When you don’t have anything to sell to your email list, there are still several ways you can engage with your subscribers and provide value to them.

Share Your Writing Journey

As an author, your subscribers may be interested in your writing process and the journey you take to create your books. Share updates on your progress, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and any challenges or breakthroughs you experience along the way.

By letting your subscribers into your world, you can give them a glimpse of your writing process and the challenges and successes you experience along the way.

Share Regular Updates

Keep your subscribers in the loop by sharing regular updates on your writing progress. This can include updates on your current work in progress, word count, and any milestones you’ve achieved. You can also share any setbacks or challenges you’ve faced and how you’re working to overcome them.

Give Behind-The-Scenes Glimpses

Share behind-the-scenes glimpses of your writing process to make your subscribers feel like they’re a part of your journey. This can include sharing photos of your writing space, snippets of your writing process, or even videos of you reading your work.

Be Authentic

When sharing your writing journey with your email list, it’s important to be authentic and transparent. Don’t be afraid to share your struggles and setbacks, as well as your successes. This can help your subscribers to connect with you on a deeper level and see you as a real person, not just a writer.

Offer Writing Tips and Advice

Many of your subscribers may be aspiring writers themselves, so sharing writing tips and advice can be a valuable resource for them. You can provide tips on writing techniques, editing, and publishing.

Even if you’re still learning yourself and have large gaps in your writing knowledge, there are still ways you can offer valuable writing tips and advice to your email list.

Share What You’ve Learned

Even if you’re still learning, chances are you’ve picked up some valuable insights and tips along the way. Share what you’ve learned with your subscribers, including any techniques or strategies that have worked well for you.

Curate Tips and Advice

You don’t have to come up with all of the writing tips and advice yourself. Curate tips and advice from other writers or writing resources that you’ve found helpful. Share the tips and advice with your subscribers, giving credit to the original source.

Be Transparent

If you don’t have all the answers, be transparent with your subscribers. Share your own gaps in knowledge and ask your subscribers for their input. This can create a dialogue between you and your subscribers and make them feel like they’re a part of your writing journey.

Research and Learn

If there are specific areas of writing that you don’t know much about, take the time to research and learn. This can include reading books, taking courses, or even interviewing other writers. Share what you’ve learned with your subscribers and let them know that you’re constantly working to improve your writing skills.

Recommend Books

As an author, you likely have a love of reading, so sharing book recommendations with your subscribers can be a great way to engage with them. This can include sharing books you’ve enjoyed reading, as well as books from other authors in your genre.

If you don’t read at a rate fast enough to offer regular book recommendations to your email list, there are still several ways you can provide valuable book recommendations to your subscribers.

Partner with Other Authors

Consider partnering with other authors in your genre to offer book recommendations to your subscribers. This can be a win-win situation. You can provide your subscribers with valuable recommendations while promoting other authors in your genre.

Ask for Recommendations

Ask your subscribers for book recommendations. You can ask them to share their favourite books in your genre or ask for recommendations on specific topics. This can help to build engagement with your subscribers and provide you with a list of books to recommend.

Recommend Classics or Evergreen Titles

Instead of recommending the latest releases, consider recommending classics or evergreen titles that are still relevant and popular today. These books may not be the latest and greatest, but they can still provide value to your subscribers and showcase your knowledge of the genre.

Offer Genre Overviews

Provide your subscribers with an overview of your genre, including its history, notable authors, and popular books. This can help your subscribers to understand the genre better and provide them with a list of books to explore.

Host a Book Club

Consider hosting a book club for your subscribers. This can be a great way to engage with your subscribers and provide them with a curated list of books to read and discuss. You can choose a book each month or quarter and provide discussion questions and prompts.

Create Exclusive Content

Consider creating exclusive content for your subscribers, such as short stories, character interviews, or deleted scenes from your books. This can make your subscribers feel special and give them a sneak peek into your writing process.

However, it can be a challenge to balance creating this content with your focus on your novel and other writing projects. There are ways around this.

Repurpose Existing Content

Look for ways to repurpose existing content you’ve already created. For example, you could share deleted scenes from your novels, offer behind-the-scenes glimpses into your writing process, or provide a deeper dive into a topic you’ve already written about.

Schedule Your Time

Set aside specific times each week or month to work on your exclusive content. This can help you to stay focused on your writing projects while still creating content for your subscribers.

Keep it Simple

Don’t feel like you have to create complex, time-consuming content for your subscribers. Simple content, like short stories, flash fiction, or writing prompts, can be just as valuable to your readers and can be created more quickly.

Offer Perks

Consider offering perks to your subscribers, like early access to new releases, discounts on your books, or personalized messages. These perks can provide value to your subscribers without requiring a lot of additional writing time from you.

Conduct Surveys or Polls

Engage with your subscribers by asking for their opinions on book-related topics. You can conduct surveys or polls on everything from book cover designs to character names.

Conducting surveys or polls for your mailing list is a great way to gather feedback from your readers and understand their preferences and opinions. Here are some options for conducting surveys or polls for your mailing list:

A quick Google will show you many ways that you can create polls or surveys. Speaking of Google, you might consider using Google Forms as a quick and simple way to collect responses.

Conclusions

By engaging with your subscribers and providing value, you can continue to build a relationship with them even when you don’t have anything to sell. This can help to keep them interested in your work and increase the likelihood that they will buy from you in the future.