Building A Relationship With Your Readers

There are so many ways to build a relationship with your readers, but one of the best ways is through your newsletter.

 

Unlike social media that controls who sees your posts and how often, newsletters give you direct access to your subscriber's inbox. They have given you permission to email them. They want to hear from you.

 

That permission, however, comes with great responsibility. The last thing you want to do is spam your readers with email after email that says BUY MY BOOK!

 

So what should you be sending to your readers?

 

When asking this question, the best thing to do is think about what you like to get from brands you love. Do you want them to notify you of a new item? A sale? What about a giveaway they might be having? Of course you do, but those options are only the tip of the ice burg.

As an author, you put a little piece of yourself in every book you write and readers, for the most part, are curious as to the person behind the vale. A newsletter is your opportunity to give them a peak of your life, of who you are. It's a way to form a connection with your readers.

 

You can also share about what you're working on. Talk about the book you're currently writing, your progress, and any research you're doing for the story. This week I shared with my subscribers how I spent a half hour watching a a tutorial on wax play for the BDSM romance I'm writing. It not only gets them excited about your story, but it also shows the dedication you have to making your story the best it can be.

 

Another way you can show your subscribers they are important to you is by providing them exclusive content. We see this a lot through newsletter magnets written with the express purpose of having readers sign up to join your list, but it doesn't have to stop there.

 

In this week's episode of the Bound by Books Podcast, my co-host, Danielle Bannister, shared how she writes a short story for her newsletter every month. Her open rates have increased as readers want to read their free story.

I've recently begun doing something similar. Each week I'm writing a short, 100 word snap shot based on a picture and sharing it in my newsletter.

 

But it doesn't have to be writing. It can be anything you want. Some more unique things I've seen have been puzzles, downloadable bookmarks, maps of fictional cities, and character family trees. All of these are great ideas for how to bring more value to your readers and to show them how much you appreciate them.