Every month or so, I receive an email from a friendly indie author (whom I met just once) about an upcoming book signing for his novel. The events are always several thousand miles away from where I live, but I admire his efforts to promote his book.
Unfortunately, however, his messages regularly make me cringe.
Why? Because he sends them to dozens of people, all of us on the recipient line of the same email. This not only looks bulky and unprofessional, it is also bound to tick off potential supporters of his work. He also regularly commits another faux pas with his messages, which is to attach enormous PDF files. The last one he sent was nearly 7MB, which dramatically slowed down my small email program.
I always recommend using a free newsletter program such as MailChimp for email marketing campaigns. MailChimp is simple to use and creates a professional impression for your announcements, even if you only have a handful of subscribers. There also are many other email marketing tools to consider out there. These programs allow people to quietly unsubscribe without having to ask you to remove them. While it may sting when they do so, this ensures that your list is comprised of people who truly want to hear from you.
If you’re resistant to a newsletter program and still want to use regular email, be sure to use the blind copy (BCC) feature. No one wants his or her email address out there on a massive list that could easily be forwarded and absorbed into questionable email marketing practices. We all get enough spam already.
As an author, you want the people on your email list to root for you, not dread hearing from you, right? Put yourself in their shoes before you send your next message, and that should prevent you from making awkward email missteps.
By the way, I sent out my latest newsletter last night. Click here to have a look.
-Maria
This blog post originally appeared on CreateSpace.com. Reprinted with permission. © 2014 CreateSpace, a DBA of On-Demand Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved.