202 | A New Way to Swap and Grow
202 | A New Way to Swap and Grow
Growing a newsletter shouldn't be rocket science
Quick Recap: What we’ve learned so far
100’s | BEGINNER | From Creation to Execution
101 | THE SET-UP | Create a Substack account.
102 | PUBLISH YOUR FIRST POST | Writing fiction vs nonfiction, navigating the user interface, and the settings worth remembering.
103 | WELCOME EMAIL TIPS | Write the most useful welcome email.
104 | EMAIL TEMPLATE TIPS | Making every email have a similar feel can go a long way towards building your brand.
105 | WHAT TO SAY IN YOUR ABOUT PAGE | All about you can mean so much more.
200’s | INTERMEDIATE | Time for Some Upgrades
201 | MULTIPLE SECTIONS | How to use them to your advantage
When creating/starting a newsletter the one thing you’ll need is a list of emails to send your newsletter to. And it can be this part of the process that turns people off from the idea of having a newsletter. What if no one subscribes? Is it really all that important? Well, I can’t speak to just how important an email list can be for you. I know that many writers (which I assume you are because you’re reading this post) swear by an email list. Whether it’s a traditional author or someone just starting out with nothing published (yet). It’s the single best way to make and keep a connection with potential superfans of your work.
But don’t let the process or idea of having an email list get you down. Everyone starts at zero when they are first creating their list. But you have a leg up on everyone else because there are ways in which you can grow your list faster than those who came before you and I want to share with you exactly how I did it, and you can do it too.
A FRIEND IN NEED IS A FRIEND INDEED
The first place I started and I suggest you start is by asking within the communities you are a member of and the friends you have. It doesn’t have to be your best friend, but it should be someone whom you already know has a newsletter. No use asking a favor of someone who is in the same boat as you!
I should preface this by saying, if you aren’t an active member of that community or only a friend when you need something, then perhaps this isn’t the route for you to take but you do have other options that I’ll get into in a bit. Heck, there was a time when I wasn’t much of a social media people person. The very idea of being in a Facebook Group or replying to tweets on Twitter to make connections and conversations and be a part of a community was not my cup of tea. I’m much more of a loaner. But over time I joined the kind of communities that appealed to me.
If you’ve been in whatever community you are a part of for a while then you’ll know who to ask right away. In many cases it’s a quid-pro-quo exchange. Of course, you’re just beginning so you can’t necessarily offer to promote them in your newsletter but that doesn’t mean you have nothing to bargain with. Just think of your social media accounts as a viable substitute. And who knows, you may find someone who is willing to promote you now with a promise of an IOU later when your list starts to grow?
If you have friends from other social circles then call on them for their help. Explain honestly that you are starting out and looking to grow your newsletter. I was lucky enough to have such a friend who offered to share me and my work to their list of 16K+ whenever I ask. And I’m grateful that now I am able to return the favor because I’ve managed to grow my list to a good size! That can and will be you someday.
BOOKFUNNEL AND STORYORIGINAPP ARE WRITERS BEST FRIEND
This is a great option but it will cost you some money. $10/m to be exact for each platform. This will also cost you more time than simply asking friends for favors. In order to participate in these platforms you will need to have an ebook that you can giveaway. Not everyone has a novel written already. But that’s okay. Do you have a collection of short stories or poetry? Something of your writing that you can giveaway? Doesn’t have to be a novel length by any means. It just has to be written by you and have a cover. Don’t have one of those? You can easily create one for FREE using Canva. Your cover doesn’t have to be the best looking. Nowadays covers are just the title of the book in fancy font. But if you are looking for something more professional you can check out Fiverr and see if something there is affordable to you.
Like I said, this option is almost guaranteed, but there is a cost. I would not recommend using either services for more than three months at a time and no more than twice a year. This will make sure you get the most bang for your buck. To learn more about these two platforms and how I use them specifically to grow my email list read this previous email and this one as well.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Swapping your audience (via social media) with someone else’s email list for a chance to grow your own is fairly common practice. If you are looking for a great community that is very “Substack forward” then might I suggest the Discord server Substack Writers Unite. It is a great mix of fiction, non-fiction and even non-Substack users all looking for a similar end goal in mind: Grow their list and make friends along the way.
And if you’d ever want to swap with me, as of the writing of this post I have 700+ subscribers after only four months of starting to grow my list on Substack using the very options I outlined earlier, you can leave me a comment below and we can connect or you can message me over at the discord server and we can look into doing a swap!
Tap that heart if you like what you just read. Want to leave a comment? Click below the talking head. Or if you just want to share my work with your friends, click below the mailbox. Thanks!