Possible Author Newsletter Topics

In my opinion an author newsletter is one of the most important things for your author career. It’s helpful to send regular newsletters so readers know when to expect an email from you. With big events like release day there is plenty you can write about, but for some other newsletters it can be hard at times to come up with ideas on what to talk or write about in your newsletter. So in this post I compiled a list of possible topics you can write about in your author newsletters. I grouped these in book related topics and author related topics. A lot of these also make for great inspiration for social media posts as well.

Book Related Newsletter Topics

Readers love books, whether it’s hearing about your books or bookish topics in general. There are many different ways to talk about your book without getting repetitive.

• Hints about your work in progress (WIP). While you’re working on your book you can drop some hints about what you’re working on. You can share snippets of your writing. Or just let them know the genre of your next book or even the tropes. Make your readers curious about your next book.
• Book title. Once you have decided on a title for your book you can let your newsletter followers know. You can also wait and combine this with a cover reveal or pre-order announcement.
• Book cover. You can show off your book cover once it’s finished. If you have your covers ready long before release day, it can be handy to wait a bit before showing it off. I would recommend to wait till a few months before release. Or reveal the cover when you have the pre-order live, if you’re doing a pre-order.
• Book blurb/ description. Have you finished the blurb/ book description for your book? That’s a great thing to share in your newsletter and give readers a hint of what they can expect of your next book.
• Book release date. Once you decide on a release day for your next book, you can let your newsletter subscribers know. This one can nicely be combined with pre-order links as well as cover and/ or blurb announcements. Or if you’re doing a surprise release hold off till release day to announce your new book.
• Book pre-order link. If you’re doing a pre-order for your book, let your newsletter subscribers know when the pre-order is live so they know they can pre-order it. You can also share this in later newsletter to remind people the book is coming and they can pre-order now. if you’re doing a special preorder discounted price also let them know about that.
• Book teaser(s). Do you have teaser images for your books? Share them in your newsletter to create excitement for your book.
• Book excerpt(s). A book excerpt can be a great way to get people excited for an upcoming book release by given them a sneak peak. This also works for books already released. Whenever you want to put the focus on one of your books, like when you’re running a discount, you can share an excerpt from that book.
• Book review quotes. You can share some review quotes in your newsletter. Sometimes it can help to have another person recommend your book and their words to describe how awesome your book is.
• Book release day. Is it your book’s release day? Let your newsletter subscribers know your book is now available and that they can purchase it.
• Book sale/ discount/ free days. If you’re running a discount/ sale or free days on one of your books or multiple books make sure to let your newsletter subscribers know. This will likely give you a boost in sales. Readers like a good deal. You can even encourage them to share news of your free or discounted book(s). Or maybe you’re running a special pre-order discount that you can let your readers know about.
• Permafree or perma cheap books. Do you have a permafree book or books? Once in a while remind your newsletter subscribers about these, not everyone might’ve read or grabbed these already, so it’s a good idea to put this in your newsletter once in a while.
• Book is going into KU/ leaving KU. KU stands for Kindle Unlimited and is Amazon’s program under which books are exclusively available on Amazon. Readers who pay the monthly KU subscription fee can lend the book for free if it’s the program, but readers on other storefronts can’t buy your book if it’s in KU. If you’re moving your book(s) out of KU or putting them in KU, let your newsletter subscribers know. If it’s leaving KU, this gives KU readers a chance to lend the book before it leaves the program and let your wide readers know they soon can buy your books. Or if your book is going into KU let your readers know in advance so your wide readers have a last chance to buy your books and your KU fans know the book is available there soon.
• Request for beta readers. If you’re looking for beta readers asking your newsletter subscribers can be a great way to get fans to join your beta team.
• Request for ARC readers. Are you looking for ARC readers who can read and review the book before release? Invite your newsletter subscribers to sign up for a copy.
• Interview with book characters. You can interview one of your book characters to give your newsletter subscribers something fun to read and give them more information about a particular character. or let your characters interview one another. Want to make this more interactive? Ask your subscribers to submit questions for an upcoming character interview.
• Book recommendations. I know not everyone likes to do this, but I personally like it when authors do book recommendations. You can give recommendations of recent books you read or share book recommendations for books that are similar to yours. This is a nice way to spread the word about other author’s books and also to connect with your fans by letting them know what you read. I would advice to limit this to only books you enjoyed, as spreading negative feedback of other authors book doesn’t look good.
• Book research/ background. Interesting research tidbits or things you came across in your research for your book can be fun content for your newsletter. You can make this more in depth articles where you share your knowledge about a topic or just share fun tidbits.
• New cover for a book. When one of your books is getting a new cover, you can share this new cover with your newsletter.
• Book tropes. I’ve been seeing this more often lately where authors give readers a feel for their book by listing some tropes or things to expect in their book. This can be a fun way to share some details about your upcoming book.
• Playlist/ music for your book. Do you use music to write or do you have a playlist for your book? Share it with your newsletter subscribers. You could also ask for their input and what songs they think fit the book.
• Group book promotions you’re part of. If you’re part of a group promotion with other authors like Bookfunnel group promotions or even box sets and anthologies with other authors, it’s often required even to share these with your newsletter. It’s also a great opportunity to let your fans know what’s going on and help them find other new books.
• Inspiration for your book. Readers like to know more about your book and sharing some inspiration for your book can be a fun way to do so. Share pictures of locations that inspired you or a funny story or how you resolved a plot point or inspiration for a certain character or pet.
• Interviews/ guest posts etc for your book. If you’ve done an interview or guest posts on a book blog or other author blog this can be fun to share with your newsletter subscribers so they can visit and read the post if they like. Or do an interview or guest post in your newsletter itself.
• Facebook parties and other events. Are you doing a Facebook party or other event online for your book? Let your newsletter subscribers know so they can join in the fun.
• Blog tour for your book. If you’re doing a blog tour or similar event for your book this gives you multiple options for sharing this with your newsletter followers. You can encourage them to sign up or share links to some of the posts like interviews and guest posts during the tour. Or if you’re doing a tour wide giveaway mention that in your newsletter while the tour is taking place.
• Ask readers to leave a review. Asking for reviews is one of the easier ways to get more reviews for your books. Let your newsletter subscribers know how much your value reviews and encourage them to review your books. Provide links to where they can review your books to make it even easier for them to review.
• Ask questions. Replies to your newsletter are nice to receive and it’s a fun way to interact with your subscribers. Asking questions is a great way to encourage people to reply. You can ask them to let you know about your latest book or what they think of your cover or whatever topic you’re covering in your newsletter. You can ask about their hobbies, favorite tropes or any other topics you’re talking about.
• Ask for your readers help. Besides asking questions to your readers, you can also specifically ask them to help you. Some ideas are to ask your subscribers book related questions about their favorite tropes, what they read etc. Or ask them for their help coming up with a name for a pet or character, or a setting for your next book for example.
• Podcast guest. If you get invited to be a guest on a podcast consider sharing the link to the podcast episode in your newsletter so your fans can check it out.
• Giveaways. If you’re doing a giveaway sharing it with your newsletter subscribers is a great way to get more entries. Or consider doing a newsletter only giveaway to thank your subscribers.
• Fan art. Has someone made fan art for your book? Share it in your newsletter so other fans can see it too.
• Poll. Many newsletter providers have an option to add a poll to your newsletter. These can be a fun way to hear from your readers and see what they prefer or their opinion on a topic. You can even share the results in a future newsletter.

Author Related Newsletter Topics

Readers love to get to know the author behind the book and talking about yourself can be a great way to make your readers feel more connected to you. You can talk about more personal topics or author related topics.

• Daily life. Anything about your daily life can be used as inspiration for your newsletter. Tell your fans how you’re doing, share a funny event that happened, something you’re thinking about or something you learned. It’s all up to you what you’re comfortable with sharing.
• Hobbies. If you have a hobby this can be a good topic to talk about in your newsletter. Whether it’s traveling or a craft or even a jigsaw puzzle that you do regularly this can be something to post about in your newsletter and share updates about.
• Interesting things that happen. If something interesting happened you can talk about it in your newsletter. Try and write down interesting events or happenings for future newsletters.
• Talk about news. Big things that happen or are in the news can be a topic to talk about. Whether it’s daylight saving time or a big disaster that occurred, these all can be mentioned in a newsletter.
• Work place. What does your work place or desk look like? Share a picture of your work place or you hard at work at the next book. Have you changed something about your work place recently? Then you can talk about that.
• Food. Food is always a great topic to talk about. Everyone has to eat. Share new recipes you tried, pictures of dishes your ate or talk about your favorite ingredients or dishes. You can also ask readers to share their favorite recipes or dishes with you.
• Craft. Similar to hobbies if you do a craft that can be a great topic for your newsletters. Share your progress or talk about the newest project you started or talk about why you like this craft.
• Link to your other social media. While your newsletter subscribers follow your newsletter they might not follow you on your social media. Once in a while it can be helpful to let them know about one of the social media you’re active and encourage people to follow you there. Or list all the other places they can follow you and ask them to check it out.
• Author interview. You can do an author interview with yourself and share it in your newsletter. Or encourage readers to send you questions and then answer them in your next newsletter.
• Pets. If you have pets this can be a great source of content for your newsletter. Funny stories about your pets, weird antics they perform, unique habits or pictures of your pet(s).
• Husband and/ or kids. Similar to talking about pets you can talk about your kids and/ or husband if you have those and are comfortable talking about them in your newsletter.
• Music. Do you like listening to music? Is there music you listen to while writing or did you discover a new band or song you like? These all can be topics to talk about in your newsletter.
• Books you read. You can talk about the current book you’re reading or show your favorite reading spot inside or outside your house.
• Where you live. Where you live can be a fun topic for a newsletter. Whether you make it more narrow about your town or more broad about region or country you live in, all of that works. You can share pictures of your region, talk about new things that happened there or your favorite places to visit.
• Photographs you took. Photographs you took work great for both social media or newsletter posts. Pictures catch people’s attention and can be great to include in your newsletter. You can take pictures of nearly everything and use this as newsletter content whether it’s animals, landscapes, your neighborhood, things in your house, work place, books you read, reading spot, your kitchen etc.
• Record audio/ video. Recording some audio or video can be a great way to switch up your content. Seeing your face or hearing your voice can help readers make more connected and give them a feel for who you are as a person.
• Funny stories. People like to laugh and talking about something funny you experienced or even tell a joke can be a fun addition to your newsletter.
• Ask questions. A question is always a great addition to a newsletter. Ask reader to chime in about whatever personal topic you’re talking about or come up with a question to wrap up your newsletter. You can even share some reader replies in your next newsletter.
• Invite readers to submit questions. Instead of asking questions you can also encourage reader to submit questions to you. You can use these for future newsletter and ask them to your fans or answer them yourself.
• Holidays or themed days. Whether it’s Christmas, valentine’s day, national book day or even pancake day, this can be a fun thing to tie into your newsletter and talk about that for a bit. You can tie this into your own life and show how you’re celebrating or tie it in with books and share your favorite Christmas books for example.

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