*SALES EMAIL SUMMIT* Beth Barany– last minute signups - The Email Sound Booth with Liz Wilcox

Summary4 min read

Podcast Summary: SALES EMAIL SUMMIT – Beth Barany on Last Minute Signups

Podcast: The Email Sound Booth with Liz Wilcox
Host: Liz Wilcox
Guest: Beth Barany
Date: August 20, 2025
Episode Theme: Leveraging last-minute sales emails and affiliate collaborations for effective email marketing—especially for audiences with procrastination tendencies.

Episode Overview

This episode spotlights Beth Barany, an expert in helping science fiction and fantasy writers publish their novels, as she breaks down a particularly successful sales email campaign. Host Liz Wilcox and Beth discuss the anatomy of an email that drives late signups, insights into audience behavior, and the power of affiliate marketing when promoting industry-adjacent events or products.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Beth's Most Successful Recent Sales Email

[01:06] Beth Barany introduces herself and describes her noteworthy sales email promoting a colleague’s writing workshop.
Email details:
- Purpose: Promote a 90-minute workshop in a series (where Beth also participated).
- Subject Line: Time sensitive invite, unlock your hero's heart.
- Stats:
  - 37.33% open rate
  - 3.75% click-through rate
- Audience: Fiction writers, primarily those interested in craft improvement.
Beth’s insight:
- Email was successful because it was direct, emotionally resonant, and aligned with her audience’s interests.
- She knew at least two signups came directly from her list—a strong outcome for a niche workshop.
- Quote:
  - “It got right to the heart of the matter, no pun intended... For those reasons, I consider it a very successful email.” [01:52]
Enthusiasm matters:
- Beth attributes part of the email’s success to her and her colleague’s evident excitement.
- Quote:
  - “That energy of excitement and enthusiasm I think came through in the email.” [02:57]

2. The Power of Affiliate Collaboration

[03:25] Liz Wilcox: Celebrates the collaboration and strong click rate. Emphasizes the value of promoting colleagues’ offers.
[04:08] Beth Barany: Details her approach:
- Uses multiple emails in a campaign for time-sensitive events.
- Specifically notes her audience’s tendency to delay action; therefore, reminder and “last chance” emails are vital.
- Quote:
  - “I am not shy about sending reminders like ‘hey, this is starting tomorrow’ or ‘hey, registration closes tonight’ ... a lot of writers on my list I noticed are last minute deciders.” [04:55]
- Affiliate marketing is now central to her business—she promotes only products she truly believes in, benefiting both her audience and colleagues.

3. Understanding (and Leaning Into) Audience Behavior

Both host and guest notice audiences often take action at the last minute:
- [06:28] Liz: Shares her similar experience with affiliate webinars:
  - “I told her...I will not start promoting this until like 48 hours before because my people tend to just open the email and ‘Oh, this is in 20 minutes? Great.’...I get so many last-minute signups like 20 minutes before.”
- This behavior informs their email strategy: send multiple reminders, especially close to the event’s start time.

4. Beth’s List-Building & Community

[07:53] Beth: Offers her email list signup to listeners, emphasizing community and ongoing support beyond just a welcome gift.
- Free 5-day writer’s motivation mini course
- Regular writing sprints, Facebook group, weekly newsletter, event news
- Signup link: BethBarany.com/newsletter
- Quote:
  - “You'll get our weekly newsletter and all the things about our events that I share.”

5. Takeaway for Listeners: Email Strategy for Collaboration & Affiliate Success

[08:46] Liz:
- Encourages all listeners—writers or not—to try Beth’s approach when promoting others' products:
  - “You do not have to be an author or aspiring author to steal this email. This email is great for those of us who want to promote our friends...collaboration over competition.”
- Announces the summit's Steal These Sales Emails template pack, helping listeners replicate summitted emails for their own affiliate campaigns.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Beth Barany ([01:52]): “It got right to the heart of the matter, no pun intended... For those reasons, I consider it a very successful email.”
Beth Barany ([02:57]): “That energy of excitement and enthusiasm I think came through in the email.”
Beth Barany ([04:55]): “I am not shy about sending reminders like ‘hey, this is starting tomorrow’ or ‘hey, registration closes tonight’ ... a lot of writers on my list I noticed are last minute deciders.”
Liz Wilcox ([06:28]): “I get so many last-minute signups like 20 minutes before. And so I just give them like 48 hours of ‘hey, this is coming’... ‘It's happening today’ type of thing.”
Beth Barany ([07:53]): “You'll get our weekly newsletter and all the things about our events that I share.”
Liz Wilcox ([08:46]): “This email is great for those of us who want to promote our friends...collaboration over competition.”

Timestamps for Key Segments

01:06 — Beth introduces her sales email campaign (overview, subject line, performance)
02:57 — The role of enthusiasm and energy in sales emails
04:08 — Frequency and structure of reminder emails; importance of audience behavior
06:28 — Audience procrastination and collaborative affiliate strategies
07:53 — Beth’s email list pitch and ongoing community resources
08:46 — Broader application of the email approach; summit resource promotion

Summary Takeaway

Beth Barany’s successful sales email exemplifies the impact of:

Emotional, direct subject lines
Understanding and leaning into audience behaviors (especially last-minute signups)
Leveraging collaboration and affiliate marketing with integrity
Sending multiple, well-timed reminder emails

Listeners are encouraged to adapt similar tactics—whether for their own workshops or when promoting others' offerings—as well as to check out resources like the summit's email template pack for hands-on support.

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Transcript9 lines

[00:01]
A
What up? Liz Wilcox here, the host of sales Email Summit. Before we get into this interview, I just want to let you know that this summit is sponsored by List Gadget. List Gadget.com is how you can turn every email into a growth machine. We've got embeddable polls, leaderboards, referral programs and more. And I know this sounds crazy, but you can do it in about 3:30 second startup time. Now right now we are offering $10 off the starter plan to make it just $9 a month. So if you're into adding email polls, reactions, subscriber leaderboards and more to your email newsletter, head on over to list gadget.com all right, let's get into this episode. Beth, I am so excited to hear what is the most interesting or the most lucrative sales email that you have sent out in the last six to 12 months.
[01:06]
B
Hey everyone, my name is Beth Barani and I help science fiction and fantasy writers publish their novels. I am sharing an email that I sent out in June called it's to market a friend and colleague's workshop in a series that I was eventually participating in. The subject line of that email was time sensitive invite, unlock your hero's heart. And this email was promoting her workshop, her 90 minute workshop. And I think it worked well. Some stats first it had a 37.33% open rate and a click rate click through rate of 3.75%, which is good for my list. And I think so this email was marketing a workshop, as I said. And the title of the subject line was time sensitive. Obviously it said time sensitive. It had an emotional appeal. Unlock your hero's heart. And the value proposition was take this workshop. And my audience is fiction writers. And I think it had, it got right to the heart of the matter, no pun intended. And the biggest reason why I wanted to include it in the summit is because I know for a fact that two people signed up for the workshop who came from my list and it wasn't. And it was a competitively priced in depth workshop for writers who are already working on their craft. So for those reasons, I consider it a very successful email.
[02:57]
A
Yeah.
[02:58]
B
And I'm also, I think another component to this is that I'm very enthusiastic about teaching and very. And so is my friend sue who I was marketing. And so that energy of excitement and enthusiasm I think came through in the email. Yeah. So that is what I'm going to share with y' all today. And good luck with your sales emails, everyone.
[03:26]
A
Okay. I love an affiliate income email. I love collaborating with Other people that you know have complimentary workshops, products, etc. And I love that, you know, people went over and purchased. That's amazing. So let us know. Oh also y', all, that's an amazing click rate. It was almost 4%. Just letting you know. That's amazing click rate. So Beth, let us know what was the subject line of this email and did you send just one email for the workshop or were there follow up emails and why or why not?
[04:09]
B
Yeah, great questions, Liz. So the subject line of this email was time sensitive invite, unlock your hero's heart. I actually don't send that many time sensitive invitations, so maybe that is one of the things that grab people's attention. Also unlock your hero's heart. Deeply emotional. I think people really like that. This was an email in a series of several and in fact this email that I'm using for your summit was the second email in a series. I probably sent one more after this. And then I also put PS into various other emails and I do a newsletter with lots of things on Fridays, so it was probably part of that as well, multiple times. But this was right before the event and yeah, it was like the workshop was in just a few days. So something I notice about my audience is they tend to be last minute people. So I. So I've just leaned into that and I am not shy about sending reminders like hey, this is starting tomorrow or hey, this is, you know, the registration closes tonight, that kind of thing. Because I know I tend to be a procrastinator and a lot of writers on my list I noticed are last minute deciders. So that is definitely a factor. All right, I think I hit all your questions. Let me know if you have any more. Well, I guess I want to add one more thing regarding being an affiliate and partnering with other people. I've leaned into that really heavily in my business over the last few years. I'm a workshop leader and speaker, but I don't put on my own workshops anymore. So I'm showing up in other people's platforms all the time and I want to be marketing even other people who I might may or may not be speaking in their environments or to their audiences. But if they have something that I think is useful for my audience, I am happy to share it. And, and I have made a decent amount of income as an affiliate and I only market things I truly believe in and I think it's a win win because I can't be everywhere at once. So that's just a little plug for affiliate stuff. And partnering with my colleagues.
[06:28]
A
You know, I've noticed that my people are last minute. So maybe it's just a state of the world. I even did an affiliate thing with Natalie Bardo, who is a speaker at this event. So check her Talk out when you're done listening to me and Beth. But anyway, we did a webinar last year to promote her Pinterest course. And I told her, you know, I know you sent over a lot of swipe copy and you know, two weeks in advance. I said, but I'm going to tell you right now, I will not start promoting this until like 48 hours before because my people tend to just open the email and oh, this is in 20 minutes. Great. I don't have to do any real work. I'll go to this webinar. That's how I figure. That's how I think it goes in their heads because I get so many last minute signups like 20 minutes before. And so I just give them like 48 hours of hey, this is coming. Hey, you might want to attend in a couple days. Hey, look at your calendar. Hey, it's happening today type of thing. So I love that, Beth. Yes, my people are very similar. Now, Beth, if people want to get on your email list, if they are also into, you know, or need help with publishing their books, let us know how we can join your email list.
[07:54]
B
What a great story about last minute behavior. Yeah, so true. So if you want to join my email list and I primarily help science fiction and fantasy novelists, then come on over to Bethberrani.com newsletter and you'll be able to get on our list. Get a free 5 day writer's motivation mini course plus a bunch of other fun goodies. Like we have regular writing sprints, we have a Facebook group, and you'll get our weekly newsletter and all the things about our events that I share. So that's BethBarrani.com news newsletter. All right, Liz, thank you so much. It's so much fun being a part of your sales email summit. And thank you so much for inviting me.
[08:46]
A
Hear me out. You do not have to be an author or aspiring author to steal this email. This email is great for those of us who want to promote our friends, for those of us that believe in collaboration over competition. And, and we know, we just know we are going to be sharing other people's workshops, products, et cetera in the future so we can make affiliate income. Affiliate income has been a big theme today, has it not? If you don't know what I'm talking about. Listen to the rest of these so how are you going to steal this email for $35, which is a total steal of a deal? You're going to get our template pack the Steal these sales emails Template pack A plug play collection of every single email from this summit rewritten rewritten into simple templates so you can customize in minutes. You don't have to decode what Beth just said. You don't have to guess at what was in that email. You can just copy it, tweak it, send it out to your audience and make sales. Just like Beth and the other business owners in this summit. Again, for just $35, you can steal all these emails. The link is in the show not Baby.