers than just a book. I mean, you’re not writing books just to sell books, right? There’s something deeper there. Most business coaches would call this “defining your WHY.”

When I write my newsletter, I still use my same voice but I approach it in a different way than a blog post like this one. I often tap into my storytelling skills to connect with my followers. I have the opportunity to show them what I as Whitney M have to offer. Yes, I do that on my blog, but since my newsletter is a much more niche audience, I feel more confident talking about what makes my books unique or what makes me a writer worth following or caring about.

Deeper Community Ties

I have my favorite Instagram accounts. There are some folks that I want to hear from every day of my life. They keep my phone addiction alive! If I wanted to keep in touch and social media went away, then I would turn to their newsletters.

A newsletter is a great way to support the other writers you appreciate in the community. And you know I’m a stickler for community! If you want to learn about the industry, create business partnerships, or bask in another writer’s glow, then sign up for their newsletter.

Lately, I’ve been putting myself out there by asking people I already follow if they have a newsletter that I can sign up for. We already do this for social media, so consider using similar tactics to build up your newsletter list.

So I think that’s a good place to end for today. Stay tuned for more posts about newsletters, such as what you should put on your newsletter and how to grow your list.

I’d like to remind you that I’m still working on these things too, so I’m not telling you what to do; I’m just sharing what I’m currently working on. I just hope it helps you understand the business side of being an indie author and you find more success!

Speaking of which, if you’d like to see my newsletter in action, you certainly can! Subscribe through the pop up on the website, this image below, the prompt to your right, or go here.

newsletter

Do you have any other questions about newsletters? Share them in the comments!

Chapter Three: Shed Some Light on the Subject

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chapter three add some light to the subject

Okay, back when Instagram first hit, we all obsessed over filters. I liked just about every filter and tried them all out. So, let me be the first to say that I understand how fun they are—but it’s time to elevate and upgrade the photo quality.

If you’re selling books, quality images can show how much you care about your work and attract folks to your books. We still judge books by their covers, don’t we? Luckily for you, the decisions you make in this stage will make everything else super easy in the future.

Remember, the point of these tips is to help point to your brand, create a great first impression, stretch your creative skills, and stand out. Some people go all in and some don’t and still succeed. So, if you feel like design, art, and photography aren’t your forte, stick with easy suggestions and work up to more complicated or time-consuming things when you’re ready.

Get ready to learn basic photography skills to create sharper, more pleasing images.

Basic Lighting Tips

Any photo you share on Instagram should be crisp, sharp, and clear. This is the main reason why I don’t share memes or screenshots on my feed; I save them for Facebook or Twitter. However, if you don’t have a lot of photography skills, or feel like yours don’t match up to famous Instagrammers, you don’t have to go take classes to measure up—I promise!

Instead, take advantage of some basic lighting techniques.

The first skill is to know how to find good lighting. For example, I choose to take #bookstagram photos when it’s naturally sunny outside. I just open my blinds and let the sun do all the work. If the weather is permitting, I go outside for selfies. The lighting is usually natural and just what I prefer. I just step right outside my house, snap a photo, (or have someone else help) and share. Overcast weather makes for amazing selfie lighting and quality.

Basic Lighting Editing Tips

If the photo is darker than you’d like—or your new style favors brightly-lit photos—there are some easy tools to use to make the photos look consistent and cheery.

For all my non-stock photos, I either use the Edit feature on Instagram or use photo editing apps such as VSCO. For Instagram, I bypass the filters and go to Edit and play with Brightness, Highlights, and Shadows. You also won’t have to make dramatic changes if you’re already taking photos in proper lighting. If you tap your finger on the photo and hold down, you can see the original photo for comparison.

Choose Screen Grabs Over Laptop Selfies

When you want to share your writing updates, an easy photo idea is a quick photo of your computer screen. Unfortunately, it’s really hard to get the lighting of your screen to match the room lighting. You have to basically sacrifice one or the other—even if you’re taking the photo during the day.

Instead, I would recommend taking a screen grab. You can do it by pressing the “Print Screen” button on your keyboard; it’ll take a screenshot of your entire screen. You can crop the image to your liking. You can also use the snippet tool and manually select the part of your screen you want to share. Now, the #WIP shot is a bit clearer, the lighting is appropriate, and it’ll be easier to integrate into the rest of your Instagram feed.

Let Me Introduce You to Presets

If you want to make the same consistent changes with every photo and save yourself time, it’s time you learned about presets. Rather than memorizing how much you adjust the brightness, you’re essentially creating your own filter by saving the settings you like. Work!

Presets are a lifesaver that professional photographers use all the time when editing batches of hundreds of photos. Now you know! VSCO is just one of many apps that can help you create presets. I’ve provided a link to VSCO’s instructions for how to create and organize presets in the Resources section. With VSCO, you can edit photos on your phone, but you can also buy presets online that you can use on programs like Photoshop. You can see some examples in the Resources as well.

If you don’t know where to start with creating your own preset and you don’t want to buy them, you can actually search for “recipes” on sites like Pinterest. You’ll notice that you still need to take photos with consistent colors or lighting; a preset can’t save terrible photography. But if you’re wondering how everyone else does it, now you know everyone’s little secrets.

Go with Your Own Style

Now that you know all of this, I hope you don’t feel overwhelmed or insecure about how you’ve done things in the past. Some people treat their feeds like a full-time job and thus have the time to take all these photos, plan out their aesthetic, and curate their content. If you would rather spend more time writing and selling, it’s totally understandable that you might not want to start buying everything in the same color or, feel like you’re becoming someone else. Just remember, your feed should only appeal to your niche audience. That’s why an author’s feed will look different from a Bookstagrammer’s feed.

Feel free to take notes on what others do that you like or don’t like. Please also be specific about why you like certain styles. Then, be bold and be you. Find some quality stock photos that draw your audience in and mix in some snapshots of your brand and your work.

Every time I scroll through my profile, I smile. I love the colors and the fonts and the overall big picture that I create with my feed. It’s not 100% perfect and planned like some others but I genuinely enjoy what I put out there. I hope that as you consider your photography and photo editing skills, you present something that you actually enjoy. It makes marketing on Instagram more fun!

Quick Recap

  • Find good, natural lighting—indoors or outdoors.
  • Use screen grabs instead of taking pictures of your computer screen.
  • Use professional tools such as presets for consistent lighting, mood, and quality.
  • As always, observe what others are doing but go with your own style.

Resources

Read the Other Chapters

Chapter One: Understand Your Target Audience
Chapter Two: Be Authentic & Unique


There you go! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please give me your suggestions for what you’d like to see in future chapters. Or, tell me what I missed in this chapter; did you have more questions? Contact me or comment below. Thanks, friends!

Chapter Two: Be Authentic & Unique

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Chapter Two_ Be Authentic & Unique

Hello readers and writers! You are reading chapter one of my upcoming e-book [title pending]. Please enjoy these tips for the writer hoping to master Instagram to find readers and sell some books.

So we’ve already considered the importance of understanding your audience and what you want them to do. Now you can decide what to post. This is tricky for the shy and over-sharer alike. Most people who use Instagram studied their field of choice and then learned later that they needed these entrepreneur skills. It feels like a catch-up game for just about everyone.

So if you’re new to self-promo and you don’t want to come across as annoying or “salesey,” then this section will help you figure out what feels right and comfortable for you. We’re going to accomplish two major things: help you stand out as a writer and use that to create a wealth of post ideas.

How Will You Stand Out?

Dying my hair rose gold to show off my Star Wars cross stitch samplers is “so on-brand” for me. Another thing people know me for and remember me as is someone who talks about community and mental health. I want them to set me apart from the rest of the crowd—so I share parts of me that are typically, reliably me.

I know that even calling things “on-brand” is silly and arguably tacky but that’s another aspect of who I am, and I don’t shy away from it—when I present myself to my audience, they know it’s me.

If you’re struggling to understand your brand, I would recommend taking Jenna Kutcher’s priceless advice: narrow your feed to 5 major things you want your audience to know about you. The catch? Only one of those elements gets to be about business. So for me, my current five are book publishing, cosplay, nerd fashion, mental health awareness, and my work culture. You can mix things up every once and a while, but I want you to think about five things that are TOTALLY you or five things that you can bring to the table. Some examples that could be eye-catching are

  • Weight lifter
  • Unapologetic The Bachelor fan
  • Cat mom
  • Proud Gryffindor
  • Freelance editor
  • Multi-lingual
  • Parent of future readers
  • Funko Pop addict
  • Bookstagrammer
  • Cosplayer
  • Passionate about politics and activism

Ideally, if you have five topics, that’s basically a topic for each day of a work week. Boom—you already know what to post and how often. Also, it’s an easy list to put in your bio. You’re welcome!

You don’t have to share equally from each category, but feel free to take this as permission to share gym selfies, your favorite lipstick shade of the week, or your adorable dog distracting you from your work!

I think it’s also important to mention that standing out or being unique doesn’t mean that you have to be The Most Interesting Person. You don’t have to be fluent in five languages or have extravagant hobbies to be unique. For me, my point of uniqueness was just my ability to be honest and open about my writing process; people were drawn to that long before I did cosplay or dyed my hair pink.

So if you’re struggling to stand out, try instead to focus on being authentic first. Who are you really? I believe the rest will just naturally follow.

How Much Is Too Much?

You can spot a spammy writer from a mile away. Their feed is “Pay me! Pay me! Pay me!” and not enough of “Here’s what I can do for you.”

I’ve learned that people naturally gravitate towards services and people that GET them. They offer what they need or want and at the right price. So while you consider what to share, you don’t have to put on your best doorstep salesperson persona to get attention. In fact, most people unfollow, mute, or block people who only want to sell and not build a relationship.

I learned from a good friend of mine that you can keep a healthy 1:4 ratio of “business” posts; for every ad you share about your product, the next three posts should be about something else. Now you can still talk about important business stuff (you’re hosting a book discount, giveaway, newsletter, or book signing) with confidence and less imposter syndrome.

Are They a Fan of You or Your Product?

Whether you like it or not, your audience will likely be more loyal to you than your products. Meaning, readers will likely pick up a book if they know something about the author. Even if you’re publishing traditionally, you’re likely fairly new to the public eye and should stand out from other established authors.

I’ve actually seen authors create a whole Instagram for one book series. So, what happens when you write four book series—I need to follow four separate accounts? I also don’t really suggest creating a separate “professional” or “business” account. Instead, I’d recommend keeping everything about YOU on one platform. It’s easier to manage and it makes it easier for people to see all your important posts.

Part of building a brand or online platform does mean sharing more about yourself than you’d like. I understand that putting the spotlight on yourself might uncomfortable at first. I would encourage you to look at various types of platforms and see the kinds of boundaries that writers uphold.

Remember, you only have to share what will help you achieve your big-picture goals. Also, you only have to share what caters to your future fans. Overall, overcome your mild stage fright by using your five topics to open up about you and your story.

Quick Recap:

  • Narrow your content down to 5 topics
  • Create a brand around you and not your product
  • Maintain a 1:4 business post ratio to feel less “salesy.”
  • Consider how your feed can show your followers how you stand out from everyone else.

Resources:

Read the Other Chapters

Chapter One: Understand Your Target Audience

There you go! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please give me your suggestions of what you’d like to see in future chapters. Or, tell me what I missed in this chapter; did you have more questions? Contact me or comment below. Thanks, friends!


TESTIMONIALS

Whitney helped me with two short projects written for children, and she was very pleasant to work with. She has an eye for detail, helping me with small grammar errors as well as insights about adding scenes that would enhance my story. Her turnaround time was extremely quick, which I really appreciated when on a deadline!
Brittany Olsen
Whitney and I worked together in a writing feedback group some years ago and have remained in touch since then. From the beginning, I was struck by her absolute responsibility as an editor. Even in the capacity of a group member, not even being employed or contracted by me to edit my work, Whitney was unerringly punctual, thorough, and accurate with her feedback. Her advice is genuinely insightful and I believe the marketability of my work was noticeably increased due to her guidance. I so value her skills that I still turn to her as a resource after three years of working with her in-person have passed.
Jonathan Baker
Whitney did a copy-edit on my third novel, Checkmate. She was a pleasure to work with, and helped me give my novel that final polish that it needed before publication. Put her on your list for editors that help your work shine!
Angelika Offenwanger
Whitney McGruder has created a vast and imaginative world in Destiny Seeker with surprises to delight the reader at every turn. Readers can settle in to devour the diverse and ingenious magic Destiny Seeker has to offer. I highly recommend it.
Jessica Frazier
I won a contest via Wit & Travesty in the summer of 2017. The prize was a professional edit of the first 100 pages of a WIP. My middle grade fantasy was only 90 pages, so she read the entire manuscript. She was communicative and positive about the project. Her edits markedly polished up my manuscript and were easy to understand.
Rachel Barnard
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