Guest newsletters 101

When characters and settings cross over from one story to another, the audience gets new lore to devour and publishers get more attention on backlist titles. Everyone wins.

Crossovers aren’t just for showdowns with Sherlock Holmes and superhero team-ups, either. They work for TV shows (Sabrina the teenage witch chasing Salem through episodes of Boy Meets World, You Wish, and Teen Angel? Chef’s kiss), video games (see: literally any match in Smash Bros.), and radio dramas (who knew Green Hornet and Lone Ranger were blood relatives?).

And, if you squint, they aren’t all that different from the op-eds and talk show appearances that help promote them. George Orwell and Margaret Atwood penned political columns that got people interested in their speculative fiction. Hunter S. Thompson’s late-night interviews convinced more than a few people to pick up his gonzo writing. And today’s indie authors do the same with podcasts, TikTok, and email newsletters.

With the right pitch to relevant creators and curators, authors can get their names in front of thousands of readers.

That’s not pie-in-the-sky optimism, either. In one survey of 1,300 authors, email newsletter swaps were voted the most underrated marketing tactic for authors. They’re low investment, high return, and, like crossovers, have a little something for everyone.

Two paths to finding quid pro quo newsletter opportunities

The most straightforward way to get your name and your books mentioned in someone else’s newsletter is a swap. You find another author who is looking for more exposure, and you reference each other in your next emails. Writers typically arrange this in one of two ways: through a matchmaking platform, or building relationships directly.

Sites like BookFunnel and StoryOrigin are the easy option. You can either create a post describing the types of swaps you’re interested in, or search posts from other authors until you find one that’s a good fit.

The harder, often more rewarding path is networking your way to authors sans matchmaker. It requires more time and research but has the potential to become more than a one-and-done deal.

Sci-fi author Chris Fox commented in a /r/selfpublish thread that “Newsletter swaps were the backbone of my business for years. They are best done author to author.” He recommends “Find out where the authors in your genre hang out, and go be there. Carefully get to know them…buy some of their books and read them…if you see people who you think your list would like, then talk to them about swaps. The people who cold email are proving they don't really love the genre like I do.”

So, while the platform route might score you a swap with only 15 minutes of setup, no one is going to be doing you any favors. It’s strictly quid pro quo and the subscriber numbers on either side of the equation will usually be about equal. Show an established author that you’re a diehard fan, though, and you can punch way above your weight class. In Fox’s comment, he goes on to say of his email list “I have 20,000 people on mine. If someone has 1,000 or more people on their list and their book looks good I'm totally down to swap.”

Once you have the relationships, when it comes time to pitch your book for a newsletter mention, whether you’re pitching it on a newsletter swap board or directly to an author in your network, there’s a lot more to it than a cover and a blurb.

Tips for pitching yourself to a newsletter

Kate Carpenter, creator of the Drafting the Past newsletter and podcast, started out “mostly worried that no one would say yes to my invitations, so you can imagine my surprise when writers soon began emailing me.” It didn’t take long before her inbox was swamped, and pitches started falling through the cracks. So, she sent her subscribers advice on how to pitch themselves as a guest.

At an absolute minimum, you need to research who you’re pitching to. Read issues from the archive and look for the author or curator’s opinions and tastes so you can open with something like “I know you love books that have…” But make sure to also keep an eye out for any clues about what subscribers get especially excited about and include that in your pitch as well.

If you’re lucky, you’ll find a newsletter in your niche with a comments section. Referencing something you found there in a pitch would be a huge boon, with Carpenter saying “I'm always trying to think about what listeners will get out of our conversation, so it's great to show that you are thinking about this, too.”

After a sentence or two about why the newsletter creator and their subscribers will love your book, link to a copy and your author website or profile. Redditor SugarFreeHealth says that to be included as a recommendation in their newsletter, they need to see “a pro cover, pro proofing, forty or more real reviews, and I'd read the 'look inside' to make sure you could write.” Otherwise, there could be serious blowback, “Some people just swap, sight unseen. I wouldn't because if you have a bad cover, terrible blurb, or bad writing... then you're negatively impacting my brand.”

If you’re pitching a newsletter that does author interviews, like Carpenter’s Drafting the Past, include questions the host might want to ask you or an interesting anecdote that you’d like to share, in the pitch. “The more I know that this interview will have interesting tidbits for readers, the better,” says Carpenter.

In total, the pitch should be two, maybe three paragraphs. And, if you’re proposing a swap, you’ll want to include details about your newsletter (subscriber count, frequency, etc.) and how you handle recommendations and guest authors. Here’s an example:

“Hi Kate, my name is Justin and I’m also an author in the [GENRE] niche. I send my own newsletter every [FREQUENCY] to around [SUBSCRIBER TOTAL] fans and am going to mention your [BOOK/NEWSLETTER] in my next issue if that’s alright with you? I LOVE your writing.

Also, I saw that you often suggest books in your newsletter. Based on what you tend to recommend, I think your subscribers would love my newest book, [TITLE]. It’s about [ONE-SENTENCE BLURB] and you can read an excerpt on my website [LINK]. If you need something to write about in your next issue I have a hilarious story about the inspiration for one of the book’s characters. Let me know if it would be a good fit!”

The more of your own details you can add, the better. If you’ve read one of the author’s books (like Chris Fox suggests) make sure to mention that. Just be honest, authentic, and a genuine fan of the genre.

Things to consider when linking to other writers in your newsletter

Email newsletters are one of the only places that indie writers are safe from temperamental algorithms and data that’s locked into a single platform. Working with a newsletter app that has a toxic community? Export your subscriber list and move to another. Worried that your emails are getting buried in your subscribers’ inboxes? Try sending it on a different day. You’re in control, and should never put that at risk by shilling low-quality books as part of a quid pro quo arrangement.

That starts with creating a general structure and vibe for your newsletters. How many recommendations will you include in each newsletter? Will you write about the books you recommend, or toss the cover image and a link at the bottom of the page? Kirsten Oliphant of Create If Writing says “I’ll often give a brief, personal review. I’ve found that it can help increase the clicks.” And when readers click, you know your crossover is working.

Clicks are invaluable reference points for what is and isn’t working. In his wonderful video on list cleaning and segmentation, Chris Fox talks about how clicks helped him start to tag subscribers by specific sub-genres. He could write for his military science fiction readers in one newsletter and science fantasy fans in another. That allowed Chris to provide better recommendations, which generated more click data, which meant better recommendations, and so on.

Then, those insights can justify swaps with creators who have bigger lists than you, since clicks are more valuable to an author than views. You might, say, take a screenshot of your newsletter’s analytics dashboard when pitching to another author.

When you start seeing fewer subscribers click on book recommendations, though, that’s a sign that something needs to change. Maybe it’s simply that what you’re enjoying has evolved from when you first started the newsletter. Or maybe it’s more serious, harder to sniff out problems, like your book review process not catching book stuffers, plagiarizers, or adult content.

At the end of the day, what matters most is applying the Golden Rule to your newsletter: create for others the way you’d like them to create for you. Do that and you’ll have no problem getting other people to promote your work for free.