One of the best ways for authors to alert their readers as to new works is to stay in contact with them from the start. While it is recommended that authors frequently update their author websites (via articles and/or blogs), it is not reasonable to expect the majority of their readers to continue returning to the site for more information month after month and year after year. Life simply gets in the way. While RSS feeds can assist in keeping the author in front of their audience, email marketing really is the best option since it affords more control of the marketing campaign and allows for an increased level of personal involvement.

While there are a number of companies out there which will gladly take an author's money in lieu of email marketing services, most remove the author from the equation and many are essentially spammers. The few who put in the required amount of time are very good, but expensive. As such, the independent author would be advised to take their own email marketing into their own hands. Without much effort or capital, any author can do just that.

Effective email marketing for authors can be fulfilled through simple tasks such as employing an email address collection mechanism, planning an email marketing campaign, designing and implementing an email marketing campaign, and revising email marketing campaigns according to the results. Any author, no matter how technologically astute or not they happen to be, can be an effective email marketer. They can connect with their readers, provide valuable content to them, and maximize profits by doing so.

EMAIL ADDRESS COLLECTION MECHANISM

Effective email marketing for authors starts with an effective email address collection mechanism. Typically this involves a simple submission application on the author's website which allows the reader to submit their email address for updates. The best place for this is right next to a frequently updated blog. It's also not a bad idea to place the same submission application on the website's homepage. As such, when readers return to the site to search for updates, they are greeted by a submission box (which the author should think of as a tool). It could be of use to offer a free gift (a sample chapter, article, or raffle contest, perhaps) to entice the reader to submit their email address. By including a privacy policy -- stating that the author and representatives will never share or sell submitted email addresses -- readers will feel better about submitting their email addresses. After all, no one likes spam.

While some readers are wary of submitting more personal information than necessary, it never hurts to ask. The author might utilize a required field for an email address, but also include optional fields of first and last names and other identifying information (e.g., birthday, location of residence, etc.). In doing so, the information can be inputted into an email manager system, such as Constant Contacts (discussed later in this text), with personalized emails sent out to all of the recipients via the manager system. The software can address each email as if it were a personal email. It can also automatically update the email client list with all submitted information. As such, much of the grunt work is automatically handled for the author.