You know that having a newsletter is an important component of your platform and that the list you send your newsletter to is invaluable to you. (If you don’t, check out our article on newsletters here and here.) What may not be so clear is how you can continue to grow that list over time. Below are some strategies to help you do just that.

Provide really valuable content in an engaging way.

Above all other strategies, valuable content creation is king. If you are giving your readers useful, relevant, timely information that they can really use, your newsletter will be valuable and it will be shared with others. Word of mouth and forwards are your greatest ally in trying to achieve a bigger newsletter list.

One critical component to building your author platform is to create and maintain a regular newsletter. Speaking directly to those who are interested in what you have to say on a regular basis with relevant and compelling content will bring you some great marketing and conversion opportunities now and well into the future.

First, we will discuss why you need a newsletter in the first place. Then, we’ll get into the finer details of ways it can work for you and how it can be most effectively distributed.

The short answer is “Yes!” Goodreads—the popular social reading site—is a free promotional tool for authors, so there’s really no reason not to be. And with eleven million readers on the site, reaching out to them is well worth your time.

A Goodreads author account allows you to add photos, blog posts, videos, and a biography, and allows you to share info about upcoming events directly with readers.

The amount of time it takes to maintain a Goodreads author profile varies. But, like all social media efforts, the more you put into it, the more you’ll get out of it. The more you update, post, and interact on Goodreads, the more you’ll get followers of your page, contestants in your giveaways, and contributors to your discussion board. You can even sync your current blog with your Goodreads page—that way, the time and effort you put into blogging will go twice as far.

Say you’ve written a book or are still in the process of writing it. How do you use your existing content to create more value for your readers? Or maybe even use that same content to create useful products to compliment your book? Ancillary materials, like reading guides and workbooks, are one way to leverage and monetize the content you’ve already created. Here are a few basic categories these types of materials fall into.