Newsletter Magic Without Math
by Lisa Norman
Less math, more magic
I left the panel feeling horrified. A talk meant to inspire had been hijacked into a cascade of numbers: list size, open rates, categories, schedules. The room grew quieter and quieter. Writers weren’t scribbling ideas with excitement. They were sinking under the weight of all the shoulds.
Afterward, several people came up to me, the quietly encouraging one, not with praise but with trust. “Could I pay you to just do it for me?” one asked. They weren’t encouraged. They were overwhelmed.
I walked out angry.
Common newsletter advice had left writers so swamped they wanted to hand the whole thing over to someone else. That panel went against everything I believe in. The voice of should had drowned out quiet encouragement. The statistics of one author’s experience had overridden every other perspective.
I have statistics too—drawn from hundreds of authors across genres. I’ve watched beginners get their first subscribers and seen bestsellers with huge lists.
And here’s what I know: numbers often obscure the real value. Tiny lists can outperform massive ones. Accidental lists sometimes succeed where years of shoulds have failed.
The Promise and the Pressure
Numbers aren’t bad. They can give you insight into how your readers engage. But when we elevate stats into commandments, they become overwhelming, and sometimes misleading.
I once had a newsletter show a 97% open rate. Impressive, right? Except… it wasn’t real. Metrics glitch. Privacy settings block tracking. Numbers can’t tell the whole story. There's a lot more to having a newsletter than just a marketing tool.
A 10,000-subscriber list might work for one author. Another might have greater success with 200. What matters isn’t the number at the bottom of your dashboard, but the relationship with the people behind those numbers (linked post has stats and graphs).
The Myths That Overwhelm
Myth 1: Bigger list = better results.
Truth: Engagement matters more than volume. A smaller, invested audience can sustain a career. One reader who replies to every email is more valuable than a hundred who never even open.
They’re also cheaper to maintain.
Myth 2: Newsletters must go out every week.
Truth: Frequency works best when it fits your rhythm and your readers. Some authors thrive with a weekly note, others connect best once a month or less. The right schedule is the one you can sustain with joy, the one that gets readers excited when it hits their inbox.
Myth 3: Readers should be sorted into neat categories.
Truth: Readers are people, not data points. They rarely fit into perfect boxes, and often surprise you.
Instead of worrying about segments, share something genuine that resonates across categories. Humanity connects more than labels.
Myth 4: Sign-ups are just transactions.
Truth: A newsletter thrives on relationship, not obligation. When readers choose to join because they connect with your voice, that bond is stronger than any clipboard sign-up or funnel you force them into (Alicia McCalla is a fantastic example of an author who knows her readers).
A single heartfelt yes is more powerful than a hundred reluctant sign-ups.
Readers aren’t transactions—they’re treasures.
What a VA Can (and Can’t) Do
A virtual assistant can absolutely help with the technical side: formatting, scheduling, automations. That’s a gift. But the heart of a newsletter can’t be outsourced. The most powerful emails come in your voice, carrying your personality, speaking directly to your fans.
3 Quick Ways to Make Your Newsletter More Human
- Tell one small story. Share a glimpse of your writing life, your desk, or a struggle you overcame. Readers connect with moments, not marketing copy.
- Ask a question. Even something simple like a favorite book that month creates dialogue. Want to make a reader’s day? Connect to them as a person.
- Offer a gift. A sneak peek, a short story, or even a recipe. A gift shows you value their presence.
Readers Are Hungry for Connection
Your email shows up in a person’s inbox. If you’ve built rapport, they’ll glance at the subject line. Hint at something they want? They’ll skim the teaser. If they trust you, they’ll open. They’ll skim, maybe read.
Give them an experience and they’ll stop. They’ll reply. They’ll engage.
Give them something fun or meaningful, and they’ll pass it on to friends.
Quick: go to your inbox.
Are there any emails you want to read right away? Why? Any you want to save and savor later?
Starting Over
Forget the word newsletter and every guilt-ridden should tied to it. We’re really talking about two simple things:
- A list of people who love you and what you write.
- An email, a note from you to a fan.
Can you write an email?
You’re writers. Of course you can.
Can you write something people want to read?
I’m betting you can.
Building Connection
If you’ve ever felt buried under all the advice about newsletters, you’re not alone. Many writers have done everything they were told and still felt like it didn’t work. Maybe the problem isn’t you. Maybe it’s the weight of shoulds piled on top of what could be a simple, joyful way to connect.
You don’t need to master statistics or funnels. You need a way to connect with your readers that feels sustainable, human, and yours. If you’re reading this on WITS, chances are you got here through an email. That’s proof enough that it works.
Your newsletter isn’t a spreadsheet. It’s a conversation. And conversations, real ones, are where relationships—and careers—truly grow.
That’s the real magic: less math, more connection, more joy.
Question for you: What has your experience been with newsletters? Have you felt overwhelmed by the shoulds? If you’ve given up, could the thought that it might simply be about connecting with your fans make it worth trying again?
* * * * * *
About Lisa
Lisa Norman's passion has been writing since she could hold a pencil. While that is a cliché, she is unique in that her first novel was written on gum wrappers. As a young woman, she learned to program and discovered she has a talent for helping people and computers learn to work together and play nice. When she's not playing with her daughter, writing, or designing for the web, she can be found wandering the local beaches.
Lisa writes as Deleyna Marr and is the owner of No Stress Writing Academy. She also runs Heart Ally Books, LLC, an indie publishing firm.
Interested in learning more from Lisa? Sign up for her newsletter or check out her school, No Stress Writing Academy, where she teaches social media, organization, technical skills, and marketing for authors!
Top image by Deleyna via Midjourney.
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32 comments on “Newsletter Magic Without Math”
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I send my newsletter about once a month. I have a basic template with sections I try to include, but I don't worry if things change every now and then. I offer my subscribers something special--usually a contest, although now that Rafflecopter is shutting down, I'm not sure how I'll handle that.
But the most popular feature based on clicks is the recipe I share. Once or twice a year, I get rid of deadwood--people who haven't opened any newsletters in a year. Keeps my cost down.
That sounds like a solid plan, Terry! Have you ever had someone ask about the newsletter after you'd deleted them? I ask because some people's privacy settings these days block our knowing that they've opened. I've had a couple of authors get "where's my newsletter???" emails after their purges. At least it gets the super-fans back in! Re: without Rafflecopter, well, you *could* have them leave a comment on a particular post and then just pick a name out of a hat old-school.
I'm doing that for a client this month. She's also got one particular post on social media that if they comment there or share they get entered as well. All I need to do is pull the names when the contest is done and use a random number generator to pick one. Just an idea.
It took me a while to find what works for my newsletter. I learned the more that I was giving back to the readers meant more than what deals I was offering. I understate my books and ascent where I will be then everything else is for the reader. Strong takeaway value. My newsletter is FundsforWriters.
Hope, and you are doing well! Google definitely knows you.
One key point that I love that you mentioned: it can take a while to find the rhythm that works for you and your readers. The same is true for our books/stories. When we learn from the newsletter, it can carry over to our stories. (IE: my readers love ___ trope!) And it can be a LOT easier to learn from multiple newsletters than multiple novels!
Oh Lisa, thanks so much for this! I've instinctively felt that I wanted only newsletter subscriptors that WANT to see my stuff...therefore I'm much happier with a smaller list.
I hope you don't mind a question: my links in my newsletter never work. is it my provider, or something I'm doing wrong?
Thanks for your encouraging words!
Laura,
You know me - I love questions! But links not working... ever? Ever for you or ever for everyone? What platform are you using? I'd probably need to see behind the scenes to give you a definitive answer because there are too many variables. It sounds like the link is being stripped.
I recently had a client who was using Thunderbird and there was a setting that was stripping links out of emails. Don't know if that connects.
You know how to find my contact form, yes? Reach out. Let's see if we can't get that fixed! Because that's terrible!
No charge on this for a WITS sister.
This post came at the perfect time for me, Lisa. I've left my small newsletter largely dormant this year, just one email at the end of March, after emailing monthly for a few years. Your advice is rejuvenating. It resonates so strongly. There is so much advice about working the numbers, segmenting lists, open rates etc, when connection is what a newsletter is really about.
I've had email newsletters for nine years, first a science fiction/fantasy one, then a mystery one, which is my current newsletter. I've used promos to grow it, trimmed it etc, and now it's in the hundreds.
Any advice on restarting my conversation with my newsletter?
BTW, I really enjoyed meeting you at the Seattle WorldCon and moderating the sustaining an author career panel, you brought a very valuable perspective and insight.
Dale,
That was the BEST panel of the entire con for me. SO much fun. And thank you for being patient with me! I was almost late, forgot my sign, and generally arrived out of breath and just hoping I had FINALLY found the right room. And I had the room number in my hand... but for some reason kept reading it wrong!
I *WISH* you had been moderating the newsletter one!
Now - for that newsletter. Have you ever lost touch with a good friend? Write to them after a year and things are golden? Some of your readers may well even be worried about you.
So you start off "Hi, y'all, didja miss me?" (OK - in your tone, but that's the general gist.) And then you tell them about all of the fabulous things you've been up to and give them something wonderful: a snippet of an upcoming novel, a contest they can interact with, something that you know they love. Maybe a flash fiction mystery that they can take a stab at solving and the most creative answer wins an epub or something.
Pay SPECIAL attention to your title and snippet. You want to make sure they know there's something in it for them, and don't hesitate to lean into a bit of mystery since that's on brand for you.
This will be the time where you'll discover if anyone has given you bad email addresses, so you may have some cleaning afterwards, but make sure to ask them SOMETHING... that way you'll get the interaction and the "welcome back!" moments.
Very helpful advice, Lisa. I love seeing this as reconnecting with a long lost friend. I also love the flash fiction idea. Thank you!
Have fun, Dale!
Hey, Lisa! Small world. I accidentally found you in two places (Jaime Buckley’s The Fiction Cartel and here through Tiffany Yates Martin’s list of resources). I like this advice and have found that I function best when I use a similar rationale.
Hello, Shannon! Are you coming to the Cartel tomorrow? Free to everyone. Going to be a blast.
And yay for this working for you. This industry is entertainment! So often people try to apply corporate best practices... when what our fans are really hoping for is an escape into fun!
Welcome to WITS, Shannon! We love Tiffany, and we're delighted to have you here.
I think this solves some of the issues in our society as a whole: less math (algorithms) and more human connection.
Debbie - you're right on that. People are CRAVING those connections.
You are so right, Debbie!
I'm going to admit something: I've only done newsletters for other people. Businesses, authors, friends.
I co-founded WITS while pregnant with my now-teen. I keep track of the blog's age by her age. I've juggled the day job and writing and family all this time, and the idea of my own newsletter was just one more thing I didn't want to commit to.
Now that she's more self-sufficient, I'm beginning to feel comfortable committing to a few more things. Newsletters are slowly traveling up the list, but will likely get to the top for my business long before my writing.
BUT...this article has made the idea of committing to a regular newsletter feel far less stressful, so THANK YOU! It's the commitment that gets me, more than the content. 🙂
Jenny - so funny from the owner of such a successful newsletter!
You'll get there, and you'll rock it like you do everything!
LOL. I know. But I don't have to MANAGE the newsletter that I own...and the content (haha) writes itself. Thanks for the vote of confidence. *huge hug*
After feeling guilty about only sending my newsletters out in a hit or miss fashion, I recently hired an assistant who sends them out now on the fifth of every month. It keeps me from feeling guilty for not being consistent and knowing that I have a specific due date keeps me accountable. Knowing that he is waiting for my content, I get it in on time every time.
It's working for me but I had signed up for a webinar about newsletters, scheduled for yesterday afternoon, so I watched it live and kind of wished I hadn't. Like you describe here, Lisa, it was all about number and statistics etc etc and I felt discouraged, like maybe I was doing something wrong. Then I noticed that one of the attendees was falling asleep. She kept nodding off on camera. Now I know why. It was all too much. Thanks for writing this. Very timely for me!
Oh, Maggie. I hear you. There's an individual trying to promote a book (not going to trash talk) who I believe has based their research on their own statistics. I'm not sure... or perhaps on corporate stats.
It isn't that their information isn't good, but it isn't good for MOST authors, and presenting it as a "should" is destructive.
Yep, I wish I could get the hour of my time back that I spent on that panel, too. And I was in front! (But not allowed to speak much... long story there...)
You've found a way to make having a VA work for you. You're still creating the content. And that is fantastic!
OMG, Lisa. This post is the best! It spoke to me, and was about me. I've put these two sentences (yours) on my desktop as a daily reminder: "Tiny lists can outperform massive ones. It's the relationship that matters."
I tried building a list by offering a free exchange of email addresses for a story; it didn't work. Oh, I had a couple hundred join, but then they dropped out just as fast. It wasn't a relationship at all.
My list is tiny, and it's growing... organically, one at a time as they discover me. It's an announcement-only mailing list (where I add a recipe, recommend books to read, and a couple personal things), which means I get to spend more time writing new material than trying to get sign-ups. I tried the free story exchange for their email. Grew the list by a couple hundred, with a small open rate and lots of unsubscribes; they weren't genuine fans.
I'm about to send out an email, the first one all year. I've not had much to announce until now.
Diana,
Well done! I've run stats on big lists gained by swaps and small ones gained one at a time with interactions... and I assure you, small lists WILL outperform. (Okay, I should say that occasionally a person with a very STRONG list will do swaps with a bunch of newer but TROPE based consistently related authors - and THOSE tend to work very well because the original list was a strong one.)
Have fun connecting with your folks in this email!
I just ended my newsletter. It was a sad decision as I put a lot effort into designing it, naming it, and coming up with articles for it. But I only ever had 6 subscribers and of them, only 1 responded when I asked a question. From the provider it appears that each one was opened but I couldn’t tell if they were actually read. Analytics is not my strong suit, so my whole idea was to do exactly what you described here, try to make a personal connection. have only published short stories so far so that might be the problem, but I just couldn’t get any subscribers. I am thinking of starting it up again at some point as a Substack newsletter, but how to get subscribers?!
I enjoyed your article and thank you for affirming my approach was right, even though I didn’t have any subscribers.
Thanks,
Sylvia (SE Knight)
Sylvia,
You say you didn't have any, but you had 6 and they all opened. I know that sounds tiny, but it is such a solid start! I'm sorry that the stats and the comparison made you stop.
Yes, do one on Substack - do a free one to get started. Make sure you choose your categories well, and let Substack help bring people to you. Connect with other authors there who write shorts and play.
Have fun with the writing. There is a Substacker named Scoot who does Flash Fiction Fridays - come play. Or come hang out with the Fiction Cartel. Substack will get to know you and send you people.
And every one will be golden.
I had an author that I worked with who was launching her first book. Her list was, I think, 10? But one of those was a book blogger.
On another list I worked with, one of the people was a retired marketing exec who loved the author and the author's work.
Those tiny lists? Both helped produce a LOT of sales. Tiny... doesn't mean weak.
10,000 people who signed up because they wanted the free book and never want to buy? Compared to one super-fan who will do anything for you? There's power in a small list.
Too late to get those names back?
I'll echo everyone one else. This is such a breath of fresh air! I have a newsletter that's small but growing. It's been small for a long, long time and I was getting discouraged. The one thing that kept me going is my "I AM going to figure this out" gene. lol. I used to think I wasn't giving my readers enough stuff. A friend (as well as you) convinced me that the content I sent _was_ giving my readers things they wanted and needed. Add to that the idea that small can be mighty...Think I'll keep it up. Thank you. Your words are always encouraging.
Lynette,
You better keep it up! Yours is one of the few newsletters that I read! You do a great job.
"Enough" is such a strange word. They want the next book! And in the meantime, just enough connection so they know you are working on it and that you have that human connection. You're doing fantastic!
Go you, Lynette. Keep going!!!
I don't have a newsletter but I have a blog and been adding to it for 10 years. In all that time, maybe two dozen subscribers and an occasional comment on a book review (nonfiction) or essay. I always engage.
Matthew,
Congratulations on always engaging with your folks. That's wonderful.
When you say subscribers to your blog - how do they know when you post another article? Do they go out by email like WITS does?
Have you tried asking them questions? If I was coaching you, I'd recommend that you look at your book(s) and your ideal readers, then see if those are the ones you are attracting.
If those two dozen subscribers ARE your ideal readers, give them something and encourage they share it with their friends. Something to engage them and make them feel special.
You've got a lot of content. You may be able to go back and freshen some of the old material to see if you can get the search engines to be nice to you. Never a guarantee, and less so these days.
But I'd encourage you to keep trying and experiment. AND... enjoy those two dozen. Treat them like gold. Do you have stats on who opens/reads/clicks?
I don't write one enough.
"Enough" is a vague word that could be giving you unneeded guilt. You have a list. Celebrate the having of it! Thanks for reading, Denise!