I’ve been pretty half-assed about doing a newsletter up until now, but I figured it was time I got it into gear. I had a newsletter/new release notifications list that I ran through groups.io, basically creating a group with limitations that made it function as a newsletter…but without any of the bells and whistles that go with software that’s designed for the purpose of creating a newsletter. Not nearly as pretty, or as easy.

So yesterday I set up a WordPress plugin to see if I liked it well enough to transition over. Turns out, I love it. One thing I’d worried about was sending out too many…like does everyone want a monthly newsletter and new release notifications and perhaps notifications of sales? I ended up sending mostly only a newsletter coinciding with new releases rather than stressing out about spamming.

But this plugin puts that decision in the subscribers hands! They can sign up for one of those options, two of them, or all three. It’s worry-free for me. Existing subscribers that were migrated over were auto-signed up for all, but the email asking them to confirm their subscription to the new system let them know they’ll be able to modify that, and that there’ll be a link to do so at the bottom of each newsletter/notification. So still reasonably guilt-free.

If you weren’t part of the migration and would like to become a new subscriber, please fill out the form, at the bottom of this page.

• New release notifications will be be precisely that. All about the new release. They’ll probably include an image or two, the blurb, links, and maybe an excerpt. If I have any sound bites from advance reviews, I might stick them in there, too.
• Sales notifications are also pretty much what the name implies. Since all my books are at JMS, that’ll pretty much mean letting you know about the occasional sales there that are usually tied to holidays. I also usually participate in the semi-annual Smashwords sales. So those will be short and simple, sometimes months between them, sometimes a couple within a single month. Frequency will vary.
• Newsletters will include recent news, writing updates, what’s coming up. I’ll toss in a few recommendations for things I’ve read and think others might enjoy, too. I’m also planning to include some exclusive reading in the newsletter. I used to have a regular Flash Fiction Friday post on the blog, but I’ve gotten away from that. Instead, I’m going to write one once a month and put it in the newsletter. It’ll remain exclusive to subscribers for a month before it gets added to the website. You’ll also get the opportunity to throw prompt words at me to work into the next month’s story scene.