Surfacing – After the Launch – Self-Publishing (7)
Whew! That’s me taking a deep breath.
The launch was fantastic. Just like my OIM launch, I was busy the whole time – talking to readers, signing books, SELLING books – it was great.
I sold quite a few copies of OIM, as well, which reinforces what everybody says; writing a new book is the best way to promote your existing book(s).
There have been lots of things I’ve wanted to write about, but I’ve just been up to here (mimes hand way over head) and haven’t gotten around to it.
Today we were supposed to go to a friend’s cottage in Quebec but rain, a twelve-degree overnight drop in temperature, and a sinkhole on the highway, have conspired to keep us home so I’m going to write a blog post! Finally …
One thing I didn’t anticipate was how much new technology / new services I’d try out and use as part of launching APS. I’ve been really impressed and amazed by what’s out there so, over time, I’ll share with you.
I’m going to talk first about the one that’s probably the most relevant to anyone doing any kind of writing and / or self-employment. An email list service.
Newsletters are really important. Anyone’s who’s been on any social platform for any length of time (FB, LinkedIn, etc.) will have seen changes in terms / conditions of use from time-to-time, and will have heard corresponding complaints from users about how these changes impede their ability to reach customers, etc.
The simple fact is, you don’t own FB, you don’t own LinkedIn, you don’t own Pinterest, and so if they want to change those sites, and how they work, you have no say in it. This is why having your own newsletter list, that you control, is really important.
I had a newsletter list, but I decided it was time to take it up a notch and go really pro so I signed up for MailChimp.
I LOVE MAILCHIMP.
MAILCHIMP IS FREE (up to 2,000 subscribers and, if I hit 2,000 subscribers, I’ll happily start paying for it).
If you haven’t already rushed off to open a MailChimp account, here are some points you might be interested in:
(1) MailChimp has a nice interface. It was very intuitive to me. I really had no problem navigating / understanding it.
(2) MailChimp may, or may not, allow you to smoothly import contacts. I had to do mine manually. A bit of a pain, but it forced me to contemplate each person on my mailing list. I removed some names myself during this process.
(3) MailChimp is big into compliance / anti-spam. They manage the unsubscribe process for you. There’s a link on every message you send out, and they make sure the names get removed from your list, and aren’t mistakenly put back on. They also have a double opt-in system for people who sign up. Essentially, if you use MailChimp, only people who definitely want to be on your list should be there.
(4) You can make amazing looking templates! They have a drag and drop capability that lets you include images, blocks of text, etc. Your emails will look great!
(5) The reporting is pretty cool. In fact, it’s a little scary. They tell you how many people opened your message, compare it to the industry average, and tell you who opened your message, when, how many times, and where. They analyze click-through rates, etc. It’s information I never dreamed I’d have.
There are some additional features that come with the paid edition that I think I’d use. One is the ability to optimize your open rates by accounting for time zones, and sending messages when people are most likely online to open them. I don’t want this functionality enough to pay for it now, but if I ever got to the stage where I was paying anyway this, and other features, are ones I’d probably use.
MailChimp is just one stop on my learning curve – there are many other services / technologies I’ve used that I’ll be telling you more about as I have time. For now, just let me know if you have any questions!
