I'm starting an email newsletter experiment (& here's the real reason why)
Today we cross a threshold, the season officially changing from summer to autumn. I feel a bit like I am crossing my own threshold by writing this, a threshold I have been pretty adamantly against for a long time.
It’s a silly little thing, to put words and thoughts out into the world, but it’s a part of me. And so is authentic honesty.
So, let me tell it like it is… I never thought I’d have an email list or send out any sort of regular newsletter (apart from the prayer emails I send out about Bryan’s cancer). If I wanted to write something, I figured I’d just write it on the blog, but then I started hearing that if you want to get published you need to have an email list. So here’s the rough honest truth, let’s get it out in the open so we can move on: I want you to sign up for my new email list, so that I can use you to help me get published someday.
I’d rather just put that out there bluntly and let you know, rather than pretend like that isn’t the ultimate reason I’m starting an email list.
That being said, as I started to read the arguments for having an email list and sending out regular emails I found myself slowly being swayed into thinking maybe it could be about more than just having a number to tell a publisher. Because, there's an opportunity in email that feels a little different than blogging. We can maybe have a bit more of a conversation, something a little less public and a little more intimate. Or at least I hope so.
The real reason I have never wanted to start an email list in the first place is that I have a strong hatred for spam and junk mail, and, if I’m honest, almost every newsletter I’ve ever signed up for — even the ones from people I really like — feels like a time suck. They don’t add value to my life. They are mostly full of “inspiration lite” and someone wanting to sell me something. And they generally feel thinly veiled — I know they are maintaining this list just for the possibility of selling me something at some point, but both of us pretend that isn’t the case. The whole thing just feels icky to me, but I’m realizing just because something is often like that doesn’t mean it has to always be like that.
So, I started to wonder… If having an email list is a necessary evil in order to get a publisher to be interested in your work, than how could I have an email list that allowed me to maintain some self respect?
I knew the first thing was that I wanted to create something of value, something with some meat on it’s bones, but scannable enough to be a quick read if you want it to be. If I have to have an email list, then I want it to be something I would actually enjoy reading. So, I’ve been thinking about what I would want in a newsletter and what I like in other communications with people over the internet. Here’s what I’ve come up with…
I like recommendations, not for the thing the person is selling, but for something that they are enjoying, something that’s making their life better. I particularly love book recommendations… and writing recommendations, and movement recommendations, and podcast recommendations, and recommendations that make life easier.
For some people, those whose story I’m invested in, I like to know a bit of what’s going on in their lives and what they are thinking/learning from those happenings.
When I follow other writers, I like to know what they are working on, how it’s progressing, what problems they are running into, and what they are learning that’s helpful. I guess this is true for every niche group I follow, whether special needs parents, or cancer patients, or yoga instructors, I like knowing what problems they are running into, what solutions they are finding, and what they are currently dealing with.
Occasionally, I like inspirational content, but I’m finding that it actually doesn’t hold a lot of long term value, not usually. It’s a bit like junk food.
Now, my blog and social media feed at any various time will have a bit of these four already. So, what should these emails focus on? How can I make needing to have an email list to get published, into enjoying having an email list that sparks connection, and providing an email list that doesn’t just get archived right away (like more than half of the email lists I subscribe to myself)?
I’m not entirely sure of the answer, but I think I’m going to start with not sending something out so often that I have to scrap the barrel for content. I want to send out something nutrient rich and filling, not junk food or a piece of candy, and nutrient rich takes time.
So, for now this will only be a quarterly email. Four emails a year packed full of… what?
Well, I think a little of all four of the things I listed above. Particularly heavy on the recommendations (things I’m reading, watching, listening to, etc), with a bit of a quick life update maybe attached to some of my thoughts about that season of life, a little bit about my work and writing life — how I’m experimenting with that and what I’m learning in the process — and maybe a very small smidgen of inspiration now and then.
So, here’s the deal. If this sounds like something you’d like (and if you’d like to help me in my long-term goal of getting a publishing house to pay any attention to me) sign up for my email list below. But please, don’t sign up if you don’t think it’s something you’ll read, or if you already have twenty thousand emails you subscribe to and your inbox is full — you don’t need one more unopened email in your inbox! Really, you don’t. And I have no desire to add stress or empty content or unnecessary thought clutter to your life! Really, I don’t.
If you decide to join me on this email newsletter journey, the first one will go out on September 30th. It’s already half written and I’m starting to feel really excited about it. Also, for the next few months I’m giving away the first few chapters of my e-book, On Creativity, to anyone who signs up because that’s what people do when they start an email list, right? And also because I’m still amazed that anyone ever reads my words and I truly do want to thank you in some way for joining me on this little email list experiment :)
Grace and peace,
Bethany