A while back, I was talking to some people…I think on Twitter, about mailing lists and how they differ from blogs. After all, if you subscribe to a blog, you can have (I believe it’s an opt-in/out function) the blog posts mailed to you. That’s kinda like a newsletter, right? I say things here, and then they go out to you. Ta-dah!
This is apparently, not the case. (Whoops.) So we come upon the concept of a newsletter/mailing list.
In many ways, the more I’ve thought about it, the more sense it makes to have a newsletter be alternate from one’s blog. For example, I try to keep these Monday posts more “professional,” dealing with the industry, writing, that kind of thing. They’re more “articles” in my mind than just “whatever’s on your mind today.” But with a newsletter, you can send out a quick burst to your subscribers and say “hey, in anticipation for the new book release, book 1 of the series is on sale for 99c!” or “My birthday’s coming up, so all books are half off!” or whatever you care to do. It doesn’t have to be so meticulously timed out, or you don’t have to arrange your schedule around when you’ll be able to post a blog. However, sometimes it works out anyway. For example, in my reading for NetGalley, I’ve noticed that Tuesday seems to be a popular day for books to be released. When I was picking a release date for REVOLUTION, I figured a Tuesday would be as good as any. And of course–these blogs come out on Mondays. So I have the added bonus of being able to remind you all on the 24th, that I have a book coming out THE NEXT DAY and if you haven’t preordered it yet, that is still TOTALLY A THING YOU CAN DO and then you’ll get it the NEXT DAY!!! (Can you tell I’m excited about this?)
It’s a little more informal, a little more friend-to-friend feeling. It’s for the little bits between “official” blog posts. And I like that. Now granted, I haven’t sent anything out yet, since I think I have a grand total of two people on my mailing list, and one of them is related to me. (Thanks, Mom!) But I’m looking forward to putting something out, and seeing how everything goes, and what everyone thinks about it. There’s no harm in it, right? And since I am planning on trying to branch out and get more stuff done faster, now that REVOLUTION’s out in the world (or will be on APRIL 25TH okay I’ll stop now), it’ll be a good way to keep you all apprised of what’s happening over here in the Hunt (as I like to call it, since Orion=hunter and all…) as I start pushing forward. In fact, if I get a few more people, I may let you help me decide what I’m going to work on next, because I’d like to work on a serial… Something for y’all to think about.
In any event, I do have a newsletter, and I promise I won’t spam you with it (because that would require me to have a lot more things to say than I ever seem to; there’s a reason I only do updates like this once a week) and it’ll let you know what’s happening and what’s coming up next. And if you join now, you can watch me melt down about my book’s release almost in real time! Won’t that be fun?! *hides in a corner*
Here’s the link. Hope to see you over there. (And I promise that one’s not a link to the book page. Promise. 😉 )
And let me know–what do you think about newsletters? Good/bad/indifferent? I’d love to hear your opinion. 🙂
I am not lost... 