How to Start an Author Newsletter on Substack
10 tips on how to use Substack as a writer: how to build your author platform, when and what to post, how to use paid subscriptions, and more
Maybe you’ve been thinking about creating an author newsletter on Substack. Maybe you started to set one up , but your Substack still says “coming soon.” If you’re ready to take the leap, here are ten tips to get started.
Why you need an author newsletter
The inbox beats a social media feed, hands-down
Every author needs a newsletter to keep in touch with readers. The inbox is still a powerful tool—far better at communicating with the readers who care about your work than social media, where your posts can easily get lost in the shuffle. Two years on Substack have convinced me that it is the simplest, best place to host an author newsletter. Since starting Substack, my subscribers have more than doubled. And whereas I used to pay every month to send my newsletters on my old service, I now receive support from my most engaged readers.
In this post, I’ll share best practices for your Substack author newsletter, including posting frequency, how to write a compelling About page, when (and if) to turn on paid subscriptions, how to mine your earlier writing to create a great Substack archive, and what kind of posts tend to engage readers.
Learn everything you need to know about launching, maintaining, and supercharging your Substack author platform in my course SUBSTACK FOR AUTHORS. Sign up now to save $75.
Why I Switched to Substack
I started a mailchimp author newsletter more than fifteen years ago. Mailchimp cost about $1,000 per year and required me to jump through a bunch of design and segmenting hoops just to send out an email. Because it was so time-consuming, my author newsletter would lie dormant for many months at a time. Then, when I had a book come out, I was embarrassed to reach out to my email list with a book announcement.
Substack allows you to communicate with your readers in a personal, informal way, on a more frequent basis, without any design skill or extra steps. And the Substack network is unbeatable at helping you reach new, engaged readers who don’t yet know about your work.
I switched my author newsletter to Substack in 2022. Soon thereafter, I switched my travel newsletter, as well as my craft-and-publishing newsletter The Caffeinated Writer (which you’re reading now), and my literary magazine over to Substack too. I’ve learned a lot along the way, and have made some rookie mistakes so you don’t have to.
1. Give readers of your Substack author newsletter something they can't find anywhere else.
As you build your Substack, think about what you can give subscribers that they won't get just by going to your website. If you have a loyal following, they'll be happy just to hear from you, but it never hurts to give them something extra. On my author Substack, I post serial fiction and an occasional audio story. Some are brand new stories that have never been published, and some are previously published stories that have never been released in audio. This just gives subscribers a little something extra they won't find anywhere else.
But you don't have to do audio. You could offer a monthly flash fiction, a chapter from a novel-in-progress, a glimpse into your writing process, unpublished first drafts, photographs of your writing space, craft essays—whatever you think your readers will find engaging. Experiment. You might be surprised what connects.
2. How often should you send out your author newsletter?
If you have a book launch coming up, it's important to let readers hear from you for a little while before you start doing a sales pitch for your new book. That doesn’t mean they need to hear from you every week! If you're using Substack as your author newsletter, it's perfectly reasonable to post just once or twice a month. There are a lot of Substack writers who manage to post weekly, or even more than once a week, but I really don't think that’s necessary. What you want is to stay in the minds of readers, reminding them that you have something valuable or interesting to say.
The advantage of a regular newsletter—whether you send it out once a month or once a week or somewhere in between—is that readers get used to hearing your voice and seeing your name in their inbox. When launch time comes around, you won't feel like you're saying, "Hey, I know I forgot about you for a while, but here I am...and here's my book!"
Launch and grow your Substack in my course SUBSTACK FOR AUTHORS. Sign up now to save $75.
3. Make your About page brief, informative, and inviting
Your Substack About page should feature a photo at the top, your book titles, and what subscribers will get from your newsletter. Your readers should hear your voice and feel welcomed into your little corner of the internet.
And, as you probably already know if you’ve ever had your photo taken for a book jacket: look into your viewer’s eyes! I think an informal photo works best on Substack. Save the professional headshot for your book jacket. The point isn’t to have the most attractive photo you can find of yourself—but the most approachable.