This article has 81 ideas for freebies you can give away to newsletter subscribers.

When you’re trying to start a newsletter from scratch, everyone’s advice is to get a “newsletter magnet”. This is a free gift which you give out to your subscribers in order to attract them to join your newsletter.

Getting your newsletter magnet right is the most important step in newsletter growth. If the newsletter magnet doesn’t match what your ideal client is looking for, they won’t give you their email address — and then they will miss out when you do your next product launch!

Some people claim that in 2021, you need to be giving away 10 full-length books, an audiobook, a new car and your home to every newsletter subscriber.

Those people are giving away too much. If you get your offer right, you don’t need to go overboard to attract subscribers. In fact, it’s basic psychology that people have already decided if they like you or not in the first 7 seconds of meeting you. The same happens when they go on your website. When those people see your popup for your newsletter magnet, they have probably already made a decision whether they would give you their email or not! At that point, giving them your house just makes you look like you peddle cheap trash. Keep it classy — never give away too much of your stuff.

You should also consider how many people on your newsletter will actually buy from you. It’s surprisingly few. Industry standard for online marketing (all sectors) is 1-2%. If you have 1000 people on your list, only 10-20 will buy from you. Is it still looking like good value to give away your entire life’s work when all you’re getting in exchange is an email address that may or may not belong to a future customer?

Having said that, giving NOTHING away is equally silly. You need to strike a balance. Once you have your content, spend some time (or hire someone to do this for you) working on the packaging. This is your page layout, your cover design, the wording of your title and your sales pitch for the freebie. People will pick a bad product in pretty packaging over a good product in poor packaging every time. BUT if your freebie is a bad product, those people will not trust you and then they won’t buy from you when you launch your next thing.

So here are some ideas for newsletter magnets for bloggers, think through which one would align with your customers, but also think carefully on which newsletter magnet is most relevant to the product you sell or intend to sell. The freebie should naturally attract people who will buy your next product. If it doesn’t, you need to either re-work it or try a different freebie to attract the right subscribers.

Obviously, if you are blogging in an area that requires certification, be sure you have it before giving advice on things, e.g. if you are an accountant who is also a financial blogger, you may legally be able to advise on tax matters in your country of certification/registration to practice.

Beauty/Fashion Bloggers

1. 6-10 soap recipes
2. 6-10 natural beauty recipes
3. 6-10 facial rituals
4. How to photograph beauty products
5. An in-depth skincare buying guide for all skin types/ages
6. An in-depth hairstyle/colour picker guide for all face shapes/skintones
7. A guide on what to wear to the races
8. A guide on what to wear to a wedding
9. A guide on what to wear at a funeral
10. How to buy second-hand designer handbags
11. How to buy second-hand designer shoes
12. How to buy fine jewellery (checking for fakes, matching it to your style, birthstones etc)
13. How to dress your husband in style
14. An in-depth guide on fake nails or a mini-course via Udemy/Teachable etc
15. How to pose for and take fashion photos – and how to teach your family/boyfriend/bestie to take better photos of you.

Financial Bloggers

1. How to plan your savings for the next year (worksheet with interactive calculations or downloadable spreadsheets so readers just put in the numbers)
2. How to budget when you’re broke
3. How to do your taxes for (insert your country of expertise here)
4. How to do your taxes for (insert a niche industry of ideal clients here)
5. A guide to all the different types of investments
6. How to halve all your bills
7. How to pay off a credit card in 12 months

Food Bloggers

1. 6-10 recipes for special occasions
2. How to poach a perfect egg every time
3. How to shop for the best fresh food at farmers’ markets
4. How to dehydrate anything
5. How to freeze and thaw anything perfectly
6. How to preserve anything: Canning, freezing, dehydrating, pickling, smoking.
7. How to cook the perfect Thanksgiving dinner even if you can’t cook

Lifestyle/Mom Bloggers

1. How to declutter your house: A complete guide
2. How to clean your house with zero stress.
3. How to start a garden
4. A baby guide for new moms (or a breastfeeding guide if you’re a IBCLC or similar)
5. A full guide to having a homebirth
6. A guide to homeschooling
7. A guide to weaning babies + some baby food recipes
8. How to host your first Thanksgiving + some side dish and cookie recipes
9. How to take the perfect baby photos: a photography guide
10. How to preserve anything: Canning, freezing, dehydrating, pickling, smoking.

Marketing Bloggers

1. Your complete guide to on- and off-page SEO
2. How to make a Tweet go viral
3. How to make an Instagram post go viral
4. How to make a blog post go viral
5. How to make a Facebook post go viral
6. How to get started with Google Ads
7. How to write a business plan (with printable template)
8. How to write a marketing plan (with printable template)

Photography Bloggers

1. How to take the perfect landscape photo
2. How to photograph animals and people
3. Complete guide to choosing a DSLR/mirrorless camera
4. Complete guide to using a DSLR/mirrorless camera
5. Complete guide to infrared photography
6. Complete guide to snapping a moving object
7. How to sell your camera equipment (so you can buy more)*
8. *You want future customers, not people leaving photography.
9. How to edit a landscape photo in Photoshop
10. How to design your own photo filter in Photoshop

Travel Bloggers

1. How to get paid to travel around the world
2. How to write the perfect travel article
3. How to turn a journey into a piece of writing
4. How to take better travel photos
5. A 6-10 page mini-guide to a specific country (you could offer different ones depending on which page your potential customer landed on)

Artists/Illustrators/Designers

1. My design process: A 6-10 page PDF or ebook showing how you designed a piece of work from conception to finished piece.
2. An exclusive printable illustration/artwork
3. A 6-10 page colouring book aimed at your target audience e.g. a fairies in the garden adult coloring book (with the right amount of complexity).
4. A 6-10 page colouring book version of your own work (using Photoshop, you can turn any picture into a colouring page following my tutorial here).
5. A tutorial in a specific technique using Photoshop or a graphics program

Fiction Authors

1. A 6-10 page colouring book version of your book covers (if you have the right picture licences for this)
2. A 6-10 page colouring book version of some CC zero images that are related to your story (you can get CC zero images from Pixabay).
3. The first 1-3 chapters of the first book in a series, or of your upcoming release if you don’t write in series.
4. A short story in the same genre as your usual writing.
5. An unpublished anthology story for which the rights have reverted back to you.
6. A paper doll booklet (printable PDF) for subscribers to cut out the dolls and fold them into a scene from your book. These used to be super popular in the 70s/80s and would appeal to fans of certain genres such as sci-fi/fantasy where readers love unique collectible things. You could hire a designer if you can’t design this yourself but be super-clear in the brief so they know where to put the tabs etc. Here is an example from Etsy (copyright to the person whose pictures it is).
7. A printable quiz book or puzzle book based on your story world
8. A free audiobook (difficult to deliver though as audiobooks aren’t easy files to transfer)

Nonfiction Authors

1. All the things bloggers can give away, plus:
2. A 6-10 page mini guide on the same topic as your main book or books.
3. 6-10 FREE guitar/horticulture/physics lessons to readers’ inboxes
4. Free access to a secret VIP page with extra downloadable content/resources on your website
5. Free 30 minute videocall/telephone call consult with you about their business/technique in your niche/field
6. Free access to 3-6 video tutorials on your specialist niche/field
7. A free demo version of your software or product

What are you using for a newsletter magnet? How does it feed into your paid product? Let me know in the comments to help inspire other bloggers looking for ideas to develop their own newsletter magnets!