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Writing & Publishing

Every Writer Needs An Email List: Here’s Why

March 16, 2018 by Jessica Smock

Here’s why every writer needs an email list: An email list is the most powerful way for a writer to connect with her audience.

email list

You might be skeptical about that.

You might be thinking: I connect with potential readers all the time. I post on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I write blog posts and pitch my work to publications and get published. Or you might think instead: I’m a writer, not a businessperson. I write because I love writing.  I’m not interested in “marketing,” email or otherwise. 

Here’s the thing though. Even if getting paid for your writing is not something you care about, an email list can be a powerful tool for you. (If you care about getting published, selling any services or books, or finding an agent, then an email list is even more important.)

Here’s why every writer should have an email list:

  1. Email is not going away. You own your list of subscribers, forever. Social media is a great thing for writers. You can connect with people in a way that was unimaginable just several years ago. The problem is that you don’t own your social media account. You don’t really control it. Algorithms and the popularity of any social media platform change from month to month, year to year. For example, an average Facebook post is only shown to a tiny fraction of our followers.
  2. Email is personal. You can write an email as if you’re writing a letter to a friend, and it is sent directly to their inbox. It’s a direct connection to a person, rather than a message mediated through a social media algorithm. When someone signs up to get email messages from you, they are making a bigger commitment than if they had liked their page. They are showing that they want to hear from you and connect with you more directly.
  3. Emails gets more engagement than social media posts. A greater percentage of readers see an email and read it.
  4. Email is more effective (higher conversion rates) than any other tool in selling books, products, classes, or services. According to Tim Grahl, a top marketing expert for writers, email is 100 times more effective than social media for authors. (He did his own informal experiment and helps hundreds of writers with book launches.)
  5. If you hope to be published or get an agent, a strong, engaged email list can be a powerful asset. And even if you choose to self-publish a book, your email list is vital to marketing your book.

It all boils to this: You want more of your writing and your message to your audience to be seen. Email is the most effective way to do that.

How to Get Started With an Email List

You should not send mass emails from a free service such as Gmail or Hotmail. To comply with anti-SPAM laws, in order to send out marketing emails, you need to: a) get permission before emailing people b) have a clear way for subscribers to unsubscribe. This is where email subscribers (Mailchimp, Mad Mimi, ConvertKit, etc) come in. At the very least, these providers offer ways for people to subscribe and to unsubscribe to your list.

1. Choose an email service provider.

There are so many options. It’s overwhelming. Here are the three that I have used and can recommend: Mailerlite, ConvertKit, and Mailchimp. All three of these services will allow you to send bulk emails, design forms for your website, and create newsletters. In a future blog post, I’ll review these three options in more detail and describe the type of writer each of these services is best for. For right now, I would recommend Mailchimp for those just getting started, for those who want a very simple provider, and for those who don’t see their lists as ever getting any larger than 2,000 subscribers (the point at which Mailchimp is no longer free.) I would recommend Mailerlite for you if you think you might someday want more advanced features (tagging, landing pages, and automations). It’s free up to 1,000 subscribers. ConvertKit — what we use — is by far the most comprehensive, user-friendly, and powerful option. It’s also more expensive. 

2. Figure out who your ideal reader is and what your goals are for building an email list.

Your ideal reader should not be “everyone who likes good writing.” Figure out who your target audience is (historical fiction lovers, people looking for help with social media, short story fans). And determine your goals for your email list. Do you want to build a base of fans for your next book? Get blog post readers? Increase your website traffic? Impress a future literary agent? These questions will help you connect with your future email readers.

3. Make a signup form for your website.

After you’ve designed it, embed the code on any website page that allows you to put in HTML. Place it on your website and invite readers to sign up. Some good places to put your signup forms: your sidebar (using a widget, the footers of blog posts, and at the top of your homepage.

4. Give your future subscribers a reason to sign up.

One possibility is to create an opt-in freebie (a chapter of your book, a series of essays, a list of resources, a checklist). It could be almost anything that feels valuable to your intended audience.

5. Email your subscribers regularly.

Try to be predictable without drowning your readers in constant emails. Be entertaining, useful, friendly, helpful — whatever you think your audience is looking for.

6. Experiment.

It may take a while to figure what works for your audience and what connects with them. Start out small so you — and your audience — don’t get overwhelmed. Try out different “welcome” emails for subscribers when they first join your list. Promote your list on social media platforms.

Conclusion: Email lists for writers are more useful than social media.

An email list is not just for businesses or for bloggers who are promoting their stuff. An email list can be a useful tool for any writer who wants to be read, create a community, and connect with readers on a more personal level.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. While clicking these links won’t cost you any extra money, they will help us keep this site up and running.

Filed Under: Writing & Publishing Tagged With: writing

Everything You Need To Become a Better Blogger

October 24, 2016 by Jessica Smock

I have a confession: I am a course junkie. I love taking classes — in person, online — and I love teaching classes. I love short classes. I love long classes. I love classes that help me learn something new, and I love classes that refresh old skills.

When you become a blogger or start an online business, you realize that you could take courses and read eBooks forever and forever. There are classes and books out there for EVERYTHING. (Our blogging class — Write Your Way To a Better Blog — focuses on improving your writing skills through focused practice on different types of blog writing.)

It’s easy to get overwhelmed. But you’re not alone.

Successful bloggers (and online business owners) thrive when when they’re growing new skills, connecting with others, and pushing themselves to try new things and improve weak areas.

One of the best ways I’ve found is by learning from other experienced bloggers who’ve mastered a particular aspect of blogging.

Problem is, it can get pretty pricey to buy all the new books or courses that cover the topics I’m looking for.

Which is why I was so excited to learn about the Genius Blogger’s Toolkit. And I signed up IMMEDIATELY to get it for myself!

It’s a digital package crammed full of brilliant tools to help you grow your blog, work smarter, and make more money. The courses and eBooks are designed by many of the top bloggers out there. (I’m a huge fan of several of them!)

The team at Ultimate Bundles has put together the best resources on ALL the topics that matter to bloggers, like mastering social media, monetization, creating and selling products, time management and productivity, nurturing an email list, and so much more.

Here’s what you get:

In total, the toolkit includes over $3,500 of blogging tips, strategies, tutorials and amazingly practical information and ideas. Plus you get free bonus offers worth $1,447, with 17 tools and services to help you run your blog. Included (among many, many others!) are courses and resources if:

 

  • Want to publish your first e-book but aren’t sure where to start
  • Could you use practical time management tricks for making the most of your limited writing time
  • Need help figuring out taxes for your blogging or writing income
  • Could you use some help with photo editing, affiliate marketing, or increasing pageviews

But the truly amazing part? They’re selling it for 98% off of regular price!

I know, it sounds too good to be true, but I promise it’s not. Ultimate Bundles has been around a long time and creating these packages is really their thing (they’ve sold over 180,000 of them on all sorts of topics), so you can trust this is the real deal.

Even better, they’re all about making sure you LOVE this toolkit. There’s a full 30-day happiness guarantee, so there’s really no risk in trying it out.

The most important detail, though, is that this toolkit is available for seven days only. After Tuesday night, November 1st, the sale ends and you’d have to buy all of these products individually.

Click HERE to learn more about everything in this bundle or to buy it.

It’s even backed by a full money-back happiness guarantee, so you can make sure it’s right for you. Get what you need to work smarter instead of harder, grow your platform, and earn more. Learn more or get your bundle HERE.

At HerStories, we haven’t promoted any products before, but this made us so excited that we had to share!

 

*This post contains affiliate links. The HerStories Project will receive a commission if you purchase the bundle through our links. You will not pay more by using the links. We are truly super excited about this bundle, and we are so impressed by its quality!

Filed Under: Uncategorized, Writing & Publishing, Writing Classes Tagged With: blogging, writing

Publication Day for So Glad They Told Me!

August 31, 2016 by Stephanie Sprenger

It’s finally here!! We’ve been eagerly anticipating the release of this book ever since we chose our fantastic contributors nearly a year ago, and the day has finally arrived! So Glad They Told Me: Women Get Real About Motherhood is now available for purchase as a paperback or e-book!

motherhood-web1

We are so proud of the 60 talented contributors who shared their stories about motherhood with us, and we think there is something for every parent in these pages, whether you’re newly pregnant, immersed in the first year, raising teens, or experiencing a brand new empty nest.

This book was inspired by our #SoGladTheyToldMe social media movement and viral essay; here is more info from the back cover of the book:

In the increasingly competitive culture of modern motherhood, parenting advice can often be judgmental, unrealistic, or smug. Or sometimes, there isn’t anyone there to offer advice or support. Mothers may feel isolated and lack a support network to provide honest advice, and others may face a barrage of unwarranted, unhelpful tips or warnings.

This collection of essays from 60 mothers will empower and unite parents with real, honest advice from women who have been there. These writers share the advice or support they received—or wish they had—on everything from pregnancy to surviving the first year to parenting teens to empty nest syndrome. Inspired by the viral essay and #SoGladTheyToldMe social media movement, this book aims to change conversations about motherhood by presenting a broader, more realistic, and more balanced image of motherhood so that women will feel less inadequate, adversarial, and isolated. So Glad They Told Me is filled with compassionate, honest advice, and the poignant, painful, and sometimes hilarious truths you wish your best girlfriends had told you about motherhood.

And to give you a taste of exactly the type of supportive, honest advice you’ll read in this book, here are some photos of our contributors sharing their messages in their own words.

This collection will share advice on surviving the early years of parenting:

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And work-life balance:

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It speaks to the importance of finding a tribe and being there for other moms:

13924936_1098372256892131_8323372958167355961_n

And being honest with one another:

14040108_1098371016892255_335358026752135790_n

With so many fantastic contributors and a foreword by the incredible Ann Imig, founder of Listen To Your Mother, Jessica and I are bursting with excitement to release this book. We would love your support today! You can order a paperback or e-book here. Here are a few things you can do to help us spread the word and make our release day a success:

  • Share the link to the book with friends and family you think might enjoy it, and share on Facebook and Twitter!
  • Write a review on Amazon (this one is really helpful to us!!)
  • Add the book to your Goodreads want-to-read list
  • Bloggers–write a review or share the link on social media with your readers!

We are having a Twitter party on Thursday evening at 9 pm EST to celebrate the book, interact with the authors, and share our own motherhood stories. We’d LOVE for you to join us. Use the hashtag #SGTTM and join us! Details here:

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We are so thrilled to finally share this book that has been over a year-and-a-half in the making. You can learn more about the project here. We can’t wait for you to read our contributors’ stories– we are so glad they shared them with us, and we think you will be, too.

~Stephanie & Jessica

Filed Under: Featured, Our posts, Writing & Publishing Tagged With: books, motherhood, so glad they told me

Meet the Contributors to So Glad They Told Me

June 9, 2016 by Stephanie Sprenger

Today is a big day! We are finally revealing the talented contributors to our next anthology! It’s been over a year since we announced the call for submissions for our 4th anthology: So Glad They Told Me: Women Get Real About Motherhood. After Stephanie’s viral post I’m Glad Someone Told Me, we were blown away by the response to our social media campaign, #sogladtheytoldme, in which mothers shared the supportive, real advice they heard from other women about motherhood . . . or wish they’d been told, but weren’t. We realized how important this topic was, and how many mothers were eager to share their own experiences.

After reading over 220 powerful submissions, we spent a weekend together choosing the contributors for this anthology. We selected 60 (!) incredible writers whose stories moved us, entertained us, and made us think, and we’ve been busy working behind the scenes to get ready for publication. Today we are proud to announce the talented contributors to So Glad They Told Me: Women Get Real About Motherhood.

These women have diverse backgrounds and diverse motherhood experiences as well. Some are published authors, some are teachers, some are bloggers. Some of them share stories about pregnancy and infancy, others about sending children off to college and the empty nest stage of parenthood. You’ll read their stories about special needs diagnoses, grief and loss, balancing work with motherhood, staying home with young children. They’ll make you laugh so hard you cry, they’ll make you think, they’ll make your heart ache, and above all, they’ll make you nod your head with recognition and say, “Me, too.”

Our book releases August 31st, and we’ll be sharing more details soon! In the meantime, spend some time getting to know our contributing authors by visiting our author page. Don’t forget to click on their names for more bio information!

motherhood-web1

 

**It’s been a big week for us here at The HerStories Project! We just announced the first of our summer writing courses, Write Your Way to a Better Blog, back for its third year! Sign up now to join a supportive, interactive community of writers and bloggers. You’ll find your blog’s purpose, learn to write with an authentic voice, improve your storytelling and humor writing, and learn how to edit and revise your blog posts like a pro. Class starts June 20th and runs through July 22nd– learn more and sign up here!

Filed Under: Blog, Featured, Writing & Publishing Tagged With: so glad they told me

HerStories Voices: Solidify

August 11, 2015 by Jessica Smock

Like our HerStories Voices contributor Jackie Cangro, I am not one to initiate or encourage conversation in public places with strangers — on public transportation, at the library, in line at the grocery store. I’d rather be left alone in my (quiet) thoughts. It sounds, you know, unfriendly, to admit something like that. And sometimes I wonder if I’m missing out. So that’s why I love this essay about an unanticipated — and not necessary wanted — conversation. – Jessica

It isn’t often that I get a seat on the subway ride home from work. As luck would have it, today I am standing in front of someone who gets off at the Park Place stop in lower Manhattan. You can’t hesitate for a moment if you want to sit on a crowded train. Polite people stand a lot.

This gives me the opportunity to get engrossed in my book without being jostled. I’m nearly transported from the gritty bowels of New York City to antebellum Virginia when the woman to my left asks me a question.

“Do you know what this word means?” She points to solidify in her book.

“It means ‘to make stronger.’”

“I’m going to write that down in my book so I don’t forget it.” She flips the pages to the back cover to show me a long list of words on which she needed clarification.

We smile at each other and return to our books. I could tell you that I had warm, fuzzy feelings about this exchange, but that would be a lie. I could also tell you that my guarded nature developed only after moving to New York City fifteen years ago, but that too would be a lie. The truth is that even when I lived in the suburbs with grassy spaces between houses and expansive views of the sky, I was not one for idle chitchat with strangers. I’m not the person who will talk your ear off on the flight from Albuquerque to Atlanta or the one holding up the supermarket checkout line while telling the cashier my life story. I wish it came naturally for me to be one of those people who love people. Many New Year’s resolutions of my youth involved being more loquacious, but by January 5, I was exhausted.

That’s not to say I don’t try to be helpful. Need to know how to get to Harlem from Brooklyn Heights? I’m here for you. Want a hint on which hipster coffee shop has the most reliable Wi-Fi? No problem. But I’m not going to divulge personal shortcomings to a stranger on a train—the way this woman will in just a few minutes.

I nod at her, unsure what else to say, and give her my polite this-conversation-has-run-its-course look, but she hits me with another question out of left field. “How do you know if you’re a visual or auditory learner?”

The train rocks and sways under the East River heading into Brooklyn. As a captive audience in a subway car, I’ve learned that the worst thing you can do in this situation is to make eye contact. Even a hardened glare only serves to encourage some people. Yet something about her earnest question makes me look. She has a pleasingly round face and a shaved head with a five o’clock shadow. The lack of hair makes her pink lipstick stand out against her chocolate skin.

“I guess whichever comes easier for you,” I say.

“Which one are you?”

Now, this seems a bit personal. I glance out the window to see that we are only at Clark Street—a full six stops from home. There’s no way to end this conversation, so I know I have to let it run its course. “I suppose I’m a visual learner.”

“How do you know?”

“I’d rather read directions than hear them, for example.”

She writes this down on a separate piece of paper, under the heading ‘Visual Versus Auditory.’ It seems that she is also a visual learner; she just doesn’t realize it. Her smile is wide, and she gives off a kind vibe, not a creepy one. “Do you have any tips for taking tests? I’m always looking for tips.”

It’s been many years since I’ve taken a test. The last one, to complete my Master’s Degree, was the most intimidating of my life. We were given one essay question from each of seven courses completed and allotted one hour per question to write our answers in exam books. The proctor looked at us coolly as we entered the room, trying desperately to retain all of the information we’d memorized until we could regurgitate it on the page. She sighed. “Most of you will fail today and have to retake the exam next semester.” A fellow student leaned over and looked at me with a fierceness that comes from a combination of being sleep deprived and over-caffeinated. She whispered that we were going to make it through. I’d only had one class with her and couldn’t even remember her last name, but I believed her.

On the other hand, it wasn’t too long ago that I gave tests as an adjunct instructor at a local college. So I tell the woman next to me what I would have told my students. “Be confident and don’t second-guess your answers. Your first instinct is nearly always right.”

She smiles again—a big, broad smile that takes up her whole face. “Yes, I usually have good intuition. All my friends tell me that.”

She goes on to tell me how inspired she is by the book she’s reading and since she’s read all three books by the author, she doesn’t know what she’ll read when she’s done. Now she’s trying to read very slowly. She also thanks me for talking to her. “You know, every time I get on the train I ask God to put me next to someone smarter than me. I’m trying to learn all of the things I didn’t learn when I was younger. I know I’m kind of old for this. It’s not easy starting from scratch.”

“No, it’s not, but please don’t give up. It’s never too late.” I suddenly and deeply care that she not quit. I want her to dream big. I am prepared to dream bigger for her than she is allowing herself to dream. I know sometimes it’s the only thing that keeps you going—to feel that someone else, even a stranger, believes in you.

The train pulls into Grand Army Plaza, and I take my leave of her. In a fifteen-minute conversation with a woman I’d never laid eyes on before, and probably never will again, I’ve been reminded to trust my instincts, let my guard down, and remember the power of tenacity. All things on which my soul needed a bit of a refresher.

 

Jackie CangroJackie Cangro’s short story “Secrets of a Seamstress” was selected as a finalist in the Saturday Evening Post’s 2013 Great American Fiction Contest. Her fiction has also been published in The MacGuffin and Pangolin Papers, and her nonfiction has appeared in Narrative.ly, Prick of the Spindle, and History Magazine, among others. She can be found on her blog, on Twitter, and Goodreads. When she’s not riding the subway, she works as a freelance editor and creative writing instructor. 

Filed Under: Voices, Writing & Publishing Tagged With: Voices

Our Newest Class: “Mother. Writer: Finding, Claiming, and Using Our Voices”

April 5, 2015 by Jessica Smock

"Mother, Writer: Finding, Claiming, and Using Our Voices" (May 11 - 29)

We're thrilled to announce our newest class!

This unique three week course will be a blend of provocative discussion questions, related readings, writing prompts, and class discussion within a safe, supportive course community. Each day of this three-week class will be focused on a theme and question and will include a relevant reading, as well as a topic for discussion and for writing response. Participants will share the responsibility for guiding class discussion. The cost is $85.

Topics will include:

  • How does being a mother who works outside the home or stays at home influence your writing?​
  • When and how do we write about our children and our marriages?
  • What are your fears as a writer?
  • Do you identify as a "mommy blogger" or a "mother-writer"?
  • How do memories of your own mother and childhood influence your writing?​
  • How do we make time for ourselves as writers?
  • How do we respond to criticism and commenters when our writing is made public?

Take the class....

Join us in discussing and writing about our lives as mothers and writers.... 

SIGN UP! lorem ipsum dolor

Join our HerStories writing community! In just a few short months, we've watched our students' writing from our classes be published in such publications as the New York Times Motherlode, Full Grown People, the Washington Post On Parenting, and Mamalode​.

Filed Under: Writing & Publishing Tagged With: writing

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