How to subscribe to your favorite writers online: 4 easy ways

At least once a week, I get emails from readers asking how they can more easily follow my musings. With some websites and services, it's quite easy to follow. For instance, you can hop over to my YouTube channel, view any of my many videos, and subscribe. YouTube even has an alert feature that will let you know when I've posted a new video.

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But not all websites are offer this feature, which means it's not always that easy to follow or subscribe to a particular writer. 

However, even if a website doesn't offer an RSS-type or mailing list-type subscription feature, there are ways to keep abreast of what your favorite writers are doing.

Why subscribe?

First, let's answer this simple question. The main reason to subscribe to your favorite authors is to ensure you don't miss a word they've penned. In this world of constant content, sites tend to publish more and more, which means your favorite author's posts could get lost in the shuffle. By subscribing to a particular author, you guarantee that you won't miss out on the content you most care about.

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Another reason to subscribe to your favorite authors is that you can receive all of their updates in a single location. Instead of having to visit all of those websites, you can (in some cases) use a single app to view them all.

Now that you've been reminded as to the why, let's talk about the how.

1. Check the writer's 'team member' page

If the site you regularly view doesn't have an RSS feed option, the first thing you should do is check to see if it has a "team member" page. For example, ZDNET has a "Meet the team" section, where you can view bios and read content from a particular author. My team member page is here, and it always shows my latest work front and center.

I would suggest that you bookmark your favorite writer's team member page or, even better, use your browser to create a web app of the page, so all you have to do is open the app which will automatically display that page with their latest articles at the top. 

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You can do this with several browsers. For example, with Chromium you can open a writer's team page and then click Menu Button > "Cast, save, and share" > "Install page as app." Once you've done that, you can then open the new app from your desktop menu, without having to use a bookmark or search for that page. 

2. Use RSS feeds

This is the most reliable means to subscribe to an author. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and works with a reader app to collect all of your RSS feeds into one place. There are two things you must know about using RSS. First, you must install one of the many available apps capable of viewing RSS. Here's a shortlist of apps to choose from (some of which are free and some have an associated cost):

You will also find that some email clients (such as Claws Mail and Thunderbird) have built-in RSS support.

One thing to keep in mind is that a website must support RSS, and not all do. Some support it for topics or sections but not individual writers. To find out if your writer has an RSS feed, search for your favorite author on the site you read and look for the RSS icon. If the icon is there, click it to reveal that author's RSS feed. You can then add the URL for that feed to your reader and be updated daily on their musings.

If you find no RSS support on that site, I suggest you reach out to the company and ask them to add the feature.

3. Create a Google alert

Let's say your favorite writer works for multiple sites and even their own site. Now, let's say either only one or two of those sites offer RSS, but the others do not. What do you do?

You use Google -- just not the way that you're thinking. 

You don't have to google your favorite author every day. Instead, create a Google Alert. These alerts will automatically generate emails for you (sent to your Gmail inbox) based on the terms you add to the alert. 

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So, you can create a Google Alert for the name of your favorite author and every morning you'll be treated to an email that collects everything published by them on the previous day. I use this feature quite a bit and have found it to be incredibly reliable.

You create a Google Alert by pointing your web browser to the Google Alerts page. At the top of that page, type the name of your favorite author and click Show options. In the resulting drop-down, configure the alert to suit your needs (frequency, sources, language, region, how many results, and a deliver-to email address), and click Create Alert.

Once you've created the alert, you can expect results to start showing up the next morning in your Gmail inbox.

4. Mailing lists and newsletters

Finally, there are always mailing lists and newsletters. Not every writer uses these, but many do. I've had a mailing list for my fiction career for years, which you can subscribe to and receive notice when I release a new book. 

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If your favorite author has their own mailing list or newsletter, I recommend subscribing to it because you'll not only catch everything they've written, but you might also gain some more insights into the person behind the keyboard.

To find out if your favorite writer has a mailing list, you'll need to visit their website or search them up on social media. If they don't have a website, google their name+mailing list and see if they're running one on the likes of Mailchimp or Beehiiv.

And that, my dear friends, is how you can subscribe to your favorite writers and never miss a beat.