Why I’m no longer doing sweepstakes to gain newsletter followers #WriterWednesday #AuthorNewsletter #AuthorMarketing

[image error]In case you missed it (although I’m not sure how that’s possible), the writing world is having an absolute hissy fit about the newsletter marketing platform MailChimp. MailChimp has changed a bunch of things on its platform. Don’t ask me what those changes are I haven’t the time to study the changes. I did, however, take the time to listen to the Novel Marketing Podcast, which discussed the changes in words a non-marketing professional such as myself could understand. (In case you need some guidance, here’s the link to the podcast: https://www.novelmarketing.com/190-5/)

[image error]My takeaway from the podcast was as follows: For someone like me who has around 1,300 subscribers and does not have an onboarding sequence, there’s no reason to panic. The only thing I needed to do was archive anyone on my list who had unsubscribed. Well, okay then, off I went to do just that.

While I was archiving my unsubscribed and cleaned contacts, I discovered most of these contacts were from a sweepstakes I’d taken part in to gain subscribers. And by most I mean nearly all. Logically, I knew taking part in a sweepstakes would lead to a lot of unsubscribes. I still thought it was worth a try. No more, though. I will try to gain my subscribers organically from here on out.

I’m also working on a short story, which is an offshoot from one of my series, to provide to my subscribers for free. I may do some advertising in that regard – assuming I ever finish the darn thing. Full disclosure: I haven’t even started it yet.

I’m sticking with Mailchimp for now. If I somehow become super popular and gain tons of followers, I’ll reconsider. Right after I buy the Brooklyn Bridge that is…