How To Get Started With Email For Children’s Book Authors

As I’m writing this, I am trying to decide where to start. How to make it simple.

It actually doesn’t take much thought because email is really simple. We just need to get it set up correctly.

I am a huge fan of talking to my bookmates through email. Other than talking to them over the phone or in a zoom meeting, this is the most scalable way to chat with them on a personal and intimate level.

What do you mean by scalable?

The last author I worked with in my Ultimate Email List Jump Start Program grew her audience by over 400% in 7 days.

I know what you are thinking. Amazing!

Imagine if this happened at a brick-and-mortar store. You’ve been prepping and planning to serve the same amount of customers each day. Maybe accommodate a few more if there was a special event.

Then all of sudden a storm of customers come in wanting to be served immediately!

That’s what your email subscribers are like. They want to hear from you as soon as they sign up.

The difference between email and a brick-and-mortar store is that you can automatically send a personal hello to each and every new subscriber as soon as they join.

Now, that’s awesome! No matter how large your email list grows, you can serve each person personally. AND serve them your book(s) without being salesy on autopilot.

How do we get started with email?

Step 1: Choosing An Email Service Provider (esp)

I encourage each of my bookmates to use MailerLite as their email service provider. Why?

Well, a few reasons:

1. I’m am a certified MailerLite expert – Yes, I LOVE email marketing. So much so that I got certified in it AND was invited to join as an expert. When my clients need support– I am confident I am able to help!
2. MailerLite is free – Well, for up to 1,000 subscribers. Most of the authors I work with are starting from an email list of 0 – 200 subscribers. This is the perfect way to get started and grow your list. Once you grow beyond 1,000 subscribers, there is a low monthly cost of $10.
3. MailerLite is ‘light‘ – In my marketing career, I have worked with several email service providers. I’ve sent email campaigns and built lists for nonprofit organizations, associations, in the corporate world, and small business– MailerLite has been the absolute easiest to work with!

You may already have an email service provider. If you do, I’d encourage you to switch. Here is how:

Step 2: Switch Your Email Service Provider (if you have one)

So, you have tried a different email service provider and decided that you’d like to switch to MailerLite. But how?

No worries!

I got you.

MailerLite has a wonderful blog post on this, but I will also walk you through it here:

1. Export your subscribers from your old email service provider (esp)

Before you set up MailerLite, go ahead and log into your old esp and download your subscriber list into a CSV file.

Make sure you bring over all the necessary information:

1. first name
2. last name
3. email

You can also separate the people who have purchased your book, attended events, etc. This way when you move them into MailerLite they keep all that same information.

Go ahead and check with your old esp on how to download your list to a CSV file.

Once you complete that step, move on to setting up your account with MailerLite.

Step 3: Setting Up Your MailerLite Account

On this step, you can either use my services to set up your account or you can follow this super simple guide to set yourself up for success:

If you have 1,000 subscribers or less, you can use MailerLite’s forever-free plan. Just visit the MailerLite website and click the green Sign up button.

Next, enter the following:

1. Company or Organization Name
2. Name
3. Email address
4. Password

When you sign up, you will have access to Mailerlite’s premium features for 30 whole days! Premium features include live chat (which I 💕), template gallery, A/B testing, and more. Love it!

Once you are signed up, you can begin testing the features. You have to wait for approval, however, to send your first campaign.

How to get your MailerLite account approved

It’s important to note that MailerLite account approval isn’t guaranteed. In order to begin sending email, they have to verify your information. If MailerLite allows anyone to set up and send email on their systems, this could lead to email deliverability issues. Which could cause all of their users to suffer. Approval is necessary and you will grow to appreciate it.

Learn more about account approval here.

Step 4: If you came to MailerLite with an email list

MailerLite makes it super easy to import your list into your new account. Check out this super helpful article here for a detailed walk-through.

Next Steps

Now that you are all set and ready to go, you may be wondering what to do next!

Next steps are to send that first email (if you have a list) or to start growing your list.

If you are wondering how to serve your list through email, check out this post: 6 Ways To Serve Your Email List As A Children’s Book Author

Want to learn our top ways to grow a list? Check out this post: 3 Proven Strategies To Grow Your Email List in 2022

I am so excited that you are on this journey to grow your email list! Your relationship with your readers will be so much better for it!