Author Newsletters. Yes? No?

A few years ago, author blogs were touted as the next best thing for authors to engage with readers. Now it’s newsletters. It seems every author has one. I fear, as with anything, over-use can make a good thing turn sour. I’ve experienced author newsletters as an author who sends one out and as a reader who’s on several author mailing lists.

I’ve had a newsletter for the past several years. I enjoy writing it, and I hope my subscribers like reading it. As a TV junkie, movie buff, and a cooking enthusiast, I include a movie/TV review and a recipe in every issue. Sometimes I run contests and giveaways. I have a small core group, my base as it were, who have been with me since the beginning. I thank them and value them. There are authors who have thousands of subscribers. I’m in awe of them and wish them the best. I’m happy with my small, loyal group, and I hope they continue to stay with me.

There are several providers an author can use. Several are free up to about 1,000 subscribers. I use Constant Contact, which is not free. As a totally non-technical person, I find them easy to work with, and there’s telephone contact for any problems I have. I negotiated a special price with them so I don’t feel obligated to get a newsletter out each month. When I paid a higher price, I felt I had to get something for my money and put out a mailing monthly.

To increase my subscriber list, about a year or so ago, I joined a multi-author promotion that gave away a Kindle and other cool prizes. Readers had to agree to sign up for author newsletters as a condition to entering the contest. I got about 100 additional subscribers, which made me happy. In my first newsletter after adding all the new people, I held a contest where I gave away a pretty bracelet. One of the new subscribers won it. As soon as she received it, she unsubscribed. That hurt. I took it personally. I know I shouldn’t but I did. I realized how naïve I’d been. Some readers sign up for newsletters just to win things. Read on for my experience as a reader who did just that.

Many of my new subscribers from that first promotion unsubscribed or didn’t open my newsletter. I was disappointed, and hoped I’d have better luck with another promotion. I joined a campaign that promised a large number of new subscribers, and got close to 1,000. Woo Hoo!! Right? Not so much. Ninety-eight percent of those new sign-ons either promptly unsubscribed as soon as they received my first newsletter or never opened it. However, because my total number of subscribers went over 1,000, my newsletter provider charged me more. I paid a lot for readers who didn’t want to hear from me. Another hard lesson learned.

Now when I join author promotions, it’s not to get newsletter subscribers but to get followers on Amazon and Book Bub. I want subscribers who like my books and want to hear from me. It’s not about the quantity of subscribers but the quality.

As a reader, I’ve entered contests in which I had to sign up for author newsletters. OMG!! I didn’t know what I was in for. I had a better understanding as to why all those new subscribers I added didn’t open my newsletter or unsubscribed. My inbox was suddenly inundated with emails from authors I’d never heard of. Some of those authors sent an email daily, sometimes several times a day. Monthly is good, not daily. All of the emails were constant promotion. As an author, this flooding of newsletters worries me that readers will get disgusted and turn off to newsletters from all authors.

When I started getting all these mailings, I wanted to support my fellow authors. Knowing how hurt I get when subscribers don’t open my newsletters, I opened every one. It seemed some days all I did was read newsletters. It got so out of hand I finally had to start unsubscribing. My newsletter list is now down to a manageable few from authors I actually want to hear from. Some of those who have unsubscribed from my newsletter stated the reason as they get too many emails. I can certainly relate.

On a side note, something I learned from getting this abundance of author mailings, is that I now know what “dark romance” and “dub-con,” (short for dubious consent) mean. Several times daily, I’d get ten or more emails from various authors with raunchy subject lines that made me blush. These were promotions for dark romances with dub-con. Out of curiosity, I bought one to see what all the fuss was about. I wish I could have stayed blissfully ignorant. I couldn’t delete those emails quick enough after that. I assume the authors dropped me from their lists as I don’t get any more of their emails. Not knocking Dark Romances. They’re popular now, and apparently lots of readers want them. Not my taste. On the plus side, I’ve bought books I’ve really liked that were promoted in newsletters from authors I’d never read.

I’ve stopped entering contests where one of the requirements is signing up for author newsletters.

Now, just to confuse things, there’s something called GDPR. From the internet: The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU) 2016/679 is a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union. It addresses the export of personal data outside the EU.

From what I understand, all of us authors who have newsletters must send out a compliance letter to our subscribers to ask if they want to continue to be on our mailing list. We must get a positive response either way. This regulation applies only to members of the EU, but many of us authors have readers who live in Europe. And we could have readers who live in the United States but are citizens of Europe. Non-compliance means fines up to $20,000. My newsletter provider has a form letter to use. I haven’t sent mine out yet, but I’m starting to get them from others who have me on their lists.

For you authors, how do you feel about newsletters? Do you see a bump in sales whenever you send one out? Do you think they’re here to stay or will lose favor due to over-use?

 For you readers, how do you feel? Do you subscribe to author letters? Do you get too many? I’m very interested in hearing others’ thoughts.

If anyone would like to sign up for my newsletter, please go to my website at www.caramarsi.com. There’s a button that will take you to the signup form. I promise I’ll send out my mailings monthly or less.

For anyone who has read my Facebook posts, you know I’m a crazy cat lady. I’m having a sale on an anthology of fun, quirky short stories, each one featuring a feline or two.

A TASTE OF ROMANCE-Two chefs cook up romance in the kitchen.

A CAT'S TALE-A clever cat with her own agenda conspires to reconnect a couple.

PLUMBING FOR LOVE-Grandma's plumbing problems bring a handsome plumber into a young woman's life.

A NEW BEGINNING FOR MELISSA-A family wedding offers a woman hope for a better future.

THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM-A runaway cart and a runaway cat bring two people together.

MY FANTASY PIRATE-A sexy pirate steals a woman's heart at Halloween.

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Until next month!