How Important Are Newsletters? 50 = 1,000 New Readers Within Minutes.

How Important Are Newsletters?

Many authors think that newsletters are a rule of thumb. Many disagree. I went a year without sending one before I realized that I wasn't keeping my email list up to date. (Yep, those who were signing up to hear from me)

No doubt, it's great to write and write until you're blue in the face but what's the point if you're not sharing it with those who matter the most… your readers!

Eventually I got around to putting together a newsletter. I used Ratepoint. While the formatting lagged a little, I liked everything they had to offer. So I've been with them for years.

Guess what happened yesterday?

I discovered they'd gone out of business! Yep, I screeched and hollered. My newsletter depo went under? Impossible. Then again, how often had I really used them? Not much. Could be I helped put them out of business. *Sighs*

So I said to myself, "Buck it up, move on." I started what turned out to be a long search for another newsletter provider. There's a lot out there. I think I hit about thirty sites. I wasn't impressed. In the end, I shoved past the 'blond moment' and typed into my Google browser, "What happened to Ratepoint?"

Naturally, the first thing that popped up was a company competing for their biz. Vertical Point. Have to admit, I liked their site. It was super easy to navigate and I walked away happy. My only complaint, they're sort of vague about pic sizes. One can sit there for a bit only to learn their pic is way over-sized. But it's a small detail.

So here's what I ended up creating last night…

SKY PURINGTON'S QUARTERLY NEWLETTER. 

Not too bad, right? It's an easy-to-use site and I'm stoked with the results. So my feeling on the subject of newsletters? Totally worth it and a necessary tool to spread the word about my work. After all, a good newsletter is now built in with the option to 'Like' and 'Tweet.' 

Just imagine what that might mean?

Basic breakdown on a low scale- you send to 50 contacts. Ten of those contacts tweet your newsletter to their 50 contacts. You just reached 500 people. How many of those 500 might retweet you? Then those original ten people 'like' you at FB. They just reached 500 more people who might have 'liked' again. Imagine if the counts are much higher on both ends? Within a day you could reach tens of thousands.
 Just imagine how many people you could reach off a 500, 1000, 10,000 count mailing list!

What about you? Are you a writer who sends out newsletters? Are you a reader who enjoys reading newsletters? What do you look for? I'd love to hear feedback on this subject!

In other news…. (shameless plug) my story HIGHLAND MUSE will officially be FREE for the last time today. Scoop up your copy HERE.

Cheers,

Sky