The Official Newsletter for ianhedley.com
23rd October 2024
The Red Marsh King is now in paperback
Early release for subscribers.
Finally. A solid four hundred and seventy pages, including a couple of blank ones at the end. There’s nothing quite like picking up your first novel and flicking through the pages. Something about the sound they the make. The smell of that newly cut paper. The feel between your fingers. It’s been a frustrating journey, but one well worth it.
Full eBook and Paperback Launch 31st October 2024
Snap up your copy while stocks last.
Isn’t that what they say?
The Trade Paperback is now available to subscribers online.
Songs for the Last Days
All our lives have playlists. Songs that were with us in our moments of weakness. They rocked our world when we loved, and when our hearts broke, they mopped up the tears.
IANHEDLEY
Lauren is no different. And like all of us, the very best of these, the ones that meant the most, or were more a memory than a song, she saved in a playlist.
Spotify users, you will soon be able to download and listen to Lauren’s playlist while you read. The page will go live on the website on the 30th October, the day before the official release of the paperback.
Check it out at ianhedley.com
My apologies to those who might prefer other streaming platforms. As ever, my efforts are imperfect and I am looking to see how I can make the playlist for this and future books more widely available. Any suggestions, please let me know.
How-I-Did-This
So you want to write a newsletter. Everything you’ve read or listened to tells you the most essential element of any book marketing is the author’s email list. Makes sense. You, the readers, are everything and, in my case, a rare and precious everything. And then, they say, it’s all about engaging with your readers in a way they find irresistible. Well, I’m not sure there is much about me that’s irresistible, but then, Lauren, maybe she is.
And how do you engage with your readers? Through your newsletter. No pressure then.
So here’s what I have learned so far. Ian Hedley’s 5 simple steps to newsletter success.
(Or oblivion? They work for either.)
Step One: Research
Nothing rocket-science about this step. I checked out the newsletters of my favourite authors. Saw how they did it, and then adapted my approach.
Step Two: Structure
What I learned was, a bit of structure helps. There are some authors newsletters out there which are more stream of consciousness. I didn’t like those. They all seemed a little messy for my taste, and I wouldn’t know how to write like that. Instead, I opted to structure my newsletter.
Heading – Image 1 – Point 1 – Content – Quote – Link – Repeat.
Simple enough, but once I had that, I went from blank page to completed newsletter much more quickly.
Step Three: Keep It Short
The best of the newsletters were short and kept their message to 3 or 4 points. I noticed I have a tendency to scan-read emails and focus on the points that interest me most, rather than reading every word. Over 3 or 4 points, I found I skimmed them all without focusing on any in detail.
Step Four: Link It
For every point, have a link or I think in marketing circles they say a ‘call to action,’ some way the reader can dig deeper and actively engage with the newsletter. And always remember to link repeatedly to your author website.
Step Five: Style
This is perhaps the hardest for the likes of me, a newbie to this game, but stylistically, my favourite examples were those newsletters that seemed an echo of the authors themselves or the characters and the worlds they inhabited. I don’t know if this ‘Newsletter Zero’ achieves any of that, but I am trying, for better or for worse, to convey a sense of Lauren’s world through the art and the style.
Hope this helps.
A Last Word of Thanks
I wanted to thank Joanna Penn and The Creative Penn website.
We have never met, or even spoken, but you have been my guide to getting this far, and without your help, who knows where I would have ended up.
So, dear reader (because there may only be one of you), and the thousands of indie-authors out there (we number legion), if you want some real advice about how to do this crazy thing, don’t listen to me, go to thecreativepenn.com.
A final P.S.
As much as I would love this to be a sponsored link, it isn’t. It’s exactly what it pretends to be – a simple, heartfelt thanks to a stranger who has been a great help, and I’d like to let them know.
ianhedley - Indie Horror / Dark Fantasy Writer 