Author Newsletter Content

Posted on April 5, 2018 by Joynell Schultz

It’s been over a year that I’ve been sending out an author newsletter. I used to get so nervous on my content and had a touch of paralysis on whether to send it out or not.

Now, I’m a little more confident, but still wonder if I’m on target. I subscribe to lots of author newsletters, trying to see which interests me most, but each one of them is so different. I’ve learned what I don’t like in a newsletter, but still have questions:

Are my subscribers reading mine? Do they like the content or are they expecting something different?

To answer these questions, I created a survey and asked my readers what they like, hate, and wish was included. I sent this survey out in my monthly newsletter and incentivized survey completion with a $20 Amazon Gift Card prize given away to one lucky respondent. Here’s what that newsletter looked like.

Overall, I received 535 responses to my survey. 🙂 This is what my readers had to say:

52% have read at least one of my books
50% appreciate that my stories are clean, while 30% don’t care, and 9% only will read clean stories (I recently had two subscribers upset about an anthology I was in that wasn’t clean. My story was, but the other author’s stories weren’t. It made me realize who some of my readers are.)
59% like a monthly newsletter while 19% like every other week and 17% would like weekly (Other authors do weekly and say it works great and is what their fans want. I was curious, as a more frequent newsletter would allow me to participate in more group promotions.)
71% of my readers enjoy fantasy books, 70% mystery, 56% romance, 56% science fiction, and 20% would read anything I wrote. 😊 (I love you!) I didn’t realize how many mystery readers I had.
50% are happy with a diverse newsletter while 25% would like one tailored towards their favorite genre
59.4% like a subject line that has a peek to the content while 32.5% enjoy a consistent one so they know who the newsletter is from (Mine used to all say something like: April’s “Hidden World” Newsletter. I recently changed this to try to get higher open rates, and was wondering if readers missed it. It appears this was a good change.

Of what I currently put in my newsletter, I learned my readers are most interested in my new release updates, followed by updates on my writing progress & stories. Group promos & contests, and other author books are the least favorite, but still 54% say they enjoy this section.

I then asked the survey respondents what would they like to see in my newsletter that’s currently not there. The most requested was fun stories about my personal life that ranked in at 47.5%, followed by sneak peeks & excerpts and exclusive content such as character interviews or deleted scenes. Hearing about book sales and the life as a writer also had quite a few votes. The least votes came to hear about what I’m blogging about and a serial novel.

Then I read everyone’s comments, which is where you get the best feedback. Here’s some of my favorites that I’ll be incorporating into newsletter revisions:

More on Zoo Animals!
More on where you get your inspiration
Too many promotions at the end of the email
Table of contents
Don’t need to include all categories every month
Advanced reader copies of books

Overall, this was a fantastic exercise to do with readers. I learned that I’m currently on target with content, but still gave me some tweaks I can do to improve my newsletters further. To see how this all came together, take a peek at my April Newsletter where I started to make some changes. More to come.

Thanks for reading!

–Joy

Feel free to share any author newsletter experiences you’ve had. I love learning from each other.

My 2018 Publishing Schedule

Posted on March 4, 2018 by Joynell Schultz

My dad always says, set your goals at 110% and then be amazed when you accomplish more.

That’s been the story of my life. It adds pressure and stress, but when you do reach (or exceed) your goals, it leaves you with an amazing feeling of accomplishment. The key is to sometimes take a break from always pushing yourself farther.

This year, I stumbled into some great opportunities that I couldn’t pass up…so I set my goals at 110%…at least for the first part of the year.

Currently, I’m working on writing five projects that have deadlines sometime before May 20th.

My novel, Fur & Feathers: Angels of Sojourn – Book 2. Progress: First draft is with two beta readers.
A short story for a permafree Angels & Magic collection. Progress: First draft is complete and is being reviewed by its first beta reader.
THREE different novellas
1. Angels & Magic box set. Currently writing. Will have the first draft done by the end of the week, then I need to find some beta readers.
2. Unleashed – PNR box set. Story is outlined, will write next.
3. Legend of the Veil – fae box set. Story is outlined, will write after “Unleashed.”

And all this will come together in the following publishing calendar.

May:

Fangs & Fairy Dust: A spin-off novella in the Angels of Sojourn Series. Publishing May 21st. (Currently available for pre-order or in the Darklight & Daydreams anthology.)

June:

Angels & Magic Permafree Anthology (A stand-alone Angels of Sojourn Short Story)
Angels & Magic Box Set (A stand-alone Angels of Sojourn Novella)

June/July:

Fur & Feathers (Angels of Sojourn, Book 2) – this book is written and with beta readers. I’m also waiting for the cover which will be done in April. It may release sooner.

August:

Legends of the Veil: Summer of the Supernaturals Anthology (A new story in my Hidden: A Pregnant Fairy Godmother’s Journey world)
Unleashed: A Paranormal Romance Anthology – This will be the first book I’m in with a bare-chested man on the cover. My story will still be quite clean. 😊 I’m blushing just thinking about promoting this one.

October through December:

The Secret Life of a Superhero Husband Novella (Superhero Wives World)
Angels of Sojourn, Book 3 (About Lily & The Angel of Death)

2019:

The sequel to Love, Lies & Clones (Yay!)
A new series (Another Yay!)

Oh, how I wish I could write faster, but that dang day job. Too bad those animals at the zoo need care every day. 🙂 (If you missed it, that was a joke. No worries. I love our animals.)

Is there something else you’d like me to spend my time on? I’d love to hear!

I Love Anthologies!

Posted on February 6, 2018 by Joynell Schultz

I do. I love everything about them.

I love reading them. I love writing stories for them. I love meeting new authors and characters through them. I especially love holding one massive book in my hands. (Take a look at the size of these two anthologies I was recently in compared to a standard, mass market paperback:)

As a writer, a multi-author anthology is great for introducing your writing style to new readers. I always gain new mailing list subscribers, book sales, and comments through social media from new fans.

As a reader, anthologies are a great way to taste many different writers work. The best part is they are inexpensive AND you don’t have to invest a lot of time to determine if you like how an author writes a story. If I loved something, I always go on to find more by that author. (My biggest pet peeve is when a story does not get wrapped up in a satisfying way. Many people may go on to read another book, but not me. I’m not that patient.)

This week, a 20,000+ word novella of mine, Fangs & Fairy Dust, was published in the Darklight & Daydreams Anthology. This one is my second charity anthology I’ve participated in. Here, all the proceeds will go to Puerto Rico to help them recover after hurricane Maria hit last year.

I also have a cozy witch story just in time for Valentine’s Day available in the Hexes and Ohs Anthology.

So, due to my love of this form of book, I may have over committed myself for 2018. I have a handful of anthologies coming out this calendar year.

Hexes and Ohs: A collection of paranormal cozy shorts. Published January 16th. (Contains a cozy romantic witch story.)
Darklight & Daydreams: A charity anthology benefiting Puerto Rico. Published February 1st (Contains a spin-off novella in my Angels of Sojourn series.)
Angels & Magic: Short Story collection. Publishing in May. (Will contain a short story in my Angels of Sojourn series.)
Angels & Magic Box Set. Publishing in June. (Will contain a novella in my Angels of Sojourn series.)
Unleashed: A Paranormal Romance Anthology. Publishing in August. (Will contain a novella in my Angels of Sojourn series.)
Legends of the Veil: A Fae Anthology. Publishing in August. (Will contain a novella in my Fairy Godmother World.)

We have covers for all these sets, but I can’t share the unpublished ones yet. Keeping a secret is SO HARD!

Another thing I love about writing a story for an anthology is they are quite a bit shorter than a novel and are a much needed break from a bigger, lengthy project. Like right now, I just finished up Book 2 in the Angels of Sojourn series and can’t wait to get started on some shorter works.

As always, thanks for reading!

Please share your love/hate relationship with anthologies.

Please Join My Launch Team

Posted on January 6, 2018 by Joynell Schultz

Six days into 2018, and I’m finally solidifying my writing goals. The focus of this year will be on my Angels of Sojourn series, which includes Blood & Holy Water and four other stories.

I’m getting some fabulous covers for this series, creating some memorable characters, and trying to gain some new readers & fans.

To do all that, I need your help. I am looking for people to join my launch team. People who will help spread the word of these stories by purchasing the book(s) when they’re specially priced at 99 cents, leave reviews, or help share Facebook posts.

Here’s my (ambitious) plan for the year:

Blood & Holy Water: New Cover in Spring
Fangs & Fairy Dust: Publishing February 1^st in the Darklight & Daydreams anthology, then republishing as a stand-alone novella in May.
Fur & Feathers: Publishing late spring/early summer
Untitled Novella: Publishing in the Unleashed anthology in August, then republishing as a stand-alone novella in December.
Lily & Grimm (or some other titled): Publishing late fall/early winter

And then that may be the end to this series with new things for 2019.

Please join my launch team HERE:

Here’s my tentative calendar.

January

1/15/18: Hexes and Ohs Published

February

2/1/18: Darklight & Daydreams Published (Fangs & Fairy Dust)

March

April

Relaunch Blood & Holy Water?

May

Publish Fangs & Fairy Dust independently

June

Publish Fur & Feathers

July

August

8/20/18: Unleashed Anthology Published (untitled novella in Angels of Sojourn world)

September

October

Publish Lily & Grimm

November

December

Publish untitled novella from Unleashed independently.

How about you? What are you focusing on in 2018?

My Book Marketing Plan

Posted on November 16, 2017 by Joynell Schultz

After releasing four books, I’ve tweaked and retweaked my new-release marketing plan. I’d love feedback on ways to improve it, but here’s what I have so far.

First, I release a first in a series at 99 cents for 8 days, though when I release Fur & Feathers, I may try a release at full price ($2.99). The reason for 99 cents is to encourage sales and hope that the Amazon algorithms pick it up to be “sticky.”

Here’s my advertising plan:

Paid Promos:	Schedule about $100 of paid promos (This also helps with Kindle unlimited page reads) I learned that more promos is not worth it, as you end up hitting the same readers over and over.

Newsletter Swaps:	Participate in as many newsletter swaps as possible – make sure to have a sign up and require proof they shared. Also, send a reminder/confirmation, otherwise, sometimes I think the other authors forget to do their end of the swap. Honestly, I think with the right network of authors & newsletters, you could do a release solely on free swaps.

Multi Author Cross Promo:	Sign up for as many KU or 99 cent sales as you can find.
	Create your own KU & 99 Cent Cross Promo if not many are available during your release week. I did this, you can see what they looked like HERE (99 cents) or HERE (KU)
Daycause campaign:	Create & ask for support. I used to use Headtalker, but they went out of business. Thunderclap is another one, but you need so many supporters, I fear I’d work hard and my campaign would never be published.

Social Media:	Post on all channels you utilize. I think, at some point, I need to break into you tube.
	Schedule twitter & facebook posts
	Blog Post


Boost Facebook Post:	People who like your page & their friends. This has been the most effective for me.
	Genre Targeted – I haven’t found much success with this yet.


AMS Ad:	Begin selecting keywords early.

My Newsletter:	Send on day 2 or so. Resend in 24 hours to non-openers or do the below.
	Non-openers (a thank you on my new release) – Day 6
	Non-openers (gmail-repeat last email) – Day 8


Other	Bookbub email – automatic, work on gaining follows
	Amazon email – automatic, work on gaining follows
	KDROi promos

Misc Ideas	Goodreads Giveaway
	Amazon Giveaway
	Sample Chapters on Instafreebies
	Schedule a Facebook Hop
	Blot tour?
	Post on reader facebook pages?
	Goodreads Lists?

So what does it all look like? Here’s how my release of Hidden: A Pregnant Fairy Godmother’s Journey went. I don’t follow the plan above perfectly, but it serves as a guide. Of note, I couldn’t promote using some of my favorite paid promo sites because of my story being a novella or they were booked when I contacted them. Also, some of the paid sights below, I wouldn’t use again due to lack of sales.

**Note: I had a 3 month pre-order period. For Amazon, this does nothing to help your ranking, but does help build also-boughts for some free advertising a little later.

Date	Price	Promo 1	Promo 2
11/7/2017	still on pre-order	Reader’s Gazette	1 Author Newsletter Swap
11/8/2017	pre-order
11/9/2017	$0.99	Facebook AMSMy Kindle Unlimited Promo	KDROi (until the 14th) 1 Author Newsletter SwapBookbub Email (automatic)
11/10/2017	$0.99	Book Sends/eReader IQ Amazon New Release Email Choosy Bookworm	My Mailing List (List 1 – 1st 1/2)
11/11/2017	$0.99	Book Runes	My Mailing List (List 1 – 2nd 1/2) Resend Mailing list 1 (1st) after 25 hrs
11/12/2017	$0.99	Romancing the Dragon	Blog Post Resend Mailing List 1 (2nd) after 25 hrs
11/13/2017	$0.99	Fussy Librarian	Author Newsletter Swap
11/14/2017	$0.99	eReader Café	3 Author Newsletter Swaps
11/15/2017	$0.99	Awesome Gang	2 Author Newsletter Swaps
11/16/2017	$0.99	BK Knights	1 Author Newsletter Swap
11/17/2017	$0.99	My 99 Cent Promo	My Mailing List (list 2) 1 Author Newsletter Swap
11/18/2017	$0.99	My 99 Cent Promo Light UF Promo	My Mailing List again (list 2)
11/19/2017	$0.99	My 99 Cent Promo Light UF Promo
11/20/2017	$2.99
11/21/2017	$2.99
11/22/2017	$2.99

How am I doing so far? Okay, but I have four more days to go at 99 cents. Someday I’d love to discover the secret formula, but I think massive sales takes a bit of luck as well. Here are my Amazon sales charts so far:

And don’t forget, I hit #1 in a category (humorous fantasy) and earned the elusive Amazon best seller ribbon. Both of which are a huge win for me!!!

Oh, and I saw my name on the same page with two of my favorite authors, Patricia Briggs & Robin McKinley. You can’t put a price tag on that one.

So, what marketing am I missing? What’s worked for you?

Four Books Later, I Finally Hit #1

Posted on November 12, 2017 by Joynell Schultz

That’s right. I finally did it!

Hidden: A Pregnant Fairy Godmother’s Journey hit #1, and I received the elusive Amazon Best Seller orange tag!

And it didn’t take many sales. The day it hit number one, I sold 50 copies.

The key was a good cover, a little bit of the right advertising, and picking the correct categories for the book. Here are a few tidbits:

The right cover: I’ve finally given in. I did make my Hidden Cover, but moving forward, I think I’ll be hiring cover designers. I reached out to one of my favorite designers to work on redoing Blood & Holy Water & making one for book 2 & 3 in this series.
The right advertising: Having a group of authors that help support this project has helped me bring in sales (if you haven’t read my blog about the “Hidden” project, check it out HERE.) I’ve also developed a new release spreadsheet/plan that works on multiple angels of advertising, including paid promos, newsletter swaps, social media, cross promo with other authors, and Amazon/Bookbub notifications. Someday, I’ll write a blog about this — if you want a copy sooner, just comment below.
The right categories: Yeah, this makes all the difference. There’s a whole mess of sites about getting into specific categories, but what I do is just browse every ebook category on Amazon, write down which ones I want, then contact Amazon (thorough author central) to add my book where I’d like it. This article has been helpful. I go right to step 3.

Oh, and a bonus to all of this…my reviews are coming in better than I expected. I have 18 reviews so far (it released three days ago,) and I’m currently averaging a 4.6 stars!

Now, my next goal: figuring out how to get “sticky” on Amazon. First, I’ll have to write more books!

Thanks for sticking with me & my writing journey.

Talk to you again soon!

1000 True Fans – 14000 Readers in 10 Months.

Posted on October 19, 2017 by Joynell Schultz

Wow!

Ten months has passed since I started my quest for 1000 True Fans. I was diligent in posting until an accident with my father had my life flipped upside down. Behind the scenes, though, I still plugged away, trying to grow my mailing list.

In these ten months, my mailing list grew to over 14000 readers…and is still growing, but, at the same time, I’m working on cutting out people that appear that they’ll never be a true fan. I want to maintain an ACTIVE list that sits around 10,000 subscribers. (Why 10,000? Purely a balance between being effective…and cost effective.)

So, of these 14000, how many are true fans?

Honestly, not that many…but enough. When I send out an email, only about 30-40% of the people open it…and 7% click on any links. So, of 14,000 people that’s about 4500 opening the email and 1000 clicking something…but mostly freebies/giveaways.

A good test of my true fans is to see how many of my newsletter subscribers clicked the link to purchase my latest new releases.

I sent Witch or Treat out to about 4000 subscribers. Of these, I had 211 click the link to purchase on Amazon.
I sent The Secret Lives of Superhero Wives out to about 10,000 subscribers, and I only had about 100 clicks…but many of my true fans are on my advanced reader team or ordered it on pre-order. All in all, I sold over 500 books in the month since it’s been released. (Still not at 1000 true fans.)

So, on this journey for 1000 true fans, this is what I’ve learned so far.

Your best fans come from slow, organic growth. Patiently waiting for people to read your books, fall in love with your writing style, and join your mailing list (or follow you on BookBub/ Facebook/Etc.)

I get a few organic sign ups every day…and that’s because I have stories out there. The more I publish, the more signups I receive. I adore little notes on how they fell in love with some of my characters or love my book.
The key here is to ensure joining your mailing list is visible in your printed books. I have a nice page in the beginning of the book and another link at the end (see the graphic I posted below.) I also have links on my Facebook page, website, and amazon bio about all the ways to follow me.

Participating in anthologies, has been more effective than I expected in extending my reach. I have spurred a lot of new interest in my Superhero Wife World through my short story published in Witch or Treat. This brought me a lot of exposure to fans who enjoy stories like mine. I have another short story coming out in 12 Days of Christmas which I hope brings similar results. I’d love to have a full novel in a box set someday.

Participating in freebie giveaways is not a bad thing, as long as you don’t allow dead weight to sit on your list & cost you money. (When I say “dead weight” I mean those that use false emails or a separate email account they never use to redeem freebies. I love anyone who opens my emails, whether they click or not.) What I like about having some stories out there for free, is they attract readers I wouldn’t have run across any other way. I classify these giveaways into two groups: Individual downloads where a reader is interested in your book specifically and downloads the story or group email collection where a reader enters a contest to win free stuff and all the hosting authors receive the email address.

Either way, these are much faster ways to grow your list…and some, like the huge multi-author group email collections, can get you up to 5,000 emails in a few months. I was in a Science Fiction & Fantasy paperback giveaway this summer that brought me 5000 subscribers, but note, of these, only 1100 are still on my list…and of these, only about 300 have ever clicked a link. BUT, don’t discredit this. It’s a wide net, but if I end up with 100 true fans from this, I’m happy.

These mailing list signups that come from freebie giveaways are are like like running sand through a sifter. Most of the small grains pass through, but when all the dust settles, you’re still left with a few good pebbles…or fans in your sifter. Most of my Advanced Reader Team has come from this method, and they are wonderful to work with. I also have some close fans that sprung from a few freebies. Also note, many people sit on your list and haven’t had time to read your stories yet. Most of the time, they open an email here and there, and I appreciate the casual interest.

Another tip is a good automation/welcome series can help trim out some of the sand that is passing through. I send a three to four part series and if someone doesn’t open any of them, I send them one more titled Have you been receiving my emails? from a different email account. If nothing is opened, I remove them from my list. If they open the one from gmail, they get added to my “send from gmail only” list.

My frustrations!

Even with this solid mailing list, many of my emails to “true” fans are filtered out by the readers’ email service. Google throws them in their “Promotions” tab while other services filter them to spam because they’re from a mailing list. Its frustrating not to be able to contact my loyal readers.

To overcome this, I’m focusing more on growing different social media channels instead.

Facebook is my favorite, so I’m trying to use it more. I have twitter, but don’t find much engagement. Facebook has been good to me. I’m diversifying my posts to add more variety and interest. Check out my page HERE. I started posting about my life running a zoo. Cute/Fuzzy animals always gets some attention. What I don’t like, is Facebook still filters out who see’s your posts…unless you pay to promote it.

Also, I’m trying to grow other services. With each new release, BookBub sends an alert to my followers. Amazon does the same thing, so I’m trying to get my readers to follow me on these two platforms. (Shameless plug: Follow me on BookBub HERE and Amazon HERE.)

In Summary! (I know, this has been a long post.)

My goal is to filter out the dead weight on my newsletter and add in quality subscribers. What I’m learning is it’s a never ending process. New people in, old people out until your left with a tight list of loyal followers.

The best followers come organically…and the best way to get these is simple: WRITE MORE BOOKS AND BE IN MORE PUBLICATIONS!

Thanks for following my journey! I’ll update again when I learn more. If you’ve been following my growth, here’s how my audience has changed in 2017.

If you want to get caught up on 2017’s journey to find 1000 fans, check out the 1000 “True” Fan Landing Page.

Do you have any tips for me? I’d love to hear!

I’d also love to answer any questions you have.

Joynell Schultz

Author, Speculative Fiction

Tag Archives: indie publishing

My 2018 Publishing Schedule

Is there something else you’d like me to spend my time on? I’d love to hear!

I Love Anthologies!

Please share your love/hate relationship with anthologies.