101 content ideas for your next email newsletter
If you are an Author, Blogger, Freelance Writer, Email Marketer, Content Marketer, or Solopreneur, looking to enthrall your subscribers and customers with email, these ideas are for you.
I get it — you have some subscribers on your list, and now you are fighting with the predicament of what you should send them next.
And you are worried because you have seen that when you consistently engage with their readers you get better results. By the way, stats also show this.
But coming up with fresh newsletter content ideas every week and that too without fail is tough. I have been in this situation a lot of times and trust me, it’s hard. I’ve been doing this for some time now and it’s always been a challenge for me to come up with new and fresh content ideas and concepts.
And since you are dear to me, I decided to painstakingly create a long long list of all the good ideas I’ve seen over the years — some are used by me and some are used by the solopreneurs, bloggers, and authors in their newsletters.
So, here are 101 ideas for your newsletters that you can use instantly or maybe build something on these lines.
P.S.: Do NOT miss the end of this article where I will tell you the 3 questions that will help you get the most out of your newsletter content and these ideas!
So, let’s start.
Talk about the state of your industry, and educate fellow authors, writers, bloggers, and freelance writers about the industry trends.
As an author, blogger, or however you use your written words, you’ve worked hard to write that book or get reviews or get sales.
In short, you went from Zero to One in your journey, and there is not an iota of doubt that you’ve picked up plenty of expert tips along the way.
Now you might not know it but you, my friend, have more industry and craft knowledge than you give yourself credit for!
Why not tap into these insights and share the love with your subscribers?
Here are some ways to do it;
1. Share what took you from zero to one — share tips and tricks to help your readers succeed. In fact, helping your audience should be at the top of your list and inside your every newsletter, there should be some free advice.
2. What NOT to do is as important as what one should do. Share those next.
3. Build a compendium or google drive library of the most valuable articles published on other websites, and share it. Imagine how much value you’d add to your readers in just one shot.
4. Write or talk about the latest trends in your industry and elucidate upon them.
5. A checklist that your readers can download.
6. Offer a free ebook, report, case study, or industry news as downloadable content.
7. A beginner’s guide to something interesting in your industry.
8. Interview someone from your industry that is an expert in something your readers want to know more about. You and I both know that we all love to hear success stories and learn how they made it.
9. Choose a pressing issue in your field and ask maybe five experts to give one piece of advice about it. Cool, right.
10. Give your opinion about a post from a guest blogger that you admire and share it with your readers.
11. Create or share an infographic with actionable insights.
12. Share a calendar of upcoming events that you plan to do (like webinars or podcasts, conferences, and expos).
13. Answer questions from readers.
14. Review the past trends and how they have materialized as predicted like AI for authors or the rise of audiobooks.
15. Make predictions about how your industry is gonna look like in maybe 5 years.
16. What are some of the best industry-related buzzwords. Create a list.
17. List of your favorite quotes that your readers can connect with.
18. De-bunk common myths associated with your industry.
19. Share a list of the Facebook page/ Goodreads/ BookBub/ Twitter/ Instagram/ Pinterest/ LinkedIn profiles of experts from your industry.
20. Talk about new policies that will affect your subscribers.
21. Review books about industry news, craft, marketing, etc.
22. Share case studies about how others have succeeded.
News updates
What are your up to? Are you working on a new book, some new software, or some event — your audience will always be excited to hear more about what’s been going on.
Keep your newsletter subscribers in the loop.
23. Highlight something about your journey. Your readers will love it. I have seen newsletters where people are talking about their new coffee machine so you get the gist.
24. Share takeaways from an event you participated in. There are podcasts on learning from events. Everyone loves a recap and especially your take on the event.
25. Talk about your proud milestones.
26. Review the tools you use that will benefit your readers.
27. Share your mistakes that you think cost you time or money and then what you did to improve upon them.
28. Run experiments. Share your results.
29. Tell a story when you think of something that was a mistake but turned out to be a surprising success.
30. List useful online resources like the best free stock photos for Facebook ads.
31. Publish your earning report for the last month or year.
32. Give a sneak peek of a new book launch or upcoming series. Share a few chapters or character backgrounds.
33. Create a countdown series for the launch of a new book or series.
34. Share what’s next for your readers.
35. Create wallpapers based on your books, and some quotes, and share them with your readers.
36. Talk about the biggest hurdle you faced recently and how you overcame it.
37. Share any recent media coverage about you or your books like podcasts, videos, or articles.
38. Share things that you love or people who inspire you or concepts like minimalism and how you are using them.
39. Invite readers to contribute stories to the newsletter.
40. Write an article on your beginnings and how you started.
41. Share a video you created like book trailers, vlogs, interviews, etc.
42. Show behind-the-scenes videos or photos of your new book or a recent event.
43. Show a ‘day-in-the-life’ reel of your work life.
44. Give a tour of your work corner or computer setup. Like where you write.
45. Share topics or issues that are important to your local community.
46. Write about your kids, a pet, garden, some plant, or the car you love.
47. Share your opinion on something newsworthy or controversial in your field
48. Write a list of things you wish you knew when you started your journey.
49. List of free eBooks, videos, blogs, or podcasts that inspires you.
50. Share the most popular of your social media posts, tweets and pins.
51. Share the music playlists that you listen to while working.
52. Your favorite Netflix shows.
53. Your personal development activities that helped you.
54. Yoga exercises that can be done in fifteen minutes
Start a conversation with your audience
55. Interview your customers and talk about what they liked in your books or products.
56. Conduct reader surveys and share the results.
57. Take a poll and share results.
58. Run a contest like giveaways, photo competitions, 5-day challenges, etc.
59. Ask readers to share pictures of themselves with your book. Give gifts.
60. Answer reader questions.
61. Ask (nicely) readers to review your books on your website or on third-party websites like Amazon or Facebook.
62. This is really amazing — Ask your readers to share stories that are inspiring about things that they are doing like raising money for charity, battling a handicap, or helping their community.
63. Ask your readers what they want in your newsletter. Survey them.
64. Say Happy Birthday if you have their DOBs.
65. Share when it’s your birthday.
66. Celebrate the anniversaries of your subscribers when they joined your email list. You can give them gifts like a free book or a discount.
67. Ask your readers to nominate the best podcasts or experts in your industry. Convert it into a post like the “Top 25 Podcasts in the Industry” post. Notify the winner of this list so that they’ll send some of their followers your way.
68. Send a quiz related to your book/product. Give prizes.
I’d like to invite you to join me in my quest to provide you with the best tips, tricks and hacks to help you build your author career while keeping this newsletter free and independent.
If there was ever a time to join me in this quest, it is now. Every contribution, however big or small, powers me to create more amazing content and sustain the future of this publication. Support this newsletter — it only takes a minute. If you can, please consider supporting us with a regular amount each month. You can do either by buying me a cup of coffee. Thank you.
For selling your books, use these kickass ideas. Your bank account will thank you for it!
69. Create a list of your most popular books/products or anything on sale.
70. Share the most useful online courses that people are missing.
71. Like Amazon introduce a wish list for your products. Let people share it with their contacts, for big events like birthdays.
72. Link to independent reviews of your products (such as on Amazon).
73. Review another product that is complementary to yours.
74. Don’t forget special offers, discounts, and coupons.
75. Customer satisfaction survey email.
76. Your audience will thank you for being the first ones to hear about your limited edition products and exclusive news.
77. Tell a good story behind your book or product — Everyone love to learn more about their favorite product or book.
78. Share a video tutorial on how to use your product to gain the most results.
79. Share valuable resources to help your audience pick the correct products.
80. Offer an online scratch card (also called click-to-scratch). When the reader clicks through this scratch card, they can see a promotion code that they can use to buy your products.
81. Send personalized upselling emails, based on your customers’ past purchases like ‘because you ordered that, we thought you’d like this too.’
82. Share a list of FAQs about your product like online courses
Let’s get more creative
83. If You have a new YouTube channel then why not embed a video in your email and let people discover it.
84. Charm readers with a clickable mystery link (Make sure it’s not a virus and the link title is clear enough to let the person know that it’s a particular product like a book).
85. Great podcasts that will stimulate your backers.
86. Must-watch YouTube videos.
87. Select a theme like James Clear has “The 3–2–1 Newsletter”. Every Thursday, he sends this to his followers and this includes 3 short ideas from him, 2 quotes from others, and 1 question for the reader to ponder.
88. Write a list post like ‘7 best’ or ‘9 deadly mistakes’ or ’10 ways to’
89. Create tutorials either as articles or videos or podcasts.
90. ‘How-to’ articles.
91. Talk about the weather if it is impacting your productivity.
92. Talk about holidays and not only the big ones but something like World Martini Day will also do.
93. Think broader about your content marketing strategy.
94. Create a welcome email series.
95. A step-by-step guide on how to do something in an article, video, or podcast
96. Say thank you. Important.
97. List your worst books/blog/videos/podcast. Talk about why they are the worst.
98. Your most successful books/blogs/videos/podcast and reveal why they worked.
99. Re-engage people who signed up for your email list but haven’t been opening your emails.
100. Refresh old posts with new information.
101. Finally, make a long list like — 101 content ideas for your next newsletter email!
BONUS SECTION
Whatever you decide to use from the above ideas always think of 3 things
1. Is it right for your target audience? Will it add value to their lives?
2. How do you want the reader to respond?
3. Does the newsletter content idea fit your brand?
Do you have more ideas? Please share in the comments. I’d love to add more ideas to the list!
I’d like to invite you to join me in my quest to provide you with the best tips, tricks and hacks to help you build your author career while keeping this newsletter free and independent.
If there was ever a time to join me in this quest, it is now. Every contribution, however big or small, powers me to create more amazing content and sustain the future of this publication. Support this newsletter — it only takes a minute. If you can, please consider supporting us with a regular amount each month. You can do either by buying me a cup of coffee. Thank you.
About Chase Austin
I have spent 10+ years writing stories and marketing them. I’ve failed and succeeded over the years, and these are some of my tidbits on how I started my author business, perfected marketing, and more.
Here you’ll find resources to help you kick more ass with your words. No fluff, only actionable tips, and tricks if you are looking to make a living through writing, or just use it as a side hustle.
Things I like: Long walks, Reading about anything and everything, Telling stories and chess.
Visit me at www.thechaseaustin.com. Want to say hi, email me at contact@thechaseaustin.com.
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