How to start an email list and why one useful for content creators
Answering a question from a subscriber + new substack features
Last month, a subscriber sent in the question, “I am starting an email list, and wondered if you had any advice on how I should go about it?”
I answered her email, but I thought I’d expand on the subject here.
An email list is possibly the most personal method of connecting your content with the people who need it. I’m not going to check a few dozen blogs every day for new posts, but I do check my email nearly every day.
Even if you don’t blog, a newletter can keep your people, whether that’s your friends or your audience, updated on what you’re doing. Because I have more control over who sees a newsletter, I put more personal stories about me in the newsletter.
For some people, their newsletter is their labor of love. It’s a collection of articles, stories, and rescorces, and works in lieu of a traditional blogging platform.
However you want to create your platform, a newsletter is a key piece because it’s a 1-1 connection. Even if you’ve taken a break or have been busy for a while, you can always come back to your email list when you need to make an announcement.
So how does one actually create a email newsletter? Well, I’ll start with the technical aspect and then talk about how to collect emails.
Part one: the technical aspect.
While you can manually collect emails and email people in a group email from your personal account, this is looked down upon as amature and unprofessional. It can work for a start, but be sure to bcc your recipients so that their emails aren’t revealed to others on your list.
A side note: Keep your individual subcriber information private. This includes emails, names, anything else you collect. (Of course you can say, “I have 180 subscribers,” you just can’t say “Jane Doe is on my email list” without getting Jane’s permission.
For the most professional looking email, I recommend using a mailing list service. I used Brevo (formerly Send in Blue) for a long time. One of my writer friends uses SendFox. Other providers include MailChimp, Mailerlite, and ConvertKit. (Please note these are examples, not endorsements.)
Many of these services have free tiers where you can send a limited number of emails a day or a month.
First you’ll want to set up an account. Most platforms will want you to imput a mailing address (which will likely be public in the footer of your emails.) This doesn’t have to be your home address. It just needs to be an address where you can recieve mail.
Then you’ll want to write a welcome email. The platform will send this to people when they sign up. The welcome email should talk a little about who you are, explain what you’ll be sending and how often, and (pro tip) contain links to some of your best articles while you have the reader’s attention. Waiting can be hard!
Next, you’ll want to make a sign-up form where you collect emails. Write a few sentences describing how the person will benefit from signing up. You’ll want to put the link to this sign-up form in your linktree if you have one, and definitely embed it in your blog.
Now that you have all the technological stuff out of the way, let’s talk about the fun side of having an email list.
Part two: the social aspect
It can be intimidating or overwhelming, once you have an email list, to figure out to whom you should send it.
Start with talking to people in your life who support what you do: Your family, your friends, your classmates. My first subscribers were my parents, cousins, close friends, and other writers in my writer's group. Simply ask people if they want to subscribe to your email list.
Remember that sign-up form you made? That’s the second important piece to growing your email list. Post about your email list on social media, and include the link to the sign-up form in the first comment or in your bio. Put the link in the signature of the email you use professionally. If you’re published on another site, include the link in your “about” biography.
Ask your friends, if they have platforms, to share about your email list. The most courteous and effective way is to have a few pre-written sentences. This is a hook, and its job is to catch the attention of your target reader. If you write this yourself, you relieve your friend from having to do it. Of course, personal referrals are great as well!
One fun way to find new subscribers is to host a subscriber giveaway once you reach a certain number of subscribers. This incentivises your current subscribers to share your email list, as well as entices new subscribers to sign up.
Any time you are in front of a new audience, whether that’s because you’re publishing a work or joined a group or taking/teaching a class, it’s okay to politely ask them to sign up for your email list.
What to write to your email list?
Well, that could be an entire post of its own. But remember, you are often writing to people who have a lot of competing demands on their time. So put thought and effort into your work.
What interests you in an email list? Do you have any blog, writing, or art questions you want answered on Flight Patterns?
Some housekeeping: Introducing new Substack features.
I really appreciate how community oriented Substack is, and over the next few posts I plan to explain some of the features available.
Substack has a referral program. If you go to the “Leaderboard” tab, you can copy a link to share with people. Depending on how many people subscribe with your link, you can recieve a month or more of paid subscriber access for free!
Paid subscriber access means you can read subscriber-only posts as well as access the full archive.
Best of luck!