Your author newsletter is a crucial tool for building a strong, direct connection with readers, even before your first book is out. But it’s a good idea to think strategically about encouraging readers to sign up. When we get so many emails already, many of us ask ourselves: What’s in it for me?

If you’ve used Google or other search engines lately, you’ve probably noticed that the results, and the way books and authors appear in them, are changing. Searches no longer return just a long list of links — they include rich data, FAQs, AI summaries, and other new answer formats.

These changes are both a challenge and an opportunity — authors who adapt and earn placement in the new, richer results stand to sell more books and grow their audience. Meanwhile, authors who don’t adjust could see declines in their search-driven traffic and sales.

What do you need to do to make sure you benefit from these changes?

This article aims to answer that question by looking at the key ways search is changing, and the steps you can take to prepare.

Five years and lots of testing, learning, and pivoting later, direct sales is still my favorite business model. Thanks to being open to new sales strategies and adopting a long-term view of the book sales process, I make anywhere from 60-80% of my monthly revenue in a direct way — through my website, Kickstarter, in-person sales, and more. I’ve quadrupled my sales and my readers, and negotiated relationships with businesses like Tantor and Audible Studios.

Promoting your books is a crucial component of reaching more readers and getting in front of your audience. While there’s no single promotional tool that is universally effective for books, one strategy that many authors rely on is display advertising. And this strategy is broad — display advertising can encompass many different platforms, tactics, and goals, and is infinitely customizable to each advertiser’s unique business.

As an independent author writing for a niche market, finding and reaching new readers is one of my main goals. It also happens to be my highest hurdle. My marketing approach has always been to cast as wide a net as possible. Ignoring audiobook listeners and not investing in audiobooks is like leaving a gaping hole in your net. There may be plenty of fish in the sea, but — in my experience — no population of readers is as consistently engaged, invested, and passionate as audiobook listeners.