If the sight of all this text makes you want to spork your eyes out, skip to the very end and drop your email in the form, then check the “Writer” box under “Manage My Preferences” — I’ll be sending a condensed .pdf of this post with just the highlights to that list this week!
These days, I’m subscribed to a TON of mailing lists.
And they aren’t those junk lists you get put on when you order online and don’t pay attention to the microscopic “subscribe to our daily deals!!!” check boxes they love to plant just before the PLACE ORDER button, either.
The GOOD
They are legitimately the lists of people I am interested in hearing from. All of them offer (or promise they will offer) information of interest or value to me. Honestly, one of my very favorite people to hear from is Nick Stephenson, because I enjoy his humor. Also his silly pictures. And his stories. Another of my favorites (if you haven’t guessed this one) is Tim Grahl, because he drops a crap-load of very useful and relevant (and FREE) info in my inbox quite frequently.
My favorite thing about these two is the relevance, usefulness, and entertainment value of their emails. I actually look forward to seeing their emails in my inbox. How often does that happen when you sign up to mailing lists, really? Even though they both email a lot, I’m never annoyed. In fact, if I don’t get an email at least once a week, I’m annoyed that they haven’t emailed!
I also recently signed up to the mailing list of Kitchen Treaty. Previous recipe lists have been disasters. But this one is very pleasant. Once a week, one recipe. No overload, no aggravation, no overwhelm. And the recipes are actually foods I’d actually enjoy (and that won’t take up every dish in the kitchen and take all night to prepare)! Again, usefulness and interest are key here.
The BAD
Then there are other lists I’ve signed up for that should have been relevant and useful … but are not so much.
Why?
These lists fail in the extreme on one major and very important — in fact for me it’s the most important — point:
FREQUENCY.
One list from the Children’s Institute of Literature is very relevant to me, and would be useful … if I remembered who the hell was emailing me on the once in a Blue Moon they happen to send me something. Just today I received one of their emails and squinted at it, blinked at it, and wondered, “Who the hell is this person!?” Then I clicked on the email and looked it over and finally realized (by reading the reply email — there was no logo in the email either, which made it more confusing) who it was from.
It was relevant, and turns out, useful, but it almost got deleted because they email so infrequently I nearly forgot about them.
There is — was — another list I was subscribed to, run by our dear Buck Flogging (some of you may know of him). These emails were also relevant to me and could have been useful …
But I got one every.single.day … and all on very similar subjects. Which was the nature of this list, since it was a deal-finding list, but it was just too much.
Additionally, unlike Nick and Tim, there was no other aspect of personal stories or humor or silly pictures to make the frequency interesting (sometimes they were amusing, but not amusing enough). It was just deals deals deals deals. Some of them were super awesome deals, granted, but I still couldn’t afford to buy all of the deals all the time.
I was subscribed to two of these kinds of lists, and I unsubscribed from one because they ceased to be useful, and it was just too much. The other one I am still subscribed to, but I usually don’t open or read it. Someday, when I’m in the market for a great writing-related deal, I’ll click on it, but for now, sadly, it gets filed away, unopened.
Which brings me to the other main reason I unsubscribe from lists of people I originally think I’m genuinely interested in: they fail to engage me. As in, when I hear from them, however frequent or infrequent, all they want is for me to buy something from them.
Eh, sorry, no.
The UGLY
So as an author trying to engage with and connect with our readers on our mailing list(s), how can we win?
Email too much, and people think we’re annoying and unsubscribe.
Email too little, and people forget who we are and unsubscribe because they forgot they subscribed to our list in the first place (or worse, report you as abuse/spam because they forgot about you).
I’ve only had my own mailing list set up since October 2015. It had a rocky start as far as making sure everything worked properly, but since the tech issues were worked out, it’s all gone very smoothly. I used my own experiences as a subscriber to guide how I’ve handled my own list.
I’ve found the following to be pretty successful sweet spots, based on number of opens and number of clicks stats:
- Once a week or
- Twice a month or
- Twice in one week, one week break, twice in the next week (however, the people getting an email twice on those double weeks are on different segments of my list, so the content they get twice in that one week is drastically different each time, ex] one email to all subscribers about a cover reveal and one email to just my writers about a great resource for writing back cover copy)
Another extremely important point for people just starting their mailing list, too, I think, is to not let it sit unattended too long.
When you first start your mailing list, almost everyone signing up will be family or friends. This is GOOD. But you want to capitalize on their excitement as quickly as you can! Announcing you have a mailing list is a cool and exciting thing! People will sign up … and then actually expect you to email them.
Delay that first email too long, for whatever reason, and you’ll lose that initial enthusiasm. They’ll forget about the list entirely, eventually. Since they’re family and friends, they probably won’t unsubscribe when your first email comes out of the blue, but it will take them by surprise, and that initial burst of excitement will still have faded. Or they will struggle to figure out if they’ve subscribed or not during your subsequent announcements of mailing list establishment, then spend several minutes trying to remember if they’ve already signed up or not, because they can’t remember ever seeing your emails in their inbox.
Don’t do this to your beloved family and friends … and especially don’t do this to strangers who might have been interested in what you have to offer from the near-beginning!
If you’ve just set up your mailing list and want to be sure everything works correctly, tell only a few friends and family privately. Work out all the bugs and kinks, insure everything is in the green, and plan out an emailing schedule for at least the next few weeks.
THEN announce your list to everyone, everywhere!
Wait just a few days to get your first burst of sign-ups, then send them something! Anything! A brief intro into who you are as a writer, or what you plan to offer your list, or just a nice warm welcome, or a free short story, or a cute picture of your cat … ANYTHING.
They want to hear from you! They are waiting for it! (Often with bated breath … especially your mom!) Don’t disappoint them (or worse, annoy them) by leaving them hanging.
I created my list on October 7th. I sent my first campaign (email) on October 19th. Somewhere in there I announced the list had been created. There was one email in October (not enough, but that one email got a great response) and then November and onward I’ve averaged 4-7 emails a month to my three list segments.
And if you think you don’t have time to email your list at the minimum once a month … don’t have one. Personally, emailing my list is one of my favorite things aside from the writing itself. But if it’s not your cup of tea, don’t torture yourself. However, I think you’ll find once you start, it’s very enjoyable, and not as hard as it sounds.
I use MailChimp, and it’s a breeze (and free up to a few thousand subscribers!). If you’re intimidated by getting started, here’s a nice link to some great video tutorials.
Don’t forget, if all this text made your eyes cross, drop your email below and check the “Writer” box under “Manage My Preferences” — I’ll be sending a condensed .pdf of this post with just the highlights to that list this week!
If you’re an author with a list, let me know what kind of schedule you’ve found effective, and if you’re a subscriber of various lists, let me know what frequency you seem to like the best!
[yikes-mailchimp form=”1″ title=”1″ submit=”I would like that .pdf please! (And that free story you mentioned…)”]
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