A book launch email plan for authors with small lists

Why a small list matters

Scribe Media's book launch checklist says you do not need a general email list for a successful launch, and that is true. But the list does something nothing else does. Social posts reach whoever the platform decides to show them to. Ads reach whoever you pay for. Your list reaches the people who asked to hear from you, on the day you choose.

For a nonfiction author with a business, the list matters twice: the people on it are often clients, prospects and peers, exactly the people you want reading the book. A list of 300 people you have actually worked with can matter more than 30,000 strangers.

Choosing a free email tool

Any of the common services will do. What matters for a launch is that the free plan covers your list size and the number of emails you will send in launch month.

Do the arithmetic for launch month. With 400 subscribers and five launch emails you will send 2,000 messages, which fits Kit's free plan but not Mailchimp's 500-send limit. If you already use a business email platform for clients, use that instead of starting a second list.

Growing the list before launch

Start at least three months out if you can. Simple, honest ways to grow a small list:

• Write to the people you know, one by one. "I am finishing a book on X. Would you like to hear when it is out, and maybe read it early?" Add only those who say yes.
• Offer something useful from the book. A sample chapter, a checklist or a worksheet drawn from it, in exchange for an email address on your book page.
• Add a sign-up link everywhere you already are: email signature, LinkedIn profile, talks, podcast show notes, invoices.
• Collect emails in person. At talks and events, a sign-up sheet or a short link on your last slide.
• Send something before you ask. A short, useful email every few weeks before launch means your list is used to hearing from you when the launch emails arrive.

The four launch emails

Keep each one short, plain and personal. Write all four at least three weeks before launch, when you are calm.

1. 1. The announcement (about 3 to 4 weeks before)Why you wrote the book, who it is for, the launch date, and the preorder link if there is one. Invite replies: "Hit reply and tell me the biggest problem you have with X." Replies are the best signal you will get.
2. 2. Launch dayIt is out. One paragraph on what the reader gets from it, the links for each format, the event if you have one. If you had advance readers on the list, thank them and point them to where they can leave an honest review.
3. 3. Later in launch weekA short reminder for people who meant to buy and did not. Share something that happened this week: a reader's reaction (with permission), an interview, a photo from the event.
4. 4. Thank-you (the week after)Thanks, one useful idea from the book, and one simple ask: if you have read it, an honest review helps other readers find it.

Add one more before the announcement if you are recruiting advance readers from the list, and one if you are inviting people to a launch event. Do not add more than that in launch month; people who hear from you every day stop opening.

The personal notes that matter more

Your list email goes out once. Your personal notes are the part of launch day that most first-time authors skip and most experienced ones swear by. Before launch week, write a list of the 25 to 50 people who would be genuinely glad to hear from you: clients, mentors, former colleagues, people mentioned in the book. On launch day, write to each one, by name, with a sentence that is only for them.

It takes an afternoon. Many of those people will buy, some will share it with someone you would never reach yourself, and a few will invite you somewhere. Scribe author Ari Meisel's launch campaign reached 2.3M people; that was one author with an existing audience, not a typical result, but every launch, large or small, is made of people telling other people.

The rules

Launch emails promote a product, so they are commercial messages under the US CAN-SPAM Act. The FTC's compliance guide says every commercial message must include a valid physical postal address and a clear way to opt out, and that opt-out requests must be honored within 10 business days. Every reputable email service builds the unsubscribe link and address footer in for you; do not remove them. A post office box is acceptable if you do not want to share your home address.

Beyond the law: only add people who said yes. Writing to someone you know personally is not the same as adding them to a marketing list.

The launch planner puts list building and each of these emails into dated weeks, with more list-building steps if your list is small. Scribe Media makes this site and sells book publishing and marketing services; if you would like help, book a free consult.