Sending Emails

How to Make Email Marketing Templates That Authors Actually Reuse

Most authors rebuild their newsletter from scratch every week. That's why sending feels like a chore and why open rates wobble — readers can't tell at a glance that the email is from you.

A template fixes both problems. It locks in your header, your voice cues, and the shape of the email so you only fill in what changed. Here's how to build a small set of templates you'll actually reuse, including the three every author needs.

1

The three templates every author needs

Before you open the editor, decide which templates you're making. Most authors over-build here and end up with twelve templates they never touch. Start with these three:

  • Launch announcement — for new releases and pre-orders. Cover image, blurb, buy buttons, one paragraph from you.
  • Weekly newsletter — your ongoing connection with readers. Personal intro, one main section, one quiet plug.
  • Re-engagement — for subscribers who haven't opened in 90+ days. Short, plain, one question.

You can add a sale template and a book-recommendation template later. Don't build them yet — you'll learn what you need by sending the first three.

2

Step-by-step: building your templates in AuthorMailingLists

1. Open the campaign composer and start a new template

From your dashboard, go to Campaigns → Templates → New Template. Give it a clear name like "Weekly Newsletter v1" — version numbers matter once you start iterating.

2. Set the global styles first

Before you add any blocks, set the typography and colors that match your book covers or author brand. A good baseline:

  • Body font: 16px, system serif or sans-serif (avoid custom web fonts — they break in Outlook)
  • Line height: 1.5
  • Max width: 600px
  • Background: white or off-white (#FAFAFA), never pure black
  • Link color: one accent color, used consistently

Resist the urge to design something elaborate. Plain-text-style emails outperform heavy HTML in author newsletters by a wide margin — often 20-40% higher click-through.

3. Add the header block

Keep it minimal. Your name (or pen name) as text, not an image. If you must use a logo, keep it under 200px wide and include alt text. Below the header, leave space for a one-line tagline like "Cozy mysteries and a little gardening."

Avoid huge banner images. They push your actual content below the fold and tank engagement on mobile, which is where 60-70% of your readers will open.

4. Build the body region with merge fields

This is where your template earns its keep. Add the structural blocks you'll reuse every send:

  • A greeting line with {{first_name|fallback:Reader}}
  • An intro paragraph block (leave placeholder text like "Personal note goes here")
  • A main content block
  • An optional book-of-the-week block pulling from your catalog
  • A sign-off with your name

5. Add the footer with required compliance elements

Every template needs three things or your sends will get blocked:

  • Your physical mailing address (a PO box is fine)
  • An unsubscribe link — {{unsubscribe_url}}
  • A short reminder of why they're getting this email ("You signed up at mybooksite.com")

AuthorMailingLists adds these automatically, but check the rendered preview to make sure they appear where you want them.

6. Save the template and create variants

Duplicate your weekly newsletter template twice. Rename one to "Launch Announcement" and one to "Re-engagement." Adjust each:

  • Launch: bigger cover image block at top, three buy-link buttons, shorter personal note
  • Re-engagement: strip the template down to a greeting, two sentences, one question, sign-off. No images. No buttons.

7. Send a test to yourself — and to one Gmail, one Outlook, one phone

This step gets skipped and it shouldn't. Outlook renders email differently than every other client on earth. iPhones cut off subject lines around 35-40 characters. Gmail clips emails over ~102KB and hides the rest behind a "View entire message" link.

Use the Send Test button in the composer. Open each test on a real device. If the layout breaks in Outlook, simplify — don't try to fix it with hacks.

8. Run the template through your AI drafter

If you're using the Always-On newsletter feature, link your new template to it. The AI will draft the weekly content into your template structure pulling from your book catalog, characters, and themes. You review and tweak before sending. This is the difference between sending weekly and sending whenever-you-remember.

3

What to skip

A few things authors over-invest in that don't move the needle:

  • Animated GIFs — they don't render in Outlook and they make emails feel like marketing
  • Multi-column layouts — they collapse weirdly on mobile
  • Custom fonts — fall back to system fonts that work everywhere
  • Dark-mode-specific designs — let the email client handle it
4

Iterate, don't redesign

Send your weekly newsletter four times before you change anything in the template. Then look at open rates, click rates, and unsubscribes. Change one thing — a subject line approach, the header size, the position of your book plug — and send four more. This is how templates get genuinely good. Most authors abandon templates after one send because they confuse "I'm bored of looking at this" with "this isn't working." Your readers see it once a week. They're not bored.

If you haven't built your list yet, start with how to make an email list from scratch, then come back here once you have 50+ subscribers. If you already have a list and want it bigger, proven strategies to grow your list pairs well with a strong template — better emails get forwarded.

Frequently asked

How do I make email marketing templates without design skills?
Start with a single-column, plain-style layout — text, one image, a sign-off. That's it. Authors consistently get better engagement from simple emails than from designed ones, so the lack of design skill is actually an advantage. In AuthorMailingLists, open Campaigns → Templates → New Template and use the default block layout. Set your accent color, type your name in the header, and save. You can build your first reusable template in under 20 minutes without touching any HTML or hiring a designer.
How many email marketing templates should an author have?
Three to start: a weekly newsletter, a launch announcement, and a re-engagement email. That covers 95% of what you'll ever send. Adding more templates before you've sent each of these at least four times is premature optimization — you don't yet know what your readers respond to. After three or four months of sending, you might add a sale template or a book-recommendation template. Resist building a library of twelve templates you'll never open.
Should email marketing templates use lots of images?
No. Image-heavy emails take longer to load, get clipped by Gmail at 102KB, fail in Outlook, and signal "marketing" to readers who opened expecting a personal note from their favorite author. Use one image per email at most — usually a book cover for launch announcements. For your weekly newsletter, plain text with one accent color outperforms designed templates in author niches. The exception is launch emails, where a clear cover shot helps the reader recognize the book.
How do I test my email marketing templates before sending?
Use the Send Test feature to mail yourself a copy, then open it on at least three places: a Gmail account in a desktop browser, an Outlook account if you have one, and your phone. Outlook renders email worst, so any layout that survives Outlook will survive everywhere. Check that merge fields like first name resolved correctly, that your unsubscribe link works, that images have alt text, and that the email is under 102KB to avoid Gmail clipping. Fix problems by simplifying, not by adding hacks.
Can AI write content into my email marketing templates?
Yes. AuthorMailingLists includes an Always-On newsletter feature that drafts weekly content into your saved template using your book catalog, characters, and themes as source material. You review the draft, edit anything that doesn't sound like you, and send. This solves the biggest reason authors abandon their newsletter — running out of things to say. The AI handles the blank page, the template handles the design, and you handle the personal voice that makes readers actually open the email.
How often should I redesign my email marketing templates?
Rarely. Once a year is plenty for most authors. Readers benefit from consistency — they should recognize your email at a glance from the header, font, and structure. Tweak small things between sends (subject line approach, where the book plug sits, length of the intro), but leave the overall template alone for at least a few months. The urge to redesign usually comes from you being tired of looking at it, not from any data showing it's underperforming.

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