Email Marketing for Authors
Dale L. Roberts
One Jacked Monkey, LLC (2025)
ISBN: 978-1639250745
Reviewed by Dawn Colclasure for Reader Views (12/2025)
If you’re an author who isn’t using email marketing to promote and sell your books, then maybe it’s time to turn into one. If you’re not sure if email marketing is right for you, then check out Email Marketing for Authors: Grow an Email List that Actually Sells Books by Dale L. Roberts to learn all about how it can help. This book shares how email marketing can be a powerful strategy for authors looking to build a relationship with readers as well as get the word out about their books. This book shows you how to get started and make the most of your efforts.
Roberts gives good advice in encouraging an author to figure out what they want an email marketing list for. He includes certain reasons authors might want to use email marketing (to sell books, build an ARC team, test the response to their writing, etc.) and notes that making this distinction will help the author market more effectively.
One of the reasons why authors are encouraged to communicate with readers is so that the readers can get to know the author better. While some readers just want to read books, other readers want to know more about the author, and this can be achieved through email marketing. I have a monthly newsletter that is impersonal, but my weekly Substack offers personal glimpses about me and my life. As Roberts states in this book, on page 9,
Email marketing isn’t about pretending to be someone you aren’t. You don’t have to fake it till you make it; be authentic and lead with your best self every time.
Readers who subscribe to an author’s mailing list often do so in order to know the author better and learn more about what they are like. This can be very advantageous to the author who is hoping to build a strong connection with their readers. Roberts notes on page 10, “You will always attract and keep the right subscribers when you’re being your truest self.”
The thing I love about this book is that Roberts has tested and tried out the services he discusses. Some of the free email marketing services online can be attractive, and he tells you what to watch out for there. He also shares what you can expect from such free services, and how they will stay free only for so long. Additionally, he breaks everything down and shares what all those letter jumbles mean (such as SPF and DMARC). This book seems to be useful for the veteran email marketer, but it would be just as useful to the newbie email marketer who is not sure where or how to get started.
The biggest message in this book is just how important and powerful a mailing list can be (while also offering pointers on building a mailing list and warning against buying one). Roberts reminds readers that, for the author, an email list is a personal tool for marketing. It is something they created organically and something that is uniquely their own, he writes. The best part is that, if it’s saved in the cloud, for example, nothing can make that list disappear forever. Your computer crashes, a website is taken down or social media feeds make it hard to find anything; that list will still be there, and for the author’s eyes only. As Roberts states on page 103:
Social media can be effective, but much like when you self-publish a book on Amazon or any other retailer, you’re building your presence on borrowed land. You’re growing fruit in someone else’s garden, and they can lock the gate at any time, leaving you with nothing. Email marketing is different; it’s a direct line to your readers.
And as this book will show, email marketing is not as intimidating or confusing as some people may believe. In fact, it can work to an author’s advantage, and it can be understood well if used correctly. Studying books such as this will also help demystify email marketing, as this book does an excellent job in offering guidance on how an author can get started using email marketing to promote and sell books.
Dale L. Roberts’ Email Marketing for Authors is an informative and good introduction to authors new to using email marketing. With a focus on authors who want to build relationships and promote their books, this handy guide breaks down how email marketing works and clears up any confusion about how to get started. This book would be useful to authors looking to create a connection with their readers as well as email marketers looking for unique tips on how to create emails with higher open rates and more frequent clicks.