Last week we started talking about the concept of creating newsletters for our readers who are 'skim readers'. They blast through your newsletter at the speed of light only pausing for a moment on words or images that stand out. Today, we're talking about those words that stand out, specifically, the words inside your subject line.

I asked you to dive into your inbox to check out the emails that you received that you opened, and that you bypassed and to try to figure out WHY you took either of those actions.

I had a lot of replies to my inbox asking both questions and giving me insights into your own habits and one common comment was that you often ignore the subject line and just open it or delete it based on the sending name, so let's start there.

This is absolutely the ultimate goal. For our name alone to be the deciding factor of whether or not our emails get opened. In order to get to that point, you have to provide value to the reader on a consistent basis inside of your emails and that can take some time.

The other thing is to take a beat and think about what your sender name looks like. I'll use my pen name as an example. The variants could be:

Holly Mortimer

Holly Mortimer Author

Author Holly Mortimer

Holly

Holly M

And on and on. I think you get the picture. Just have a quick check on yours and make sure that the spelling is correct, and that the name appears in a consistent manner with your pen name. I'm not a fan of adding in the Author part of my name in my sender name because it doesn't create a consistency between my name on my books, inside the sales platforms or on my website. I also don't use any of the variants. I just use Holly Mortimer. In this case, traditional consistency works best.

However, a place where traditional consistency doesn't always work best is inside your subject line.

This is where our author brains are meant to shine! We are in possession of the BEST writing skills for subject lines because subject lines are all about the HOOK!

Inboxes are overcrowded and a lot of readers are starting to really refine who gets to stay and who gets yeeted. So, how can you ensure you at least have a fighting chance?

The Hook: Write something that makes the reader invested in the outcome. And make sure you follow through on that outcome inside your email or preview text.

Here are is a subject line from my inbox. Let's renovate it.

Friends, Now Live in KU: [insert title here]

What if this very common subject line looked like:

This book? This book is waiting for you in KU!

Holly? Renew your KU subscription. Book Title is LIVE!

Don't start reading this unless you don't have work tomorrow.

Your next obsession is inside this email AND KU!

Holly. This one's for you!

Book Title + KU = 👨‍🍳 😘

The options are limitless. Trust in yourself and try something new with a small segment and see how it works. You've got nothing to lose and opens to gain!

Here are some of my favourite subject lines that I have eagerly opened over the past 2 months.

Hey, Holly. - I love the way this feels like it's from a friend.

A Note from Sarah MacLean. - I felt for a millisecond that Sarah had sent me a personal note. Yes, I'm aware that I get sucked into these kinds of subject lines every. Single. Time.

💙 How to cope when it's all too much. - This was from the Calm app of which I'm a paid plan user. The fact that they know their audience so well and create subject lines to connect to the reasons why I bought the app is genius. See if you can use that an inspiration for your own subject lines. Why are your readers reading you? Use more of those words and phrases.

Hooray! Your package is here - This is from a delivery I was waiting for. But it could be a fun release day experiment. Especially in the romance space where there could be a plan on the word package. You could capitalize it for cheeky emphasis LOL.

no lies detected…🤷‍♀️ 😛 - I just like the use of emojis and I want to open it up to know what might be inside that's a lie or not a lie. I also like that the entire subject line is in lower case. This looks like an email I'd send a friend, not caring to uses punctuation or capitalization.

This got out of hand 😵 - What got out of hand? I need to know!

OOB vs ETL - This one is for my romance writers. It's mysterious but makes perfect sense when you open up the email. I've been writing emails for clients this month and almost all of them are having my own made-up game I'm calling a Trope-Off. So, this worked well for that. Only One Bed vs Enemies To Lovers.

Okay, so that should get you started. If I could leave you with one piece of advice, it's experiment. If you have a built in A/B subject line testing ability, use it and use it often. I use it almost every time I send an email. And create a little notes file of what subject lines work for you and which subject lines you find in your travels into your inbox that you loved.

Happy Emailing,

Holly

I'm now booking audits into April! Space is VERY limited as my travel schedule is nuts in April. If you'd like to catch me on the road and talking about emails, my next public appearance for all romance writer's to join in on will be in Washington DC's The Dazzling All-Star Book Marketing Retreat. Click through to check it out. So many of your favourite romance marketers are going to be there. It's my first time in Washington. Where should I go with only 12 hours of tourist time?

​Book your audit NOW!​