Sending Emails

How to Create an Email Marketing Campaign Step by Step

An email marketing campaign is just a single message (or short sequence) sent to a defined slice of your list with one specific goal — a launch, a preorder, a free chapter, a survey. The mechanics aren't hard. The judgment calls — who to send to, what to say, when to send — are where most authors stumble.

This is the exact sequence we recommend inside AuthorMailingLists.com. The same flow works in any sender; the screenshots happen to be ours.

Before you touch the composer

Three things need to exist before a campaign is worth sending.

A real list. Not a contact export from your phone. People who opted in to hear from you. If you're starting cold, work through How to Make an Email List (From Scratch) first — sending a campaign to 12 family members will teach you nothing.
A verified sending domain. DKIM and SPF records on the domain you send from. Without them, Gmail and Yahoo will quietly dump you into spam in 2026 — they tightened bulk-sender rules in 2024 and have been enforcing harder since.
One specific goal for this campaign. "Sell more books" is not a goal. "Get 200 preorder clicks to the Amazon page by Friday" is.

If any of those three are missing, fix that first. Everything below assumes they're in place.

Step 1: Pick the list (or segment) you're sending to

Open your dashboard and go to Lists. You're deciding who gets this message — not everyone on your list should get every campaign.

The Lists tab where you choose which subscribers receive the campaign

A few defaults that work well:

Launch announcement → everyone on the relevant series list, minus people who already preordered (if you can tag them).
Re-engagement → only subscribers who haven't opened in 90+ days.
Reader survey or ARC call → your most engaged 10–20% (opened in last 30 days).

Segmenting by engagement isn't optional at scale. Sending a launch blast to 5,000 dead addresses will tank your sender reputation for the next message that actually matters.

Step 2: Start a new campaign

From the Campaigns tab, click New Campaign. You'll be asked what type — a one-off broadcast, an automation, or an A/B test. For most launches, a one-off broadcast is correct.

Starting a new campaign from the Campaigns tab

Name the campaign something your future self will recognize: 2026-05 Book3 Launch Day beats Campaign 4.

Step 3: Write the subject line (and a preheader)

The subject line decides whether the email gets opened. The body decides whether it gets clicked. Spend disproportionate time on the subject.

What actually works for author emails:

Specific over clever. "Book 3 is live — and the ebook is $0.99 today" beats "A little something for you..."
Under 50 characters so it doesn't truncate on mobile.
No emoji-stuffing. One is fine. Three reads as spam.
Preheader text — the gray line after the subject — is real estate. Use it to extend the subject, not repeat it.

If you have more than ~2,000 subscribers, run an A/B test on the subject. Send variant A to 10%, variant B to another 10%, then auto-send the winner to the remaining 80% an hour later.

Step 4: Write the body

The template that works for nearly every author campaign:

One sentence of context. Why are you in their inbox today?

The thing. New release, free chapter, sale — whatever the campaign is for.

One clear call to action. A button. One link target.

A human signoff. Your name. Maybe a one-line P.S. with a second-best CTA.

Keep it under 200 words for promotional sends. Readers skim — they're not reading your prose here, they're scanning for whether to click.

Resist the urge to add three CTAs. If the email asks readers to preorder, follow you on TikTok, and answer a survey, none of those things will happen. Pick one.

Step 5: Add the unsubscribe link and check compliance

AuthorMailingLists.com inserts the unsubscribe footer automatically. If you're using a different tool, double-check it's there — it's legally required (CAN-SPAM in the US, GDPR in the EU, CASL in Canada) and Gmail now requires a one-click version for any sender doing more than 5,000 messages a day.

Also required in the footer: a real physical mailing address. A PO box works fine.

Step 6: Send a test to yourself

Always. Every time. No exceptions.

Send the test to two inboxes if you can — a Gmail and an Outlook. Check:

Does the subject line truncate weirdly?
Do images load? (Many clients block them by default — your email needs to make sense without them.)
Does the CTA button work on mobile?
Does it land in the primary inbox or the Promotions tab?

Promotions tab isn't a death sentence for fiction readers — they expect newsletters there — but if you land in Spam, stop and fix it before sending to your list.

Sending a test email to yourself before scheduling

Step 7: Schedule the send

The "best time to send" data is mostly noise. What matters more:

Tuesday–Thursday mornings tend to outperform Mondays (inbox clearing) and Fridays (people checked out).
Send in your readers' timezone, not yours. If 70% of your list is US, schedule for 9am Eastern.
Don't send launch emails on the same day as your major comp authors if you can help it. Check Goodreads release calendars.

Click Schedule rather than Send Now unless it's literally the right minute. Schedule gives you a 5-minute window to spot the typo you'll definitely spot the second you hit send.

Step 8: Watch the first hour, then leave it alone

In the first 60 minutes after send you'll see early open rate and any bounces or complaints. If complaints spike above 0.3%, pause the send — something's wrong (wrong list, misleading subject, you sent to people who don't remember you).

After that, walk away. Refreshing the dashboard every 10 minutes won't change the numbers. Come back at 24 hours and 72 hours to evaluate.

Step 9: Read the report and write down one lesson

For each campaign, write down one thing you'd do differently. Not ten things — one. Over 20 campaigns that's 20 real improvements. Things to look at:

Open rate — was your subject line and sender name strong? Authors should expect 35–55% on engaged lists.
Click-through rate — was the offer compelling and the CTA obvious? 3–8% is healthy.
Unsubscribes — under 0.5% per send is normal. Above 1% means you're sending to people who don't want it.
Replies — underrated metric. Replies tell mailbox providers you're a real human, which protects deliverability.

If your open rates are low across the board, the issue is usually list quality, not subject lines. Spend the next month on list growth before you optimize copy.

What to send next

A campaign is a one-off. A program is what builds a career. Set yourself up to send something every week — even when there's no launch — so your list stays warm. Our Always-On weekly newsletter drafts itself from your book catalog for exactly this reason: the hardest campaign to send is the one where nothing's happening.

Frequently asked

How do you set up an email marketing campaign from scratch?

To set up an email marketing campaign from scratch, you need three things in place first: an opted-in list, a verified sending domain (DKIM and SPF records), and one specific goal for the campaign. Then the flow is: pick the segment you're sending to, name the campaign, write a subject line under 50 characters, write a body with one clear call to action, send a test to yourself in two different inbox providers, and schedule for Tuesday–Thursday morning in your readers' timezone. Don't skip the test send — it catches more problems than any other step.

How do you write a successful email campaign?

A successful email campaign has one job. Don't try to drive a preorder, grow your social following, and collect survey responses in the same email — pick one. Keep promotional bodies under 200 words, lead with one sentence of context, then the offer, then a single CTA button. Subject lines should be specific, under 50 characters, and free of emoji stuffing. The strongest predictor of success isn't copy, though — it's list quality. A mediocre email to an engaged list outperforms a brilliant email to a stale one every time.

How do you write an email marketing campaign that doesn't end up in spam?

Three things keep you out of spam. First, authenticate your domain with DKIM and SPF — Gmail and Yahoo enforce this for any meaningful volume. Second, only send to people who actually opted in; bought lists and scraped contacts will trigger complaints that destroy your sender reputation. Third, prune disengaged subscribers regularly. Sending to addresses that haven't opened in six months tells mailbox providers you don't curate your list, and they downgrade you accordingly. AuthorMailingLists.com handles authentication and bounce removal automatically; if you're on another tool, verify these manually.

How do you make an email campaign if you don't have a list yet?

You don't — at least not the kind that drives results. Sending a campaign to 30 friends and family members will teach you nothing about subject lines, send times, or copy because the response is artificially warm. Spend your first month on list-building instead: a signup widget on your book site, a reader magnet (free novella or first chapter), and one promotion in your back-matter. See [How to Get an Email List for Marketing](/learn/how-to-get-an-email-list-for-marketing) for the cheapest legitimate options. Aim for 200 real subscribers before you obsess over campaign craft.

How often should I do an email marketing campaign?

For authors, weekly is the sweet spot. Less than monthly and your list goes cold — by the time you have news, half your subscribers have forgotten who you are. More than twice a week and unsubscribes climb. The trick is having something to say every week, which is why a regular newsletter (book recommendations, behind-the-scenes, character spotlights) matters more than launch blasts. The launches convert; the weekly cadence keeps the list warm enough for the launches to convert. Skip 8 weeks in a row and your next launch will underperform regardless of copy.

How do you create an email campaign that gets replies, not just opens?

Ask one specific question and make it easy to answer. "Which character should I write a short story about — Mira or Jonas?" gets dozens of replies. "Let me know what you think!" gets none. End the email with the question on its own line, above your signature. Replies matter beyond morale: mailbox providers treat reply rate as a strong positive signal, so a campaign that generates replies improves deliverability for the next campaign. Two-way conversation is the single most underused tool in author email marketing.