This post is flavored with regret and misgiving. (I am not a fan of newsletters for many reasons, but I’m rather tired of being asked about if I could PLEASE just do one for $this_author that I decided fine, screw it, I’ll do it.)
No bells, no whistles, nothing fancy, exceptionally limited communication. Every newsletter will remind readers why they are a member.
Preorder email will just be the usual suspects, links, book cover, book description.
New Release will be the usual suspects, links, book cover, book description, opening scene of the book.
The others will be the price or date changes.
That is LITERALLY it, no other news. If you want other news, you will need to be subscribed to the blog or patreon.
In other news, I am back to work today, and I have vacation return regrets right now. If you hear a big crash, the precarious to-do list fell on me, likely crushing me to death. Wish me luck. I’m going to need it.
This is the text from the new Newsletter Signups link in the header:
After seeing numerous comments from people wishing for pen name specific new release notifications, and they don’t want to use Bookbub, Amazon, or Goodreads (or anything similar), I’ve made the decision to set up newsletter lists so people can do that. I will only be sending newsletters under the following conditions, sent only for the author/pen name you signed up for:
1: An announcement of all new preorders.
2: An announcement of all new releases on their release day.
3: Notifications of price changes should a book go over estimated length. (See: Dragon Her Heels by R.J. Blain, which was supposed to be 100,000 words but came in well over 150,000 words. It was 167,000 words short.)
4: Announcements of changed publication dates.
You may sign up for the following pen names / lists:
Be aware that the newsletter manager I am using does bot scanning. This may make the signup pages take a few moments to load.
- All R.J. Blain Pen Names excluding Sekrit Pen Names.
- R.J. Blain
- Susan Copperfield
- Lilith Daniels
- G.P. Robbins
- Bernadette Franklin
- Leanne Hearst
- Sekrit Pen Name #1 (This list will only receive announcements of new releases on their release day.)
If you want the Sekrit Pen Name and ALL pen name notifications, you will need to sign up for TWO lists: the first one and the last one on the list.
Otherwise, pick and choose based on your interests. Please do not sign up for the first one and then the others. You will just get two of the same exact emails. Nothing extra is going to these newsletters. (And I mean nothing.)
It’s ok. You’re very good at what you do and after I read one thing of yours I went and found them ALL. Consider even a part-time personal assistant to buffer you from people so you can write for them instead.
I already have one. I just don’t permit anyone other than me to directly communicate with my readership. The exception of that is my contact list, which is flagged as being handled by me assistant, and she identifies herself as such.
I don’t know how you keep track, I certainly don’t, because I am subscribed to more than one of your lists, it just told me so! 😂
Ahahahahahaha. Neat labelings and double checking. It’s okay, you’ll find out when I send mailers, and you can trim down as you want when they arrive :3
Or we can have a giggle fest over you receiving numerous emails!
Thanks for doing this.
I vehemently object and reject you doing these author newsletters. You already send out regular updates with the status of the different series, what’s currently on deck that you’re working on, and plans for the future which is always in slight flux (just like everything in the future is, otherwise I’d be a multimillionaire). If people can’t figure out what your book working schedule is just from your normal updates, then that’s on them. You’ve already taken a lot of time to put together the emails that you do and you don’t need to add to the list of chores that don’t add anything of value to you. So again I object to you writing extra newsletters.
Okay, you can object, even vehemently, but I’m still going to do it because there has been a lot of people asking for it.
They aren’t getting new content, so sending the newsletter is literally “copy paste the stuff going to the blog to the newsletter software, press send.” It’s approximately twenty seconds of my life per newsletter.
I am putting the link to the newsletters in my books, so if people who don’t use the blog get to it from the books, great. That means more sales.
So, the issue here is… you don’t understand how it has value.
It actually does. (And it can be significant value.)
People are FAR more willing to sign up for a newsletter that is ONLY for release news than they are to sign up for a blog that has a lot of other clutter.
Your thoughts are very appreciated, and I think you’re being very sweet, so thank you for that.
But it’s really just twenty seconds now that it’s set up. I just breathed fire while setting it up is all. 🙂