Someone posted a question about how frequently an author should send out an email when a new book is releasing in one of the writing groups I’m in on Facebook. I’m beginning to think social media is indeed a vast, soulless wasteland, but that’s a rant for another time.
The poster said that they were following a popular, well-know course about book marketing, which said you should send three emails before the launch, one the day of the launch, and three more after the launch. Immediately, other people jumped on the bandwagon of ‘that’s too many emails! I’d unsubscribe!’ Twenty-four (24) people to be exact (as of the time I write this.)
I tried to explore this within the group because I find this reaction completely baffling. I tried to determine if it was strictly the frequency of the emails, especially daily emails, being sent, or was it that they were being sent crappy emails frequently. I got into a discussion with one of the other commenters wo said it is strictly the number of emails that are sent that determines if they’d unsubscribe from an email list. If they get ‘too many’ they immediately hit the unsubscribe button. This was a common reaction among the commenters.
So, let me get this straight. You find an author you like, and you sign up on their email list, presumably because you want to hear from them. You’re interested in what they have to say. You want to know more about them and their books. But if they start sending you ‘too many’ emails, you drop them like a hot potato. Not because they didn’t write anything interesting, or they sent you nothing but sales pitches, but only because they sent more emails than you expected? If that’s the case, why did you even bother signing up on their list to begin with?
Email is one of the best forms of marketing still on the ‘net today. Some industries get thirty-six to forty-two (36 – 42) times return on the money invested, meaning if you invest one dollar in your email marketing, you can get 36 to 42 dollars back. Not too shabby. Books are not in that category, nor are most consumer goods, but three to five (3 – 5) times return is still respectable.
It has also been shown that businesses that email more frequently, including daily, make more sales than businesses that email less frequently. By sending out a missive daily, an author can build a relationship with their audience, letting their readers get to know, like and trust the author. The people who stay on the list are more likely to be engaged, buy more things, and tell others about the author and their books. I would think these would all be something authors would desire.
There are email service providers that charge you money based on how many subscribers you have on your list. The more subscribers, the more you get charged. But they also count the unsubscribes against the total number of subscribers you have. If you end up getting a bunch of people leaving your list because they hear from you too often then you, the author sending them, are having to pay for those people, even though they aren’t on your list. So, if you are going to subscribe to an author’s email list, but get in a snit over getting more than you expected and unsubscribe for only that reason, maybe it’d be best that you be more prudent in which list you sign up on and then leave so you don’t make those authors pay for your whims.
I make it quite clear on my signup page that I send out daily emails. Well, except Sundays. I want to discourage those folks who can’t manage their attention or time from signing up. If you don’t want to hear from me that often, save us both the trouble and don’t sign up to begin with. I don’t want to ‘spam’ you, and I want people on my list who want to hear from me.
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