Meredith's Monday Musing: Author Newsletters

Greetings, Everyone!

Happy Monday! Can you all believe that it's April? I feel like it should still be February! Life is moving so fast, I can't believe it! Besides time flying by, I've been super-de-duper busy! I just got my comments back from my beta reader on my current WIP. I have to fix some issues, then my WIP will get sent to my editor. I'm excited! I think y'all will like this story.

Getting to the point of this post, today's topic for Meredith's Monday Musing is: Author Newsletters!

It seems like 2017 is going to be the year that every author creates their own newsletter. I think newsletters are great because it's a way for authors to directly connect with anyone who wants to sign up for their newsletters. Authors no longer have to worry about if their posts on Facebook or Twitter will be seen by all their fans. All they have to do is send out their newsletter and boom, they can guarantee that their fans get the information they want to share.

Additionally, authors can track via their newsletter homepage what readers click on in the newsletter, how many people opened it up, etc. I think that's really cool because this lets authors know precisely what parts of their newsletter are the biggest hit with their fans and which parts aren't as successful. Therefore, authors will know what to promote more and what to maybe revamp to get readers to like it more.

I'm a part of a newsletter with two amazing authors, Maddie Taylor and Morganna Williams. It has been amazing working with them to fill our newsletter with steamy content for our readers. Plus, we all get to share the load on producing a newsletter each month, so it's nice not to have the entire burden on just one of our shoulders.

Obviously, I'm a fan of newsletters from the authors perspective. However, as a reader, I'm not as in love with them. For the newsletters that I sign up for, I do enjoy receiving them to see what some of my favorite authors are up to. One of the biggest things that annoys me though is there have been a couple of newsletters that I haven't signed up for, yet my email address was added to that person's newsletter. My email is fairly well known, so I get a bit angry when a newsletter I know for 100% I didn't sign up for, shows up in my inbox. The few times it has happened, I've messaged the individual and they've taken me off their list. It just baffles me why someone would put another person on their list if they haven't signed up for it. That isn't right.

The only other thing that frustrates me about newsletters as a reader is I wish that authors would add more content to their newsletters. I'm on Facebook enough to know when someone has a new release. So, when I get that author's email and see that their newsletter only has an announcement that they're having a new release, it makes me sad. I enjoy snippets of the story or even announcements of what the author is planning to work on next, etc. I know that's more of a personal opinion, so I don't let it get in the way of my love for newsletter too much.

What do y'all think about newsletters? Do you love 'em or hate 'em?

While I have you all, don't forget to sign up for mine. It comes out every month and has a bunch of steamy content!!

Have a great Monday, everyone!